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Modern Description: A major Etruscan town on a long tufa plateau 8 km from the sea and isolated from the surrounding plain by two small rivers, the Fosso del Manganello and the Fosso della Mola. Legend attributes its foundation to Thessalian invaders, its name deriving from invasion by Tyrrhenians. The town was allied with the Carthaginians in a successful battle against Phokaians in the Sardinian Sea (ca. 535 B.C.). In spite of a sudden change of alliance with the Tarquinii in 353 B.C., the town received civitas sine suffragio from Rome for help in battling the Gauls. But in 293 B.C. or 273 B.C., a revolt of the Etruscans deprived Caere of its independence and of half of its territory, the coastal strip where the Romans founded four colonies, Fregenae, Alsium, Pyrgi, and Castrum Novum. Caere's decline dates from this period, and by early Imperial times the once great metropolis was no more than a village. At least six temples are known, of which only two have been officially excavated: one on the N ridge (the so-called Manganello temple) and another nearby dedicated to Hera and frequented by Greek merchants as painted inscriptions indicate. Some 18th c. excavations revealed extensive Roman buildings, including a theater, a portico, and an Augusteum (now covered over). Some stretches of city walls of the 4th c. B.C. can be seen along the ridge.
Three cemeteries are known: the largest on a hilltop NW of the town (Banditaccia), another on a similar height on the other side of the town (Monte Abatone), and the third on the S slopes of the hill (Sorbo) on which the town stands.
Two Iron Age necropoleis of Villanovan type, one on Sorbo and one at Cava della Pozzalana on the Banditaccia side, contained large and rich chamber tombs, normally two rooms on the same axis, dug in the tufa rock. Of the richest graves, which show conspicuous mounds, one was partially built of huge tufa blocks and displays a corbeled vault. It contained furnishings of gold, silver, and bronze. By the mid 7th c. B.C. tomb architecture became more elaborate and in the 6th c. mounds were bordered by tufa moldings and preceded by funerary altars. Later in the same century the tufa was carved to simulate ceilings, funerary beds, thrones, and architectural moldings. During the same period an attempt was made to impose a plan on the cities of the dead with a grid of streets and long rows of facades for middle class burials. By the beginning of the 4th c. large chambers underground served for dozens of burials. Some are similar to Greek heroa, some contain niche burials. From the 3d to the 1st c. B.C. only poor graves are evident, mostly reusing older tombs. (M. Torelli, PECS)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caere
Wikidata ID: Q2914373
Trismegistos Geo: 14350

Info: Princeton Encyclopedia

(Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, from Perseus Project)

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