DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0187
!70 YOLTERRA.—The Museum. [chap. xli.
contain not the entire body, but merely the ashes of the
deceased, a third of the dimensions suffices,—
Mors sola fatetur
Quantula sunt hominum corpuscula.
These " ash-chests " are rarely more than two feet in
length; so that they merit the name, usually applied to
them, of urnlets—urnette. Most have the effigy of the
deceased recumbent on the lid. Hence we learn some-
thing of the physiognomy and costume of the Etruscans ;
though we should do wrong to draw inferences as to
their symmetry from the stunted distorted figures often
presented to us. The equality of woman in the social
state of Etruria may also be learned from the figures on
these urns. It is evident that no inferior respect was paid
to the fair when dead, that as much labour and expense
were bestowed on their sepulchral decorations as on those
of their lords. In fact, it has generally been remarked
that the tombs of females are more highly ornamented
and richly furnished than those of the opposite sex. Their
equality may also be learned from the tablets which so
many hold open in their hands 4—intimating that they were
not kept in ignorance and degradation, but were educated
to be the companions rather than the slaves of the men.
Nay—if we may judge from these urns, the Etruscan
ladies had the advantage of their lords ; for whereas the
4 What I call tablets Micali (Ant. If, then, these were tablets — talulce,
Pop. Ital. III. p. 180) takes to be a pugillares—they must have been made
mirror in the form of a book. But no of wood, coated with wax, which will
mirrors of this form have ever been dis- account for no specimens of them having
covered ; and it is difficult to believe been found ■ in Etruscan sepulchres,
that an article so frequently repre- Two such tablets, however, of the time
sented on Etruscan urns, would never of Marcus Aurelius, have come down to
have been found in tombs, if it had been us, preserved in gold mines in Tran-
of metal, like other ancient mirrors. sylvania. See Smith's Dictionary of
Besides, it is well known that the tab- Antiquities v. Tabulae.
lets of the ancients were of this form.
contain not the entire body, but merely the ashes of the
deceased, a third of the dimensions suffices,—
Mors sola fatetur
Quantula sunt hominum corpuscula.
These " ash-chests " are rarely more than two feet in
length; so that they merit the name, usually applied to
them, of urnlets—urnette. Most have the effigy of the
deceased recumbent on the lid. Hence we learn some-
thing of the physiognomy and costume of the Etruscans ;
though we should do wrong to draw inferences as to
their symmetry from the stunted distorted figures often
presented to us. The equality of woman in the social
state of Etruria may also be learned from the figures on
these urns. It is evident that no inferior respect was paid
to the fair when dead, that as much labour and expense
were bestowed on their sepulchral decorations as on those
of their lords. In fact, it has generally been remarked
that the tombs of females are more highly ornamented
and richly furnished than those of the opposite sex. Their
equality may also be learned from the tablets which so
many hold open in their hands 4—intimating that they were
not kept in ignorance and degradation, but were educated
to be the companions rather than the slaves of the men.
Nay—if we may judge from these urns, the Etruscan
ladies had the advantage of their lords ; for whereas the
4 What I call tablets Micali (Ant. If, then, these were tablets — talulce,
Pop. Ital. III. p. 180) takes to be a pugillares—they must have been made
mirror in the form of a book. But no of wood, coated with wax, which will
mirrors of this form have ever been dis- account for no specimens of them having
covered ; and it is difficult to believe been found ■ in Etruscan sepulchres,
that an article so frequently repre- Two such tablets, however, of the time
sented on Etruscan urns, would never of Marcus Aurelius, have come down to
have been found in tombs, if it had been us, preserved in gold mines in Tran-
of metal, like other ancient mirrors. sylvania. See Smith's Dictionary of
Besides, it is well known that the tab- Antiquities v. Tabulae.
lets of the ancients were of this form.