city state · Italy

Vulci

900 BCE – 280 BCE (approx.) · capital Vulci

Wealthy Etruscan city near the Fiora river whose tombs held thousands of Greek vases and whose François Tomb preserves an Etruscan version of early Roman history.

Origins

Vulci, Etruscan Velch, grew from Villanovan villages on a plateau above the Fiora river, some 10 km from the coast. By the 7th and 6th centuries BCE it had become one of the richest cities of Etruria, importing luxury goods and controlling a large territory reaching towards Lake Bolsena.

Rule and society

Vulci was a major centre of bronze-working, exporting tripods, vessels and candelabra across Italy and beyond the Alps. Its tombs yielded an extraordinary number of Athenian painted vases, many excavated by Lucien Bonaparte in the 19th century. The François Tomb's paintings show the Vulcian heroes Caile and Avle Vipinas and Macstrna, whom the emperor Claudius identified with Rome's king Servius Tullius.

Decline and legacy

Rome defeated Vulci together with Volsinii in 280 BCE, when Tiberius Coruncanius celebrated a triumph over both. Much of its coastal land was confiscated and the Latin colony of Cosa founded there in 273 BCE. The city declined into a minor Roman town and was abandoned in the early Middle Ages.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Vulci. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/vulci
MLA
“Vulci.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/vulci. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Vulci.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/vulci.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Vulci’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/vulci (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻