HERBANUM a town of Etruria, the name of which is found only in Pliny's list of the towns in the interior of that country. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 8.) It has been generally assumed, but entirely without authority, to be the place called Urbs Vetus by Paulus Diaconus (4.33), a name which has been probably corrupted into that of the modern city of Orvieto. The Urbiventum of Procopius (Ὁυρβίβεντον, B. G. 2.20), which he describes as a strong fortress, very difficult of access, is probably the same place with the Urbs Vetus of Paulus. Orvietocertainly occupies the site of an ancient Etruscan town, as is proved by tombs and antiquities discovered there, and the name of Urbs Vetus could obviously not have been the original one; but the identification of Urbs Vetus with Herbanum is mere conjecture. (Dennis, Etruria, vol. i p. 526.)
[E.H.B]