Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1344

 1320 YOLCAE. ties. Among these the most conspicuoias are the sepulchral urns, or rather chests, for ashes, resembling small sarcophagi, and generally formed of alabaster, a material which is quarried in the immediate neigh- bourhood. ]Iany of them are adorned with sculp- tures and bas-reliefs, some of them purely Etruscan in character, others taken from the Greek mythology, and there is no doubt that many of them belong to a pei-iod long after the fall of Etruscan independence. The inscrijitions a'-e for the most part merely sepul- chral,andof little interest ; but those of one family are remarkable as preserving to us the original Etruscan form (Ceicna) of the well-known family of the Cae- cinae, who figure frequently in Roman history [Cae- ciNA, Biogr.Dict.']. Indeed, the first of this family of whom we have any knowledge — the Aulus Caecina defended by Cicero in b. c. 69 — was himself a native of Volaterrae (Cic. pro Caec. 7). His son was the author of a work on the " Etruscan discipline," which is frequently referred to as a valuable source of in- formation in regard to that department of antiquities (Cic. ad Fain. vi. 6 ; PHn. i. Arg. Lib. ii ; Senec. Nat. Quaest. ii. 39). There is no doubt that Volaterrae in the days of its independence possessed an extensive territory. Strabo distinctly tells us (v. p. 223) that its territory extended down to the sea-coast, where the town of Vada, or as it was called for distinction's sake, Vada Vol.tekr.vxa, constituted its sea-port. It ■was not indeed a harbour or port in the strict sense of the word ; but a mere roadstead, where the shoals, from which it derived its name, afforded a good anchorage and some shelter to shipping. Hence it was, in the Eoman times, a frequented station for vessels proceeding along the coast of Etruria (Cic. pro Quinct. 6 : Plin. iii. 5. s 8; It In. Marit. p. 501); and Eutilius, in particular, has left us an exact de- scription of the locality (Rutil. Itin. i. 453—462). The site is still marked by a mediaeval tower on the coast, called Torre di Vada. The coins of Volaterrae are numerous, and belong to the class called Aes Grave, from their large size and weight; but they are distinguished from all other Etruscan coins of this class by their having the name of the city in full ; whence we learn that the Etruscan form of the name was Felathri, or Velathki, as on the one of which a figure is annexed. [E. H. B.] COIN OF VOL.A.TERRAE. VOLCAE, a people of South Gallia, divided into Volcae Arecomici and Volcae Tectosages (OJoAkoi 'ApiK-0|Uioi, Oi5dA/faiTeKToo"a76s,Ptol. ii. 10. §§9,10; OuwAicm 'ApiKO/xtaKot, Strabo). Ptulemy says that the Tectosages occupied the most western parts of the Narbonensis, and that these are their cities: Illiberis, Euscino, Tolosa Colonia, Cessero, Carcaso, Baeterrae, and Xarbo Coionia. Next to them and extending to the Rhune he places the Arecomici, or Aricomii, as the name is in Ptolemy's text ; and he assigns to the Arecomii VOLCEimi. only Vindomagns [Vindomagus] and Netoausua Colonia (JNismes). These two nations occupied all the Provincia from the Rhone to its western limits ; and if Livy is not mistaken (xxi. 26), at the time of Hannibal's invasion of Italy, the Volcae had also possessions east of the Rhone. The Cebenna {Cevennes) formed a natural boundary between the Volcae Ai'ecomici and the Gabali and Ruteni. As to the limits between the Tectosages and the Arecomici there is great dilEculty; for while Ptolemy assigns Narbo to the Tectosages, Strabo (iv. p. 203) says that Narbo is the port of the Arecomici; and it is clear that he supposed the Arecomici to have possessed the greater part of the Provincia, which is west of the Rhune, and that he limited the country of the Tectosages to the part which is in the basin of the Garonne. He makes the Tec- tosages extend also northwards to the Civennes, in the western prolongation of this range. The chief city of the Arecomici was Xemausus [Xemausus] ; and the chief city of the Tectosages was Tolosa; and if Narbo belonged to the Aiecomici, we must limit the Tolosates, as already observed, to the basin of the Garonne. [Narbo; Tolosa.] There is some resemblance between the names Volcae and Belgae, and there is some little evidence that the Volcae were once named Belcae or Belgae. But it would be a hasty conclusion from this re- semblance to assume a relationship or identity be- tween these Volcae and the Belgae of the north of GalUa. There was a tradition that some of the Volcae Tectosages had once settled in Germany about the Hercynia Silva; and Caesar (^B.G. vi. 24) aflBrms, but only from hearsay, that these Volcae in his time still maintained themselves in those parts of Germany, and that they had an honourable character and great military reputation. He adds that they lived like the other Germans. The Tec- tosages also were a part of the Gallic invaders who entered ilacedonia and Greece, and finally fixed themselves in Asia Minor in Galatia [Galatia]. With the Eoman conquest of Tolosa ended the fame of the Volcae Tectosages in Europe. [G. L.] VOLCAEUM STAGNA. [Stagna Volca- RUM.] VOLCEIUM or VOLCENTUM (Elk Volcen- tanus, Plin.; Volceianus, //iscr. : £mcc»}o), a munici- pal town of Lucania, situated in the mountains W. of Poteutia, a few miles from the valley of the Ta- nager. The name is variously written by ancient authors. Livy mentions the Volcentes as a people who in the Second Punic War revolted to Hannibal and received a Carthaginian garrison into their town, but, in B. c. 209, returned to the Eoman alliance. (Liv. xxvii. 1 5.) There can be no doubt that these are the same people as the Volcentani of Pliny, who are enumerated by that author among the mu- nicipal communities of the interior of Lucania (Plin, iii. 10. s. 15), and it is certain that the Ulci or Volci of Ptolemy (05a«oi, Ptol. iii. 1. § 70) refers to the same place, the correct name of which, as we learn from inscriptions, was Volceii or Vulceii, and the people Volceiani. (Mommsen, Imcr. R. N. pp. 15, 16.) The discovery of these inscriptions at Buccino leaves no doubt that this town occupies the site of the Lucanian city of Volceii. (Eomanelli, vol. i. p. 422 ; Holsten. Not. ad Cluver, p. 290.) It appears to have been a considerable municipal town under the Roman Empire, and is one of the '• Praefecturae Lucaniae" mentioned in the Liber Coloniarum (p. 209). [E. H. B.j