GRAVISCA

   The port of Tarquinia was founded directly by the city of Tarquinia itself in circa 600 BC, with a sanctuary dedicated to the Greek deities of Hera and Aphrodite. The dedication of the sanctuary and a sixth-century Greek cippus suggest direct Greek settlement in the port area. An Etruscan sanctuary and a cult of Turan and Uni (Etruscan equivalents of Aphrodite and Hera) were also present. The international nature of the sanctuary is shown by Greek and Etruscan dedicatory inscriptions from the very first occupation, where the initial prominence of Eastern Greek dedications is replaced by those from Aegina at the end of the sixth century BC. One votive, an anchor, was dedicated by Sostratos, who has been linked to a historical person of the same name from Aegina. An expansion of the settlement seems to have taken place in the sixth century BC from the original, more restricted nucleus; however, the settlement seems always to have been restricted to the coastal area, not extending more than 170 meters away from the coastline. There were substantial streets (four meters wide) by the sixth century, but development appears to have been organic rather than regular. Important imports of the sixth century BC include pottery from Attica and boat figurines from Sardinia. After the first few decades of the fifth century BC, Greek presence ceased and an Etruscan cultural identity became more prominent, more specifically seen through emphasis on the Etruscan goddesses of Turan, Vea, and Uni. Ritual activity declined altogether in the third century BC.

   See also TRADE.