DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0229
chap, vi.] RAVINE SCENES. 127
the crannies of the precipices, and wheeling above their
heads, to their rapt fancies might seem the souls of the
departed, haunting the neighbourhood of their earthly
abodes.8
To the modern traveller, the ravine yields no such asso-
ciations, but is fertile in the picturesque. Ascend the
course of the stream, and just above a rustic bridge you
obtain a fine view of the Ponte Terrano spanning the
glen in the distance, the Castle cresting the precipice on
the left, and a ruined tower frowning down upon you
from the opposite height. The cliffs rise on either hand,
of yellow and red tufo, dashed with grey, white, or dark
brown, with occasional ledges of green ; the whole crested
with ilex, and draped here and there with ivy, clematis,
and wild vine. Below the great bridge you have still
more of the picturesque. The walls of warm yellow cliff,
variegated with foliage, here approach so close as to make
this a mere chasm—the fragment of Etruscan walling
crowns the precipice on the right—huge masses of cliff
fallen from above, he about in wild confusion, almost choking
the hollow—tall trees shoot up from among them, by the
banks of the stream, but are dwarfed into shrubs by the
vast height of the all-shadowing cliffs.
There is no lack of accommodation at Civita Castellana.
The principal inn, La Posta, has received a bad name from
8 It is supposed, not without reason, Syren—even called in their language
that the souls of the deceased are some- "Sireng," and quotes De Hammer in
times symbolised on the monuments as proof of his assertion. Curious, indeed,
birds, especially doves. Ann. Inst. if true! That doves were emblems of
1842, p. 107.—Welcker. cf. Micali, Ant. divinities in oriental mythology is well
Pop. Ital. III., p. 85, tav. LVII. Micali known. Mithras, the great deity of the
is of opinion that the syrens so often ancient Persians, was so symbolized,
represented on the early vases and Ann. Inst. 1833, p. 96. Doves were also
bronzes of Etruria, are symbols of the supposed to be the utterers of the oracles
soul (Mon. Ined., p. 2S6). He states of Dodona, and of Jupiter Ammon in
that the Parsees represented the disem- Libya. Herod. II. 55—57.
bodied soul as a fabulous bird, like a
the crannies of the precipices, and wheeling above their
heads, to their rapt fancies might seem the souls of the
departed, haunting the neighbourhood of their earthly
abodes.8
To the modern traveller, the ravine yields no such asso-
ciations, but is fertile in the picturesque. Ascend the
course of the stream, and just above a rustic bridge you
obtain a fine view of the Ponte Terrano spanning the
glen in the distance, the Castle cresting the precipice on
the left, and a ruined tower frowning down upon you
from the opposite height. The cliffs rise on either hand,
of yellow and red tufo, dashed with grey, white, or dark
brown, with occasional ledges of green ; the whole crested
with ilex, and draped here and there with ivy, clematis,
and wild vine. Below the great bridge you have still
more of the picturesque. The walls of warm yellow cliff,
variegated with foliage, here approach so close as to make
this a mere chasm—the fragment of Etruscan walling
crowns the precipice on the right—huge masses of cliff
fallen from above, he about in wild confusion, almost choking
the hollow—tall trees shoot up from among them, by the
banks of the stream, but are dwarfed into shrubs by the
vast height of the all-shadowing cliffs.
There is no lack of accommodation at Civita Castellana.
The principal inn, La Posta, has received a bad name from
8 It is supposed, not without reason, Syren—even called in their language
that the souls of the deceased are some- "Sireng," and quotes De Hammer in
times symbolised on the monuments as proof of his assertion. Curious, indeed,
birds, especially doves. Ann. Inst. if true! That doves were emblems of
1842, p. 107.—Welcker. cf. Micali, Ant. divinities in oriental mythology is well
Pop. Ital. III., p. 85, tav. LVII. Micali known. Mithras, the great deity of the
is of opinion that the syrens so often ancient Persians, was so symbolized,
represented on the early vases and Ann. Inst. 1833, p. 96. Doves were also
bronzes of Etruria, are symbols of the supposed to be the utterers of the oracles
soul (Mon. Ined., p. 2S6). He states of Dodona, and of Jupiter Ammon in
that the Parsees represented the disem- Libya. Herod. II. 55—57.
bodied soul as a fabulous bird, like a