DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0354
250 NORCHIA. [chap. xti.
Could he have been a Greek, who, flying from his native
land, like Demaratus of Corinth, became great and powerful
in this the home of his adoption, yet with fond yearnings
after his native soil, raised himself a sepulchre after the
fashion of his kindred, that, though separated from them
in life, he might in some sort be united with them in
death 1 ~No—he must have been an Etruscan in blood
and creed; for this same procession shows certain pecu-
liarities of the Etruscan mythology—the winged genius
of Death, with three other figures in long robes, bearing
twisted rods—those mysterious symbols of the Etruscan
Hades—conducting the souls of two warriors with funeral
pomp, just as in the Typhon-tomb at Corneto.
I have spoken of columns. None are now standing,6 but
it is evident that the heavy projecting entablatures have
been so supported—that of the entire tomb by four, traces
of whose capitals and bases are very distinct—that of the
broken one, whether by four or six it is difficult to say;
more probably the latter. In neither case do they seem to
have been more than plain square pillars—antte, in fact;
the inner ones similar to those at the angles of the pronaos.
They were all left in the rock out of which the facades
are hewn, and the softness and friability of the tufo accounts
for their destruction.
The entablatures at a distance seem Doric, but a nearer
approach discloses peculiar features. The pediments
on the sepulchre itself the profession of seen on a vase, described by Millingen
the deceased by the representation of (Peintnres de Vases Grecs, pi. XIX.),
his implements or tools, or by scenes where within an cedieala or shrine stands
descriptive of his mode of life. A well- the figure of the deceased, with his shield
known but curious instance of this is and greaves suspended above his head,
seen in the baker's tomb at the Porta, 6 The pillar at the right-hand angle
Maggiore of Rome, and another in the of the entire tomb was standing when
cutler's monument in the Galleria Lapi- Orioli first visited these monuments.
daria of the Vatican. Another, more Ann. Inst. 1833, p. 36.
analogous to this Norchian sepulchre, is
Could he have been a Greek, who, flying from his native
land, like Demaratus of Corinth, became great and powerful
in this the home of his adoption, yet with fond yearnings
after his native soil, raised himself a sepulchre after the
fashion of his kindred, that, though separated from them
in life, he might in some sort be united with them in
death 1 ~No—he must have been an Etruscan in blood
and creed; for this same procession shows certain pecu-
liarities of the Etruscan mythology—the winged genius
of Death, with three other figures in long robes, bearing
twisted rods—those mysterious symbols of the Etruscan
Hades—conducting the souls of two warriors with funeral
pomp, just as in the Typhon-tomb at Corneto.
I have spoken of columns. None are now standing,6 but
it is evident that the heavy projecting entablatures have
been so supported—that of the entire tomb by four, traces
of whose capitals and bases are very distinct—that of the
broken one, whether by four or six it is difficult to say;
more probably the latter. In neither case do they seem to
have been more than plain square pillars—antte, in fact;
the inner ones similar to those at the angles of the pronaos.
They were all left in the rock out of which the facades
are hewn, and the softness and friability of the tufo accounts
for their destruction.
The entablatures at a distance seem Doric, but a nearer
approach discloses peculiar features. The pediments
on the sepulchre itself the profession of seen on a vase, described by Millingen
the deceased by the representation of (Peintnres de Vases Grecs, pi. XIX.),
his implements or tools, or by scenes where within an cedieala or shrine stands
descriptive of his mode of life. A well- the figure of the deceased, with his shield
known but curious instance of this is and greaves suspended above his head,
seen in the baker's tomb at the Porta, 6 The pillar at the right-hand angle
Maggiore of Rome, and another in the of the entire tomb was standing when
cutler's monument in the Galleria Lapi- Orioli first visited these monuments.
daria of the Vatican. Another, more Ann. Inst. 1833, p. 36.
analogous to this Norchian sepulchre, is