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VOLSINII

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 198 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VOLSINII , an See also:

ancient See also:town of See also:Etruria, See also:Italy. The older Volsinii occupied in all See also:probability the isolated tufa See also:rock, so strongly defended by nature, upon which in See also:Roman times stood the town which See also:Procopius (B.G. ii. 11 seq.) calls O'pOiOevros (Urbs fetus, the See also:modern See also:Orvieto). This conjecture, first made' by O. See also:Muller, has been generally accepted by modern archaeologists; and it is a strong point in its favour that the See also:bishop of Orvieto in 595 signs himself episcopus civitatis Bulsiniensis (Gregor. Magn. Registr. v. 57a; cf. ii. u, vi. 27). It had, and needed, no See also:outer walls, being surrounded on all sides except the S.V. by abrupt tufa cliffs; but a massive See also:wall found by excavation on the S.W. See also:side of the town may have belonged to the See also:acropolis. No remains of antiquity are to be seen within the See also:city; but at the See also:foot of the See also:hill on the N. a large See also:Etruscan See also:necropolis was found in 1874, dating from the 5th See also:century B.C. The tombs, constructed of blocks of See also:stone and arranged in rows divided by passages (like houses in a town), often had the name of the deceased on the See also:facade.

Many painted vases, &c., were found; some of the best are in the Museo Civico at Orvieto. Tombs with paintings have also been found to the W. of the town on the way to See also:

Bolsena. Volsinii was reputed the richest of the twelve cities ofEtruria. See also:Wars between Volsinii and See also:Rome are mentioned in 392, 308 and 294 B.C., and in 265–64 B.C. the See also:Romans assisted the inhabitants against their former slaves, who had successfully asserted themselves against their masters and took the town, Fulvius See also:Flaccus gained a See also:triumph for his victory, and it was probably then that the statue of See also:Vertumnus which stood in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome was brought from Volsinii. See also:Zonaras states that the city was destroyed and removed elsewhere, though the old site continued apparently to be inhabited, to See also:judge from the See also:inscriptions found there. The new city was certainly situated on the hills on the N.E. See also:bank of the See also:Lake of Bolsena (Lacus Volsiniensis), 12 M. W.S.W. of Orvieto, where many remains of antiquity have been found, on and above the site of the modern Bolsena (q.v.). These remains consist of Etruscan tombs, the sacred enclosure of the goddess Nortia, with votive See also:objects and coins ranging from the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. to the See also:middle of the 3rd century A.D., remains of Roman houses, &c., and an See also:amphitheatre of the imperial See also:period (E. Gabrici in Monumenti dei Linei, xvi., 1906, 169 sqq., and in Notizie degli Scavi, 1906, 59 sqq.). The See also:history of the new Volsinii is somewhat scanty. See also:Sejanus, the favourite of Tiberius, and Musonius See also:Rufus the Stoic were natives of the See also:place. The earliest dated inscription from the See also:cemetery of S.

See also:

Christina (discovered with its subterranean See also:church in 188o–81) belongs to A.D. 376 and the first known bishop of Volsinii to A.D. 499. In the next century, however, the see was transferred to Orvieto. Etruscan tombs have been found on the Isola Bisentina, in the lake; and on the See also:west bank was the town of. Visentium, Roman inscriptions belonging to which have been found. The site is marked by a See also:medieval See also:castle bearing the name Bisenzo. See E. Bormann in Corp. Inscr. Latin. xi., 1888, pp. 423 sqq.; Notizie degli Scavi, passim; G.

See also:

Dennis, op. cit. (ii. 18 sqq.). (T.

End of Article: VOLSINII

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