ABSTRACT
The Etruscan Velzna (Latin Volsinii), the current Orvieto, was an important polis exalted by the ancient writers for its wealth and power.1 Valerius Maximus (9.1, ext. 2), for example, defines it as “opulenta, moribus et legibus ordinata, Etruriae caput.” The latest modern criticism believes that near the city was located the Fanum Voltumnae, the federal sanctuary of the Etruscans of which Livy writes on several occasions (4.23.5, 4.25.7, 4.61.2, 5.17.6, 6.2.2), but without ever stating the name of the center, which was the seat of the sanctuary. From the historian we know that representatives of the league of the twelve peoples met regularly at the Fanum to make decisions together, including decisions on foreign policy as happened during the clash between Rome and Veii. The god worshiped in the sanctuary was Voltumna-Vertumnus, defined by Varro (Lingua Latina 5.46) as the “deus Etruriae princeps” and assimilated to Tinia. During the meetings there were held, as well as religious ceremonies, fairs, markets, theatrical spectacles and solemn games that it was forbidden to interrupt. The location of the sanctuary in Orvieto is suggested by the so-called Rescript of Spello (CIL XI.5265), written between 333 and 337 ad, by which the emperor Constantine granted the right to celebrate the annual religious ceremonies and ludi, imposed as an ancient custom, to the inhabitants of Spello in their city without having to go through difficult paths to Volsinii. The poet Propertius also attests to the Volsinian origin of Vertumnus (4.2.1–4), summoned to Rome in 264 bc when the consul Fulvius Flaccus conquered Volsinii (CIL I.2, 46). Festus (s.v. toga picta, 228 L) reports that in the Aventine temple of the god the consul was depicted as a triumphator. According to an account by Pliny (NH 34.16.34) the Romans plundered the town of 2,000 bronze statues: the number, perhaps exaggerated, is surely indication of the existence of a rich sanctuary.