DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0089
CHAP. XXXIV.]
TUMULI OF MONTERONI.
73
only that resemblance to the Egyptian which bespeaks a
high antiquity.4
These tombs, from their position, must have belonged to
the necropolis of Alsium; and thus, while one bears out
Dionysius' statement of the existence of an Etruscan popu-
lation on this site, the other confirms his testimony as to
its prior occupation by a more ancient race.
Were excavations continued here, other tombs would
doubtless be discovered. But since the Duchess's death, a
few years since, nothing has been done on this coast. For
antiquarian zeal and enterprise this lady rivalled the late
Duchess of Devonshire.
It is scarcely worth while to visit the tumuli of Monteroni,
4 They consisted of pottery and terra-
cotta figures in the archaic or Egypto-
Etruscan style, some with four wings,
forming the feet of vases. The de-
scription of these tombs I have taken
from Abeken, Bull. Inst. 1839, pp.
81—84 ; 1841, p. 39 ; and also from
his Mittelitalien, pp. 242, 267,272, 274 ;
for nothing is now to be seen on the spot.
Micali, who takes his notices from the
papers of the late Duchess, gives a some-
what different description of these tombs.
He says, above the basement-wall of the
tumulus the tufo was cut into steps to
the height of 18 feet, and then levelled ;
and on this was raised a mound of earth
to the height of 27 feet more. In the
lower or natural part of the mound was
discovered a sepulchre of four chambers,
one of them circular, all with rock-hewn
benches, and bronze nails in the walls
around. These, from his description
of their contents, are the less ancient of
the tombs mentioned in the text. The
passage-tomb he represents as 45 feet
long, sunk in the same levelled part of
the mound, though lined with masonry,
regularly squared and smoothed. Upon
it opened, by a door of the usual
Etruscan form, another narrow passage,
similarly lined and half the length,
with a rock-hewn bench, and numerous
bronze nails in the wall. Here were
found some articles of gold, and jewel-
lery, fragments of Egyptian vases, and
odorous paste, and a stone in the form
of an axe-head, supposed to be Egyptian.
There were no Etruscan inscriptions in
any of these tombs. The masonry of
the passage he represents (Mon. Ined.
tav. LVII.) as opus quadratnm, of tufo
blocks, but psmdisodomon, or in courses
of unequal heights. These tombs were
drained by many channels cut in the
rock, and branching in all directions.
Mon. Ined. pp. 378—390. It must be
the less ancient of these tombs in which
Mrs. Hamilton Gray, who visited them
shortly after they were opened, saw a
pair of panthers painted over the door
of the outer chamber, and two hippo-
campi, with genii on their backs, on the
walls of the inner. Sepulchres of
Etruria, p. 123, third edition. Mrs.
Gray errs in calling the site "Monte
Nerone ;" it is named Monteroni, from
these " large mounds."
TUMULI OF MONTERONI.
73
only that resemblance to the Egyptian which bespeaks a
high antiquity.4
These tombs, from their position, must have belonged to
the necropolis of Alsium; and thus, while one bears out
Dionysius' statement of the existence of an Etruscan popu-
lation on this site, the other confirms his testimony as to
its prior occupation by a more ancient race.
Were excavations continued here, other tombs would
doubtless be discovered. But since the Duchess's death, a
few years since, nothing has been done on this coast. For
antiquarian zeal and enterprise this lady rivalled the late
Duchess of Devonshire.
It is scarcely worth while to visit the tumuli of Monteroni,
4 They consisted of pottery and terra-
cotta figures in the archaic or Egypto-
Etruscan style, some with four wings,
forming the feet of vases. The de-
scription of these tombs I have taken
from Abeken, Bull. Inst. 1839, pp.
81—84 ; 1841, p. 39 ; and also from
his Mittelitalien, pp. 242, 267,272, 274 ;
for nothing is now to be seen on the spot.
Micali, who takes his notices from the
papers of the late Duchess, gives a some-
what different description of these tombs.
He says, above the basement-wall of the
tumulus the tufo was cut into steps to
the height of 18 feet, and then levelled ;
and on this was raised a mound of earth
to the height of 27 feet more. In the
lower or natural part of the mound was
discovered a sepulchre of four chambers,
one of them circular, all with rock-hewn
benches, and bronze nails in the walls
around. These, from his description
of their contents, are the less ancient of
the tombs mentioned in the text. The
passage-tomb he represents as 45 feet
long, sunk in the same levelled part of
the mound, though lined with masonry,
regularly squared and smoothed. Upon
it opened, by a door of the usual
Etruscan form, another narrow passage,
similarly lined and half the length,
with a rock-hewn bench, and numerous
bronze nails in the wall. Here were
found some articles of gold, and jewel-
lery, fragments of Egyptian vases, and
odorous paste, and a stone in the form
of an axe-head, supposed to be Egyptian.
There were no Etruscan inscriptions in
any of these tombs. The masonry of
the passage he represents (Mon. Ined.
tav. LVII.) as opus quadratnm, of tufo
blocks, but psmdisodomon, or in courses
of unequal heights. These tombs were
drained by many channels cut in the
rock, and branching in all directions.
Mon. Ined. pp. 378—390. It must be
the less ancient of these tombs in which
Mrs. Hamilton Gray, who visited them
shortly after they were opened, saw a
pair of panthers painted over the door
of the outer chamber, and two hippo-
campi, with genii on their backs, on the
walls of the inner. Sepulchres of
Etruria, p. 123, third edition. Mrs.
Gray errs in calling the site "Monte
Nerone ;" it is named Monteroni, from
these " large mounds."