RUSELLAE  , an

ancient town of Etruria, Italy, about Io m . S.E. of Vetulonia and 5 m . N.E. of Grosseto, situated on a hill with two summits, the higher 636 ft. above sea-level . It was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation, and was taken in 294 B.C. by the Romans . In 205 B.C. it contributed grain and timber for the needs of Scipio's fleet . A colony was founded here either by the Triumviri or by Augustus . The place was deserted in 1138, and the episcopal see was transferred to Grosseto . The ruins are now thickly overgrown with brushwood; but the walls, nearly 2 M. in circumference, are in places well preserved . They consist of large unworked blocks of a travertine which naturally splits into roughly rectangular blocks; these are quite irregular, and often as much as 9 ft. long by 4 ft. wide: in the interstices smaller pieces are inserted . The walls are embanking walls, with a low breastwork in places . Within the circuit which they enclose, now under cultivation, are two summits, one occupied by a Roman amphitheatre [the other by a tower (?) of uncertain date]: a Roman cistern also is visible . Some 2 M .

S.S.W. are

modern baths, fed by hot springs, which were in use in Roman times also, as the discovery of remains of Roman buildings shows . See G . Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), U . 222 . (T .