STATO´NIA
STATO´NIA (
Στατωνία: Eth.
Statoniensis), a town of Southern Etruria, which is mentioned by Strabo among the smaller towns (
πολίχναι) in that part of Italy. (
Strab. v. p.226.) Pliny also mentions the Statones among the municipalities of Etruria (3.5. s. 8), but neither author affords any nearer clue to its situation. We learn, however, that it was celebrated for its wine, which was one of the most noted of those grown in Etruria (
Plin. Nat. 14.6. s. 8), and that there were valuable stone-quarries in its territory. (
Vitr. 2.7.3.) From the terms in which Vitruvius speaks of these, it seems probable that the district of Statonia, which he calls “praefectura Statoniensis,” adjoined that of Tarquinii; and both Pliny and Seneca allude to the existence of a lake “in agro Statoniensi,” in which there were floating islands. (
Plin. Nat. 2.95. s. 96; Senec.
N. Q. 3.25.)
This can hardly be any other than the small
Lago di Mezzano, a few miles W. of the more extensive
Lago di Bolsena: we must therefore probably look for Statonia between this and Tarquinii.
But within this space several sites have been indicated as possessing traces of ancient habitation; among others,
Farnese and
Castro, the last of which is regarded by Cluver as the site of Statonia, and has as plausible a claim as any other.
But there is nothing really to decide the point. (Cluver,
Ital. p. 517; Dennis's
Etruria, vol. i. pp. 463--468.)
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E.H.B]
