DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0030
INTRODUCTION. 23
Corinthian, had carried this form of the plastic art
with him when he fled from his native city to Tar-
quinia, and thence it had spread into the rest of
Etruria. To me, I confess, this was not a satisfac-
tory explanation. The Greeks had, no doubt, them-
selves learned from the Egyptians, as almost all
the vases now found in their country testify, and
had copied Egyptian models, as the sphynxes and
griffins prove, and they had afterwards beautified
I these vases from their own elegant and embellish-
ing imaginations, which improved every art upon
which they tried their powers. That this Dodwell
vase is of a very early date, and a sort of transition
I from the Egyptian to the heroic style, I do not
I doubt; but I do greatly doubt whether in this the
I Etruscans were not the masters of the Greeks, rather
I than vice versa. Heroic vases are the prolific manu-
I facture of Etruria, while they were ever scarce in
I Greece, bearing a very high price, and mentioned
I along with bronzes as being an article of commerce
1 between the two nations; and, moreover, heroic
I vases have been found in Etruscan tombs of much
older date than Demaratus: those, for instance,
found at Cere in the Begulini Galassi tomb. The
reek letters also on the Corinthian vase did not
appear to me either the oldest style of writing or of
8reading that language; whilst the letters of the
Etruscan inscriptions are, I am assured, only the
I oldest and now almost forgotten form of the Greek.
These Greek letters, be it remembered, were taken
originally from Phoenicia, and the Phoenician and
Corinthian, had carried this form of the plastic art
with him when he fled from his native city to Tar-
quinia, and thence it had spread into the rest of
Etruria. To me, I confess, this was not a satisfac-
tory explanation. The Greeks had, no doubt, them-
selves learned from the Egyptians, as almost all
the vases now found in their country testify, and
had copied Egyptian models, as the sphynxes and
griffins prove, and they had afterwards beautified
I these vases from their own elegant and embellish-
ing imaginations, which improved every art upon
which they tried their powers. That this Dodwell
vase is of a very early date, and a sort of transition
I from the Egyptian to the heroic style, I do not
I doubt; but I do greatly doubt whether in this the
I Etruscans were not the masters of the Greeks, rather
I than vice versa. Heroic vases are the prolific manu-
I facture of Etruria, while they were ever scarce in
I Greece, bearing a very high price, and mentioned
I along with bronzes as being an article of commerce
1 between the two nations; and, moreover, heroic
I vases have been found in Etruscan tombs of much
older date than Demaratus: those, for instance,
found at Cere in the Begulini Galassi tomb. The
reek letters also on the Corinthian vase did not
appear to me either the oldest style of writing or of
8reading that language; whilst the letters of the
Etruscan inscriptions are, I am assured, only the
I oldest and now almost forgotten form of the Greek.
These Greek letters, be it remembered, were taken
originally from Phoenicia, and the Phoenician and