DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0170
TARQUINIA. 159
Pharaoh in a pyramid in the centre part of the
hillock; and it is a point which I have heard dis-
puted, whether his grave was anterior or posterior
to those helow. It was at all events frequently the
intention to keep secret the resting-place of the most
illustrious dead, as the duchess has found to her
cost; for while the inferior tombs round the base
were easily discovered, she was obliged to slice
down the entire hillock in order to find the myste-
rious central chamber, and as yet, eight months
since, in vain. To my mind, at this time the idea of
the chief tomb being anterior was ridiculous, and not
very unlike the supposition of the primo piano of a
house being anterior to the base; but I mention it,
not only because I have since entirely changed my
views, but because I then heard it maintained by
men of learning and experience, whose opinions are
always entitled to respect.
Signor Carlo Avolta informed us that the
necropolis of Tarquinia was computed to extend
over sixteen square miles, and that judging from
the two thousand tombs which had of late years
been opened, their number in all could not be less
than two millions! What an extraordinary idea this
gives of the dense population of ancient Etruria! for
though the necropolis of Tarquinia may have been
a favourite spot for family sepulchres, even beyond
the pale of its own immediate citizenship, it is sur-
rounded on all sides by cemeteries scarcely inferior
in extent to itself, Tuscania and Vulci and Mon-
talto, without naming Castel d'Asso, which we
Pharaoh in a pyramid in the centre part of the
hillock; and it is a point which I have heard dis-
puted, whether his grave was anterior or posterior
to those helow. It was at all events frequently the
intention to keep secret the resting-place of the most
illustrious dead, as the duchess has found to her
cost; for while the inferior tombs round the base
were easily discovered, she was obliged to slice
down the entire hillock in order to find the myste-
rious central chamber, and as yet, eight months
since, in vain. To my mind, at this time the idea of
the chief tomb being anterior was ridiculous, and not
very unlike the supposition of the primo piano of a
house being anterior to the base; but I mention it,
not only because I have since entirely changed my
views, but because I then heard it maintained by
men of learning and experience, whose opinions are
always entitled to respect.
Signor Carlo Avolta informed us that the
necropolis of Tarquinia was computed to extend
over sixteen square miles, and that judging from
the two thousand tombs which had of late years
been opened, their number in all could not be less
than two millions! What an extraordinary idea this
gives of the dense population of ancient Etruria! for
though the necropolis of Tarquinia may have been
a favourite spot for family sepulchres, even beyond
the pale of its own immediate citizenship, it is sur-
rounded on all sides by cemeteries scarcely inferior
in extent to itself, Tuscania and Vulci and Mon-
talto, without naming Castel d'Asso, which we