DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0467
450 CORTONA. [chap. lvi.
or barrow, vulgarly called II Melone.6 This " Melon "
had long been suspected of being sepulchral; and at
length the proprietor, Signor Sergardi of Siena, determined
to have it opened, and secured the services of Signor
Alessandro Francis, the most experienced excavator in
Tuscany. He commenced operations in the autumn of
1842, and the result was the discovery of a sepulchre of
most singular character, bearing some analogy indeed to
the Regulini tomb at Caere, but a strict resemblance to no
other yet disclosed in the soil of Etruria. Unfortunately
it had been rifled in previous ages, so that little of value
was found within it; and its interest lies chiefly in its
plan and construction, in which respects it remains un-
injured.
A long passage lined with masonry leads into the heart
of the tumulus. For the last seven yards it widens, and
is divided by a low thick wall into two parallel passages
which lead to two entrances, now closed with wooden
doors. The partition wall is terminated in front by a
square mass of masonry, which probably served as a
pedestal for a Hon or sphinx; and the passage opens,
on either hand at its further end, into a small square
chamber. Enter one of the wooden doors, and you are
in a long passage-like tomb, communicating by a door-
way with an inner chamber. The other wooden door
opens into a parallel tomb precisely similar in every
respect.7
The resemblance of this tomb to the Kegulini at Csere
will strike you immediately—not only in its passage form,
but also in construction, for it is roofed over on the same
6 This mound is about 640 ft. in cir- length. In the inner wall of one of
cumference, and 46 feet high. these tombs is a hole, through which
1 The outer chambers are 14 ft. long, you can look into another chamber not
by 8 ft. wide ; the inner, only 11 ft. in yet opened.
or barrow, vulgarly called II Melone.6 This " Melon "
had long been suspected of being sepulchral; and at
length the proprietor, Signor Sergardi of Siena, determined
to have it opened, and secured the services of Signor
Alessandro Francis, the most experienced excavator in
Tuscany. He commenced operations in the autumn of
1842, and the result was the discovery of a sepulchre of
most singular character, bearing some analogy indeed to
the Regulini tomb at Caere, but a strict resemblance to no
other yet disclosed in the soil of Etruria. Unfortunately
it had been rifled in previous ages, so that little of value
was found within it; and its interest lies chiefly in its
plan and construction, in which respects it remains un-
injured.
A long passage lined with masonry leads into the heart
of the tumulus. For the last seven yards it widens, and
is divided by a low thick wall into two parallel passages
which lead to two entrances, now closed with wooden
doors. The partition wall is terminated in front by a
square mass of masonry, which probably served as a
pedestal for a Hon or sphinx; and the passage opens,
on either hand at its further end, into a small square
chamber. Enter one of the wooden doors, and you are
in a long passage-like tomb, communicating by a door-
way with an inner chamber. The other wooden door
opens into a parallel tomb precisely similar in every
respect.7
The resemblance of this tomb to the Kegulini at Csere
will strike you immediately—not only in its passage form,
but also in construction, for it is roofed over on the same
6 This mound is about 640 ft. in cir- length. In the inner wall of one of
cumference, and 46 feet high. these tombs is a hole, through which
1 The outer chambers are 14 ft. long, you can look into another chamber not
by 8 ft. wide ; the inner, only 11 ft. in yet opened.