Suana

Suana (Σοῦανα, Ptol.: Eth. Suanensis: Sovana), a town of Southern Etruria, situated in the valley of the Fiora (Arminia), about 24 miles from the sea, and 20 W. of Volsinii (Bolsena). No mention of it is found in history as an Etruscan city, but both Pliny and Ptolemy notice it as a municipal town of Etruria under the Roman Empire. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 8; Ptol. 3.1.49.) Its site is clearly marked by the modern town of Sovana or Soana, which was a considerable place in the middle ages, and still retains the title of a city, and the see of a bishop, though now a very poor and decayed place. It has only some slight remains of Roman antiquity, but the ravines around the town abound with tombs hewn in the rock, and adorned with architectural façades and ornaments, strongly resembling in character those at Castel d'Asso and Bieda. These relics, which are pronounced to be among the most interesting of the kind in Etruria, were first discovered by Mr. Ainsley in 1843, and are described by him in the Annali dell' Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica for 1843 (pp. 223--226); also by Mr. Dennis (Etruria, vol. i. pp. 480--500).

[E.H.B]