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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0222
CHAP. XI.I.]
BRONZES.—COINS.—JEWELLERY.
205
Among the minor curiosities are spoons, pins, and dice
of bone ; astragali, or huckle-bones, which furnished the
same diversion to the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, as
to school-boys in our own day ; and various articles in
variegated glass.
There is also a collection of Etruscan jewellery—chains,
fibulcB, rings for the fingers and ears, all wrought in gold ;
but these articles are not found in such abundance at Vol-
terra, as on some other Etruscan sites. The most curious
and beautiful jewellery this necropolis has yielded is pre-
served in the Uffizj Gallery at Florence.
In the Casa Cinci there was a valuable collection of
urns and other Etruscan relics, but since Signor Giusto's
death the greater part of them has been sold. In the
Casa Giorgi, there was also a collection of urns.7
times the prow of a ship on the reverse,
as in that of early Rome ; and some-
times a single head, instead of the
Janus, on the obverse. This Janus-
head was put on coins, says Athenseus
(XV. c. 13, p. 692), because Janus was
the first to coin money in bronze; on
which account many cities of Greece,
Italy, and Sicily assumed his head as
their device. Cf. Maerob. Saturn. I. 7.
But Servius (ad Virg. iEn. XII. 198)
gives a much more reasonable expla-
nation—that it symbolised the union
of two people^ under one 'government,
and this interpretation is received by
modern writers. Lanzi, Sagg. II. p.
98. Melchiorri, Bull. Inst. 1839, p.
113. The dolphin is understood to
mark a city with a port—in any case
it is an Etruscan symbol—Tyrrhenns
piscis. These coins with the legend
of " Velathri" were at first ascribed to
Velitae of the Volsci, but their refer-
ence to Volaterrse is now unquestioned.
Ut supra, page 144.
These coins of Velathri are illustrated
by Lanzi, II. tav. 7 ; Dempster, I. tab.
56—9 ; Guarnacci, Origini Italiche, II.
tav. 20—22 ; Inghirami, III. tav. 1, and 4;
Marchi and Tessieri, Ms grave, cl. III.
tav. 1. See also MUller, Etrusk. I. p.
332 ; Lepsius, Ann. Inst. 1841, p. 105 ;
Bull. Inst. 1838, p. 189 ; Mionnet,
Suppl. I. pp. 205—7.
7 One of these represented Poly-
phemus issuing from his cave, and
hurling rocks at Ulysses in his ship.
A Juno interposes, with drawn sword.
In this Etruscan version of the myth,
the Cyclops has two eyes ! Micali, Ital.
av. Rom. tav. 45. Another urn showed
carpenters and sawyers at their avoca-
tions; this is interpreted by Micali
(op. cit. tav. 49), as the building of the
ship Argo. I have seen a similar urn
in the museum of Leyden.
BRONZES.—COINS.—JEWELLERY.
205
Among the minor curiosities are spoons, pins, and dice
of bone ; astragali, or huckle-bones, which furnished the
same diversion to the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, as
to school-boys in our own day ; and various articles in
variegated glass.
There is also a collection of Etruscan jewellery—chains,
fibulcB, rings for the fingers and ears, all wrought in gold ;
but these articles are not found in such abundance at Vol-
terra, as on some other Etruscan sites. The most curious
and beautiful jewellery this necropolis has yielded is pre-
served in the Uffizj Gallery at Florence.
In the Casa Cinci there was a valuable collection of
urns and other Etruscan relics, but since Signor Giusto's
death the greater part of them has been sold. In the
Casa Giorgi, there was also a collection of urns.7
times the prow of a ship on the reverse,
as in that of early Rome ; and some-
times a single head, instead of the
Janus, on the obverse. This Janus-
head was put on coins, says Athenseus
(XV. c. 13, p. 692), because Janus was
the first to coin money in bronze; on
which account many cities of Greece,
Italy, and Sicily assumed his head as
their device. Cf. Maerob. Saturn. I. 7.
But Servius (ad Virg. iEn. XII. 198)
gives a much more reasonable expla-
nation—that it symbolised the union
of two people^ under one 'government,
and this interpretation is received by
modern writers. Lanzi, Sagg. II. p.
98. Melchiorri, Bull. Inst. 1839, p.
113. The dolphin is understood to
mark a city with a port—in any case
it is an Etruscan symbol—Tyrrhenns
piscis. These coins with the legend
of " Velathri" were at first ascribed to
Velitae of the Volsci, but their refer-
ence to Volaterrse is now unquestioned.
Ut supra, page 144.
These coins of Velathri are illustrated
by Lanzi, II. tav. 7 ; Dempster, I. tab.
56—9 ; Guarnacci, Origini Italiche, II.
tav. 20—22 ; Inghirami, III. tav. 1, and 4;
Marchi and Tessieri, Ms grave, cl. III.
tav. 1. See also MUller, Etrusk. I. p.
332 ; Lepsius, Ann. Inst. 1841, p. 105 ;
Bull. Inst. 1838, p. 189 ; Mionnet,
Suppl. I. pp. 205—7.
7 One of these represented Poly-
phemus issuing from his cave, and
hurling rocks at Ulysses in his ship.
A Juno interposes, with drawn sword.
In this Etruscan version of the myth,
the Cyclops has two eyes ! Micali, Ital.
av. Rom. tav. 45. Another urn showed
carpenters and sawyers at their avoca-
tions; this is interpreted by Micali
(op. cit. tav. 49), as the building of the
ship Argo. I have seen a similar urn
in the museum of Leyden.