Volsinii
Volsinii, an ancient Etruscan city located in the region of Umbria, was strategically positioned on a volcanic plateau overlooking the confluence of the Clanis and Pallia rivers. The city emerged around 500 BC, likely as a collective of local villages. It gained prominence partly due to its religious significance, housing notable temples dedicated to deities like Nortia, and proximity to the revered Fanum Voltumnae, a major sanctuary for Etruscan states. As an independent city-state following the decline of Clusium's power, Volsinii thrived until the fourth century BC when Roman expansion posed a threat. The Romans eventually subdued Volsinii, leading to the relocation of its population to a new site, now known as Bolsena. Archaeological findings from both Volsinii and its successor, New Volsinii, provide insights into Etruscan culture, including sophisticated burial practices and urban planning, reflecting the city's significant role in Etruscan history and its eventual assimilation into the Roman world.
Volsinii
the Etruscan Velsu, Velzna (Orvieto, from Latin Urbs Vetus, `Old City’)
Volsinii was situated in the interior of Etruria (now Umbria) on a volcanic plateau protected by formidable cliffs and overlooking the junction of the rivers Clanis (Chiana, now drained) and Pallia (Paglia), tributaries of the Tiber. The Clanis valley provided a route to Clusium (Chiusi), which—to judge from archaeological evidence—was responsible for the amalgamation of a group of villages at Volsinii c 500 BC. When, in the later part of the sixth century, the great Lars Porsenna is described by Livy as `King of Volsinii,’ this is probably because, as the monarch of Clusium, he ruled over Volsinii as its dependency.
Volsinii was useful to the Clusines because its river basins provided access to the navigable Tiber. But the city also possessed exceptional religious importance—and claimed antique mythical origins—not only because of its own temples (notably shrines of Nortia and the underworld deities), but also because of the proximity of the greatest of all the sanctuaries of Etruria, the Fanum Voltumnae; to which all the Etruscan states sent representatives every year to perform religious rituals, banding themselves into a Federation for this purpose. It may well have been because of the prestige derived from this holy place (which is now unidentifiable) that Volsinii played a large part in Etruscan expansion beyond the homeland, particularly, it would seem, in Campania, where local coins display the inscription `Velzu,’ which is closely reminiscent of the `Velsu’ on issues of Volsinii itself.
After the eclipse of Clusine power in about 500, Volsinii became an independent city-state. The tombs in its two cemeteries, laid out like miniature houses in straight right-angled streets, attain their wealthiest appearance at this time, though burials range in date from the eighth to third centuries BC (paintings from three graves, formerly kept at Florence, have now been returned to Orvieto). A necropolis in the suburban area of Cannicella, reexcavated in recent years, has been found to include or adjoin an important cult center; the objects unearthed have now been lodged in the Museo della Fondazione Faina. A strip of bronze displays an inscription giving the name of a goddess called Vei. In the surrounding region, the influence of Volsinii is apparent in finds at Acquapendente (above the Pallia), Bomarzo on the river Vezza, Bolsena (see below) on Lake Volsiniensis, and elsewhere. During the fourth century BC, however, the Romans saw in Volsinii an obstacle to their own expansion, and the city's natural defences were overcome when the supposedly impenetrable Ciminian Forest to the south was traversed by a Roman consul in 310. Not long afterward, in 294 and 280, other Roman commanders, too, celebrated Triumphs over Volsinii; and in 265–64, according to Zonaras, the Romans intervened to put down an insurrection of the local proletariat, thus strengthening the position of the city's to additional ruling class, whom as usual Rome maintained or installed as its puppets.
Nevertheless, the incident evidently convinced the Romans that the place had no useful future; and so its population was moved to another ancient center henceforward known as New Volsinii (Volsinii Novi; now Bolsena in Lazio), which was a station on the Via Cassia. Excavations at New Volsinii have revealed a town designed according to a rectangular street plan and containing a forum, amphitheater, theater, and baths. Private houses have also been uncovered. Volsinii Novi was the birthplace of Tiberius' praetorian prefect and principal minister Sejanus and of the fourth-century geographical writer Avienus, who belonged to the distinguished local family of the Rufii Festi.