Le cinte murarie dell’Etruria meridionale all’epoca della conquista romana

Abstract

This paper aims at offering an updated overview of the urban fortifications of the Etruscan world erected between the IV and III century BC, on the eve of the Roman conquest of Southern Etruria and in the wake of the architectural innovations determined by the new techniques of Hellenistic poliorcetics. On the basis of this information, the dynamics of the gradual acquisition of the notions of the new Greek poliorcetics by the Romans between the end of the IV and the first decades of the III cent. BC is subsequently taken into account. In this regard, the discourse dwells on some examples of Roman military architecture, where the so-called “Hellenistic revolution” has found a complete manifestation, as in particular in the polygonal walls of Cosa and later in the wall circuit of Falerii Novi.
Keywords: Southern Etruria, Urban walls, Romanisation, Polygonal masonry, Falerii Novi