COSA  , an

ancient city of Etruria, on the S.W. coast of Italy, close to the Via Aurelia, 42 M . E.S.E. of the modern town of Orbetello . Apparently it was not an independent Etruscan town, but was founded as a colony by the Romans in the territory of the Volceientes, whom they had recently conquered, in 273 B.C . The town was strongly fortified, and the walls, about a mile in circuit, with three gates, and seventeen projecting rectangular towers at intervals, are in places preserved to a height of over 30 ft. on the outside, and 15 on the inside . The lower part is built of polygonal, the upper of rectangular, blocks, and the masonry is of equal fineness all through, so that a difference of date cannot be assumed; such a change of technique is not without parallel in Greece (F . Noack in Romische Mitteilungen, 1897, 194) . Within the city no remains are visible . The place was of importance as a fortress; it was approached by a branch road which diverged from the Via Aurelia at the post station of Succosa, at the foot of the hill on which the town stood . The harbour, too, was of some importance . In the 5th century we hear of it as deserted, and in the 9th a town called Ansedonia took its place for a short time, but itself soon perished, though it has left its name to the ruins . See G . Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), ii .

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