DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0049
chap, xxxm.] TOMBS RECENTLY OPENED. 33
the rock ; and in one instance was the same fan-like orna-
ment in relief, and walls similarly panelled, as in a tomb
at Vulci ;3 whence it may be inferred that such decora-
tions were at one period fashionable in Etruscan houses.
Many of the tombs of the Banditaccia are surmounted
by tumuli. Indeed tumuli are scarcely less numerous here
than at Tarquinii. Some of them are still unexcavated,
the entrance being below the surface ; in others the door-
way opens in the basement, which is often of rock, hewn
into mouldings and cornice, and more rarely of masonry.
The cone of earth which originally surmounted these
tumuli is in most cases broken down almost to the level
of the soil. As at Tarquinii, there are no architectural
facades in this necropolis ; the decoration is chiefly internal.
Nor could I perceive more than a single instance of inscrip-
tions on the exterior of tombs; and that was no longer
legible.
Some tombs of great interest were opened on this spot
in the winter of 1845-6. The first you reach is a large
tomb, with two square pillars in the centre, and a row of
long niches for bodies recessed in the walls ; beside which
the chamber is surrounded by a deep bench, separated into
compartments for corpses, which were arranged, not in
lines parallel with the niches, but at right angles, with
their feet pointing to the centre of the tomb. There is
nothing further remarkable in this sepulchre beyond an
Etruscan word—cvethk—cut in the rock over one of the
corner recesses.4
3 See Vol. I. page 408. word of another inscription given by
4 This word, from its position in the Lanzi (Sagg. II. p. 509 ; cf. Vermigl.
corner of the tomb, seems to be the Iscriz. Perug. I. p. 140). See Bull,
first of an inscription never completed. Inst., 1847, p. 55. This tomb, in size,
It appears to have some analogy with form, and arrangements, is very like
the Cethes. Svthi, which commences that of the Tarquins, which is repre-
the celebrated inscription of S. Manno, sented in the wood-cnt at the head of
near Perugia, and also with the initial this chapter.
VOL. II. D
the rock ; and in one instance was the same fan-like orna-
ment in relief, and walls similarly panelled, as in a tomb
at Vulci ;3 whence it may be inferred that such decora-
tions were at one period fashionable in Etruscan houses.
Many of the tombs of the Banditaccia are surmounted
by tumuli. Indeed tumuli are scarcely less numerous here
than at Tarquinii. Some of them are still unexcavated,
the entrance being below the surface ; in others the door-
way opens in the basement, which is often of rock, hewn
into mouldings and cornice, and more rarely of masonry.
The cone of earth which originally surmounted these
tumuli is in most cases broken down almost to the level
of the soil. As at Tarquinii, there are no architectural
facades in this necropolis ; the decoration is chiefly internal.
Nor could I perceive more than a single instance of inscrip-
tions on the exterior of tombs; and that was no longer
legible.
Some tombs of great interest were opened on this spot
in the winter of 1845-6. The first you reach is a large
tomb, with two square pillars in the centre, and a row of
long niches for bodies recessed in the walls ; beside which
the chamber is surrounded by a deep bench, separated into
compartments for corpses, which were arranged, not in
lines parallel with the niches, but at right angles, with
their feet pointing to the centre of the tomb. There is
nothing further remarkable in this sepulchre beyond an
Etruscan word—cvethk—cut in the rock over one of the
corner recesses.4
3 See Vol. I. page 408. word of another inscription given by
4 This word, from its position in the Lanzi (Sagg. II. p. 509 ; cf. Vermigl.
corner of the tomb, seems to be the Iscriz. Perug. I. p. 140). See Bull,
first of an inscription never completed. Inst., 1847, p. 55. This tomb, in size,
It appears to have some analogy with form, and arrangements, is very like
the Cethes. Svthi, which commences that of the Tarquins, which is repre-
the celebrated inscription of S. Manno, sented in the wood-cnt at the head of
near Perugia, and also with the initial this chapter.
VOL. II. D