The City of Caere

The city extends along a tufacious plateau where the rive Magnello meets the Fosso della Mola, a short distance from the sea. the presence of noticeable traces of protovillanovan settlements, particularly at Sasso di Fubara and Monte Abatone, testifies to the fact that this area was already densely populated in the prehistoric era. It is believed that the city was in the process of developing during the early Iron Age (9th century B.C.); this is borne out by the necropoli of Sorbo and of Cava della Pozzolana, which have given us numerous Villanovan burial sites whose form is less developed than that of those found in places in Southern Etruria, such as Tarquinia, Veii and Vulci.

The city's greates period of prosperity, which is perhaps tied up with the intense exploitation of the mineral resources of the Tolfa Mountains and with the expansion of maritime trade, could already be clearly seen at the end of the 8th century B.C., but especially throughout the 7th century B.C. It was then that Caere became the centre in which it is possible to recognize a whole series of crafts of great importance such as the outstanding production of Bucchero, of bronze and of italo-geometric ceramics. In the funereal rite, the Villanovan cremation was soon replaced by burial of the body and the first chamber tombs appear as early as the beginning of the 7th century B.C. These tombs testify to the high level of technical ability that the Etruscans had reached in the ancient orientally oriented age.

These tombs imitate and therefore document the development of the architecture of civil dwellings, which were in turn an expression of the rising Etruscan aristocracy, and it is from them, in the best cases, that outstanding grave goods have been brought to light. The Regolini-Galassi tomb, in the necropolis of Sorbo, is a noteworthy example. It's outstanding grave goods, dating from about 675 B.C., are now in the Vatican Museum.

The great glory of Caere continued in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. as well, when the city proved itself an important Mediterranean centre; togethre with the Carthaginians, the city fought, with uncertain outcome, against the Greeks of Phocea in the Sardinian Sea, and it was the only Etruscan city to have a "thesauros" (treasure house) in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. That war notwithstanding, there were strong cultural ties with the Greek world, as findings of Greek pottery in the city's environs and Greek influences on Etruscan art prove.

Between the 5th and 4th centurie B.C. Caere was hit by the general crisis of Southern Etruria, together with the decline in Etruscan naval power and the rapid strengthening of Rome. The abandonment of the city began in the Hellenistic Age and gained momentum during the Imperial Age and was completed by the time of the High Middle Ages.