The Silva Arsia is a forest or wooded area near Rome situated where the Roman and Veientine territories abutted. [1] Legend has it that in 509 BCE Romans heard the prophetic voice of Silvanus foretelling their victory over the Etruscans ( Livy), 2.7.2). At the Battle of Silva Arsia that year the forces said to have been assembled by the Etruscan Tarquin [2] were defeated, though with the loss of the Roman consul Lucius Junius Brutus. [3] The forest, rich in timber essential for shipbuilding, had been seized from the Etruscans of Veii by Ancus Martius. [4]
Since woodland was everywhere the province of Silvanus, there is no reason to connect the otherwise unknown Silva Arsia with the "forest of Silvanus [Silvanus luccus] outside the walls at a distance, all overgrown with a willow grove" noted in Plautus' Aulularia 674. [5]
The Silva Arsia is a forest or wooded area near Rome situated where the Roman and Veientine territories abutted. [1] Legend has it that in 509 BCE Romans heard the prophetic voice of Silvanus foretelling their victory over the Etruscans ( Livy), 2.7.2). At the Battle of Silva Arsia that year the forces said to have been assembled by the Etruscan Tarquin [2] were defeated, though with the loss of the Roman consul Lucius Junius Brutus. [3] The forest, rich in timber essential for shipbuilding, had been seized from the Etruscans of Veii by Ancus Martius. [4]
Since woodland was everywhere the province of Silvanus, there is no reason to connect the otherwise unknown Silva Arsia with the "forest of Silvanus [Silvanus luccus] outside the walls at a distance, all overgrown with a willow grove" noted in Plautus' Aulularia 674. [5]