VULCI. - Ancient Etruscan city near the Via Aurelia, about 20 km. northwest of Tarquinia.

It flourished until 280 B.C., when it was occupied by the Romans, as attested by the sumptuous tombs found from 1828 onward, rich in bronzes, stone sculptures, goldwork, and remarkable series of vases and wall paintings, material now dispersed among museums throughout the world. It declined in the Roman age, although it had become a municipium. Christianity there is documented by the remains of a Christian hypogeum.

In the spring of 1834 a semicircular chamber was discovered with a vaulted ceiling supported by a travertine pillar. Tombs were found there, the first of them in masonry with a plastered lid on which the remains of a five-line inscription could be read, ending with the wish «(c)um san(c)is» (CIL, XI, 2949); among the debris of a wall outside, three painted heads were identified, one of which appeared to be haloed and clothed in a dalmatic. To the right of the semicircular chamber, an inscription of two lines was found scratched on the plaster, the second of which contained the wish: «pax cum ang(elis)» (CIL, XI, 2950). Among the earth, coins of Constantine, Decentius, Valentinian and Gratian were found.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: D. Campanari, Scavi di V., in Bull. dell'Ist. di Corrisp. archeol., 1835, pp. 177-80; G. B. De Rossi, I primitivi monum, crist. di Corusto Tarquinia, in Bull. arch. crist., 2ª serie, 5 (1874); ibid., 6 (1875), pp. 113-16; F. Messerschmidt, Nebropolen von V., Berlino 1930.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec12_vulci, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Vulci}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1636--1637}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/vulci} }

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