DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0225
chap, vi.] CURIOUS CEMETERY. 123
characteristic of the site. Unlike those of Sutri, where
the door opens at once into the tomb, it here leads
into a small antechamber, seldom as much as five feet
square, which has an oblong hole in the ceiling, running
up like a chimney to the level of the ground above. The
tomb itself is generally spacious—from twelve to twenty
feet square, or of an oblong form—never circular—mostly
with a massive square pillar in the centre, hewn out of the
rock, or, in many cases, with a thick partition-wall of rock
instead, dividing the tomb into two equal parts. The
front face of this, whether it be pillar or projecting wall, is
generally hollowed out, sometimes in recesses, long and
shallow, and one over the other, to contain bodies, some-
times in upright niches, for cinerary urns or votive offer-
ings. Around the walls are long recesses for bodies, in
double or triple tiers, just as in the catacombs and tombs
of the early Christians, forcibly reminding you, by their
size, form, and arrangement, of the berths in a steamer's
cabin. The door-posts are frequently grooved to hold the
stone slabs with which the tombs were closed. The chim-
ney in the ceiling of the antechamber probably served
several purposes—as a spiramen, or vent-hole, to let off
the effluvium of the decaying bodies or burnt ashes—as a
means of pouring in libations to the Manes of the dead—
and as a mode of entrance on emergency after the doors
were closed. That they were used for the latter purpose
is evident, for in the sides of these chimneys may be seen
small niches, about a foot or eighteen inches one above the
other, manifestly cut for the hands and feet. These chim-
neys were probably left open for some time, till the efflu-
vium had passed off, and then were covered in, generally
with large hewn blocks. Similar trap-doorways to tombs
are found occasionally at Corneto, Ferento, Cervetri, and
elsewhere in Etruria, but nowhere in such numbers as at
characteristic of the site. Unlike those of Sutri, where
the door opens at once into the tomb, it here leads
into a small antechamber, seldom as much as five feet
square, which has an oblong hole in the ceiling, running
up like a chimney to the level of the ground above. The
tomb itself is generally spacious—from twelve to twenty
feet square, or of an oblong form—never circular—mostly
with a massive square pillar in the centre, hewn out of the
rock, or, in many cases, with a thick partition-wall of rock
instead, dividing the tomb into two equal parts. The
front face of this, whether it be pillar or projecting wall, is
generally hollowed out, sometimes in recesses, long and
shallow, and one over the other, to contain bodies, some-
times in upright niches, for cinerary urns or votive offer-
ings. Around the walls are long recesses for bodies, in
double or triple tiers, just as in the catacombs and tombs
of the early Christians, forcibly reminding you, by their
size, form, and arrangement, of the berths in a steamer's
cabin. The door-posts are frequently grooved to hold the
stone slabs with which the tombs were closed. The chim-
ney in the ceiling of the antechamber probably served
several purposes—as a spiramen, or vent-hole, to let off
the effluvium of the decaying bodies or burnt ashes—as a
means of pouring in libations to the Manes of the dead—
and as a mode of entrance on emergency after the doors
were closed. That they were used for the latter purpose
is evident, for in the sides of these chimneys may be seen
small niches, about a foot or eighteen inches one above the
other, manifestly cut for the hands and feet. These chim-
neys were probably left open for some time, till the efflu-
vium had passed off, and then were covered in, generally
with large hewn blocks. Similar trap-doorways to tombs
are found occasionally at Corneto, Ferento, Cervetri, and
elsewhere in Etruria, but nowhere in such numbers as at