DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0410
chap, lii.] POLYANDRION OF POGGIO GAJELLA. 393
not in regular or continuous order, but in groups. A
single passage of great length cut into the heart of the
hill, and at right angles with the girdling fosse, generally
leads into a spacious antechamber, or atrium, on which
open several smaller chambers, or triclinia, just as in the
tombs of Caere.5 Both atrium and triclinia are surrounded
by benches of rock for the support of the bodies or of
sarcophagi. The ceilings are generally flat, and coffered
in recessed squares or oblongs, as in the other tombs of
Chiusi, or they are carved into beams and rafters. They
are painted in the usual style, and the walls also in certain
chambers have painted figures, which though often almost
effaced and in no case very distinct, may be traced as
those of dancers or athletes, circling the apartments in a
frieze, about twenty inches high.6 The benches of rock
are not left in unmeaning shapelessness ; they are hewn
into the form of couches, with pillows or cushions at one
end, and the front moulded into seat and legs in relief—
so many patterns of Etruscan furniture, more durable than
the articles themselves. Many of these couches are double
—made for a pair of bodies to recline side by side, as they
are generally represented in the banquets painted on the
walls. They prove this monument to be of a period when
bodies were buried, rather than burned.7
The most important tombs are on the lower and second
tiers. On the lower, the most remarkable is one that
opens to the south. It is circular, about twenty-five feet
in diameter, supported in the centre by a huge column
6 The antechamber still more nearly They are of very simple character, of
resembles an atrium, inasmuch as the two colours only,^red and black, and in
roof has in most instances fallen in, an archaic style. See Bull. Inst. 1841,
leaving it open to the sky. p. 10.
• The principal of these paintings 1 The doors of these tombs are all
are in a group of tombs to the right of moulded in the usual Egyptian form, with
the circular tomb, marked e in the Han. an overhanging square-headed lintel.
not in regular or continuous order, but in groups. A
single passage of great length cut into the heart of the
hill, and at right angles with the girdling fosse, generally
leads into a spacious antechamber, or atrium, on which
open several smaller chambers, or triclinia, just as in the
tombs of Caere.5 Both atrium and triclinia are surrounded
by benches of rock for the support of the bodies or of
sarcophagi. The ceilings are generally flat, and coffered
in recessed squares or oblongs, as in the other tombs of
Chiusi, or they are carved into beams and rafters. They
are painted in the usual style, and the walls also in certain
chambers have painted figures, which though often almost
effaced and in no case very distinct, may be traced as
those of dancers or athletes, circling the apartments in a
frieze, about twenty inches high.6 The benches of rock
are not left in unmeaning shapelessness ; they are hewn
into the form of couches, with pillows or cushions at one
end, and the front moulded into seat and legs in relief—
so many patterns of Etruscan furniture, more durable than
the articles themselves. Many of these couches are double
—made for a pair of bodies to recline side by side, as they
are generally represented in the banquets painted on the
walls. They prove this monument to be of a period when
bodies were buried, rather than burned.7
The most important tombs are on the lower and second
tiers. On the lower, the most remarkable is one that
opens to the south. It is circular, about twenty-five feet
in diameter, supported in the centre by a huge column
6 The antechamber still more nearly They are of very simple character, of
resembles an atrium, inasmuch as the two colours only,^red and black, and in
roof has in most instances fallen in, an archaic style. See Bull. Inst. 1841,
leaving it open to the sky. p. 10.
• The principal of these paintings 1 The doors of these tombs are all
are in a group of tombs to the right of moulded in the usual Egyptian form, with
the circular tomb, marked e in the Han. an overhanging square-headed lintel.