Caere

Caere (sē`rē), ancient city of Etruria, c.30 mi (50 km) N of Rome, Italy, at the site of the modern Cerveteri. Although a few miles from the sea, it had ports at Alsium (near modern Palo) and Pyrgi (modern Santa Severa). During the 7th and 6th cent. B.C., Caere reached the period of its greatest prosperity. The cemeteries have been excavated, and the monumental tumuli have yielded vases, pottery, and other art objects, revealing much about Etruscan civilization.

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Caere

Gold fibula from the Regolini-Galassi tomb, Caere, 7th century BC; in the Vatican Museum.

(credit: Scala/Art Resource, New York)

Ancient city, Etruria. Located northwest of Rome near the modern city of Ceveteri, it was an important trading centre. Brought under Roman control in 253 BC, it prospered as part of the empire but declined in later centuries. The derived Latin word caeremonium (source of English ceremony) reflects the Etruscan fascination with divination and prophecy. Tomb chambers have yielded gold and silver objects, which show an Orientalizing tendency in the Etruscan art of the 7th century BC.

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Caere 

an Etruscan city-state, now Cerveteri, Italy. According to legend, the city was founded by Pelasgian tribes and named Agylla. In 535 B.C., Carthage and Caere defeated the Phocaean fleet off the shores of Corsica. During the Gallic invasion of Italy in 390 B.C., the Roman vestal virgins took refuge in Caere with their sacred vessels. Caere was conquered by the Romans in 358 B.C.

The foundations of the Manganello temple (sixth century B.C.) have been preserved, as well as the remains of the city wall (fifth and fourth centuries B.C.) and the ruins of a Roman theater. A necropolis containing burials from the seventh to third centuries B.C. (including the Regolini-Galassi tomb) is located northwest of the city on Banditaccia Hill.

REFERENCE

Pallottino, M. The Necropolis of Cerveteri. Rome, 1957.