DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0072
56
CERVETRI.
[chap, xxxih.
The high ground to the east of Caere, on the opposite
side of the Vaccina, is called Monte Abatone. This,
Canina8 regards as the site of the sacred grove of Silvanus,
described by Virgil,9 and thinks that its name is derived
from the fir-trees—abietes—which are said by that poet to
have surrounded the grove.1 None, however, are now
visible. Ceres has usurped the greater part of the hill,
and has driven Pan to its further extremity.
The interest of Monte Abatone is not its doubtful claim
to the site of a sylvan shrine, but its positive possession of
tombs of very singular character. About a mile to the
in his pamphlet, " Ueber die Tyrrhenis-
chen Pelasger in Etrurien," pp. 39—42,
where he lucidly points out the pecu-
liarities both in the language and cha-
racters which distinguish this inscription
from the Etruscan, and mark it as
Pelasgic. He states that Muller agreed
with his opinion on this point, though
it was disputed by Franz (Elementa
Epigraphices Graeme, p. 24), who
admitted, however, that the language
was not Etruscan.
8 Canina, Cere Ant. p. S3. So also
Abeken, Mittelitalien, p. 37. Gell (Topog.
of Rome, I. p. 1) places the grove on
the hills on the opposite side of the
Vaccina. But Virgil seems to have
placed it rather on the banks of the
stream than on a hill of any sort, and
I should therefore consider it to have
stood in the ravine between the city and
Monte Abatone, in which case the colles
cavi would be aptly represented by the
cliffs hollowed into tombs, and the slopes
at whose foot are still dark with wood,
though not of fir-trees.
9 Virg. Mu. VIII. 597—
Est ingens gelidum lucus prope
Caeritis amnem,
Religione patrum late saeer: un-
dique colles
Inclusere cavi, et nigra nemus
abiete cingunt.
Silvano fama est veteros sacrasse
Livy (XXI. 62) mentions an oracle at
Caere.
1 Cavaliere P. E. Visconti (Act. Mo-
num. Sepolc, di. Ceri, p. 17) would
derive it from &0arov—a spot sacred,
not to be trodden—on the ground that
this was the name applied by the Rho-
dians to the edifice they had raised round
the statue of Artemisia to conceal it
from the public view. Vitruv. II. 8.
But Cav. Canina rejects this deriva-
tion, on account of the necropolis of
Caere being on the opposite side, in the
Banditaccia. Yet the cemeteries of Etrus-
can towns were not confined to any one
side, though one spot might, for conve-
nience sake, be more especially devoted
to interment; and in this case in parti-
cular the city was completely surrounded
by tombs. When two Roman knights
are breaking a lance together, who shall
venture to step between them 1 Yet the
probability seems in favour of the fir-
trees ; unless, indeed, the word is derived
from some Abbey that in the middle ages
stood on the spot.
CERVETRI.
[chap, xxxih.
The high ground to the east of Caere, on the opposite
side of the Vaccina, is called Monte Abatone. This,
Canina8 regards as the site of the sacred grove of Silvanus,
described by Virgil,9 and thinks that its name is derived
from the fir-trees—abietes—which are said by that poet to
have surrounded the grove.1 None, however, are now
visible. Ceres has usurped the greater part of the hill,
and has driven Pan to its further extremity.
The interest of Monte Abatone is not its doubtful claim
to the site of a sylvan shrine, but its positive possession of
tombs of very singular character. About a mile to the
in his pamphlet, " Ueber die Tyrrhenis-
chen Pelasger in Etrurien," pp. 39—42,
where he lucidly points out the pecu-
liarities both in the language and cha-
racters which distinguish this inscription
from the Etruscan, and mark it as
Pelasgic. He states that Muller agreed
with his opinion on this point, though
it was disputed by Franz (Elementa
Epigraphices Graeme, p. 24), who
admitted, however, that the language
was not Etruscan.
8 Canina, Cere Ant. p. S3. So also
Abeken, Mittelitalien, p. 37. Gell (Topog.
of Rome, I. p. 1) places the grove on
the hills on the opposite side of the
Vaccina. But Virgil seems to have
placed it rather on the banks of the
stream than on a hill of any sort, and
I should therefore consider it to have
stood in the ravine between the city and
Monte Abatone, in which case the colles
cavi would be aptly represented by the
cliffs hollowed into tombs, and the slopes
at whose foot are still dark with wood,
though not of fir-trees.
9 Virg. Mu. VIII. 597—
Est ingens gelidum lucus prope
Caeritis amnem,
Religione patrum late saeer: un-
dique colles
Inclusere cavi, et nigra nemus
abiete cingunt.
Silvano fama est veteros sacrasse
Livy (XXI. 62) mentions an oracle at
Caere.
1 Cavaliere P. E. Visconti (Act. Mo-
num. Sepolc, di. Ceri, p. 17) would
derive it from &0arov—a spot sacred,
not to be trodden—on the ground that
this was the name applied by the Rho-
dians to the edifice they had raised round
the statue of Artemisia to conceal it
from the public view. Vitruv. II. 8.
But Cav. Canina rejects this deriva-
tion, on account of the necropolis of
Caere being on the opposite side, in the
Banditaccia. Yet the cemeteries of Etrus-
can towns were not confined to any one
side, though one spot might, for conve-
nience sake, be more especially devoted
to interment; and in this case in parti-
cular the city was completely surrounded
by tombs. When two Roman knights
are breaking a lance together, who shall
venture to step between them 1 Yet the
probability seems in favour of the fir-
trees ; unless, indeed, the word is derived
from some Abbey that in the middle ages
stood on the spot.