DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0060
44 CERVBTRI. [chap, xxxm.
instead of more than two thousand years. No finger, not
even the effacing one of Time, has touched it, since that of
the Etruscan, who so many centuries ago recorded the
name of his just departed friend.
Were I to insert all the inscriptions of this tomb, I should
heartily weary the reader.9 Let one suffice to show the
Etruscan form of the name of Tarquin,
nflu-^oWiMW^ urn
Which in Roman letters would be
ATLE • TARCHNAS • LARTHAL • CLAN
The name, either in Etruscan or Latin,1 occurs no
fewer than thirty-five times! How much oftener it was
repeated, in parts where the paint has run or faded, or the
inscriptions have become otherwise illegible, I cannot say,
but should think that not less than fifty epitaphs with this
name must have been originally inscribed in this tomb.
One fact I noticed, which seems to strengthen the proba-
bility that this family was of the royal race—namely, that
it appears to have kept itself in great measure distinct by
intermarriages, and to have mingled little with other
Etruscan families—at least when compared with similar
tombs, those of Perugia for instance, this sepulchre will be
found to contain very few other family-names introduced
in the epitaphs as matronymics.2
9 I have given all the inscriptions that out referring these epigraphs to the
remain legible, whether Etruscan or period of Roman domination. More-
Latin, in Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 56—59. over, even though in Latin letters, the
Compare Dr. Mommsen's version of some name sometimes retains its Etruscan
of them (p. 63) which differs from mine, form—" tarcna "—which is quite novel,
though I cannot think in every instance and a presumptive evidence of antiquity,
so correct. 2 jn more tjjan fortv inscriptions, I
1 The Latin inscriptions in this tomb could find only eleven names of other
do not necessarily indicate a very late families, and of these seven only were in
date ; if the family were of the royal Etruscan characters and connected with
blood of Rome, the occasional use of the the name of Tarchnas ; the other four
Latin character may be explained, with- were in Latin, and quite distinct.
instead of more than two thousand years. No finger, not
even the effacing one of Time, has touched it, since that of
the Etruscan, who so many centuries ago recorded the
name of his just departed friend.
Were I to insert all the inscriptions of this tomb, I should
heartily weary the reader.9 Let one suffice to show the
Etruscan form of the name of Tarquin,
nflu-^oWiMW^ urn
Which in Roman letters would be
ATLE • TARCHNAS • LARTHAL • CLAN
The name, either in Etruscan or Latin,1 occurs no
fewer than thirty-five times! How much oftener it was
repeated, in parts where the paint has run or faded, or the
inscriptions have become otherwise illegible, I cannot say,
but should think that not less than fifty epitaphs with this
name must have been originally inscribed in this tomb.
One fact I noticed, which seems to strengthen the proba-
bility that this family was of the royal race—namely, that
it appears to have kept itself in great measure distinct by
intermarriages, and to have mingled little with other
Etruscan families—at least when compared with similar
tombs, those of Perugia for instance, this sepulchre will be
found to contain very few other family-names introduced
in the epitaphs as matronymics.2
9 I have given all the inscriptions that out referring these epigraphs to the
remain legible, whether Etruscan or period of Roman domination. More-
Latin, in Bull. Inst. 1847, pp. 56—59. over, even though in Latin letters, the
Compare Dr. Mommsen's version of some name sometimes retains its Etruscan
of them (p. 63) which differs from mine, form—" tarcna "—which is quite novel,
though I cannot think in every instance and a presumptive evidence of antiquity,
so correct. 2 jn more tjjan fortv inscriptions, I
1 The Latin inscriptions in this tomb could find only eleven names of other
do not necessarily indicate a very late families, and of these seven only were in
date ; if the family were of the royal Etruscan characters and connected with
blood of Rome, the occasional use of the the name of Tarchnas ; the other four
Latin character may be explained, with- were in Latin, and quite distinct.