DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0076
60 CERVETRI. [chap. mm.
of a horse, lying by the bier of his master, and suggesting
that he had been slain at the funeral obsequies.5
GrKOTTA ToRLONIA.
The sepulchre under the adjoining tumulus has received
its name from the proprietor of the land. The basement
is here of the usual circular form.6 Tbe entrance to this
tomb is its most singular feature. At a considerable dis-
tance a level passage opens in the hill-side, and runs partly
underground towards the tumulus, till it terminates in a
vestibule, now open to the sky, and communicating with
the ground above, by two flights of steps. The inner part
of this vestibule is recessed in the rock, like the upper
chambers of the tombs of Castel d'Asso ; for there is a
similar, moulded door in the centre, and on either hand are
benches of rock, which, being too narrow for sarcophagi,
suggest that this chamber was formed for the funeral rites—
probably for the banquet, and generally for the convenience
of the relatives of the deceased in their periodical visits to
the tomb. This chamber is decorated with rock-hewn
pilasters of Doric proportions, but with peculiar capitals,
and bases somewhat allied to the Tuscan.
In the floor of this vestibule opens another flight of
steps leading down to the sepulchre.7 There is an ante-
5 For a detailed description of this tombs of Civita Castellana, but there is
tomb and its contents, and for illustra- no appearance of communication with
tive plans and sections, see the work of the tomb below, and it could not there-
Cav. P. E. Visconti, Antichi Monumenti fore hare served the purpose of an
Sepolcrali di Ceri. entrance.
6 This tumulus is about 75 feet in * Visconti (Ant. Mon. di Ceri, p. 20)
diameter. The masonry of the base- states, but apparently as a mere conjec-
ment has this peculiarity,"' that at the tare, that this flight of steps was origi-
distance of every 10 or 11 feet a block nally concealed, so that a person entering
projects, so as to give the whole a resem- the passage or descending the steps from
blance to a vast cog-wheel lying on the above, would take the vestibule with its
ground. In the masonry, just above moulded doorway for the real sepulchre,
the entrance, is a pit or shaft, as in the
of a horse, lying by the bier of his master, and suggesting
that he had been slain at the funeral obsequies.5
GrKOTTA ToRLONIA.
The sepulchre under the adjoining tumulus has received
its name from the proprietor of the land. The basement
is here of the usual circular form.6 Tbe entrance to this
tomb is its most singular feature. At a considerable dis-
tance a level passage opens in the hill-side, and runs partly
underground towards the tumulus, till it terminates in a
vestibule, now open to the sky, and communicating with
the ground above, by two flights of steps. The inner part
of this vestibule is recessed in the rock, like the upper
chambers of the tombs of Castel d'Asso ; for there is a
similar, moulded door in the centre, and on either hand are
benches of rock, which, being too narrow for sarcophagi,
suggest that this chamber was formed for the funeral rites—
probably for the banquet, and generally for the convenience
of the relatives of the deceased in their periodical visits to
the tomb. This chamber is decorated with rock-hewn
pilasters of Doric proportions, but with peculiar capitals,
and bases somewhat allied to the Tuscan.
In the floor of this vestibule opens another flight of
steps leading down to the sepulchre.7 There is an ante-
5 For a detailed description of this tombs of Civita Castellana, but there is
tomb and its contents, and for illustra- no appearance of communication with
tive plans and sections, see the work of the tomb below, and it could not there-
Cav. P. E. Visconti, Antichi Monumenti fore hare served the purpose of an
Sepolcrali di Ceri. entrance.
6 This tumulus is about 75 feet in * Visconti (Ant. Mon. di Ceri, p. 20)
diameter. The masonry of the base- states, but apparently as a mere conjec-
ment has this peculiarity,"' that at the tare, that this flight of steps was origi-
distance of every 10 or 11 feet a block nally concealed, so that a person entering
projects, so as to give the whole a resem- the passage or descending the steps from
blance to a vast cog-wheel lying on the above, would take the vestibule with its
ground. In the masonry, just above moulded doorway for the real sepulchre,
the entrance, is a pit or shaft, as in the