Axia
plebeian, of which very little is known, as there are only two or three persons of this name mentioned by ancient writers. There is a coin of this gens bearing on the obverse the cognomen Naso, and on the reverse the inscription L. Axsius L. F. (Eckhel, v. p. 148); Axsius being instead of Axius, in the same way as we find Maxsumus for Maxumus and Alexsandrea for Alexandrea. We do not know who this L. Axsius Naso was; as the Axii mentioned by ancient writers have no cognomen. [Axius.]
A´XIA (Ἀξία), a small town of Etruria, mentioned by Cicero (pro Caec. 7), who calls it a castellum,a nd describes it as situated in agro Tarquiniensi.I t is probably the same of which the name is found in Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Ἀξία), who tells us only that it was a city of Italy.I ts site may be fixed with much probability at a place still called Castel d'Asso or Castellaccio, about six miles W. of Viterbo. The ancient town appears to have occupied the angle formed by two small streams named the Rio Secco and Arcione, flowing through deep vallies or ravines with precipitous escarpments on each side. Some slight fragments of the ancient walls are all that remain on the site of the town ; but the opposite or N. bank of the valley of the Arcione was evidently in ancient times the Necropolis of the town, and presents a remarkable assemblage of sepulchres. These are not merely subterranean chambers cut out of the rock, but present regular architectural facades, with bold cornices and mouldings in relief, all hewn out of the soft tufo rock of which the escarpments of the cliffs are composed. They vary in height from 12 to 30 feet, but have all a remarkable resemblance in their architectural character, and occupy a considerable extent of cliff in a regular range like a street, extending also some distance up a lateral ravine which opens into the principal valley. Many of these tombs have inscriptions over them in Etruscan characters, most of which consist of, or at least contain, the customary formula ΕΞΑΣΥΘΙΝΕΣΑ. Since the first discovery of these monuments in 1808 by Professor Orioli of Bologna, they have attracted much attention, more perhaps than they really deserve. Their architecture is thought to have a strong resemblance to the Egyptian, but it is still more closely connected with the Doric Greek, of which indeed the whole Tuscan architecture was merely a modification. Nor is there any reason to assign them a very remote antiquity; Orioli is probably correct in referring them to the fourth or fifth century of Rome. They certainly however seem to prove that Axia must have been a place of more consideration in the flourishing times of Etruria, than it was in the days of Cicero; though it could never have been more than a small town, and was probably always a dependency of Tarquinii, as its name never occurs in history. The remains at Castel d'Asso have been described in detail by Orioli (Dei Sepolcrali Edifizi dell' Etruria Media, 1826, inserted in Inghirami, Mon. Etruschi, vol. iv.; and a second time in the Annali dell' Instituto di Corr. Archeol. 1833, p. 18--56), and again by Dennis (Cities, &c. of Etruria, vol. 1. p. 229--242.)
[E.H.B]An Etruscan center 9 km W of Viterbo, on a branch of the ancient Via Cassia that led from Veii-Caere and Tarquinia to Orvieto and the N. After a phase of cultural predominance by Caere in the 6th c. B.C., it was absorbed by the state of Tarquinia, enjoying a particularly flourishing period in the 4th and 3d c. B.C. In 68 B.C., Cicero defined it as a castellum in the territory of Tarquinia. In the Middle Ages it contained a feudal fortress conquered by the citizens of Viterbo at the end of the 12th c. Later the site was abandoned.
The Etruscan settlement occupied the level top of a hill wedged between the valleys caused by the erosion of the Riosecco and Freddano rivers, which flow together at its base and carve out an area roughly triangular in shape. At the base of the triangle ran a large, irregularly shaped ditch, quite visible in an aerial photograph. A second ditch, equally irregular in shape, separated the actual settlement from the acropolis, which corresponds to the upper half of the triangle. Finally, a third ditch, dating from the Middle Ages, isolated the feudal fortress set at the vertex of the triangle in a dominating position. The second ditch was bordered by an isodomic tufa wall of which there are a few remains. There are drainage channels visible, traces of streets cut into the tufa, and chamber tombs set on the slopes of the settlement, together with caves carved out in the Middle Ages as dwellings or as shelters for animals. Architectural components in terracotta embellished by figures have been found in the area of the settlement, which has never been an excavation site.
The necropolis surrounds the settlement on every side. The section in the Freddano valley facing the acropolis was begun in the middle of the 4th c. B.C., and has taken on a certain monumentality because of the carvings on ca. 50 rock-cut tombs in the tufa slopes of the main valley and of a smaller side valley. There are simple, square tombs and two-story tombs with a closed or porticoed lower story, decorated with moldings, false doors in relief, plinths, etc. On the upper terraces are the remains in situ of tombstones that are mainly undecorated but that often bear large inscriptions with the family name or the name of the person who built the tomb. The inhumation chambers (the greatest 17 m long and containing 62 graves) are quite deep and unadorned, for the most part containing earthen graves covered by stone or tile lids. The tombs are distributed, in the main valley, in two or three rows one above another, almost paralleling the system of streets coming from the city. After 150 B.C., the use of the monumental necropolis continued until A.D. 50, but burials were made only in existing tombs.
BIBLIOGRAPHYF. Orioli, Dei sepolcrali edifizi dell'Etruria media e in generale dell'architettura tuscanica (1826); G. Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (1907) 272-85; G. Rosi, JRS 15 (1925) 14ff; E. Colonna Di Paolo & G. Colonna, Castel d'Asso I-II (1970).
G. COLONNA