DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0138
122 FIESOLE. [chap, xxxvm.
a spout to carry the fluid clear of the wall. The other
runs in a great way in a straight line, but being too small
to admit a man, it has never been fathomed. A little
child was once sent in, who crawled for a considerable
distance without finding the end, till his courage failed
him, and he returned to the light of day.7 But the most
singular feature of this sewer is, that on the wall beneath it
is scratched a figure, the usual symbol among the ancients
of reproductive power. It is here so slightly marked, as
easily to escape the eye ; it may possibly have been done by
some wanton hand in more recent times, but analogy is in
favour of its antiquity. That such representations were
placed by the ancients on the walls of their cities, there is
no lack of proof. They are found on several of the early
cities of Italy and Greece, on masonry polygonal as well as
regular.8
The reason of this symbol being placed in such positions
is not easy to determine. Cavaliere Inghirami thought it
a man to enter, and may have been pos- of the wall, which is here of-rectangular
terns. It may be doubted if they were blocks (Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. III. p. 7,
conduits or sewers, though that at Norba tav. XIII.) ; and on the ancient walls of
is of the usual size of Etruscan sewers— Todi, on the Umbrian bank of the Tiber,
about seven feet high, aud three wide. of similar masonry, it is found in promi-
The larger of these two at Fiesole has nent relief, near the church of S. Fortu-
also been thought not to be a sewer nato. Ask for " il pesso di marmo." It
(Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 15) ; but I see no is also to be seen on a block at an angle
reason to doubt it. of the walls of Oea, in the island of
7 Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 16. Thera, in the iEgean Sea, with the in-
* The best known of these sites is scription tojs cplAois annexed, which has
Alatri, where the symbol tripled, and in been considered a mere euphemism to
relief, is sculptured on the lintel of the assist the fasciimm in averting the
above-mentioned sewer, postern, or pas- effects of the evil eye. The same tvr-
sage, which opens in the polygonal walls picula res, as Varro (L. L. VII. 97) calls
of the citadel. It is also found tripled it, is said to have been found on the
on the polygonal walls at Grottatorre, doors of tombs at Palazzolo, the ancient
near Correse in Sabina. On the ancient Acre in Sicily, and at Castel d'Asso in
walling in the Terra di Cesi, three miles Etruria, and even in the Catacombs of
from Terni, the same symbol in relief Naples. Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 65 ; 1841,
occurs in a similar position at the angle p. 19.
a spout to carry the fluid clear of the wall. The other
runs in a great way in a straight line, but being too small
to admit a man, it has never been fathomed. A little
child was once sent in, who crawled for a considerable
distance without finding the end, till his courage failed
him, and he returned to the light of day.7 But the most
singular feature of this sewer is, that on the wall beneath it
is scratched a figure, the usual symbol among the ancients
of reproductive power. It is here so slightly marked, as
easily to escape the eye ; it may possibly have been done by
some wanton hand in more recent times, but analogy is in
favour of its antiquity. That such representations were
placed by the ancients on the walls of their cities, there is
no lack of proof. They are found on several of the early
cities of Italy and Greece, on masonry polygonal as well as
regular.8
The reason of this symbol being placed in such positions
is not easy to determine. Cavaliere Inghirami thought it
a man to enter, and may have been pos- of the wall, which is here of-rectangular
terns. It may be doubted if they were blocks (Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. III. p. 7,
conduits or sewers, though that at Norba tav. XIII.) ; and on the ancient walls of
is of the usual size of Etruscan sewers— Todi, on the Umbrian bank of the Tiber,
about seven feet high, aud three wide. of similar masonry, it is found in promi-
The larger of these two at Fiesole has nent relief, near the church of S. Fortu-
also been thought not to be a sewer nato. Ask for " il pesso di marmo." It
(Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 15) ; but I see no is also to be seen on a block at an angle
reason to doubt it. of the walls of Oea, in the island of
7 Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 16. Thera, in the iEgean Sea, with the in-
* The best known of these sites is scription tojs cplAois annexed, which has
Alatri, where the symbol tripled, and in been considered a mere euphemism to
relief, is sculptured on the lintel of the assist the fasciimm in averting the
above-mentioned sewer, postern, or pas- effects of the evil eye. The same tvr-
sage, which opens in the polygonal walls picula res, as Varro (L. L. VII. 97) calls
of the citadel. It is also found tripled it, is said to have been found on the
on the polygonal walls at Grottatorre, doors of tombs at Palazzolo, the ancient
near Correse in Sabina. On the ancient Acre in Sicily, and at Castel d'Asso in
walling in the Terra di Cesi, three miles Etruria, and even in the Catacombs of
from Terni, the same symbol in relief Naples. Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 65 ; 1841,
occurs in a similar position at the angle p. 19.