Visentium

{{More citations needed|date=October 2015}} '''Visentium''' (also spelled '''Bisentium''', Italian ''Bisenzio''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans|last=Stoddart|first=Simon K. F.|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2009|isbn=9780810854710|location=Lanham, MD|pages=24}}</ref>''')''' was the Latin name of one of the minor Etruscan cities. It was a boundary settlement on the southwestern shore of the Lago di Bolsena<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art|last=De Puma|first=Richard Daniel|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=2013|isbn=9781588394859|location=New York|pages=40}}</ref> and was settled from the Final Bronze Age until the Archaic period.<ref name=":0" />

The Etruscan name for Visentium was '''Vesnth''', or '''Vishnth'''. It was called Visentium after the settlement was conquered by the Romans in 280 B.C.<ref name=":1" /> During the Classical period, it fell under the orbit of the city of Tarquinia.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology|authorlink1=Jean MacIntosh Turfa|last=Turfa|first=Jean MacIntosh|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1931707527|location=Philadelphia, PA|pages=5}}</ref> The artifacts such as urns and other grave goods excavated from its various necropoleis are said to indicate its importance during the Iron Age and the Orientalizing period.<ref name=":2" /> These provided insights on the settlers' dwellings and perishable belongings, which augmented their pottery and metal works.<ref name=":2" /> The artifacts, particularly, the bronze objects also suggest that Visentium was influenced by Vulci.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medical Biology and Etruscan Origins|last1=Wolstenholme|first1=G. E. W.|last2=O'Connor|first2=Cecilia M.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2009|isbn=9780470714935|location=London|pages=20}}</ref>

== Legacy == The Italianized 'modern' form Bisenzio gave its name to: * a Tuscan river, the Bisenzio; * a medieval Latin bishopric, which soon was renamed Roman Catholic Diocese of Castro del Lazio.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Etruscan cities