Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1127

 TARQUINII. Gracchus; but though it is there termed "Colonia | Tarquinii," it is certain that it did not retain the title of a colony ; Cicero distinctly speaks of it as a "municipium," and the Tarquinien^es are ranked by Pliny among the ordinary municipal towns of Etruria. Its municipal rank is further confirmed by inscriptions recently discovered on the site. (Z,ji. Col. p. 219 ; Cic. pro Cacc. 4 ; Plin. iii. 5. s. 8 ; Ptiil. iii. 1. § 50 ; Inscr. in Bullett. d. Inst. Arch. 1830, pp. 198, 199.) From these last records we learn that it was apparently still a flourishing town in the time of the Antonines, and its name is still found in the Tabula near three centuries later (7V(6. Pent.) It is probable, therefore, that it sur- vived the fall of the Western Empire, and owed its final desolation to the Saracens. At the present day the site of the ancient city is wholly desolate and uninhabited; but on a hill about a mile and a half distant stands the modern city of Corneto, the origin of which does not date further back than the eighth or ninth century. It was pro- bably peopled with the suiTiving inhabitants of Tar- quinii. The site of the latter is clearly marked : it occupied, like most Etruscan cities, the level summit of a hill, bounded on all sides by steep, though not precipitous escarpments, and occupying a space of 'lilt a mile and a half in length, by half a mile in L'reateist breadth. It is still known as Turclibia,
 * . mgh called also the Piano di Civita. Hardly any

nuns are now visible, but the outline of the walls may be traced around the brow of the hill, partly by nidations still in situ, partly by fallen blocks. The .best point of the hill (furthest to the W. and I ■ uest to the Marta) seems to have served as the Arx or citadel, and here the foundations of some l.uildings, supposed to be temples, may be traced. Numerous fragments of buildings of Pioman date are al.-o visible, and though insignificant in themselves, prove, in conjunction with the inscriptions already iM-iitioned, that the site was well inhabited in Eomau times. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. pp. 371 — 385.) 15ut by far the most interesting remains now vi^ible at Tarquinii are those of the Necropolis, which nccupied almost the whole of the hill opposite to the I ity, at the VV. extremity of which stands the moiiern town of Corneto. The whole surface of the hill (says Dennis) " is rugged with tumuli, or what have once been such," whence the appellation by which it is now known of Montarozzi. Vast num- bers of these tombs have been opened, and have yielded a rich harvest of vases, ornaments, and other objects of antiquity. But the most important are those of which the walls are adorned with paintings, which possess a double interest, both as works of art and from the light they throw upon Etruscan man- ners. It may indeed be asserted in general of the paintings in these tombs that while the influence of Greek art is unquestionably to be traced in their de- sign and execution, the subjects represented and the manners they exhibit are purely Etruscan. The number of these painted tombs found at Tarquinii greatly exceeds those which have been discovered on the site of any other city of Etruria; but they still bear only a very small proportion to the whole num- ber of tombs opened, so that it is evident tliis mode of decoration was far from general. The paintings in many of those first opened, which are figured in tiie works of Micaliand Inghirami, have since been allowed to tall into decay, and have in great measure disap- peared. Detailed descriptions of all the most in- teresting of them, as well as those more recently TARRACINA. 1103 discovered, will be found in Dennis's Etruria (vol. i, pp. 281—364.) [K. II. B.] TARRACl'NA (Ta^^dHTij/a, Strab.; TappiK-qva, Steph. B.: £</«. Ta^ppa/cifiTTjs, Tarracinensis: Ter- racina'). a city of Latiuin in the more extended sen.se of that name, but originally a Volscian city, situated on the Tyrrhenian sea, about 10 miles from Circeii, and at the extremity of the Pomptine Marshes. It was also known by the name of Anxuk, and we learn from Pliny and Livy that this was its Volscian name, while Tarracina was that by which it was known to the Latins and Romans. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Ennius ap. Fest. s.v. Anxur; Liv. iv. 59.) The name of Anxur is freqitently used at a much later period by the Roman poets (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 26; Lucan. iii. 84; Martial, v. 1.6, &c.), obviously because Tar- racina could not be introduced in verse; but Cicero, Livy, and all other prose writers, where they are speaking of the Roman town, universally cail it Tarracina. The Greek derivation of the latter name suggested by Strai)o (v. p. 233), who says it was originally called Tpax^vT), from its rugged situation, is probably a mere etymological fancy. The first mention of it in history occurs in the treaty between Rome and Carthage concluded in b. c. 509, in which the people of Tarracina are mentioned in common with those of Circeii, Antium, &c., among the subjects or dependencies of Rome. (Pol. iii. 22.) It seems cer- tain therefore that Tarracina, as well as Circeii, was included in the Roman dominions before the fall of the monarchy. But it is clear that it must have again fallen under the dominion of the Volscians, pro- bably not long after this period. It was certainly in the possession of that people, when its name nest appears in history, in b. c 406. On that occasion it was attacked by N. Fabius Ambustus, and taken by a sudden assault, while the attention of the Vol- scian armies was drawn off in another direction. (Liv. iv. 57; Diod. iiv. 16.) Livy speaks of it as having at this time enjoyed a long period of power and prosperity, and still possessing great wealth, which was plundered by the Roman armies. A few years afterwards (u. c. 402) it again fell into the hands of the Volscians, through the negligence of the Roman garrison (Liv. v. 8). In b. c. 400, it was again besieged by the Roman arms under Vale- rius Potitus, and though his first assaults were re- pulsed, and he was compelled to have recourse to a blockade, it soon after fell into his hands. (76. 12, 13.) An attempt of the Volscians to recover it in 397 proved unsuccessful {lb. 16), and from tliis time the city continued subject to Rome. Nearly 70 years later, after the conquest of Pnvernum, it was thought advi.'-able to secure Tarracina with a. Ronuin colony, which was established there in b c. 329. (Liv. viii. 21 ; Veil. Pat. i. 14.) The condition of Tarracina as a Roman colony is not quite clear, for Velleius notices it as if it had been one of the " Coloniae Latinae," while Livy cer- tainly does not consider it as such, for he omits its name among the thirty Latin colonies in the time of the Second Punic War, wliile he on two occa- sions mentions it in connection with the other mari- time colonies, Antium, Minlurnae, &c. In common with these, the citizens of Tarracina in vain con- tended for exemption from military .service during the Second Punic War, and at a later period claimed exemption from naval seiviee also. (Liv. xxvii. 38, xxxvi. 3.) There can, tiicrcfore, be no doubt that Tarracina was a " colonia maritima civium," and it seems to have early become oue of