The next four sections are distributed as follows: in the first, I will assess the position and the possession of the Etruscan settlements aligned on the left bank and the presence of Latin ethnic populations (Faliscans and Capenates) on the right bank of the Tiber.[2.2.5] In the second, I will show the distinctiveness of the Capitoline Hill as another settlement similar to Crustumerium (modern Marcigliana, North of Rome), Antemnae (modern Monte Antenne, Rome) and Fidenae (modern Borgata Fidene, Rome), which were probably under the influence of the Etruscans.[2.2.6] The third section will show the connection between the left bank, where Rome’s core lay, and the right side: the occupation of the Janiculum.[2.2.7] The last will underline how the bridge – or previously any other conjoining means (ferry, Tiberine Island) – may have played a connective, vital part in linking two sides of the river.[2.2.8]
[FIG 13]In this section, I will provide an overall picture of the political and topographical situation along the Tiber prior to the foundation of Rome. The strip of land which follows the Tiber and goes from Nomentum (modern Mentana) to Rome is deemed especially sensitive, with the settlements on the left bank, in particular, dotted with fortified settlements occupying steep hills overlooking the course of the Tiber. Nomentum, Crustuminum (or Crustumerium), Antemnae, Fidenae and possibly Caenina (not identified) were – along with Rome – those bulwarks which directly faced the south bank of the Tiber. The strength of their strategic position came mainly from several points: a) the river crossings; b) the control of main communication routes; and c) the control of the junctions with tributaries. These
settlements were considered a critical hub along the two routes which, in their first section, flanked the Tiber and the break caused by the river-crossing itself.396
The towns of Caenina, Antemnae and Crustuminum were under the authority of the Sabines.397[3.3] and although they were considered Latin cities by foundation,398 Livy suggests an alternative tradition. Two of the three strongholds were under the influence of the Etruscans: Crustumerium (modern Marcigliana) and Fidenae399 (modern Castel Giubileo) and these communities had a ‘blood connection’ with Veii.400 Fidenae in particular – which was about five miles north of Rome (in Latin or Sabine territory) – was a city that was always allied with Veii and traditionally considered Etruscan.401 The Livian statement is even stronger – he expressly states that “nam Fidenates quoque Etrusci fuerunt” (“the Fidenates were also Etruscans”).402 As a third connection between the Veientes and Fidenates, Livy even notices that the Fidenates had only learnt the Latin language from their intercourse with the Roman colonists.403 Yet Livy is the only writer who alludes to such extension of the Etruscan power beyond the Tiber, despite the fact that Fidenae frequently appears in alliance with Veii, which is sufficiently accounted for by their relative positions. Nomentum – the more southern city in this war scenario could be used as a stronghold from which the Etruscans could launch their attacks on Rome. Here, the Fidenates are also allied in a sort of federation – with Faliscans and Capenates – led by Veii itself (Veientium Fidenatiumque adiunctis Faliscis ad
396
Hintzen-Bohlen 2001:359.
397
Liv. 1.9.6. They were invited by Romulus for the festival of Consualia. On the connection between
Consualia and Neptunus Equestris; see Ogilvie 1965:66. Cf. Liv. 1.38.
398
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1.44, 2.35) expressly assigns to the Aborigines the foundation of Antemnae, Caenina, Ficulea, Tellenae, and Tibur.
399
FIDENAE (Φιδῆναι, Strab., Ptol., but Φιδήνη in Dion. Hal., Fidena is used by Virg. Aen. 6.773 and by Tacitus Ann. 4.62; Eth. Fidenās,-ātis; Φιδηναῖος, Dionys.) has been deemed an ancient city of Latium and on the Via Salaria, five miles from Rome. There appears no doubt that it was originally and properly a Latin city. Virgil mentions it among the colonies found by the kings of Alba; and in accordance with the same view, Dionysius relates that Fidenae, Crustumerium, and Nomentum were founded by colonists from Alba led by three brothers, the eldest of whom was the founder of Fidenae (Virg. Aen. 6.773; Dion. Hal. 2.53; Steph.B. sub voce). Still more decisive is it that its name is found in Pliny in the list of the towns that were accustomed to share in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount. (Plin. N.H. 3.5. s. 9.69).
400
Liv. 1.15.1; Strabo 5.2.9. Guidi (2004) has shown the presence of pre- / protohistorical occupational patterns in both sites. See also Carafa 2004:52-3. Archaeological connections between Veii and Crustuminus are detectable in Di Gennaro, Schiappelli & Amoroso 2004:147-55.
401
Camporeale 2005:18.
402
Liv. 1.15.1.
403
Liv. 1.27.9; cf. Liv. 38.34.6; cf. Bayet 1938; Ogilvie 1965:119.
Nomentum exercitus fuderit).404 Therefore, it is clear that several cities on the left bank of the Tiber were linked in some way with Veii. However, once again Livy’s vision appears to be different from that of other authors. Why did Livy need to show that the Fidenates, who were settled on the opposite bank from Veii, were Etruscans?
There is a common belief that the Etruscans had their core nation delimited by defined borders (Tiber and Arno). Some scholars, including Camporeale,405 have questioned this assumption, however. Briefly, therefore, I will present those cases in which the Tiber did not represent a separating line, concerning ethnicity, culture and language. Despite Livy presenting the Tiber as finis, it should not to be considered as a demarcating or dividing line distinctly separating Etruscans from Latins. On the other side of the Tiber, the situation presented some anomalies in terms of the relationship between populations and territory. Holland here embraces the same thinking as Pliny:406 the central-Italian tribes or peoples encompassed specific spheres of competence and rivers played a key role in this subdivision.407 Directly opposite one another, the Faliscans and Capenati inhabited the right bank of the Tiber408 – in that region which Pliny denominates as ‘Etruria’ – yet they are often presented together in Livy.409 They occupied the ager Faliscus and, although they belonged geographically and politically to the Etruscan federation,410 spoke Latin.411
404
Liv. 4.32.3.
405
Camporeale 2005:18.
406
Plin. N.H. 3.54. The geo-political situation of the Etruria’s borders seems to be the clearest and ‘sharpest’ in the Italian peninsula, as it was enclosed inside two rivers and a sea. Pliny, although a geographer rather than an historian and writing two generations after Livy, uses rivers to shape geo- political entity and not populations or ethnic groups. Etruria and Latium are named, outlined and bordered by rivers.
407
Holland 1949:303-319.
408
Camilli & Vitali Rosati 1995; Mazzi 1995.
409
Liv. 5.8.4,8; 5.12.5; 5.13.9; 5.17.6; 5.18.7, 10; 5.19.7; 6.4.4.
410
The ager Faliscus was bordered on the East by the Tiber and it seems that the significant crossing was by Lucus Feroniae at the southern end of the ager Capenas; cf. Frederiksen & Ward Perkins 1957. The northern and southern limits of the ager Faliscus are harder to establish. Northwards, the ager Faliscus extended to the ager Hortanus to the Northeast and the ager
Vulcentanus. To the Southwest, the ager Faliscus bordered on the ager Veientanus. The most
obvious natural boundary here is formed by the Monti Sabatini and the ridge connecting these with
Mons Soracte (Monte Soratte), and this may well have been the original western boundary of the ager Faliscus. (Cf. Plin. N.H. 7.2.19) and Porphyrio (in Hor. Carm. 1.9.1) The border with the ager Capenas must have run somewhere along its southern and southeastem slopes. It is unclear
whether the land between Monte Soratte and the Tiber belonged to the ager Capenas or the ager
Faliscus: although modern authors tend to assign it to the ager Capenas, the 4th and 3rd century
After the fall of Veii (390 B.C.), the Faliscans allied with the Tarquinians.412 Politically, the ager Faliscus was probably subsumed into Etruria in a later period413 and then aggregated into the ager Veientem;414 the Faliscans were ‘federative’ allies of Veii.415 Livy knew the natural features that characterised the logistic and strategic importance of the ager Faliscus. Geographically, it was ‘bordered’ by the Sabatini and Cimini Mountains – which Mommsen considers the earliest boundary of Etruria416 – respectively on the South- and Northwest. Livy records that, at the end of the 4th century, the slopes of these mountains were densely wooded,417 forming an impassable forest: the Silva Cimina.418 Throughout the 5th century, the political influence of Veii extended northward, encompassing with the Ciminian slopes the bulwarks of Sutrium and Nepet (modern Sutri and Nepi), of which Livy recognises their strategic importance, limiting the northern expansion of the ager
Faliscus. Although he does not use the term finis, Livy allows the reader to visualise
the function with regard to the Sutrium and Nepet as:
namque cum ea loca opposita Etruriae et uelut claustra inde portaeque essent, et illis occupandi ea cum quid noui molirentur et Romanis reciperandi tuendique cura erat.419
fronting Etruria, served as gates and bulwarks on that side, and the Etruscans were anxious to secure them whenever they were meditating hostilities, whilst the Romans were equally anxious to recover and hold them.
Mommsen has already tackled the question of the Faliscans in the Etruscan territory, emphasising the role of Sutrium and Nepet.420[2.2.5] The Livian comparison with gates and claustra is crucial as it brings to mind a comparison between the landscape and the city, imagining or considering them as part of a
inscriptions from the area to the east of Monte Soratte are virtually without exception Faliscan, instead of Capenate Latin). cf. De Lucia Brolli, Gallavotti & Aiello 1991.
411
On the Faliscan language: Mommsen 1873:1.121; Giacomelli 1963; Vetter 1953; Giacomelli 1978. 412 Liv. 7.17.2,7. 413 Mommsen 1973 1.121, 130. 414 Liv. 4.21.1. 415
Liv. 4.17.11: ‘Faliscorum auxilio venerunt’; cf. 4.18; 4.21.8; 4.23.4; 4.32.3; 5.8.6; 5.11.8
416
Mommsen 1873:1.130.
417
Pollen analyses of samples from the beds of the Lago di Bracciano. The Lago di Monterosi and the Lago di Vico, which indicate that the eastern slopes of the Monti Sabatini were covered by dense oak forests that remained largely undisturbed until the 3rd and 2nd century B.C; cf. Potter 1976:6.
418
Cf. Liv. 9.35.9-37.1, spec. 9.36.1. Cf. also 10.24.5. In the last passage, Etruria is assigned to a
member of Fabian family and he opened a route through the Silva Cimina.
419
Liv. 6.9.4.
420
Mommsen 1873:1.30. Morselli 1980; Ceccarelli & Stoddart 2007:
‘walled’ area.421 These towns subsequently became Roman colonies in the early 4th century, ceasing to be part of the ager Faliscus at an earlier date.422 The same terminology and visualisation finds some correspondence in the Fetial’s procedure when accessing different areas or zones, where the gate of a city are equated to the
fines.[4.2.3] In summary, the situation as depicted by Livy appears as follows: the Etruscans of Veii seemed to have control of a federation of sorts, which extended beyond both banks of the Tiber.423 The definition of finis as given to the Tiber by Livy seems, therefore, not to conform to the idea of a dividing line, which dissects two territories in two distinctive parts.