DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0192
TARQUINIA.
177
young olive trees, as was common among the an-
cients, who hung them upon this plant, which they
regarded as sacred to the dead. I have already men-
tioned this funeral scene as being copied in the
Gregorian Museum.
GROTTA DEL TRICLINIO, OR MARZI.
Quitting this house of mourning, where we saw
that the affections and feelings were the same three
thousand years ago as they are to-day, we entered
a mansion of a very different character, the house
of feasting, where a scene of splendid and luxurious
revelry is less appropriately depicted in the silent
abode of the dead. " Camera dei triclinii e del
ballo"—chamber of feasting and dancing. Here is
a full display of Etruscan magnificence in dress,
furniture, and all the accessories of sumptuous living.
The roof is vaulted, and ornamented with divers
colours, and divided in the midst by a beam which
is gracefully twined with branches of bacchic ivy.
By the side of the door two men are carelessly re-
clining, their elbows supported on large double
cushions, while on the wall immediately opposite to
them are two panthers, the usual guardians of the
tomb, and also two youthful horsemen seated grace-
fully on their steeds, with lance in hand. In the
picture in the middle wall are three couches, each
containing a man and a woman, and in front of
two of these are tables covered with vases, while
in front of the other is a large vessel, out of which
wine is poured into smaller vessels, to be handed round
i 5
177
young olive trees, as was common among the an-
cients, who hung them upon this plant, which they
regarded as sacred to the dead. I have already men-
tioned this funeral scene as being copied in the
Gregorian Museum.
GROTTA DEL TRICLINIO, OR MARZI.
Quitting this house of mourning, where we saw
that the affections and feelings were the same three
thousand years ago as they are to-day, we entered
a mansion of a very different character, the house
of feasting, where a scene of splendid and luxurious
revelry is less appropriately depicted in the silent
abode of the dead. " Camera dei triclinii e del
ballo"—chamber of feasting and dancing. Here is
a full display of Etruscan magnificence in dress,
furniture, and all the accessories of sumptuous living.
The roof is vaulted, and ornamented with divers
colours, and divided in the midst by a beam which
is gracefully twined with branches of bacchic ivy.
By the side of the door two men are carelessly re-
clining, their elbows supported on large double
cushions, while on the wall immediately opposite to
them are two panthers, the usual guardians of the
tomb, and also two youthful horsemen seated grace-
fully on their steeds, with lance in hand. In the
picture in the middle wall are three couches, each
containing a man and a woman, and in front of
two of these are tables covered with vases, while
in front of the other is a large vessel, out of which
wine is poured into smaller vessels, to be handed round
i 5