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Caere (also Caisra and Cisra) is the Latin name given by the Ancient Rome to one of the larger cities of southern Etruria, the modern Cerveteri, approximately 50β60 kilometres north-northwest of Rome. To the Etruscans it was known as Cisra, to the Greeks as Agylla and to the Phoenicians as π€π€π€π€π€π€ ().KAI 277 - Pyrgi Tablets
Caere was one of the most important and populous Etruscan city-states, in area 15 times larger than today's town, and only Tarquinia was equal in power at its height around 600 BC. Caere was also one of the cities of the Etruscan League. Its sea port and monumental sanctuary at Pyrgi was important for overseas trade. Today, the area of Cerveteri is best known for its Etruscan necropolis and archaeological treasures.
Trade between the Greeks and Etruscans became increasingly common in the middle of the 8th century BC, with standardised urns and pottery common in graves of the time. The town became the main Etruscan trading centre during the 7th century BC, and trade increased with other Greek colony in Southern Italy and Sicily, and with the Corinthians. Locally manufactured products began to imitate imported Greek pottery, especially after the immigration of Greek artists into Etruria.
The oldest examples of Bucchero ceramics come from Caere and it can be assumed that these typical Etruscan ceramics were developed here or produced at least for the first time in large scale.Nigel Spivey: Etruscan Art, London 1997, , page 37
The early prosperity of the city is demonstrated by graves from the Orientalizing Period, from around 700 BC, which often contain eastern imports and rich gold finds; the Regolini-Galassi tomb is especially notable for its fine gold offerings.Weber: History of the Etruscans, p.36 From 530 to 500 BC a generation of Greek artists was active in the city, producing colour-painted hydrias. Burials of the time became increasingly grand, with Etruscan jewelry and other products of particularly fine manufacture, illustrating the continuing good fortunes of the city. At the height of its prosperity in the 6th century BC, the people of Caere (with the Carthaginians) emerged marginally victorious from clashes with the Phocaean Greeks. Caere had a good reputation among the Greeks for its values and sense of justice, since it abstained from piracy.Strabo, Geographia, V, 2,3. It was one of only two Etruscan cities to erect its own treasury at Delphi, the "Agillei Treasury" dedicated to Pythian Apollo. This was generally not allowed to non-Greeks, and the legends regarding earlier Greek colonization in the wider area of Caere and Rome seem to have played an important role in allowing what was, from a political point of view, a bold act. Delphi was also a centre of politics and intrigue for the whole Eastern Mediterranean and Near East area.
Caere appears for the first time in documented history in 540 BC concerning the Battle of Alalia in which captured prisoners were stoned to death in the city, an act that was later attributed as the cause of an ensuing plague. In recompense, athletic contests were held every year in the city to honour the dead. In 509 BC, upon the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and his two eldest sons Titus Tarquinius and Aruns went into exile in Caere.Livy, Ab urbe condita 1.60
In spite of the difficulties affecting Etruria during the period, trade once again flourished through the 5th century BC, arguably due to the particularly good relations with the Rome, a traditional ally of the city. Communication with Rome was via branch roads from the Via Aurelia and Via Clodia.
Caere was not spared by the crisis that affected the great centres of southern Etruria during the second half of that century, after the defeat at sea at the Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. A recovery can be perceived, however, at the beginning of the 4th century BC, when strong relationships with Rome continued. The town sheltered the Roman refugees including the priests and Vestal Virgins after the Gallic attack and fire of 390 BC, and the Roman aristocracy was educated in Caere.Livy, Ab urbe condita 5.40
The Roman Tabulae Caeritum dates from this time; it listed those citizens of Caere who were classed as Roman citizens and liable for military service, without being able to vote. It is supposed to have been the first community to receive this privilege, known as ius Caeritum.
In 384/383 BC Dionysius plundered Pyrgi. Support came from Caere, but this was also beaten.Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheke Historian XV 14
In 353 BC Caere, allied to the Tarquinii, lost a war with Rome and with it some of its territory, including the coastal area and ports so important for trade. From about 300 BC Caere came under Roman rule. Although the exact sequence of their submission can no longer be reconstructed today, there had been numerous feuds. Rome is said to have had a 100-year truce with Caere as a result, and virtually all Etruria was in Roman hands from about 295 BC. It provided Rome with various provisions during the First Punic War, but otherwise contributed little materially.
The city briefly regained some prosperity under either Augustus or Tiberius, but lost its wealth and power completely by the first century AD.
No longer a residential bishopric, Caere is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 867
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