DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0024
xxiv ORIGINAL EXTENT OF ETRURIA. [introduction.
chronicles of Theophrastus,3 and Vermis Flaccus," and the
twenty books of its history by the Emperor Claudius.5
" Parian le tombe ore la Storia e muta."
Etruria truly illustrates the remark, that "the history of a
people must be sought in its sepulchres."
The object of this work is not to collect the disjecta membra
of Etruscan history, and form them into a whole, though it
were possible to breathe into it fresh spirit and life from the
eloquent monuments that recent researches have brought to
light; it is not to build up from these monuments any theory
on the origin of this singular people, on the character of their
language, or on the peculiar nature of their civilization,—it is
simply to set before the reader a mass of facts relative to
Etruscan remains, and particularly to afford the traveller who
would visit the Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria such information
as may prove of service, by indicating precisely what is now to
be found on each site, whether local monuments, or those por-
table relics which exist in public museums, or in the hands of
private collectors.
Before entering, however, on the consideration of the par-
ticular antiquities of Etruria, it is advisable to take a general
view of her geographical position and physical features, as well
as to give a slight sketch of her civilization.
It is difficult to define with precision the limits of a state,
which existed at so early a period as Etruria, ages before any
extant chronicles were written—of which such scanty records
have come down to us, and whose boundaries must have fre-
quently varied during her continual struggles with her warlike
neighbours.
We are told that in very early times the dominion of Etruria
embraced the greater part of Italy,6 extending over the plains of
Lombardy to the Alps on the one hand,7 and to Vesuvius and
3 Schol. Pindar. Pyth. II. 3, cited by 6 In Tuscorum jure pene omnis Italia
Miiller, Etrusker, I. pp. 2, 197. fuerat.—Serv. ad Virg. Ma. XI. 567 ;
4 Interp. Mn. X. 183, 198, ed. Mai. cf. Liv. V. 33.
6 Sueton. Claud. 42. Aristotle also ? Usque ad Alpes tenuere.—Liy. loc.
wrote on the laws of the Etruscans. cit. ; Polyb. II. 17 ; Justin. XX. S ;
Athen. Deipn. I. cap. 19, p. 23, ed. Cas. Diodor. Sic. XIV. p. 321, ed. Rhod. ;
chronicles of Theophrastus,3 and Vermis Flaccus," and the
twenty books of its history by the Emperor Claudius.5
" Parian le tombe ore la Storia e muta."
Etruria truly illustrates the remark, that "the history of a
people must be sought in its sepulchres."
The object of this work is not to collect the disjecta membra
of Etruscan history, and form them into a whole, though it
were possible to breathe into it fresh spirit and life from the
eloquent monuments that recent researches have brought to
light; it is not to build up from these monuments any theory
on the origin of this singular people, on the character of their
language, or on the peculiar nature of their civilization,—it is
simply to set before the reader a mass of facts relative to
Etruscan remains, and particularly to afford the traveller who
would visit the Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria such information
as may prove of service, by indicating precisely what is now to
be found on each site, whether local monuments, or those por-
table relics which exist in public museums, or in the hands of
private collectors.
Before entering, however, on the consideration of the par-
ticular antiquities of Etruria, it is advisable to take a general
view of her geographical position and physical features, as well
as to give a slight sketch of her civilization.
It is difficult to define with precision the limits of a state,
which existed at so early a period as Etruria, ages before any
extant chronicles were written—of which such scanty records
have come down to us, and whose boundaries must have fre-
quently varied during her continual struggles with her warlike
neighbours.
We are told that in very early times the dominion of Etruria
embraced the greater part of Italy,6 extending over the plains of
Lombardy to the Alps on the one hand,7 and to Vesuvius and
3 Schol. Pindar. Pyth. II. 3, cited by 6 In Tuscorum jure pene omnis Italia
Miiller, Etrusker, I. pp. 2, 197. fuerat.—Serv. ad Virg. Ma. XI. 567 ;
4 Interp. Mn. X. 183, 198, ed. Mai. cf. Liv. V. 33.
6 Sueton. Claud. 42. Aristotle also ? Usque ad Alpes tenuere.—Liy. loc.
wrote on the laws of the Etruscans. cit. ; Polyb. II. 17 ; Justin. XX. S ;
Athen. Deipn. I. cap. 19, p. 23, ed. Cas. Diodor. Sic. XIV. p. 321, ed. Rhod. ;