Faesulae
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Faesulas Proper-name noun feminine accusative plural of Faesulae
- a city of Etruria, now Fiesole, Cic. Cat. 3, 6, 14; Liv. 22, 3; Sall. C. 24, 2.—Also Faesŭla, ae, Sil. 8, 479.—
- II Deriv., Faesŭlānus (Fēs-), a, um, adj., of or belonging to Faesulae, Faesulan: ager, Cic. Cat. 2, 6, 14: coloni, id. Mur. 24, 49.—Subst.: Faesŭlā-nus, i, m., a Faesulan, Sall. C. 60, 6.
FAESULAE (Φαισοῦλαι, Ptol., App.; Φαίσολα, Pol.; Eth. Faesulanus: Fiesole), an ancient and important city of Etruria, situated on a hill rising above the valley of the Arnus, about 3 miles from the modern city of Florence. The existing remains sufficiently prove that it must have been a place of consideration as an Etruscan city, and Silius Italicus alludes to it as eminent for skill in divination (8.477), a character which could never have attached to a place not of remote antiquity, but no mention of it is found in history previous to the Roman dominion, nor do we know at what time or on what terms it submitted to the Roman yoke. The first mention of its name occurs in B. B.C. 225, during the great Gaulish War, when the invaders were attacked by the Roman army on their march from Clusium towards Faesulae. (Plb. 2.25.) It again appears in the Second Punic War as the place in the neighbourhood of which Hannibal encamped after he had crossed the Apennines and forced his way through the marshes in the lower valley of the Arnus, and from whence he advanced to meet Flaminius (who was then encamped at Arretium), before the battle of Trasymene. (Id. 3.80, 82; Liv. 22.3.) Faesulae is described as at that time immediately adjoining the marshes in question, and it is probable that the basin of the Arno just below Florence was then still marshy and subject to inundations. [ARNUS]. According to Florus (Flor. 3.18.11), Faesulae was taken and ravaged with fire and sword during the Social War (B.C. 90--89): but it seems more probable that this did not take place till the great devastation of Etruria by Sulla, a few years later. It is certain that after that event Faesulae was one of the places selected by the dictator for the establishment of a numerous military colony (Cic. pro Musren. 24, in Cat. 3.6.14), and, near 20 years after, we find these colonists of Sulla, a factious and discontented body of men, giving the chief support to the revolutionary movements of Catiline. It was on this account that that leader made Faesulae the headquarters of his military preparations under Manlius, and thither he betook himself when driven from Rome by Cicero. (Sal. Cat. 24, 27, 30, 32; Appian, App. BC 2.3; Cic. pro Muren. 24, in Cat. 2.6.14.) Here he organised a force of two legions, and continued to maintain his ground in the mountains near Faesulae, till, hemmed in by the armies of Metellus and Antonius, he was compelled to give battle to the latter near Pistoria. (Sall l. c. 56, 57.) The curious legends concerning Catiline, which have passed into the early chronicles of Florence, where he figures almost as a national hero (Malespini, Istor. Fiorent. cc. 13--21), prove the deep impression left in this part of Etruria by the events connected with his fall. From this time we hear little more of Faesulae: it appears to have sunk into the condition of an ordinary municipal town under the Roman empire (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 8, 7.13. s. 11; Ptol. 3.1.47), and the growth of the neighbouring Florentia was probably unfavourable to its prosperity. But in the Gothic wars, after the fall of the Western Empire, Faesulae again appears as a strong fortress, which was not reduced by Belisarius until after a long siege. (Procop. B. G. 2.23, 24, 27.)
In the middle ages Faesulae was reduced to insignificance by the growing power of the Florentines, and gradually fell into decay. According to the ordinary histories of Florence (Machiavelli, Villani, &c.), it was taken and destroyed by the Florentines in A.D. 1010, but much doubt has been thrown on this statement by modern historians. Fiesole is now a mere village, though retaining its episcopal rank and ancient cathedral.
The ruins of Faesulae, especially the remains of its ancient walls, confirm the accounts of its having been an important Etruscan city. Large portions of these walls, constructed in the same style with those of Volaterrae and Cortona, though of somewhat less massive masonry, were preserved till within a few years, and some parts of them are still visible. The whole circuit however was less than two miles in extent, forming a somewhat quadrangular enclosure, which occupied the whole summit of the hill,. an advanced post or buttress of the Apennines, rising to the height of more than 1000 feet above the valley of the Arnus. The highest point, now occupied by the convent of S. Francesco, formed the Arx of the ancient city, and appears to have been fortified by successive tiers of walls, in the same style as those which encircled the city itself. Within the circuit of the walls are the remains of the ancient theatre, which have been as yet but imperfectly excavated; but there appears no doubt that they are of Roman date and construction, though this theatre is repeatedly referred to by Niebuhr as a monument of Etruscan greatness. (Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 130, 135; Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. vol. 1. p. 152; Dennis, Etruria, vol. 2. p. 127.) Near it was discovered a curious cistern or reservoir for water, probably of Etruscan date, roofed in by converging layers of stone, so arranged as to form a rude kind of vaulting. Of the numerous minor objects of antiquity that have been found on the site of Faesulae, the most interesting is a bas-relief of a warrior of very ancient style, and one of the most curious specimens of early Etruscan art. It is figured by Micali (pl. li. fig. 3), All the remains of antiquity at Faesulae are fully described by Dennis (l. c. pp. 119--130).
[E.H.B]The modern Fiesole; a city of Etruria, situated on a hill three miles northeast of Florence. It was the headquarters of Catiline's army (Cat. iii. 6).
A town on the hill that dominates Florence. With the exception of the geographers (Plin. 3.52; Ptol. 3.1.43), it is rarely mentioned in the literary sources, and does not even appear in the Itineraria. It is mentioned for the first time in connection with the Gallic invasion in 225 B.C. (Polyb. 2.25); then by Polybios (3.80.82) and by Livy (22.3) during the second Punic war when Hannibal's army camped in the fertile Fiesole countryside. From that time on, the citations increase.
Fiesole participated in the social war and was devastated in 90 B.C. by Lucius Porcius Cato (Florus, Ep. 2). Later on, the victorious Sulla established a colony of veterans there (Cic. Cat. 3.14; Sall. Cat. 28). The Fiesolani revolted in 78 B.C.; and in 63 took part in Catiline's conspiracy (Sall. Cat. 24.27.30; App. BCiv. 2.3).
The few fragments that survive from the archaic period indicate that the area must already have been inhabited in the Early Iron Age. The city must have developed at a much later period, even though certain stretches of the encircling wall on the upper part of the hill of S. Francesco and near Borgunto seem to date from the 5th c. B.C., while the major part of the wall dates from the 3d c. B.C. Various building techniques, with some stretches in polygonal work, confirm that the wall was built in stages with some rebuilding in the Roman period.
Inside the walls, which extend for ca. 3 km, the most significant building yet excavated is a temple dedicated to a healing divinity, constructed with separate annexes probably for the use of pilgrims. The temple has a peculiar plan, consisting of a cella against the far wall and two lateral wings. The entrance between two columns was reached by a stepped ramp. Excavations in progress in the area immediately in front of the temple have brought to light the altar belonging to the Etruscan temple, a drain from the same period, and another at a lower level from an earlier period (5th to 4th c. B.C.). This suggests an urban system preceding the Hellenistic. The necropolis, with chambered tombs, in the area called Bargellino to the N of the wall, contains no funerary material earlier than the 3d c. B.C. In the fields around Fiesole nevertheless several stelai have been found that date as far back as the 6th c. B.C. They come from isolated tombs, often far apart. Near the Villa Marchi, inside the Etruscan wall on the slope that overlooks Florence, a shrine was found with a votive stipe that offers a rich sampling of small bronzes.
Fiesole was at its height under Augustus. To this time, according to the latest stratigraphic tests, belong the theater, the baths, and perhaps the rebuilding of the Etruscan temple, destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 1st c. B.C. and reconstructed with its annexes at a higher level with a slightly amplified plan.
The central part of the cavea of the theater rests against the hill while the lateral sections are carried by vaults. The theater must have been refurbished during the Roman Imperial age, as can be seen from the plaques on the pulpitum, which show noticeable stylistic and chronological discrepancies. Since the Fiesole hillside is made up of sloping terraces, the forum was probably in the modern Piazza Mino da Fiesole where, at a more elevated position, the Capitolium must have been under the present church of S. Maria Primerana. The theater, of several levels, linked the forum and the buildings in front on the lower terrace built against the wall, the temple, and the baths. The latter have a very simple plan with natatoria at the entrance, then the tepidarium flanked by two apoditeria, to the right the caldarium, and to the left the frigidarium with the swimming pool. Behind the caldarium are two earthenware furnaces. The water for the baths came from Montereggi, where the beginning of the Roman aqueduct has been traced. The baths show rebuilding during the Imperial epoch up until the Severian age.
Numerous barbarian tombs have been found during excavation in the archaeological zone. Fiesole again appears in the histories at the beginning of the 5th c. when Stilicone defeated the Goths under Radagaiso near Fiesole (Oros. 7.37), and in 539 when Fiesole was occupied by Belisarius (Procop. Goth. 2.23, 24, 27). Under Pope Gelasius I (492-96) a notice of an episcopus faesulanus shows that Christianity had already reached Fiesole.
BIBLIOGRAPHY“Faesulae” in PW 6C; EAA 3 (1960) with biblio. (G. Maetzke); A. De Agostino, NSc (1940) 180ff. Per la necropoli: G. Maetzke, NSc (1957) 267ff. Per l'ara: F. Castagnoli, BullComm 77 (1959-60) p. IIII; P. Bocci, St. Etruschi 29 (1960) 421ff; id., NSc (1961) 52ff.
P. BOCCI PACINI