The History
According to the Latin historian Servius, Chiusi is one of the oldest Etruscan cities. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the city was founded either by the hero Clusius (son of Tyrrhenus, the Lydian king who led the original migration to Etruria) or by Thelemacus, son of Ulysses. This theory is probably a late one based on the Latin name for Chiusi, Clusium, that corresponds to the Etruscan name Clevsin and comes to us in inscriptions from the IV century B.C.. The Roman historian Livy calls the city Chamars but offers no explanation as to the origin of the name.
An indication of the early foundation of Chiusi was confirmed by recent excavations of a Bronze Age village (circa XII-X cent. B.C.) located on Mt. Cetona, one of the area's most ancient habitation sites.
Urban excavations attest to this theory of Bronze Age and succeeding Iron Age habitation at the site of Chiusi and diggings in the "necropoli" (necropolis or new part of town) confirms the presence of a continuous population during the age of eastern expansion (VII B.C.). At this period, Chiusi's urbanization hasn't begun yet, the population being confined to small villages and clusters of subsistence farms surrounding the city.
Up to the middle of the VII cent.(B.C.) the uniformity of the individual burial sites indicates the presence of a society without social classes, formed by more than one family, in which the objects of everyday use are manufactured domestically. Only in the late period of eastern expansion do we find burial chambers which contain a rich assortment of archaeological objects and indicate a continuous use of the site by a limited number of people possessing wealth and position within the society.
Soon after this period Chiusi becomes a large city - one of the 12 Etruscan cities of the VI cent. (B.C.) - and its inhabitants make their first contact with Rome.
The Greek writer and rhetorician Dennis of Halicarnassus affirms that Chiusi helped the Latins against Tarquinius Priscus, 5th King of Rome. At the end of the century (507-6 B.C.) during the reign of the Chiusian King Porsena, the Etruscans sacked Rome and in effect, conquered it.
During this period the Romans, in order to save face, invented the heroic myths of Mucius Scaevola, Horatius Coclites and Clelia.
Porsena is an important figure in the early Roman History (6th cent. B.C.). His dominant position in the league of the 12 Etruscan city-states was confirmed by the story that he freed Volsinii (Orvieto - centre of Etruscan Political and Religious life) from the monster Olta by striking him down with a bolt of lightning.
Some Latin writers state that Porsena was king of all Etruria and did much to extend its sphere of influence.
In the Archaic Age the growth of new towns and settlements around Chiusi and the large number of burial chambers – and the quality and quantity of archaeological artifacts discovered in these tombs - shows the threat social and economic changes which took place in the city's urbanization process.
Chiusi itself, though, did not have a big expansion and was gradually absorbed by its surrounding suburbs. Starting from the period of eastern expansion the only evidence of any continuous population in Chiusi is to be found in the towns and villages surrounding the city and not in the city-center itself. There is no documentation of any kind prior to the 3rd cent. B.C.
The richness of Chiusi was linked to the fertile, alluvial nature of the land: Olive oil, wines and figs were produced here as well as a coarse type of grain (mentioned by Livy, Martial and Columella) which, according to Varro, yielded a substantial income. Strabo, the Greek historian, further states that the territory around Chiusi was known for its good hunting and fishing.
The city was situated in a strategic position next to a very important trade route: starting from the Tiber river, crossing the Chiana (which was navigable at time and flowed into the Tiber) and continued on into the Arno valley. Chiusi was also connected through the valleys of the Astrone, Orcia and Ombrone rivers to the costal cities, in particular the Etruscan city of Rusellae (Roselle, north of present day Grosseto), which some historians consider as Chiusi's own outlet to the sea. The revenues obtained by this trade route and a steady increase in agricultural production guaranteed Chiusi's uninterrupted richness, even after their defeat in the sea battle of Cuma (474 B.C.) when the southern cities of Etruria were thrown into crisis.
To maintain their links to the rest of Etruria, Arruns, the son of Porsena, tried to re-take Rome but was defeated by the inhabitants of Ariccia who fought alongside their allies the Latins and the Greeks in Campania.
After the failure of this venture the Etruscans tried to expand into the region of Emilia, with Chiusi providing a huge contribution to the campaign.
Over a century later, according to Livy and Dennis of Halicarnassus, another Arruns, a Lucumo praecepotor, was betrayed by a ward of the court and Arruns's own wife who invited the Gauls into the area with a promise of fertile, uncultivated land and a peace-loving population. According to other sources the first Celtic invasion of Rome - under the leadership of Brennus (390 B.C.) – was caused by the undiplomatic behavior of some Roman Ambassadors sent into the city to mediate with the Gauls. Instead of resolving the situation, the Roman delegation, linked to members of the Fabii clan, became actively involved in the ensuing battle.
During the IV cent. B.C., Chiusi seems to have established a good accord with Rome though it became subsequently broken at the start of the next century.
During the 1st Etruscan-Roman War, Chiusi was in the first line of attack. In 296 (B.C.), the Romans lost a series of battles near Rome to the Gauls Senones and the Umbrians alongside their Etruscan allies and suffered a major defeat in the battle of' Sentino. Although there is no written evidence to support this, Chiusi was probably subject to Rome for the supply of unpaid military personnel. In 205 B.C., during the Punic Wars with Hannibal, Chiusi supplied the Carthaginian army of' Scipio with grain and wood. According to some studies, some coins were excavated in the Chiana valley which display the figure of an elephant and the head of a young African male which indicate a Carthaginian familiarity with Chiusi and Perugia.
During the II cent. B.C., Chiusi was deeply involved in a social question which shook the central northern area of Etruria: namely, the liberation of slaves.
This is indicated by the large number of documents discovered in the Chiusi area, written by ex-slaves. The delta like distribution of the necropolis shows an intensive occupation of the surrounding countryside with individual farms run by poor families or serfs which were dependent on richer families living in the city. A characteristic phenomena of Chiusi during the Hellenistic age is the growing level of literacy in its population, even in the lower classes of the society. We are aware of at least 3,000 written documents exchanged between the city and the countryside, the highest number in all of Etruria. The bilingual, and later the purely Latin documents, allow us to follow the gradual Romanization of the city in the I cent. B.C..
Without having to ask for it the citizens of Chiusi became Roman citizens by decree of the Lex lulia and successive Plautia Papiria in 89 B.C..
The civil war between Marius and Sulla devastated the area. Though Chiusi itself remained neutral, many battles were fought in the vicinity against the Marian general Carbo.
In the list of the Etruscan cities compiled by Pliny, next to the Clusini Veteres there are the Clusini Novi. Some historians think this an administrative distinction while others have speculated the existence of two distinctly different cities (like Volsinii Novi, indicating Bolsena which was built after the destruction of Volsinii Veteres, indicating Orvieto). This would he confirmed by the discovery of a Sulla’s fortress on the Rocca Paolozzi. That part of Chiusi which was populated by a tribe from the Arno river, continued to have imperial ambitions and having held a strategic position on the Clanis river maintained a fluvial link between Etruria and Rome.
But above all, Chiusi continued to he an important transit point because the consular road, the Via Cassia, changed direction nearby for the cities of Arezzo and Siena.
We know very little of the structure of the city in this period because not even the most recent excavations, though very important, are sufficient to reconstruct the ancient plan of the city: the Cardo Maximus (the principal avenue of the old city, running north to south) is correspondent to Via Lavinia, Via Baldetti and a portion of Via Porsena. It is much more difficult to identify the Decumanus Maximus (the central East to West thoroughfare through the town) that linked Via Porsena with Via Nardi Dei and the Forum which was situated in the present day Piazza XX September. Excavations made in the houses of the wealthy (domus) with their Imperial Age mosaics and monuments disproves the account put forward by Tacitus that a crisis griped the city following a flood from the river Chiana. Only after the VII cent. did the city begin to decade because offloading and the subsequent abandoning of the countryside.
After an occupation of the Goths in 540 A.D., when Vitige, in his retreat before the Byzantines, left 1000 soldiers behind to fight a rear guard action, Chiusi became a seat of the Longohard Duke (documented up to the year 776 A.D.) when Reginald, a relative of Charlemagne, entered the area. Documentation supports a Frankish presence in the area up to the year 903 A.D. when Chiusi receives its first noble representative from the Marquise of Tuscany.
From the XI cent A.D. control of the city rests in the hands of its Bishop, hut in the succeeding century dominion over the city is placed with Orvieto and Siena. In this period we have the consolidation of the commune of Chiusi and its assimilation into the state of Siena, where it continues to follow its destiny to the present day.
(From: Chiusi. Guida turistica, produced by the Pro-Loco Association of Chiusi, 1997, pp. 7-14)