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ΚΟΡΤΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Cortona (Kortona, Ptol.: Eth. Cortonensis: Cortona), one of the most
ancient and powerful of the inland cities of Etruria, situated on a lofty hill
between Arretium and Clusium. It was distant only about 9 miles from the Lacus
Trasimenus. There is great confusion about its ancient name. The Greek legend
which represented it as founded by Dardanus, called it Corythus, a form frequently
used in consequence by the Latin poets. (Virg. Aen. iii. 167-170, vii. 206-210,
&c.; Sil. Ital. iv. 721, v. 122.) But there is little doubt that this was a mere
transplanting of a Greek tradition (Muller, Etrusker, vol. i. p. 277), and the
native name seems to have been Cortona, or some form closely resembling it. Dionysius
writes the name Croton, and says it was changed to Cortona (which he writes Kothornia,
probably an error of the MSS. for Korthonia), when it received a Roman colony.
Livy, however, calls it Cortona at a much earlier period, without any allusion
to its having changed its name. The confusion between Cor and Cro is so natural
that it is no wonder the Greeks should write it Kroton, even if the Roman form
was the correct one: but it is not improbable that the Etruscans, who did not
use the letter o, would have written the name Krvtvna, as they wrote Pupluna for
Populonium. (Dionys. i. 26; Steph. Byz. s. v. Kroton; Muller, l. c. pp. 268, 277.)
Polybius, however (iii. 82), writes the name Kurtonion, and there can be no doubt
that the Gortunaia, in Tyrrhenia, of Lycophron and Theopompus, the foundation
of which was ascribed by the latter to Ulysses, is merely a corruption of the
same name. (Lycophr. Alex. 806; Theopomp. ap. Tzetz. ad loc.)
All accounts agree in representing Cortona as one of the most ancient
cities of Etruria, and at a very early period one of the most powerful of the
confederation. Dionysius expressly tells us that it was originally an Umbrian
city, and was wrested from that people by the Pelasgians. (Dionys. i. 20.) It
is evidently to the Pelasgic city only that the legend of its foundation by Dardanus,
to which so prominent a place has been assigned by Virgil, can be referred: various
other legends also appear to point to the same connection, and may be considered
as proving that the Pelasgic character of the inhabitants was strongly marked
and recognised by the Greeks. But, notwithstanding the high authority of Niebuhr,
it seems impossible to admit the view of Dionysius, who refers to this city and
not to Creston in Thrace, the statement of Herodotus concerning the language spoken
by the Pelasgians in his day. (Herod. i. 57; Dionys. i. 29. On this much disputed
question compare Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 34, note 89; Muller, Etrusker, vol. i. p.
94-98; Lepsius, Tyrrhenische Pelasger, p. 18, &c.) Dionysius represents Cortona
as having been made by the Pelasgians a stronghold and centre of operations from
whence they gradually extended their arms over the rest of Etruria: and it is,
doubtless, with reference to this statement that Stephanus of Byzantium terms
it the metropolis of the Tyrrhenians. (Dionys. i. 20; Steph. Byz. s. v. Kroton.)
There are, indeed, circumstances which would lead us to infer that the dominion
of the Etruscans, properly so called (the Rasena), was also extended from Cortona,
or its neighbourhood, over the more southern parts of Etruria; and it would be
a natural surmise that Dionysius had made a confusion between the Pelasgian Tyrrhenians
and the Etruscans proper: but it seems more probable that both conquests may really
have emanated from the same quarter.
Important as is the part which Cortona bears in these early traditions,
it is singular how little we subsequently hear of it. There can be no doubt that
it was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation: and hence in B.C.
310 Livy speaks of Perusia, Cortona, and Arretium, as at that period. among the
chief cities of Etruria (ferme capita Etruriae populorum. Liv. ix. 37.) They on
this occasion obtained a peace for 30 years, which was soon broken; but the name
of Cortona is not again mentioned: and we have no account of the time at which
it fell under the subjection of Rome. In the Second Punic War it is incidentally
mentioned: Hannibal having marched beneath its walls, and laid waste its territory
just before the battle of the Thrasymenian Lake (Pol. iii. 82; Liv. xxii. 4),
but the inaccessible position of the city itself rendered it secure from attack.
At the same time the broad and fertile valley beneath it offered no obstacles
to the march of an army, and it is probably for this reason that we hear so little
of Cortona in history successive swarms of invaders having swept past it, without
caring to attack its almost impregnable position. We learn incidentally from Dionysius
(i. 26) that Cortona had received a Roman colony not long before his time: there
can be no doubt that this must be referred to the times of Sulla, and that it
was one of the cities of Etruria, which he repeopled after his devastation of
that country. (Zumpt, de Colon. p. 252.) It was not subsequently renewed, and
therefore does not figure in the lists either of Pliny or Ptolemy as a colony.
Both those authors, however, mention it among the towns of Etruria (Plin. iii.
5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. 1. § 48): but this is the last notice of its existence in
ancient times, though inscriptions prove it to have continued to subsist under
the Roman Empire. (Gori, Inscr. Etr. vol. ii. pp. 361-398.) It became an episcopal
see in the early ages of Christianity, and probably never ceased to exist, though
no trace of it is again found in history till the 13th century.
The modern city of Cortona (which is still the see of a bishop, with
about 5000 inhabitants) retains the site of the ancient one, on the summit of
a high hill, almost deserving to be termed a mountain, and extending from its
highest point down a steep slope facing towards the W., so that the gate at its
lowest extremity is about half way down the hill. The ancient city was of oblong
form, and about two miles in circumference; the circuit of its walls may be easily
traced, as the modern ones are for the most part based upon them, though at the
higher end of the city they enclosed a considerably wider space. They may be traced
in fragments more or less preserved almost entirely round the city, and are composed
of rectangular blocks of great size, arranged without much regularity, though
with more regard to horizontality and distinct courses than is observable in the
walls of Volterra or Populonia, and often joined with great nicety like the masonry
of Fiesole. The finest relic of this regular masonry at Cortona, and perhaps in
all Italy, is at a spot called Terra Mozza, outside the Fortress, at the highest
part of the city, where is a fragment 120 feet in length, composed of blocks of
enormous magnitude. They vary from 2 1/2 to 5 feet in height, and from 6 or 7
feet or 11 and 12 in length; and are sometimes as much or more in depth. The material
of which they are composed is a grey sandstone much resembling that of Fiesole.
(Dennis, Etruria, vol. ii. p, 436.) A few other fragments of Etruscan construction
similar to the above, are found within the walls of the city: but only one trifling
remnant of a Roman building. Outside the lower gate, on the slope of the hill,
is a curious monument called the Tanella di Pitagora (from the confusion commonly
made between Cortona and Crotona), which was in reality an Etruscan tomb, constructed
of vast blocks and slabs of stone, instead of being excavated in the rock, as
was their more common practice. A remarkable mound, commonly called Il Melone,
which stands at the foot of the hill near Camuscia, has been also proved by excavation
to be sepulchral. Numerous minor relics of antiquity have been discovered at Cortona,
and are preserved in the Museum there: this is more rich in bronzes than pottery,
and among the former is a bronze lamp of large size, which for beauty of workmanship
is considered to surpass all other specimens of this description of Etruscan art.
(Dennis, l. c. p. 442: who has given a full account of all the ancient remains
still visible at Cortona.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΟΥΚΑ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Luca (Louka, Strab., Ptol.: Eth. Lucensis: Lucca), a city of Etruria,
situated in a plain at the foot of the Apennines, near the left bank of the Ausar
(Serchio) about 12 miles from the sea, and 10 NE. of Pisae. Though Luca was included
within the limits of Etruria, as these were established in the time of Augustus
(Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. 1. § 47), it is very doubtful whether it was ever
an Etruscan town. No mention of it is found as such, and no Etruscan remains have
been discovered in its neighbourhood. But it is probable that the Etruscans at
one time extended their power over the level country at the foot of the Apennines,
from the Arnus to the Macra, leaving the Ligurians in possession only of the mountains,--and
at this period, therefore, Luca was probably subject to them. At a later period,
however, it had certainly fallen into the hands of the Ligurians, and being retaken
from them by the Romans, seems to have been commonly considered (until the reign
of Augustus) a Ligurian town. For this reason we find it comprised within the
province assigned to Caesar, which included Liguria as well as Cisalpine Gaul.
(Suet. Caes. 24.) The first mention of Luca in history is in B.C. 218, when Livy
tells us that the consul Sempronius retired there after his unsuccessful contest
with Hannibal. (Liv. xxi. 59.) It was, therefore, at this period certainly in
the hands of the Romans, though it would seem to have subsequently fallen again
into those of the Ligurians; but it is strange that during the long protracted
wars of the Romans with that people, we meet with no mention of Luca, though it
must have been of importance as a frontier town, especially in their wars with
the Apuani. The next notice of it is that of the establishment there of a Roman
colony in B.C. 177. (Vell. Pat. i. 15 ; Liv. xli. 13.) There is, indeed, some
difficulty with regard to this; the MSS. and editions of Livy vary between Luca
and Luna; but there is no such discrepancy in those of Velleius, and there seems
at least no reason to doubt the settlement of a Latin colony at Luca; while that
mentioned in Livy being a colonia civium, may, perhaps, with more probability,
be referred to Luna. (Madvig, de Colon. p. 287; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 349 ) That
at Luca became, in common with the other Latin colonies, a municipal town by virtue
of the Lex Julia (B.C. 49), and hence is termed by Cicero municipium Lucense.
(Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 1. 3) It appears to have been at this time a considerable
town, as we find it repeatedly selected by Caesar during his administration of
Gaul as the frontier town of his province, to which he repaired in order to consult
with his friends, or with the leaders of political parties at Rome. (Suet. Caes.
24 ; Plut. Caes. 21, Crass. 14, Pomp. 51; Cic. ad Fam. i. 9. 9). On one of these
occasions (in B.C. 56) there are said to have been more than 200 senators assembled
at Luca, including Pompey and Crassus, as well as Caesar himself. (Plut. l. c.;
Appian, B.C. ii. 17.) Luca would seem to have received a fresh colony before the
time of Pliny, probably under Augustus. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Zumpt, de Colon.
p. 349.) We hear little of it under the Roman Empire; but it seems to have continued
to be a provincial town of some consideration: it was the point where the Via
Clodia, proceeding from Rome by Arretium, Florentia, and Pistoria, was met by
other roads from Parma and Pisae. (Plin. l. c.; Ptol. iii. 1. § 47; Itin. Ant.
pp. 283, 284, 289; Tab. Peut.) During the Gothic wars of Narses, Luca figures
as an important city and a strong fortress (Agath. B. G. i. 15), but it was not
till after the fall of the Lombard monarchy that it attained to the degree of
prosperity and importance that we find it enjoying during the middle ages. Lucca
is still a flourishing city, with 25,000 inhabitants: the only relics of antiquity
visible there are those of an amphitheatre, considerable part of which may still
be traced, now converted into a market-place called the Piazza del Mercato, and
some small remains of a theatre near the church of Sta. Maria di Corte Landini.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΜΑΣΑ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Massa surnamed Massa Veternensis, a town of Etruria, situated about 12 miles from
the sea on a hill overlooking the wide plain of the Maremma: hence it is now called
Massa Marittima. In the middle ages it was a considerable city and the see of
a bishop; but it is not mentioned by any ancient author earlier than Ammianus
Marcellinus (xiv. 11. § 27), who tells us that it was the birthplace of the emperor
Constantius Gallus. From the epithet Veternensis, it would seem probable that
there was an Etruscan city of the name of Veternum in its neighbourhood; and,
according to Mr. Dennis, there are signs of an Etruscan population on a hill called
the Poggio di Vetreta, a little to the SE. of the modern town. (Dennis, Etruria,
vol. ii. p. 218.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΠΙΖΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Pisae (Pisai, Strab. Pol.; Pissai, Ptol.; Pissa, Lycophr.; Eth. Pisanus:
Pisa), an important city of Etruria, situated on the N. bank of the river Arnus,
a few miles from its mouth. All authors agree in representing it as a very ancient
city, but the accounts of its early history are very confused and uncertain. The
identity of its name with that of the city of Elis naturally led to the supposition
that the one was derived from the other; and hence the foundation of the Italian
Pisae was ascribed by some authors to Pelops himself (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8), while
others assigned it to a body of settlers from the Peloponnesian Pisa who had accompanied
Nestor to Troy, and on their return wandered to this part of Italy. (Strab. v.
p. 222; Serv. ad Aen. x. 179.) Epeius, the reputed founder of Metapontum, was,
according to some writers, that of Pisae also. (Serv. l. c.) The Elean, or Alphean,
origin of the city is generally adopted by the Roman poets. (Virg. Aen. x. 179;
Claudian, B. Gild. 483; Rutil. Itin. i. 565.) Cato, however, followed a different
tradition, and represented the city as founded by the Etruscans under Tarchon,
though the site was previously possessed by a people called the Teutanes, who
spoke a Greek dialect. (Cato, ap. Serv. l. c.) Virgil also calls it distinctly
an Etruscan city, though he derives its more remote origin from Elis; and the
tradition reported by Cato seems to prove at least that it was one of the cities
of which the Etruscans claimed to be the founders, and which must therefore have
been at one period a genuine Etruscan city. On the other hand, Dionysius mentions
it among the cities founded or occupied by the Pelasgi in conjunction with the
Aborigines (Dionys. i. 20); and there seems to be some reason to regard it as
one of the early Pelasigc settlements on the coast of Etruria, which fell at a
later period under the power of the Etruscans.
We know almost nothing of Pisae as an Etruscan city, nor are there
any remains of this period of its history. But Strabo still found vestiges of
its past greatness, and the tradition of its foundation by Tarchon seems to point
to it as one of the principal cities of Etruria. Its inhabitants were trained
to arms by frequent contests with their neighbours the Ligurians, while they appear
to have been one of the principal maritime powers among the Etruscans, and, like
most of their countrymen, combined the pursuits of commerce and piracy. (Strab.
v. p. 223.) We have no account of the period at which it became a dependency of
Rome; but the first historical mention of its name is in B.C. 225, when the consul
C. Atilius landed there with two legions from Sardinia, with which he shortly
after attacked and defeated the Gaulish army near Telamon. (Pol. ii. 27.) It is
clear therefore that Pisae was at this time already in alliance with Rome, and
probably on the same footing as the other dependent allies of the republic. Its
port seems to have been much frequented, and became a favourite point of departure
for the Roman fleets and armies whose destination was Gaul, Spain, or Liguria.
Thus it was from thence that the consul P. Scipio sailed to Massilia at the outbreak
of the Second Punic War (B.C. 218), and thither also that he returned on finding
that Hannibal had already crossed the Alps. (Pol. iii. 43, 56; Liv. xxi. 39.)
The long-continued wars of the Romans with the Ligurians added greatly to the
importance of Pisae, which became the frontier town of the Roman power, and the
customary head-quarters of the generals appointed to carry on the war. (Liv. xxxiii.
43, xxxv. 22, xl. 1, &c.) It was not, however, exempt from the evil consequences
incident to such a position. In B.C. 193 it was suddenly attacked and besieged
by an army of 40,000 Ligurians, and with difficulty rescued by the arrival of
the consul Minucius (Liv. xxxv. 3); and on several other occasions the Ligurians
laid waste its territory. Hence in B.C. 180 the Pisans themselves invited the
Romans to establish a colony in their territory, which was accordingly carried
out, the colonists obtaining Latin rights. (Liv. xl. 43.) From this time we hear
but little of Pisae; its colonial condition became merged like that of the other
coloniae Latinae, in that of a municipium by virtue of the Lex Julia (Fest. v.
Municipium): but it seems to have received a fresh colony under Augustus, as we
find it bearing the colonial title in a celebrated inscription which records the
funeral honours paid by the magistrates and senate of Pisae to the deceased grandchildren
of Augustus, C. and L. Caesar. (Orell. Inscr. 642, 643.) It is here termed Colonia
Obsequens Julia Pisana: Pliny also gives it the title of a colony (Plin. iii.
5 s. 8), and there seems no doubt that it was at this period one of the most flourishing
towns of Etruria. Strabo speaks of it as carrying on a considerable trade in timber
and marble from the neighbouring mountains, which were sent to Rome to be employed
there as building materials. Its territory was also very fertile, and produced
the fine kind of wheat called siligo, as well as excellent wine. (Strab. v. p.
223; Plin. xiv. 3. s. 4, xviii. 9. s. 20.) We have no account of the fortunes
of Pisae during the declining period of the Roman empire, but during the Gothic
wars of Narses it is still mentioned as a place of importance (Agath. B. G. i.
11), and in the middle ages rose rapidly to be one of the most flourishing commercial
cities of Italy.
There is no doubt that the ancient city stood on the same site with
the modern Pisa, but natural causes have produced such great changes in the locality,
that it would be difficult to recognise the site as described by Strabo, were
not the identity of the modern and ancient cities fully established. That author
(as well as Rutilius and other writers) describes the ancient city as situated
at the confluence of the rivers Arnus and Auser (Serchio), and distant only 20
stadia (2 1/2 miles) from the sea. (Strab. v. p. 222; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Rutil.
Itin. i. 565-570.) At the present day it is more than 6 miles from the sea, while
the Serchio does not flow into the Arno at all, but has a separate channel to
the sea, the two rivers being separated by a tract of 5 or 6 miles in width, formed
partly by the accumulation of alluvial soil from the rivers, partly by the sand
heaped up by the sea. There are no remains of the Etruscan city visible; it is
probable that all such, if they still exist, are buried to a considerable depth
by the alluvial soil. The only vestiges of Roman antiquity which remain are some
mean traces of baths, and two marble columns with composite capitals, probably
belonging to the vestibule of a temple of the age of the Antonines, now embedded
in the wall of the ruined church of S. Felice. (Dennis, Etruria, vol. ii. p. 89.)
But numerous sarcophagi of Roman date, some of them of very superior workmanship,
and some fragments of statues are preserved in the Campo Santo, as well as numerous
inscriptions, of which the most interesting are those already alluded to, recording
the honours paid by the colony to the deceased grandsons of Augustus. These have
been published with a learned and elaborate commentary by Cardinal Noris (Cenotaphia
Pisana, fol. Venet. 1681); as well as by Gori (Inscript. Etruriae, vol. ii. p.
10, &c.), and more recently by Haubold (Monumenta Legalia, p. 179) and Orelli
(l. c.).
The Maritime Itinerary mentions the Portus Pisanus as distinct from
Pisae itself, from which it was no less than 9 miles distant. (Itin. Marit. p.
501.) Rutilius also describes the port of Pisae, which was in his day still much
frequented and the scene of an active commerce, as at some distance from the city
itself. (Rutil. Itin. i. 531-540, 558-565, ii. 12.) But the exact site has been
a subject of much controversy. Cluverius and other writers placed it at the mouth
of the Arno, while Mannert and Mr. Dennis would transfer it to the now celebrated
port of Leghorn or Livorno. But this latter port is distant 10 miles from the
mouth of the Arno, and 14 from Pisa, which does not agree with the distance given
in the Maritime Itinerary; while the mouth of the Arno is too near Pisa, and it
is unlikely that the entrance of the river could ever have been available as a
harbour. Rutilius also describes the port (without any mention of the river) as
formed only by a natural bank of sea-weed, which afforded shelter to the vessels
that rode at anchor within it. Much the most probable view is that advocated by
a local writer (Targioni Tozzetti), that the ancient Portus Pisanus was situated
at a point between the mouth of the Arno and Leghorn, but considerably nearer
the latter city, near an old church of St. Stefano. The distance of this spot
agrees with that of the Itinerary, and it is certain from mediaeval documents
that the Porto Pisano, which in the middle ages served as the port of Pisa, when
it was a great and powerful republic, was situated somewhere in this neighbourhood.
(Targioni Tozzetti, Viaggi in Toscana, vol. ii. pp. 225-240, 378-420; Zumpt, ad
Rutil. i. 527.) Roman remains have also been found on the spot, and some ruins,
which may very well be those of the villa called Triturrita, described by Rutilius
as adjoining the port, designated in the Tabula as Turrita. (Rutil. Itin. i. 527;
Tab. Peut.) There is every probability that the Porto Pisano of the middle ages
occupied the same site with the Roman Portus Pisanus, which is mentioned by P.
Diaconus as still in use under the Lombard kings, and again by a Frankish chronicler
in the days of Charlemagne (P. Diac. Hist. Lang. vi. 61; Amoin. Rer. Franc. iv.
9); and there is no doubt that the mediaeval port was quite distinct from Livorno.
The latter city, which is now one of the most important trading places in Italy,
was in the 13th century an obscure village, and did not rise to consideration
till after the destruction of the Porto Pisano. But it seems probable that it
was occasionally used even in ancient times, and is the Labro noticed by Cicero
(ad Q. Fr. ii. 6) as a seaport near Pisae. It has been supposed also to be already
mentioned by Zosimus (v. 20) under the name of Liburnum; but there is really no
authority for this, or for the names of Portus Liburni, and Portus Herculis Liburni
employed by modern writers on ancient geography. The Antonine Itinerary, however,
gives a station Ad Herculem, which, as it is placed 12 miles from Pisae, could
not have been far from Leghorn. (Itin. Ant. p. 293.)
Pliny alludes to the existence of warm springs in the territory of
Pisae (ii. 103. s. 106). These are evidently the same now called the Bagni di
S. Giuliano, situated about 4 miles from the city, at the foot of the detached
group of Apennines, which divide the territory of Pisa from that of Lucca.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΦΛΩΡΕΝΤΙΑ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Florentia (Phlorentia, Ptol.: Eth. Florentinus: Florence; in Italian,
Firenze, but in old writers Fiorenza), a city of Etruria, situated on the river
Arnus, about 3 miles S. of Faesulae. Though celebrated in modern times as the
capital of Tuscany, and in the middle ages as an independent republic, it was
not a place of much note in antiquity. No trace of its existence is found in Etruscan
times; and it is probable that it derived its first origin as a town from the
Roman colony. The date of the establishment of this is not quite clear. We learn
from the Liber Coloniarum that a colony was settled there by the triumvirs after
the death of Caesar (Lib. Colon. p. 213); but there seems some reason to believe
that one had previously been established there by Sulla. There is indeed no direct
authority for this fact, any more than for that of the new town having been peopled
by emigrants who descended from the rocky heights of Faesulae to the fertile banks
of the Arnus; but both circumstances are in themselves probable enough, and have
a kind of traditionary authority which has been generally received by the Florentine
historians. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 135.) A passage of Florus also (iii. 21. § 27),
in which he enumerates Florentia (or, as some MSS. give the name, Fluentia) among
the towns sold by auction by order of Sulla, is only intelligible on the supposition
that its lands were divided among new colonists. (Zumpt, de Colon. p. 253.) But
he is certainly in error in reckoning Florentia at this time among the municipia
Italiae splendidissima: it could not have been a municipal town at all; and from
the absence of all notice of it during the campaign of the consul Antonius against
Catiline, in the immediate neighbourhood of Faesulae, it is evident that it was
not even then a place of any importance. But from the period of the colony of
the triumvirs it seems to have rapidly become a considerable and flourishing town,
though not retaining the title of a colony. The Florentini are mentioned by Tacitus
in the reign of Tiberius among the municipia which sent deputies to Rome to remonstrate
against the project of diverting the course of the Clanis from the Tiber into
the Arnus; a proceeding which they apprehended, probably not without reason, would
have the effect of flooding their town and territory. (Tac. Ann. i. 79.) We subsequently
find the Florentini noticed by Pliny among the municipal towns of Etruria; and
the name of Florentia is found in Ptolemy, as well as in the Itineraries. (Plin.
iii. 5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. 1. § 48; Itin. Ant. pp. 284, 285; Tab. Peut.) These scanty
notices are all that we hear of it previous to the fall of the Western empire;
but its municipal consideration during this period is further attested by inscriptions
(Orell. 686, 3711, 3713; Gori, Inscr. Etrur. vol. i.), as well as by the remains
of an amphitheatre still visible near the church of Sta. Croce. It is probable
that its favourable position in the centre of a beautiful and fertile plain on
the banks of the Arnus, and on the line of the great high road through the N.
of Tuscany, became the source of its prosperity; and it is clear that it rapidly
came to surpass its more ancient neighbour of Faesulae. In the Gothic Wars Florentia
already figures as a strong fortress, and one of the most important places in
Tuscany. (Procop. B. G. iii. 5, 6.)
The remains of the amphitheatre already noticed, which are in themselves
of little importance, are the only vestiges of Roman buildings remaining in the
city of Florence.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΠΙΖΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Now Pisa. An ancient city of Etruria, and one of the twelve
cities of the confederation. It was situated at the confluence of the Arnus and
Ausar (Serchio), about six miles from the sea. According to some traditions, Pisae
was founded by the companions of Nestor , the inhabitants of Pisa, in Elis, who
were driven upon the coast of Italy on their return from Troy; whence the Roman
poets give the Etruscan town the surname of Alphea. In B.C. 180 it was made a
Latin colony. Its harbour, called Portus Pisanus, at the mouth of the Arnus (Arno),
was much used by the Romans.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΦΛΩΡΕΝΤΙΑ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
The modern Firenze, or Florence; a town in Etruria, sprung from the ancient Fiesole, and subsequently a Roman colony, situated on the Arnus (Arno). The Florentini are mentioned by Tacitus as sending a deputation to Rome in A.D. 16. Its greatness as a city dates from the Middle Ages.
ΑΡΕΤΣΟ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
An Etruscan town, perhaps called Peithesa, on the height of Castelsecco
(Poggio di San Cornelio), a height well fortified by ashlar stone walls, 3 km
SE of Arezzo. The Arretines, according to Dion. Hal. (AntRom. 3.51), joined other
Etruscans in offering aid to the Latins against Tarquinius Priscus (fl. 616-579
B.C.) and must have been included in the Etruscan decapolis, living there in probable
political dependence upon Clusium. The date and circumstances of the migration
to Arretium are unknown, but the new citadel was a low eminence now occupied by
the Cathedral, public gardens, and Fortezza Medicea above the Castro, a small
tributary of the Chiana and Arno. The city wall composed partly of stone, partly
of lightly fired brick, and partly of rock escarpment, has been found at points
in the E section of the upper modern town, the cemetery, and N outskirts. The
cardo of this Arretium was the modern Via Pelliceria and Via San Lorenzo. Whether
the brick represents repairs or the stone represents constructional reinforcement
at selected points is debated; Vitruvius (2.8, 9), and Pliny (HN 13.13 and 35.19),
considered Arretium's "vetustus murus" as essentially constructed "e
latere." The date of the wall is assigned to ca. 300 B.C., the approximate
period of a 30-year treaty (321 B.C.) and a treaty of peace and alliance with
Rome in 294, the year in which a Roman relieving army was beaten at Arretium by
the besieging Senones. Tombs near Poggio del Sole, outside the Etruscan town but
just inside the Medicean wall, and the famous 5th c. bronze Chimera, the red-figure
krater by Euphronios, the 4th c. bronze Minerva, and fictile revetments of various
temples show that Arezzo had acquired and perhaps actually produced considerable
evidence of prosperity and culture long before the imminence of Roman expansion.
Arretium's advanced industrialization in the 3d c. B.C. permitted
the furnishing of large quantities of bronze (and iron?) weapons and agricultural
implements, as well as 120,000 modii of wheat, to Scipio's African expedition
in 205 B.C., at which time there must also have been a lively production of Etrusco-Campanian
black-surfaced ceramics.
Arretium supported Marius and was punished in territory, civil status,
the imposition of a veterans' colony (Arretini fidentiores, contrasted with the
native Arretini veteres; Julius Caesar later settled the Arretini Iulienses as
well), and, on the evidence of plentiful black pottery but no red Arretine, the
dismantling of the city wall and various finely decorated public buildings within
it, and perhaps the blocking of the cisterns of the citadel. Later, Arretium (sc.
Sulla's veterans) espoused Catiline's conspiracy. Arretium's inhabited and industrial
area must always have exceeded the fortified perimeter, but with the colonizations
and under the Empire the expansion and reorientation must have been considerable;
the new cardo was apparently the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the forum has been
conjectured as near Fonte Pozzolo N of the citadel. Nine roads radiated from the
hilltop, and there are traces of a 1st-2d c. aqueduct entering the city at Fonte
Veneziana on the F.
Etruscan and Roman graves, mosaics, inscriptions, and minor objects
are common in Arretium, but its importance in mediaeval and Renaissance Italy
has militated against the preservation and excavation of conspicuous architectural
monuments except for those already noted and a large late cistern 23.5 m square
in the Giardino Pubblico, a theater and several baths of which remains are scanty,
and the 1st-2d c. amphitheater of ca. 7500 sq. m, well-preserved because of its
conversion into the Orti and Convento di S. Bernardo, part of which is now the
Museo Archeologico.
Already in Augustan times Arretium was famous for its plain and molded
red-surfaced pottery of the late Republic and early Empire, superposing manufacturing
techniques and artistic themes, imported from the Hellenistic East by a great
influx of Greek-named workmen, upon vase shapes of Etrusco-Campanian ancestry.
Within the present town numerous factories have been found and their operators
identified, most notably the factory of M. Perennius and his successors at the
church of S. Maria in Gradi, but also at Carciarelle and Orciolaia, 1 km from
town, and as far away as Cincelli and Ponte a Buriano 7 km distant on the Arno.
To what extent Maecenas, a native Arretine, was responsible for this artistic
and industrial upsurge is not known. Excavations of the 1880s and 1890s produced
vast amounts of Arretine ware, now partly in the Museo Archeologico, partly in
private hands, partly dispersed to foreign museums; the vases of Ateius found
in 1954-57 are at Florence, as is much else from the site. Further, Arretine ware
was exported to military and civilian consumers throughout the Roman world and
beyond (Britain, India), enriching many local museums of Western and Central Europe
and North Africa. Arretium's primacy was Augustan and Tiberian, but even under
Augustus an emigration of potters was under way, and by Flavian times Arretium
had lost its significance to imitators elsewhere in Italy and in the provinces.
H. Comfort, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΟΡΤΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Probably a member of the Etruscan League and identical with Vergil's
Gorythus (after its legendary founder and father of Dardanus of Troy: Aen. 3.170;
7.209), Cortona's earliest remains date to the 7th c. B.C. After it was absorbed
by Rome in the 4th c., it rarely appears in the sources.
Important among the 7th-6th c. remains are a group of funerary tumuli
(meloni) near the town. The melone di Camucia contained gold and bronze objects
and, besides imported Greek pottery, local impasto, bucchero, and painted ware
from the 7th-6th c. A stone funerary bed with weeping women in low relief, now
in Florence, was found inside. The 6th c. meloni del Sodo I and II and the 4th
c. so-called tumulus of Pythagoras (who never resided here but at Kroton) are
dated by their respective vault construction. All are built of great blocks.
The 5th c. Etruscan wall, made of roughly squared blocks of local
stone, is still visible, especially near Porta Colonia. Its double gate is later.
There is a Roman reservoir 18 m square.
The Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca houses Greek and Roman items with
a fine Etruscan collection. A sarcophagus depicting lapiths and centaurs is in
the Duomo of S. Maria.
About 16 km to the S is Lake Trasimene. Today the malpasso, the defile
hemmed in by cliffs, scene of Hannibal's entrapment of the Romans in 217 B.C.,
lies 1.2 km from the shrunken NE shore line; the old shore line is still visible
from the air. To the E near Tuoro are ditches in which the dead were cremated.
D. C. Scavone, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΠΙΖΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
A settlement of debated origin (Greek, Ligurian, Etruscan) situated
between an E-W bend in the Serchio (ancient Auser) and the Arno. A flourishing
Etruscan town with port by the 5th c. B.C., its prosperity continued down to its
occupation by Rome as an outpost against the Ligurians in 225 B.C. (Polyb. 2.16f;
Livy 21.39). By this time Pisan territory reached Castiglioncello to the S and
Luna to the N (Livy 34.56). After the Ligurians were subdued (ca. 177 B.C.), Luna
was made a citizen colony while Pisae's importance diminished, and though later
an Augustan colony, it is seldom mentioned in the sources.
The ancient city was roughly rectangular. The Piazza dei Cavalieri
is probably the site of its forum, with an Augusteum. There are remains of a theater
(on Via S. Zeno), the so-called Baths of Nero, an octagonal apsidal room of the
2d c. B.C., near the Lucca gate, an amphitheater N of the Serchio, and a Temple
of Vesta. Of the Portus Pisanus, connected to the town by a road, some Augustan
and Imperial traces remain. Archaic necropoleis existed near Porta a Mare (to
the W) and the Lucca Gate.
Both the Camposanto and the adjacent Museo dell'Opera della Cattedrale
contain fine Classical collections.
D. C. Scavone, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΛΙΒΟΡΝΟ (Πόλη) ΤΟΣΚΑΝΗ
Suffragan of Pisa. Leghorn (Italian Livorno), in Tuscany, is the capital of the
smallest of the provinces of Italy. The city is situated on marshy ground, and
is in consequence intersected by many canals, hence it has been called "Little
Venice". A larger canal puts it in communication with Pisa. It has two ports,
the old, or Medici, port, and the new port constructed in 1854. In former times
Leghorn was the most important port in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; even now it
is outranked only by Genoa and Naples.
Among its numerous teaching establishments are a naval academy, and
an observatory erected in 1881. The public library is important, and the prehistoric
museum contains many Etruscan and Roman antiquities. The town likewise possesses
a gallery of paintings, and its archives have an historical interest. Among the
more important industries are shipbuilding, ironworks, and trade in alabaster
and coral. The cathedral dates from the sixteenth century; there are also churches
belonging to the Greek, the Maronite, and the Armenian Rites. The Synagogue (1603)
is second only to that at Amsterdam. The royal palace was erected by Cosimo I.
Of note also are the Torre del Marzocco, now used as a signal station, and the
Torre della Meloria, near which, in 1241, the Pisans surprised and defeated the
Genoese fleet on its way to Rome with the French bishops who were going to the
council summoned against Frederick II.
Among the ancients Leghorn was known as Portus Liburni, and was of
small importance until the sixteenth century. It belonged to the Pisans, and was
captured from them by the Genoese. In 1421 the Florentines bought it for 100,000
florins, and thus Leghorn came to be the main outlet for Florentine commerce,
to the detriment of Pisa, which from that time began to wane. The Medici family
took great interest in the prosperity of this stronghold; Alessandro de' Medici
built the old fortress; Cosmo I, under the supervision of Vasari, built a breakwater
and a new canal. But the real author of its greatness was Ferdinand I, who called
Leghorn "his mistress". To increase its population he showered his favours on
it and on those who went to live there, and made it a town of refuge for men from
every nation, so that there flocked to it not only outlaws from all over Italy,
but even Greeks, Jews, and Moors driven out of Spain. Exiled English Catholics
found a home there. Cosmo II erected a monument to Ferdinand, the work of Giovanni
dell' Opera. Owing to the bombardment (by the English in 1651, and by the French
in 1671) of the Dutch fleet stationed in the harbour, Ferdinand II caused Leghorn
to be declared a neutral port by international treaty (1691). This neutrality
was violated for the first time in 1796 by Bonaparte, whose idea of a "Continental
blockade" did immense damage to the commerce of the town. In 1848 Leghorn was
the hotbed of the Tuscan revolution.
The episcopal see was created by Pius VII in 1806. Its first bishop
was Filippo Canucci. The diocese has 32 parishes with 170,000 souls. The number
of religious houses for men is 9, and for women, 12. It has 3 educational institutions
for boys, and 7 for girls.
U. Benigni, ed.
Transcribed by: Douglas J. Potter
This text is cited October 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
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