Fall of Veii (396 BC): Rome Conquers Its Etruscan Rival

The fall of Veii in 396 BC marked Rome’s first great conquest: the capture and destruction of a rich Etruscan city only about 16 km to its north. After a war that tradition said lasted ten years, the Roman dictator Marcus Furius Camillus took the city and its lands were annexed. The victory greatly enlarged Roman territory and set the city on the path to dominating central Italy.

A powerful neighbour

Veii was one of the largest cities of Etruria, the land of the Etruscans, who had a distinctive language, art and religion and were among Italy’s most advanced peoples. It stood on a broad plateau of volcanic tufa, protected by steep ravines of the Cremera stream and its tributaries.

The city controlled the right bank of the Tiber opposite Rome and the routes to the river’s salt beds near the coast. It was famous for its craftsmen; the Roman writer Pliny the Elder names a sculptor from Veii, Vulca, as maker of the cult statue in Rome’s Temple of Jupiter. The terracotta Apollo of Veii, made around 510–500 BC for the Portonaccio temple, shows the quality of its workshops.

Generations of rivalry

Rome and Veii fought repeatedly over the town of Fidenae, a crossing point on the Tiber, and over salt and trade. In 477 BC a Roman force made up largely of the Fabian family was wiped out at the Battle of the Cremera; Livy says 306 Fabii died. In a later war, the Roman Aulus Cornelius Cossus killed Lars Tolumnius, king of Veii, in single combat and dedicated his armour as the “spolia opima”, one of only a few times this honour was won.

The final war began, according to Livy, in 406 BC. It is in this context that Livy says Rome first paid its soldiers a wage (stipendium), so that they could remain in the field through winter. That change was an important step for the Roman army, whatever the exact year.

The siege and capture

Livy’s account of the siege is full of portents and drama. A strange rise in the waters of the Alban Lake was interpreted to mean that Veii could not fall until the lake was drained, and the Romans are said to have cut a tunnel to let the water out. The real Alban Lake does have an ancient outlet tunnel, though its date is uncertain.

In 396 BC the Senate appointed Marcus Furius Camillus dictator. He defeated relief forces from the allied towns of Falerii and Capena and pressed the siege. According to Livy and Plutarch, his men dug a tunnel through the soft rock into the citadel, coming up inside the Temple of Juno while the main army attacked the walls.

Before the assault, Camillus is said to have performed an evocatio, a ritual inviting Veii’s patron goddess, Juno Regina, to leave the city and accept a new home in Rome. Her statue was later carried to Rome and housed in a temple on the Aventine, dedicated in 392 BC.

The aftermath

The city was plundered and its surviving inhabitants were sold into slavery or dispersed, according to the ancient sources. Rome annexed Veii’s territory, and in 387 BC created four new voting tribes there for Roman settlers. Modern estimates suggest Roman territory grew by well over half, perhaps by around two-thirds.

Camillus celebrated a lavish triumph, reportedly riding in a chariot drawn by four white horses, which some Romans saw as arrogance fit for a god. A tenth of the spoils was promised to Apollo at Delphi. Soon after, Camillus was accused of mishandling the booty and went into exile.

When the Gallic sack of Rome struck only a few years later, some Romans proposed moving the whole population to the empty city of Veii. Livy gives Camillus a famous speech persuading them to stay and rebuild.

Later history and the site

Veii never regained independence. It survived as a small settlement, and under Augustus it became a Roman municipium. Rome’s new city wall of the 4th century BC was built largely of tufa quarried in former Veientine territory, at Grotta Oscura.

Excavations since the 19th century have uncovered the Portonaccio sanctuary, where the Apollo was found in 1916, and painted tombs such as the Tomb of the Ducks (c. 680–670 BC). The area is now protected within the Veio Regional Park.

Timeline

• 477 BC: Battle of the Cremera; the Fabii are destroyed by Veii.
• c. 437–426 BC: War over Fidenae; Cossus kills Lars Tolumnius.
• 406 BC: The final war begins; Rome introduces pay for soldiers.
• 396 BC: Camillus is made dictator and captures Veii.
• 392 BC: The temple of Juno Regina is dedicated on the Aventine.
• 387 BC: Four new tribes are created on the annexed land.

Why it matters

The conquest of Veii removed Rome’s most dangerous neighbour and gave it the land and manpower for further growth. It was the first step in the expansion that would lead, through wars such as the Samnite Wars, to Roman control of all Italy.