DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0412
CHAP. LII.]
CONTENTS OF THE SEPULCHRES.
395
hewn from the rock, ten or eleven feet thick, rudely formed,
without base or capital, but in the place of the latter there
chances to occur a thin stratum of flints.8 The tomb is
much injured, retaining no traces of ornament, except
over the entrance, where is something like a head in relief
on the lintel. Some beautiful vases,9
and the curious stone sphinxes of
the Museo Casuccini were found
here. Nothing is now to be seen
but fragments of urns of cispo. In
this circular tomb, as well as in the
group of square chambers on the
same level, are mysterious dark pas-
sages opening in the walls, and ex-
citing the astonishment and curiosity
of the stranger. Of these more will
be said anon.
There are four other groups of tombs in this lower tier,
making twenty-five chambers in all, besides two which
are unfinished.
On the tier above this are several tombs, some in groups,
others single; two to the south seem to have been circular.
The finest group is one of five square chambers opening
to the south-east, whose walls retain traces of painting,
now much injured. Here were discovered articles of great
beauty and value :—the magnificent vase of the Judgment
of Paris, which forms the gem of the Casuccini collection,
ETRUSCAN SPHINX, FROM THE
POGGIO GAJELLA.
8 The entrance to this tomb is by a
broad passage, or rather chamber, with
large recesses on either hand, indicated
in the Plan.
9 For an account of these vases, some
of which were in the archaic Etruscan
style, others of the best Greek art, see
Bull. Inst. 1840, p. 128.—Feuerbach.
At the entrance to the round chamber
was found part of a winged lion, of cispo,
in the most severely archaic style ;
and such, it is thought, must have sur-
rounded this tumulus in great numbers,
as at the Cucumella, of Vulci. Bull.
Inst. 1841, p. 9.
CONTENTS OF THE SEPULCHRES.
395
hewn from the rock, ten or eleven feet thick, rudely formed,
without base or capital, but in the place of the latter there
chances to occur a thin stratum of flints.8 The tomb is
much injured, retaining no traces of ornament, except
over the entrance, where is something like a head in relief
on the lintel. Some beautiful vases,9
and the curious stone sphinxes of
the Museo Casuccini were found
here. Nothing is now to be seen
but fragments of urns of cispo. In
this circular tomb, as well as in the
group of square chambers on the
same level, are mysterious dark pas-
sages opening in the walls, and ex-
citing the astonishment and curiosity
of the stranger. Of these more will
be said anon.
There are four other groups of tombs in this lower tier,
making twenty-five chambers in all, besides two which
are unfinished.
On the tier above this are several tombs, some in groups,
others single; two to the south seem to have been circular.
The finest group is one of five square chambers opening
to the south-east, whose walls retain traces of painting,
now much injured. Here were discovered articles of great
beauty and value :—the magnificent vase of the Judgment
of Paris, which forms the gem of the Casuccini collection,
ETRUSCAN SPHINX, FROM THE
POGGIO GAJELLA.
8 The entrance to this tomb is by a
broad passage, or rather chamber, with
large recesses on either hand, indicated
in the Plan.
9 For an account of these vases, some
of which were in the archaic Etruscan
style, others of the best Greek art, see
Bull. Inst. 1840, p. 128.—Feuerbach.
At the entrance to the round chamber
was found part of a winged lion, of cispo,
in the most severely archaic style ;
and such, it is thought, must have sur-
rounded this tumulus in great numbers,
as at the Cucumella, of Vulci. Bull.
Inst. 1841, p. 9.