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Tarquinia (), formerly known as Corneto, is an ancient city in the Province of Viterbo, Lazio, central Italy. It is renowned for its extensive Etruscans necropoleis, which contain some of the most important painted tombs of the ancient world. In recognition of its cultural significance, Tarquinia was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia.
The modern town was renamed in 1922 after the ancient city of Tarquinii (Latin) or Tarch(u)na (Etruscan). Although little remains above ground of the once-flourishing city, archaeological excavations continue to uncover important remnants of its Etruscan and Roman past.
The ancient burial grounds (necropoleis), dating from the Iron Age (9th century BC, or Villanovan period) to Roman times, were on the adjacent promontories including that of today's Tarquinia.
The impact of Etruscan culture on Rome was notably manifested during the reign of the fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, who demonstrated his drive for power through military success against the Sabines and Latins, improvements to the Roman Forum, and adoption of Etruscan royal dress. His successor, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, played a crucial role in establishing key institutions fundamental to Rome's administrative and societal structure.
Numerous Roman religious rites and ceremonies derived from Tarchuna, and even in Roman Empire a collegium of sixty haruspices continued to exist there.
The emergence of Tarchuna as a trading power as early as the 8th Century BC was influenced by its control of mineral resources located in the Tolfa Hills to the south of the city and midway to the port of Pyrgi.
In 509 BC, after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the family of Tarquinius Superbus went into exile in Caere. He sought to regain the throne at first by the Tarquinian conspiracy and, when that failed, by force of arms. He convinced the cities of Tarchuna and Veii to support him and led their armies against Rome in the Battle of Silva Arsia. Although the Roman army was victorious, it is recorded by Livy that the forces of Tarchuna fought well on the right wing, initially pushing back the Roman left wing. After the battle the forces of Tarchuna returned home.Livy, Ab urbe condita, 2.6-7
At the end of the 5th century and during the first half of the 4th century BC a brief revival took place, both in the political and artistic sphere, probably under the ascendancy of the Spurinnia gens family, whose members contributed to the renewed expansion of Tarchuna and the repopulation and growth of towns in the hinterland. The Spurinnas' tomb, known as the Tomba dell'Orco, is decorated with frescoes of a banquet uniting members of the family who are identified by inscriptions. The Spurinna family was prominent in Tarquinii up to the 1st century AD. Two fragmented slabs, known as the Elogia Tarquiniensis, pay tribute to Velthur Spurinnas and Aulus Spurinnas, and give a rare glimpse of Etruscan history, including the mention of one King Orgolnium of Caere, recalling the family name of Urgulanilla, which included among its members the wife of the emperor Claudius.
During this period, Tarchuna overtook Caere and other Etruscan cities in terms of power and influence. In this period colossal walls were built around the city in response to threats from the Celts and from Rome. Tarchuna, not affected by Celtic invasions, finally colonised all its previously held territories in about 385 BC. This new flourishing state allowed a rapid recovery of all activities. Large burial monuments decorated by paintings, with sarcophagi and funerary sculptures in stone, reflect the eminent social position of the new aristocratic classes, but several inscriptions on walls and sarcophagi, including the important Sarcophagus of Lars Pulenas, show the gradual process of an increasingly democratic transition was taking place.
However, during the 4th century BC when Tarchuna's expansion was at its peak, a bitter struggle with Rome took place. In 358 BC, the citizens of Tarchuna captured and put to death 307 Roman soldiers; the resulting war ended in 351 BC with a forty years' truce, renewed for a similar period in 308 BC.
The importance of Tarquinii to archaeologists lies mainly in its necropolis, situated to the southeast of the medieval town, on the hill named "Monterozzi". The oldest tombs are tombe a pozza, or shaft graves, containing the ashes of the dead in an urn. The oldest of them is probably pre-Etruscan; in some of these tombs are hut-shaped urns, many of which contain well-preserved paintings of various periods; some show close kinship to archaic Greek art, while others are more recent, and one may belong to the middle of the 4th century BC. Sarcophagus from these tombs, some showing traces of painting, were preserved in the municipal museum, as were numerous , Bronze sculpture and other objects.
The name of Corneto was changed to Tarquinia in 1922. Reversion to historical place names (not always accurately), was a frequent phenomenon under the Fascist Government of Italy as part of the nationalist campaign to evoke past glories.
The painted scenes are of a quality virtually unrivalled elsewhere in the Etruscan world and give a valuable insight into the secretive world of the Etruscans which is rarely documented. They show banquets with dances and music, sporting events, occasional erotic and mythical scenes. In the late period underworld demons escorting the dead on their journey to the beyond including scenes in the nether world were depicted, and also processions of magistrates and other symbols of the rank of the eminent members of the families buried there.
Famous tombs include the Tomb of the Bulls, Tomb of the Augurs and the Tomb of the Leopards.
During the second half of the 4th century sculpted and painted sarcophagi of nenfro, marble and alabaster came into use. They were deposited on rock-carved benches or against the walls in the by then very large underground chambers. Sarcophagi continued until the second century and are found in such numbers at Tarquinia that they must have been manufactured locally.
The city towered above the Marta valley and was about 6 km from the sea. La Civita is made up of two adjoining plateaux, the pian di Civita and the pian della Regina, joined by a narrow saddle.
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