DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5674#0163
(i56)
The serpent upon the upper part of the altar is a symbol
of theOrgias {aK The cista mystica, the globes, the lozen-
fes with croises, have certainly their signification, and re-
late to the Mysteries of Bacchus.
POSTSCRIPT.
The author of this work had been long convinced of what
is now proved beyond all doubt , that the sort of vases,
which are the subje6t of the present publication, altho' com-
monly called Etruscan, are purely Grecian. M. Tilson,
Berners, and Graves, three English gentlemen of tasteand
knowledge , going from Naples into Greece in the year
1791. were earnestly entreated to enquire after these sort
of vases, particularly at Athens, and in the Athenian colonies,
and if possibile, to discover some ancient sepulchres, in order
to ascertain whether vases were placed round the bodies,
as they are found in the sepulchres in Magna Grecia. At
Athens, they were not allowed to search, but they saw two
vases which had been lately found in a. sepulchre without
the walls of that eity , and which were in the posselsion
of the French consul. They were in every respe& like
those of this colle&ion , the figures on therti, were bac-
chanalian . At Megara , they likewise saw some small o-
nes, but without figures: At Milo, they had the corn-
pleat satisfa£tion of opening a Family mosoleum, cut into
a kind of tuff a about three feet below the surface of the
soil*, it was a room about 12 feet long, 9 feet wide,and
6 feet high *, the fepulchres were cut out of the same rock,
two on each side, and one at the end of the room. There
were in each sepulchre human bones mixed with earth, frag-
• ments
(a) Eufeb. Praspar. Evang. 1. %. c. j.
»
The serpent upon the upper part of the altar is a symbol
of theOrgias {aK The cista mystica, the globes, the lozen-
fes with croises, have certainly their signification, and re-
late to the Mysteries of Bacchus.
POSTSCRIPT.
The author of this work had been long convinced of what
is now proved beyond all doubt , that the sort of vases,
which are the subje6t of the present publication, altho' com-
monly called Etruscan, are purely Grecian. M. Tilson,
Berners, and Graves, three English gentlemen of tasteand
knowledge , going from Naples into Greece in the year
1791. were earnestly entreated to enquire after these sort
of vases, particularly at Athens, and in the Athenian colonies,
and if possibile, to discover some ancient sepulchres, in order
to ascertain whether vases were placed round the bodies,
as they are found in the sepulchres in Magna Grecia. At
Athens, they were not allowed to search, but they saw two
vases which had been lately found in a. sepulchre without
the walls of that eity , and which were in the posselsion
of the French consul. They were in every respe& like
those of this colle&ion , the figures on therti, were bac-
chanalian . At Megara , they likewise saw some small o-
nes, but without figures: At Milo, they had the corn-
pleat satisfa£tion of opening a Family mosoleum, cut into
a kind of tuff a about three feet below the surface of the
soil*, it was a room about 12 feet long, 9 feet wide,and
6 feet high *, the fepulchres were cut out of the same rock,
two on each side, and one at the end of the room. There
were in each sepulchre human bones mixed with earth, frag-
• ments
(a) Eufeb. Praspar. Evang. 1. %. c. j.
»