DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0461
356 TARQUINIL—The Cemetery, [chap, xviii.
Julius Caesar, when the painted vases were of great value,
and were sought for eagerly, as we are told, in the tomhs
of Campania and Corinth.10 Their reason for this opinion
is, that the more ancient tombs have all been plundered,
while those of later date have generally been spared. This,
however, may be accounted for, I think, by the superior
wealth treasured in the older sepulchres ; for these gentle-
men inform us that the poorer ones of equal antiquity are
often intact—a fact which is to be wondered at, seeing
that there is no external distinction now visible, whatever
there may have been of old. Nor is there any local
separation—nothing like classification in the arrangement
—but sepulchres of all ranks and of various dates are
jumbled together in glorious confusion. It seems as
though, after the necropolis had been fairly filled, the
subsequent generations of Tarquinians thrust in their dead
in every available spot of unoccupied ground; and so it
continued to a late period, for there are tombs of Romans,
as well as of Etruscans, and some apparently even of the
early Christians. From the number of painted vases
yielded by this necropolis, I should conclude that the
rifling was of much later date than Julius Csesar ; more
probably of the time of Theodoric (a.d. 489—526), when
grave-spoiling was general throughout Italy. For that
monarch thought, with the Wife of Bath—
" It is but waste to bury preciously,"
and sanctioned the search for gold and silver, yet com-
manded everything else to be spared.1
Taking all classes of tombs into account, those which
are virgin or intact are said to be one in thirty; but those
which, like Awolta's tomb, contain articles of value, are in
much smaller proportion. The painted pottery is far
i» Suet. Jul. 81; Strab. VIII. p. 381. ' Cassiodor. Variar.IV. 34.
Julius Caesar, when the painted vases were of great value,
and were sought for eagerly, as we are told, in the tomhs
of Campania and Corinth.10 Their reason for this opinion
is, that the more ancient tombs have all been plundered,
while those of later date have generally been spared. This,
however, may be accounted for, I think, by the superior
wealth treasured in the older sepulchres ; for these gentle-
men inform us that the poorer ones of equal antiquity are
often intact—a fact which is to be wondered at, seeing
that there is no external distinction now visible, whatever
there may have been of old. Nor is there any local
separation—nothing like classification in the arrangement
—but sepulchres of all ranks and of various dates are
jumbled together in glorious confusion. It seems as
though, after the necropolis had been fairly filled, the
subsequent generations of Tarquinians thrust in their dead
in every available spot of unoccupied ground; and so it
continued to a late period, for there are tombs of Romans,
as well as of Etruscans, and some apparently even of the
early Christians. From the number of painted vases
yielded by this necropolis, I should conclude that the
rifling was of much later date than Julius Csesar ; more
probably of the time of Theodoric (a.d. 489—526), when
grave-spoiling was general throughout Italy. For that
monarch thought, with the Wife of Bath—
" It is but waste to bury preciously,"
and sanctioned the search for gold and silver, yet com-
manded everything else to be spared.1
Taking all classes of tombs into account, those which
are virgin or intact are said to be one in thirty; but those
which, like Awolta's tomb, contain articles of value, are in
much smaller proportion. The painted pottery is far
i» Suet. Jul. 81; Strab. VIII. p. 381. ' Cassiodor. Variar.IV. 34.