DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0457
TARQUINIL—The Cemetery.
[chap. XVIII.
Regulini tomb at Cervetri, one of the most ancient
sepulchres of Etruria, and also bears much resemblance
to the Cyclopean gallery of Tiryns in Argolis.1
It were an idle thing for the stranger to search for the
wall-girt tumulus among the numerous mounds on this
part of the Montarozzi. Let him ask for the " Mausoleo,"
and Agapito or his locum tenens will conduct him to
the spot.
These tumuli are probably the most ancient description
of tomb in Etruria. Such, indeed, was the form of sepul-
chres among the primitive nations of the world. It varied
in different lands. The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Hindoos
assumed the pyramid ; while in Asia Minor, and by the
early races of Europe—Greeks,2 Italians, Scythians,
Celts, Scandinavians, and Germans—the cone was pre-
ferred. The ancient tribes of America also adopted the
same mode of sepulture; and the vast pyramids rising
from the plains of Mexico and Yucatan,3 rivalling those of
1A tomb has been found in this necro-
polis, vaulted over with a conical cupola,
formed by the gradual convergence of
horizontal courses of masonry, exactly
as in the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.
It was about 18 feet in diameter.—Gel),
Rome, II. p. 406 ; Mon. Ined. Inst. 1.
tav. XL. b. 4. It has either been re-
closed, or its site is forgotten. I have
sought it long in vain.
2 Pyramids, however, are found in
Greece, though of much inferior size to
those of Egypt. Pausanias (II. 25)
speaks of one existing in his day on the
road from Argos to Epidaurus; and
there are said to be several still extant,
the best preserved of which is near
Argos. It is 49 feet by 39 at the base,
and built of polygonal masonry, inclining
to the horizontal and rectangular. A
plate and description of it are given by
Colonel Mure, in his very interesting
work on Greece (II., p. 195, et seq.), who
ascribes it to the same primitive school
of architects as the Treasury of Atreus.
3 The two pyramids of the Sun and
Moon in the plain of Teotihuacan, are
particularly remarkable for their size ;
and one of them has shafts and galleries
within it, like those which have been dis-
covered in the Pyramids of Egypt. A
further analogy with the cemeteries of
the old world is displayed in the multi-
tude of smaller pyramids, all sepulchres,
ranged in avenues or streets around
these colossal monuments. The coun-
terpart of this Micoatl, or " Path of the
Dead," may be seen in the Montarozzi
of Tarquinii, but still more strikingly in
the Banditaccia of Cervetri. See Pres-
cott's Hernan Cortes, II. p. 354-7, for a
description of these Transatlantic monu-
ments,—also Stephens' Yucatan.
[chap. XVIII.
Regulini tomb at Cervetri, one of the most ancient
sepulchres of Etruria, and also bears much resemblance
to the Cyclopean gallery of Tiryns in Argolis.1
It were an idle thing for the stranger to search for the
wall-girt tumulus among the numerous mounds on this
part of the Montarozzi. Let him ask for the " Mausoleo,"
and Agapito or his locum tenens will conduct him to
the spot.
These tumuli are probably the most ancient description
of tomb in Etruria. Such, indeed, was the form of sepul-
chres among the primitive nations of the world. It varied
in different lands. The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Hindoos
assumed the pyramid ; while in Asia Minor, and by the
early races of Europe—Greeks,2 Italians, Scythians,
Celts, Scandinavians, and Germans—the cone was pre-
ferred. The ancient tribes of America also adopted the
same mode of sepulture; and the vast pyramids rising
from the plains of Mexico and Yucatan,3 rivalling those of
1A tomb has been found in this necro-
polis, vaulted over with a conical cupola,
formed by the gradual convergence of
horizontal courses of masonry, exactly
as in the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.
It was about 18 feet in diameter.—Gel),
Rome, II. p. 406 ; Mon. Ined. Inst. 1.
tav. XL. b. 4. It has either been re-
closed, or its site is forgotten. I have
sought it long in vain.
2 Pyramids, however, are found in
Greece, though of much inferior size to
those of Egypt. Pausanias (II. 25)
speaks of one existing in his day on the
road from Argos to Epidaurus; and
there are said to be several still extant,
the best preserved of which is near
Argos. It is 49 feet by 39 at the base,
and built of polygonal masonry, inclining
to the horizontal and rectangular. A
plate and description of it are given by
Colonel Mure, in his very interesting
work on Greece (II., p. 195, et seq.), who
ascribes it to the same primitive school
of architects as the Treasury of Atreus.
3 The two pyramids of the Sun and
Moon in the plain of Teotihuacan, are
particularly remarkable for their size ;
and one of them has shafts and galleries
within it, like those which have been dis-
covered in the Pyramids of Egypt. A
further analogy with the cemeteries of
the old world is displayed in the multi-
tude of smaller pyramids, all sepulchres,
ranged in avenues or streets around
these colossal monuments. The coun-
terpart of this Micoatl, or " Path of the
Dead," may be seen in the Montarozzi
of Tarquinii, but still more strikingly in
the Banditaccia of Cervetri. See Pres-
cott's Hernan Cortes, II. p. 354-7, for a
description of these Transatlantic monu-
ments,—also Stephens' Yucatan.