DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0198
96
SUTRI.
[chap. IV.
mention of circi, theatres and amphitheatres in use among
the Etruscans, we may fairly infer their existence. There
is strong ground for the presumption that the edifices they
used were copied by the Romans, as well as the perform-
ances;5 and if a building of this description be discovered
in Etruria, it may well, primd facie, urge a claim to be
considered Etruscan.6 Though some authorities of weight
regard it as of Roman construction and of Imperial times,
to me this amphitheatre of Sutri seems to have charac-
teristics of an earlier origin. I would not refer it to the
remote days of Etruscan independence, but to a period
before national peculiarities in art and manners had been
overlaid and well-nigh obliterated by the crushing mass of
the world-wide Empire. It were possible to be mistaken
in its architecture (I should say, its carving), though it
corresponds closely with that of the neighbouring tombs
which was given to the superintendent
or trainer of the Roman gladiators, was
an Etruscan word (Isid. Orig. X.,
247). Miiller (Etrusk. IV. 1, 10) is of
opinion that the origin of the custom of
gladiatorial combats at funerals should
be referred to the Etruscans; "at
least such a sanguinary mode of appeas-
ing the dead must have appeared a very
suitable oblation to the Manes among a
people who so long retained human sa-
crifices."
6 The existence of theatres is very
strongly implied by the passage of Nico-
laus Damascenus above cited, who says,
" The Romans held their gladiatorial
spectacles not only at public festivals
and in theatres, receiving the custom
from the Etruscans, but also at their
banquets."
6 As we know there was no amphi-
theatre erected in Rome before the time
of Csesar, when C. Curio constructed
one of wood, in separate halves, which
could be brought together into an amphi-
theatre, or swung round at pleasure into
two distinct theatres (Plin. Nat. Hist.,
XXXVI. 24, 8); and as we know that
the first stone building of this descrip-
tion was erected by Statilius Taurus in
the reign of Augustus (Dio Cass. LI. 23;
Sueton. Aug. 29), and that the Colos-
seum, and all the other amphitheatres
extant, were constructed during the
empire ;—the question naturally arises,
How, if this and similar edifices pre-
viously existed in Etruscan cities, there
were none erected at Rome, or in her
territories, before the time of Csesar ?
The Romans had had most of the games
of the amphitheatre for ages previous.
We may justly conclude, then, that there
was a fashion in these things ; for until
the amphitheatre was introduced, the
Romans were content to hold their wild-
beast fights and naumachiae in the Cir-
cus,and their gladiatorial combats in the
forum, at the banquet, or at the funeral
pyre.
SUTRI.
[chap. IV.
mention of circi, theatres and amphitheatres in use among
the Etruscans, we may fairly infer their existence. There
is strong ground for the presumption that the edifices they
used were copied by the Romans, as well as the perform-
ances;5 and if a building of this description be discovered
in Etruria, it may well, primd facie, urge a claim to be
considered Etruscan.6 Though some authorities of weight
regard it as of Roman construction and of Imperial times,
to me this amphitheatre of Sutri seems to have charac-
teristics of an earlier origin. I would not refer it to the
remote days of Etruscan independence, but to a period
before national peculiarities in art and manners had been
overlaid and well-nigh obliterated by the crushing mass of
the world-wide Empire. It were possible to be mistaken
in its architecture (I should say, its carving), though it
corresponds closely with that of the neighbouring tombs
which was given to the superintendent
or trainer of the Roman gladiators, was
an Etruscan word (Isid. Orig. X.,
247). Miiller (Etrusk. IV. 1, 10) is of
opinion that the origin of the custom of
gladiatorial combats at funerals should
be referred to the Etruscans; "at
least such a sanguinary mode of appeas-
ing the dead must have appeared a very
suitable oblation to the Manes among a
people who so long retained human sa-
crifices."
6 The existence of theatres is very
strongly implied by the passage of Nico-
laus Damascenus above cited, who says,
" The Romans held their gladiatorial
spectacles not only at public festivals
and in theatres, receiving the custom
from the Etruscans, but also at their
banquets."
6 As we know there was no amphi-
theatre erected in Rome before the time
of Csesar, when C. Curio constructed
one of wood, in separate halves, which
could be brought together into an amphi-
theatre, or swung round at pleasure into
two distinct theatres (Plin. Nat. Hist.,
XXXVI. 24, 8); and as we know that
the first stone building of this descrip-
tion was erected by Statilius Taurus in
the reign of Augustus (Dio Cass. LI. 23;
Sueton. Aug. 29), and that the Colos-
seum, and all the other amphitheatres
extant, were constructed during the
empire ;—the question naturally arises,
How, if this and similar edifices pre-
viously existed in Etruscan cities, there
were none erected at Rome, or in her
territories, before the time of Csesar ?
The Romans had had most of the games
of the amphitheatre for ages previous.
We may justly conclude, then, that there
was a fashion in these things ; for until
the amphitheatre was introduced, the
Romans were content to hold their wild-
beast fights and naumachiae in the Cir-
cus,and their gladiatorial combats in the
forum, at the banquet, or at the funeral
pyre.