Lars Tolumnius (died 437 BC or 428 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan city-state of Veii, roughly ten miles northwest of Rome, best remembered for initiating the conflict with the fledgling Roman Republic that ended with Veii's destruction.
The Sabines sought and obtained the help of some volunteers from Veii, although the government of Veii did not come to their aid, holding faith to the peace treaty previously made with Romulus.
In the preceding decades Rome had grown considerably in power, especially with the conquest of Veii, and the Romans might now have preferred freedom of action to the obligations of the alliance.
John Bryan Ward-Perkins, then Director of the British School at Rome, set into motion the South Etruria Survey (1954–1968), which cataloged all the visible antiquities in the ager Veientanus.
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Many sites associated with Veii, which were in the city-state of Veii, are also located in Formello, another comune of the Province of Rome, immediately to the north.
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His research is focused on the topography of ancient Rome, Etruria in the Roman period and the analysis of monumental complexes in various cities in Italy (Volterra, Grumentum, Pompeii, and Veii).
Another Artena, which belonged to the district of Caere, and lay between it and Veii, was destroyed in the period of the kings, & its site is unknown.
Pythian Apollo, guided and inspired by thy will I go forth to destroy the city of Veii, and a tenth part of its spoils I devote to thee.
The Italian community of Formello to the north of Veii was named after the numerous cuniculi there.
By the second half of the 5th century BC, the former Roman colony of Fidenae had revolted against Rome, and placed themselves under the protection of the wealthy Etruscan city-state of Veii.
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According to Livy, the leaders of Fidenae sent an urgent message to Lars Tolumnius, the king of Veii, asking what they should do.
The Fidenese leaders of the revolution offered Tolumnius control over their city, which the king gladly accepted, and when Rome sent the four emissaries (Tullus Cloelius, Gaius Fulcinius, Spurius Antius, and Lucius Roscius) to Veii to demand the hegemony of Fidenae back, Tolumnius had them executed.
It came into the hands of Rome after the fall of Veii, and a Latin colony was founded there; it was lost again in 386 BC, but was recovered and recolonized around 383.