DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0158
VEIL—The Cemetery. [chap. ii.
arch, it shows merely a transition period, when, though
somewhat of the principle of the arch was comprehended,
it was not fully brought to perfection. Now as there is
every reason to believe that the arch was known to, and
practised by, the Etruscans at a very early period, prior to
the reign of the Tarquins, when the Cloacse of Eome were
constructed, it is obvious that the masonry in this tomb
indicates a very high antiquity.
The skeleton on the other bench was probably that of
the wife of this warrior, as no weapons or armour were
found on the couch. But these were not the sole occu-
pants of the tomb. The large jars on the floor were found
to contain human ashes, probably of the family or depen-
dents of the principal individuals; if so, they would indicate
that among the Etruscans of that age, to bury was more
honourable than to burn—or at least they prove that both
modes of sepulture were practised at a very early period.
There are four of these jars, about three feet high, of
dark brown earthenware, and ornamented with patterns
in relief or colours; also several smaller jars of quaint,
squat form, with archaic figures painted in the earliest
style of Etruscan art, representing in one instance a dance
of Bacchanals.8 A bronze prcefericulum or ewer, and a light
8 This is some of the earliest pottery There are also some with black figures
of Veii, and is very similar to that in the archaic style, and even with red
found at Csere. That of purely Etrus- figures on a Hack ground, sometimes of
can manufacture, peculiar to Veii, con- a noble and sublime simplicity; yet, in
sists of vases and jars of similar de- spite of the beauty of conception and
scription, of plain black or brown ware, design, the rigidity and severity of the
but with figures scratched upon the clay early school are never wholly lost We
when wet, or else moulded in very low may hence infer that vase-painting in
relief. Such plain ware is the most Etruria had not reached its perfection
abundant on this site ; painted vases when Veii was captured. This is a fact
are comparatively rare. Those in the worthy of attention as tending to fix the
Egyptian style with animals and chi- era of the art. For as Veii was taken
mseras are sometimes of extraordinary in the year 358, and remained unin-
size, larger than any Panathenaic vases. habited and desolate till the commence-
arch, it shows merely a transition period, when, though
somewhat of the principle of the arch was comprehended,
it was not fully brought to perfection. Now as there is
every reason to believe that the arch was known to, and
practised by, the Etruscans at a very early period, prior to
the reign of the Tarquins, when the Cloacse of Eome were
constructed, it is obvious that the masonry in this tomb
indicates a very high antiquity.
The skeleton on the other bench was probably that of
the wife of this warrior, as no weapons or armour were
found on the couch. But these were not the sole occu-
pants of the tomb. The large jars on the floor were found
to contain human ashes, probably of the family or depen-
dents of the principal individuals; if so, they would indicate
that among the Etruscans of that age, to bury was more
honourable than to burn—or at least they prove that both
modes of sepulture were practised at a very early period.
There are four of these jars, about three feet high, of
dark brown earthenware, and ornamented with patterns
in relief or colours; also several smaller jars of quaint,
squat form, with archaic figures painted in the earliest
style of Etruscan art, representing in one instance a dance
of Bacchanals.8 A bronze prcefericulum or ewer, and a light
8 This is some of the earliest pottery There are also some with black figures
of Veii, and is very similar to that in the archaic style, and even with red
found at Csere. That of purely Etrus- figures on a Hack ground, sometimes of
can manufacture, peculiar to Veii, con- a noble and sublime simplicity; yet, in
sists of vases and jars of similar de- spite of the beauty of conception and
scription, of plain black or brown ware, design, the rigidity and severity of the
but with figures scratched upon the clay early school are never wholly lost We
when wet, or else moulded in very low may hence infer that vase-painting in
relief. Such plain ware is the most Etruria had not reached its perfection
abundant on this site ; painted vases when Veii was captured. This is a fact
are comparatively rare. Those in the worthy of attention as tending to fix the
Egyptian style with animals and chi- era of the art. For as Veii was taken
mseras are sometimes of extraordinary in the year 358, and remained unin-
size, larger than any Panathenaic vases. habited and desolate till the commence-