DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0090
xc
ETRURIA DID NOT RECEIVE JUSTICE [introduction.
undoubted Etruscan ceramography, in its natural colours, as a
frontispiece to the second volume of this work.1
"With the vases I close my notices of Etruscan art.
Such is the people to whose Cities and Cemeteries I propose
to conduct the reader. From what has been already stated, he
will expect to find traces of no mean degree of civilization, and
should he test my descriptions with his own eyes, I think he
will not be disappointed. The Etruscans were undoubtedly
one of the most remarkable nations of antiquity—the great
civilizers of Italy—and their influence not only extended over
the whole of the ancient world, but has affected every sub-
sequent age, and has not been without effect, however faint, on
the civilization of the nineteenth century, and of regions they
never knew.
When we consider the important part they played among the
1 This amphora was found at Vulci,
and is now in the possession of Dr.
Emil Braun of Rome, through whose
kindness I am enabled to offer this
illustration, reduced from a tracing of
the original. The scene represents
Admetus—" Atmite "—at his last hour,
when the winged messenger of Death
is come to claim him, and threatens
him with serpents. As it had been
decreed by the Fates that if one of his
nearest relatives would become his sub-
stitute his life would be spared, his wife
Alcestis —■ " Alcsti," in Etruscan —
comes forward to devote herself in his
room, and takes a farewell embrace,
while a second demon, apparently Cha-
run himself, stands behind her with his
mallet raised, about to strike the fatal
blow.
The inscription between the last two
figures would run thus in Roman letters
—" Eca. Eesce. Nac. Achrttm. Phler-
thece." It has been considered by
Dr. Braun (Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 81—
86) to imply that Eca (a proper name)
dedicated this vase to Acheron. But
if I may suggest another versioD, in
a matter which must be principally
conjecture, I would say that "Eca"
can hardly be a proper name, for it is
found frequently in connection with
Suthi, as a formula, on sepulchral
monuments, and is probably equivalent
to hcec, or ecce. "Ersce," in which
Dr. Braun finds an analogy to epyov, I
would interpret by one of the few
Etruscan words whose meaning has
come down to us from the ancients—
arse, which Festus says meant averte.
" Nac " is a particle, to which we have
no clue, and whose meaning must be
learned from the rest of the sentence.
" Achrum " is apparently Acheron.
Whether " Phlerthrce " be one word
or two, its meaning is pretty obvious,
for "Phlere," or "Phleres," occurs
frequently on votive bronzes, and in
connection with " Turce," and is gene-
rally admitted to be a dedicatory for-
mula. The meaning of the whole, then,
I take to be this—" Lo ! she saves him
from Acheron, and makes an offering of
herself." For another interpretation
see Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 86—88.
ETRURIA DID NOT RECEIVE JUSTICE [introduction.
undoubted Etruscan ceramography, in its natural colours, as a
frontispiece to the second volume of this work.1
"With the vases I close my notices of Etruscan art.
Such is the people to whose Cities and Cemeteries I propose
to conduct the reader. From what has been already stated, he
will expect to find traces of no mean degree of civilization, and
should he test my descriptions with his own eyes, I think he
will not be disappointed. The Etruscans were undoubtedly
one of the most remarkable nations of antiquity—the great
civilizers of Italy—and their influence not only extended over
the whole of the ancient world, but has affected every sub-
sequent age, and has not been without effect, however faint, on
the civilization of the nineteenth century, and of regions they
never knew.
When we consider the important part they played among the
1 This amphora was found at Vulci,
and is now in the possession of Dr.
Emil Braun of Rome, through whose
kindness I am enabled to offer this
illustration, reduced from a tracing of
the original. The scene represents
Admetus—" Atmite "—at his last hour,
when the winged messenger of Death
is come to claim him, and threatens
him with serpents. As it had been
decreed by the Fates that if one of his
nearest relatives would become his sub-
stitute his life would be spared, his wife
Alcestis —■ " Alcsti," in Etruscan —
comes forward to devote herself in his
room, and takes a farewell embrace,
while a second demon, apparently Cha-
run himself, stands behind her with his
mallet raised, about to strike the fatal
blow.
The inscription between the last two
figures would run thus in Roman letters
—" Eca. Eesce. Nac. Achrttm. Phler-
thece." It has been considered by
Dr. Braun (Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 81—
86) to imply that Eca (a proper name)
dedicated this vase to Acheron. But
if I may suggest another versioD, in
a matter which must be principally
conjecture, I would say that "Eca"
can hardly be a proper name, for it is
found frequently in connection with
Suthi, as a formula, on sepulchral
monuments, and is probably equivalent
to hcec, or ecce. "Ersce," in which
Dr. Braun finds an analogy to epyov, I
would interpret by one of the few
Etruscan words whose meaning has
come down to us from the ancients—
arse, which Festus says meant averte.
" Nac " is a particle, to which we have
no clue, and whose meaning must be
learned from the rest of the sentence.
" Achrum " is apparently Acheron.
Whether " Phlerthrce " be one word
or two, its meaning is pretty obvious,
for "Phlere," or "Phleres," occurs
frequently on votive bronzes, and in
connection with " Turce," and is gene-
rally admitted to be a dedicatory for-
mula. The meaning of the whole, then,
I take to be this—" Lo ! she saves him
from Acheron, and makes an offering of
herself." For another interpretation
see Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 86—88.