Wi^ -i

- < V' '

/^ A

0f

THE CITIES AND CEMETERIES

ETRURIA.

THE

CITIES AND CEMETEKIES

OP

ETPtUPtlA.

By GEORGE DENNIS.

l'aiv.\ Tyi-rhcnum per iuquor Vela daruiii. Huit.vT.

^^a^^' •■•■■■?)'n

EEVISfiD EDITION, RECOIlDIXd THE JIOST llECEXT DISCOVERIESv

IN TWO VOLUMES.— YOL. II.

WITH MAP, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1878.

[TJie Riijld of Translation is rcsared.']

Statiwe interejuit tempestate, vi, vetu-^tate ; sepulcrorum autem sanctitas in ipso solo est ; quod nulL\ vi moveri neque deleri jxitest. Atque ut cetera extinguuntur, sic sepulcra fiunt sanctiora vetostatc.

Cicero, ThUip, vs.. 6.

THE GETTY RESEARCH Jf4STITUTE LIBRARY

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

PAGE

Italy an imkno'wn land to the antiquary — -^Ir. Ainsley's discovery of an Etrus- can necropolis at Sovana — Its site — A city of the plague — Xo ancient his- tory— The Fontana — Etruscan mermaid — Poggio Prisca — Egyptian-like sepulchres — Sopraripa — Grotta Pola, and its portico — Poggio Stanziale — House-tombs- — Abundance and variety of sepulchres — Numerous Etruscan inscriptions — Rock-sunk roads — Excavations at Sovana — Great interest of this site . I

Appendix. ]\Iouldings of tombs at iSovana — -Etruscan inscriptions . . .15

CHAPTER XXXV.

BOLSENA.— VOLSIXIL

Acquapendonte — By-roads — Le Grotte — San Lorenzo Yecchio — The Volsinian lake— Charms of a southern winter — Historical notices of Volsinii — Servile insurrection — Site of Volsinii, not at Bolscna, but on the table-land above — Vestiges of the Etruscan city — Roman relics — Temple of Xortia — The amphitheatre — Scenery — Excavations around Bolscna— The Ravizza jewellery — The miracles of Bolsena IS

CHAPTER XXXVI.

MONTE FIASCONE.— FJiVrJ/ VOLTUMAi^E]

Lake of Bolsena — Its islands, miracles, and malaria — Jlonte Fiascone — Antiquity of the site— Recent excavations in the vicinity— Cannot be Trossulum — May be (Enarca — ]More probably is the Planum Voltumnai — Speculations on that celebrated temple — Panorama of the Etruscan plain . 29

Ti CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK XXXVII.

ORYIETO.

PAOE

Delights of the pack-saddle — Civita di Bagnoroa, an Etruscan site — Glorious position of Orvicto — Its Etruscan character — Its ancient name unknown — Excavations of fifty years since — Excavations in progress at tlie "Crocifisso del Tufo " — Tombs arranged like houses in streets and blocks — Peculiar inscriptions — Collection of the Count dclla Faina — Another cemetery on the Irills opposite — TOMBA delle due Bighe — Under Charon's protec- tion—The two chariots— BaiKiuets — ToMRA Golini — Butcher's shop — Preparations for the feast — Male and female slaves — The kitchen, and the cook at the stove — The butler's pantry — The other half of the tomb — A soul driving to Elysium, conducted by a Lasa, and followed by a trumi)etcr — Greeted by the bantjueters — Cat and monkey — Pluto and Proserpine on their thrones — Sideboard and servants — Difference of art in the two halves of this tomb — Critical notices — Inn atOrvieto — Caution to travellers — The Duomo of Orvicto 80

CHAPTER XXXYIII.

LUXI.— ZL'^vi.

Luna an Etruscan town — Its glorious port — Site and vestiges of Luna — No marble walls — Coins — Historical records — Its produce — Wine — Cheese — Marble, now known as that of Carrara G3

CHAPTER XXXIX.

PISA.— PJ;S'.£.

Leghorn — High antiquity of Vwx — Peculiarity of the site — Historical notices — Few ancient remains — The Necropolis discovered- — Etruscan uins in the Campo Santo 69

CHAPTER XL.

Fl?,E^ZE.— FLO JiEXTI A.

Florence, not an Etruscan site — Museo Etrusco — Bucchcro, or black ware, is genuinely Etruscan — Its Oriental character — Its peculiarities — Probably sepulchral — Canopi — Yai'ieties- -7'T'«(7rtr(, or terra-cotta trays — The King of Etruscan vases — Other painted vases —Different styles — A Cock-horse — Unjiainted pottery with ornaments in relief — Jewellery and Glass — Sepulchral inscriptions— The bronzes — The Minerva of Arezzo — Etruscan warriors — Mirrors — Tiiscanicn S'ujua — The Chiniiura — Cinerary urns — Fondness of Etruscan women for wine — Reliefs on the urns, representing Greek myths or native customs — Urn of Arnth Cades Vibenna — The Orator — The Amazon sarcophagus — Masterly jjaintings — Must be by a Greek artist — Bronzes — Suit of Etruscan armour — Vases in bronze — Situla of silver — Bronze handles to furniture — Etruscan Compass 1 — Urns of terra-

CONTENTS.

cotta — Warrior in relief, iir the Palazzo I'.tionaiToti — The Stro/.zi mirroi' — Kinsjiilar discovery of bronzes on Monte Falterona — Lake full of antiquities — \'otive offerings — -Mystery of the lake exphiincd — Style of the bronzes ■ — Singular tomlj at Fi^line — Etruscan relics in the ncigliliourhood of Florence ............. H

Appendix. The Francois Vast — 'J'hc Amazon SarcopJiagus . . . . li:>

CHAPTEIl XLI.

Interest of Fiesolc — The Etruscan walls — Character (jf the masonrj' — Ancient pavement, and sewers — Fascinum — Roman Gateway outside the walls — Extent of the city- walls — FjBsulas not a first-rate city — "The top of Fesole" — Iloman Theatre — '• Etruscan Palace" — The Fairies' Dens — Fonte Sottcrra — Another ancient reservoir — No tombs open around Fiesolc — History of F;v;sulai — La Kadia . . . . . 1I(>

CHAPTEK XLII.

SIENA.— ,S'^A^yL

Siena, not an Etruscan site — Collections of Etruscan antiquities — Curious dis- covery of Gallic gold ornaments — Tomb of the Cilnii — Etruscan tombs, near Poggibonsi — Alphabetical tomb, near Colle — Pelasgic alphabet and horn-book — Excavations at Pienza— Moutalcino, its tombs and wine . 12'J

CHAPTEK XLIII.

Y 0 LTER R A. — VBLA TIIUI. — VOLA TEEIU-:.

The City.

Commanding position of Yolterra — Size and importance of the ancient city — History of Yolaterraj — Loeanda dell' Unione — Modern A\)lter7'a — Poi'ta aU' Arco, undoubtedly Etruscan — Three mysterious heads — JIasonry — Portcullis — Ancient walls under Sta. Chiara — Le Baize — Porta di Diana — Fragments of the city-walls — Extent of the ancient city — Amphitheatre — Piscina — Baths — The necropolis— Grotta de' Marmini — Tombs of the OfficinsB — Tholi, or domed sepulchres — Excavations — Tombs in the Villa Inghirami — Scenery around Yolterra — Buchc dc' Saracini — Mysterious passages in the rock 1 ;5G

CHAPTER XLIV.

YOLTERRA. FOLA TElUUi.

The MrsEUiM.

The Museum of Yolterra, and its treasures — Ash-chests of Yolterra — Condition of woman in Etruria — Belles and pomegranates — Mythological rn-ns — Myths of Thebes — Myths of the Trojan war — ]^lyths of Ulysses, and Orestes — Etruscan marine divinities — Scylla — Glaucus — Echidna — 'J'yphon —

CONTEXTS.

Monsters of the sea, earth, ami air — Scenes of Etiiiscan life — Boar-hunts— Games of the circus — I'rocessions, judicial, triumphal, funereal — Sacri- tices — Schools — Banquets — Death-bed scenes — Last farewells — The passage of soids — Good and evil demons — Funeral processions — Etruscan cars — Sarcophagi — Toucliing character of these scenes — Urns of the Ciecina family — Urns of the Gracchi and Flavii — Antiquity of the urns of Vol- terra — Terra-cotta urns — The Flight of Medeia — Kelief of a wan-ior — Marble statue — Etruscan pottery of Volterra — Broiazes— Etruscan Lemur — Coins — Jewellery KIO

Appendix. The Charun of the Etruscans r.»l

CHAPTER XL^'.

THE MAEEMMA.

Attractions of the 3Iaremma — Road from Yolterra — The Cecina — Pomarance — CastelnuoTO — Hill of Castiglion Bernardi — Pretended site of Yetnlonia — Massa Marittima — Poggio di Yetreta — Yicwof the Mai'emma — Follonica — Exearations of ^I. Xoeldes Yergers — Beloria — Tumuli — Bibbona — Castag- neto — Le Caldane — Maremma wilderness — Population and climate of the Maremma in ancient and modern times — ■' Pioba di Maremma " — Cam- ])iglia — Pretended ruins of Yetulonia — Alberti's account questioned — Etrtiscan remains near Campiglia — Panorama from Campiglia Yecchia . 194

Appexdix. The Yia Aurelia, from Cosa to Luna 211

CHAPTER XLVI.

VOP\JLO:SlX.—POPCLOXIA.

Road to Populonia — Ancient port — Tlie castle and its hospitable lords — Area of the ancient city — Its antiquity and importance — Historical notices — Local remains — The specular mount — Etruscan walls and tombs of Popu- lonia— Coins — Gorgoneion 212

CHAPTER XLVII.

EOSELLE. —R USELL^.

Road from Follonica — Colonna di Buriano — Grosseto — The Locanda — The Museum — Etruscan alphabet — Site of Rusellte — Its ancient * walls and gates — Area of the city — Modern defences — The ancient Arx — Lago di Castiglione — Paucity of tombs aroitnd the city — Frangois' excavations — Archaic goddess in bronze — Eusellfe supposed to be one of the Twelve — Historical notices — Utter desolation 222

CHAPTER XLYIII.

TELAMOXE.— rZ-ZJ-l/O.Y.

The Ombrone — Village of Telamone — Caution to travellers — Ancient remains — Legendary and historical notices — The port — Road to OrbetcUo — The Osa and Albegna — Ferries 23j

CONTEXTS. ix

CHAPTER XLIX

OKliKTKLLO.

PACE

Orbctcllo and its fortifications — Tlie lagoon — Polj-gonal walls — Etruscan tombs and their furniture — The site proved to be Etruscan — The modern town ' and its hostelry 240

CHAPTER L.

A'SSEDO'SIA.-C'OSA.

Position of Cosa — Advice to travellers — "Walls of polygonal masonry — Size of the town — Towers — Peculiarities of the walls — Gateways — Uuins within the walls — The Arx — View from the ramparts — Bagni della Hegina — Lack of tombs — Who built these walls .' — Antiquity of polygonal masonry — rcouliarity of the polygonal type — Probably Pelasgic — The local rock sometimes, not always determines the style of masonry — Cosa cannot l)c Pioman— High anticpiity of its walls — Historical notices .... 245

CHAPTER LI.

VETULOXIJ. ilagliano — Discovery of an Etruscan city in its neighbourhood — Position and extent of this city — Disinterment of the walls — liemains discovered on the site — Sepulchres and their furniture — Painted tombs — llelation to the port of Tclanion — What was the name of this city ? — It must be Yetulonia — - Notices of that ancient city — Accordance with that which occupied this site — Maritime character of Yetulonia — ^Monumental evidence — Speculations . 2G3

CHAPTER LH.

SATUKNIA.— -S-^ TURNIA. Eoads to Saturnia — Scansano — Travelling difficulties — Site of Saturnia — The modern village — A wise resolve — Area of the ancient city — Walls of poly- gonal masonry — Eelics of other days — Natural beauties of the site — Sepulchral remains around it — Fare at the Fattoria — Advice to travellers — -Piano di Palma — Singular tombs — Resemblance to cromlechs — Analo- gous monuments — Speculations on their origin — The city and its walls are Pelasgic — Who constructed the tombs ? — The type not proper to one race — Monte Merano — Manciano — Discovery of a nameless Etruscan town . 27.>

CHAPTER LIII.

CHIUSI.— c'zr,S7ra/. The City.

Eoad from I'itigliano — Piadicofaui — Probably an Etruscan site — Clusium, its antiquity, history, and decay — The inn and the clcrrvtu- — Ancient walls — Other lions — Subterranean passages — The Jewellers' Field — MusEO Civico — Canopus — Statue-urn — Archaic cij>j)i — Interesting sarcophagus — Cineraiy ui"ns — Demons and chimicras — Terra-cotta lu-ns — Tlirce Etrus- can Alphabets — Ancient black ware of Clusium — Focolnrl — Canopi — lironzes — Extraordinary cinerary pot — Painted vases .... 290

Appendix. The Via Cassia, from Pome to Clusium — The Casuccini Collection

of Etruscan antiquities -jIS

CONTENTS.

CHArTP]K LIV.

CHiusi.— c7.r,s7rj/.

Tl[E rKMKTKUY.

PAGE

The necropolis of Cluj^ium— Tohba del Colle Casuccixi— Ancient Ktnisoan door — Chariot-rai'os — raliustric games — A xijmjwslnm — An Etruscan butler — rcculiarities of these paintings — Date of their execution — Deposito de' Dei — Deposito delle Moxache — Its furniture — Discovery of this tomb — Anotlier painted tomb — Tomba del I'ostino — To:\tRA della ^CIMIA — Oanics — Dwarfs and monkeys — Mediieval character of these scenes- -Inner chamber — Characteristics of these paintings — Singular well or shaft — Another painted tomb of archaic style — Tombs of Poggio Kenzo — Lake of Cliiusi — Deposito del (Iran Duca — An arched vault — Its contents — Deposito di Vigna Grandi:— A perfect vault— Tomba d'Orfeo e d'Euridice — Poggio del Vcscdvo— Well-tombs 320

Appendix. Deposito de' Dei — Tomb of Orpheus and Eurydice . . . . 342

CHArTER LV.

cHirsi.— czTA'/rj/.

ro(;Gio Gajklla.

The tomb of Lars Porscna — Not wholly fabulous — Analogies in extant monu- ments— The labyrinth in Porsena's tomb — Tumulus of Poggio Gajella — Hive of tombs — Pock-hcwn couches — Sepulchral furniture — The tomb sadly neglected — Labyrinthine passages in the rock — \Vliat can they mean ? — Analogies — Peality of Porsena's monument vindicated as regards the substructions 345

Appendix, Lars Porscna 357

CHAPTER LYI.

CETOXA AND SAKTEANO.

Etruscan sites round Chiusi — Cetona- — Museo Terrosi — Painted ash-chests — Archaic ivory cup — Sarteano — Etruscan urns in the Museo Bargagli — I'rimitive cemetery near Sarteano — Etruscan collection of Signer Fanelli — Tombs of Sarteano and Castiglioncel del Trinoro 3ii9

CHAPTER LVH.

CHIAXCIAXO AND MONTKPULCIANO.

Scenic beauties — Chianciano — The Bartoli collection — The tombs and their peculiarities — ^lontepulciano— Etruscan relics in the Casa Angelotti, and the I'alazzo Buecelli — The ilanna of Montepulciano — Val di Chiaua — lioyal farms and cattle — Etruscan tombs 368

Appendix. Via Cassia, from Clusiuui to Luca and Pis;e . , . . 374

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTEU LYUl.

CITTA J. A I'lKVE.

PAGE

Position of the town — Etruscan collection of Si;,nior (iuindici — Admirable statue

of I'roscrijine — The Taccini collection of Etni<can uins, very choice . . :57.'>

(Jl lAPTEll LIX.

AllEZZO.—JnRCTId.V.

<jlories of Arczzo — Arrctium, its importance and history — -Ancient walls of biick — A miihi theatre — Ancient potter}- — its peculiarities — M<jdern Arezzo coveis the Etruscan necropolis — MusEO I'ubulico — -Bronzes — Potteiy — The Amazon Itniicr — Bilingual inscription — I'elops and Hippodameia — Death of (Enomaus — The three Koman colonics of Arretiunr — Discovery of ancient walls at S. Cornelio — Arezzo cannot be the Etruscan Arrctium , 379

CHAPTEK LX.

CO ItTON A . —coil Tux A .

Venerable anticpiity of Cortona — The modern town — The p.ncicnt fortifications — Cortona at sun-rise — Origin of Curtona — Early importance — Historical notices — Local remains within the walls — Vault in the Casa Cecchetti — Museum of the Academy — Pottery and bronzes — Boy with name inscribed on bis shirt — The wonderful lamp — The Muse I'olyhymnia — Tombs of Cortona — The Cave of Pythagoras — Singular construction — Cromlech-like tombs — Grotta Sergardi — Peculiar, construction — The ilelon tumulus, and its furniture — Great interest of Cortona 391

CHAPTER EXI.

PERUGIA. —PER I. 'SI A. Tin: City.

Travelling incidents — The Thrasymenelake — The celebrated battle — Passignano — lutlamuiable waters — Magione — Vale of the Caina — Perugia — Its modern interest — Ancient walls and gates — Arch of Augustus — Porta Marzia — The Museum — Cinerary urns — The longest Etruscan inscription — Cippi — Bronzes — Jewellery — iIirror.s — Vases and TeiTa-cottas — .Stone sarcophagus — Dionysiac Amphora — Another singular sarcophagus — Anti<|uity of Penasia — History 413

CHAPTEP LXn.

TEliUinA.—J'ERCSLl. Tim-: Ce-meteky.

Tomb of the Volumnii — P.anquet of the dead— Dantesque monument — Tcniple- urn, with a bilingual inscription — Gorgons' heads — Decorations of the tomb — Demons and snakes — The side chambers — The Velimnas Family — Date of the tomb — Sepulchres of Etruscan families — The Baglioni collection — Painted ash-chests — Great interest of the Grotta dc* Volunni — Tcmitio di •San Manno — A vault with an Etruscan in-scription 4:57

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTKIl LXIII. 1?0ME.

VACK

The Etrn.scan antiquities in Piome — MusEO Gregouiako— Origin of the Museum — Visitors' diliiculties — Vestilmle — Chamber of the Cinerary Urns — JIarble sarcophagus— Chamber of the Sarcophagus — Hut-urns from the Alban Blount — Chamber of Terra-Cottas — The Adonis-urn — Etruscan portraits — First Vase-Koom — Second Vase-Uoom — Acliilles and Ajax playing at dice — Quadrant, or Third Yase-Uoom — Fourth Vase-Koom — Xylihcf — Bronzes — Armour and Aveapous — Bronze vases — Candclabia — Statues — Tripods — Caskets — Varieties — Mirrors — Clogs — Jewellery — Gold ornaments — Coronaj Etrusca; — Silver bowls — Chamber of Paintings — Chamber of the Tomb— Etruscan Museum of the Capitol— Sig. Angnsto Castellani — Incense-burners — Archaic pottery — Etruscan torch — Silver s'ltvla — Archaic teri'a-cotta figure — Primitive Corinthian Vase from Cervetri— The "Wolf of the Capitol — Sepulchral rnha from the Esquiline. quite Etruscan in character — A triple coffin — Ivory tablets — Sepulchral well of terra-cotta — Archaic heads — Kircherian Museum — Terra-cottas — Pottery — Coins from Vicarello — Bronzes — The celebrated Casket — The Palestrina Treasure — Wonderful gold ornaments — Silver bowls — Curious bronzes — The Vulcian fi-escoes — Sacrifice of Trojan captives — Etruscan history in fi'esco — CreTes Vibenna and Servius Tullius — An augur in toga p'icia 453

CHAPTEPt LXIV.

BOLOGNA.— i=^i;Z,S'AV.-i, BONOXIA.

Felsina. the metropolis of Etruria Circumpadana — Site of the ancient city — Probably on the heights behind Bologna — Count Gozzadini and Cavalicre Antonio Zannoni — Their labours with sjDade and pen — Ccmcteiy of Villaxova, discovered and excavated by Count Gozzadini — Tomljs — Contents — Ossuary pots — Double-cups — Whorls — JEs rude — The iwndcrd, of Horace — Bronze and iron — Gongs — Spindles — Antiquity of this cemetery — La Certosa — Discovery of a cemetery by Cav. A. Zannoni — The Sepulchres — Burial v. burning — Contents exhibited in MusEO Civico — Tombstones with reliefs — Cinerary i;rns of bronze — The tombs and their occupants — The Situla and its reliefs — Jewellery — Greek pottery — The Scavi Arxoaldi — Stclce with Etruscan inscriptions— Scavi Bexacci — Very early pottery — Scavi de Luca — Slabs with reliefs and inscriptions — T'lnt'mnahula — Scavi dell' Aesenale — Beautiful jewellery with primitive pottery — Scavi ^JIalvasia-Tortoeelli — Sepulchres within the walls of Bologna — Primitive relief of a pair of calves — Scavi del Pradello — Tombs or hovels ? — Curious discovery of an ancient foundry — The Etruscan cemetery at Marzabotto — ^lisano — Sepulchres or habitations? — I\lisa- nello — Singular well-tombs — Colfer-tombs — Dolmens — Tomb or temple of masonry — Etruscan inscriptions — Statuettes in bronze — Group of Mars and Venus — Jewellery — Antiquities of Bologna show inferior civilization to that of Etruiia Proper — Earliest tombs in both lands have a common origin — Brizio takes them to be Umbrian — His argument — Concstabile's and Gozzadini's opinions uUL>

LIST OF ILLUSTIIATIONS TO VOLUME IL

PAGE

THE FAREWELL OF ADilETL'S AXD ALCESTIS. FlOlU .1 traciuji-. FrOlltiqurn-.

TOMB CALLED " LA FOXTANA," AT SOVANA tJ. LX 7

FAgADE OP A TOMB AT SOVANA G. D. ] 1

MOULDINGS OF TOMBS AT SOVANA (r. D. IT)

ETRUSCAN INSCRIPTIONS, SOVANA G. D. KI.IT

CIVITA DI BAGNAR:fiA From a Photograph 37

MANClNl's EXCAVATIONS AT ORVIETO .... Fr.nii a Photograph 4;5

VIEW OP ORVIETO FroQi a Photograpli 49

A SOUL DRIVING TO ELYSIUM, TOMBA GOLINI, ORVIETO . Conestabilc 55

PLUTO AND PROSERPINE IN HADES, DITTO DITTO . Conostabile 58

COIN ASCRIBED TO LUNA Mus. Gregor. (1:5

THE CHIM.ERA, ETRUSCAN MUSEUM, FLORENCE . From a Photograph 74

ARCHAIC VASE IN ETRUSCAN BLACK WARE Micali 77

CANOPUS, FROM CHIUSI ]\Iicali 78

JUG IN THE SHAPE OF A FISH Auil. Illst. 7!)

HIPPALECTRYON, OR COCK-HORSE, FROM A GREEK VASE . Anil. Inst. 84

THE MINERVA, ETRUSCAN MUSEUM, FLORENCE , . From a Phot<igrai)h 87

HALL OP THE ORATOR, ETRUSCAN MUSEUM, FLORENCE Froill a Photograph '.l7

ETRUSCAN HELMET, SITULA, AND CENOCHOE . . . ConCStabile 103

THE WALLS OF F.ESUL^ E. W. Cookc, E.A. IIT.

ANCIENT G.VTE, OUTSIDE F.ESUL.E E. AV. Cooke, Pi.A. 120

KYLIX, WITH A FL'RY AND TWO SATYRS . . . Musco GrOgOliano 128

INSCRIPTION — "CVENLES" . G. D. 131

PELASGIC ALPHABET ON THE WALLS OF A TOMB . . . . Dempster 133

ETRUSCAN WALLS OF VOLTERRA G. D. 13(;

INSCRIPTION — "VELATHRl" G. D. 131>

PORTA all' arco, VOLTERRA From a Pliotograph 141

ETRUSCAN MARINE DEITY Micali 1(10

INSCRIPTION — "AU. CEICNA" G D. 185

INSCRIPTION — "CEACNA" G D. 18G

siv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME II.

PAGE

ETBUSCAX LEMUR Museo Chiusino 189

ETBUSC.VX CAXDELABEUM JIuseo Gregoriano 100

VIEW OF POPVLONIA G. D. 212

ETHr«;CAN' WALLS OF POPULONIA S. J. Ainslev 218

ETBUSCAX GOBGOXEIOX :Micali 221

ETBrSKTAX WALLS OF BUSELL.E . . . . . . S. J. Ainsley 222

ETBUSCAX ALPHABET, GBOSSETO G. D. 22-1:

BRONZE DIVINITY, FBOM BUSELL.E J>om .1 Photograph 233

ANCIEXT GATE AND WALLS OF CO?A G. D. 245

AN'CIEXT TOMB, SATUBXIA G. D. 27r,

BADICOFAXI E. W. f 'ojkc. E.A. 290

FOCOLAEE — BLACK WARE OF CHIUSI Micali ?,(>'

ETBUSCAX CAXOPUS, MUSEL-^kl OF CHIUSI . . . ^lusoo Chiusino oOS

CIXERABT POT. FROM CHIUSI From a Photograph 311

ETBUSCAX WARBIOE. CASUCCIXI COLLECTIOX .... Micali 310

THE AX'UBIS-VASE, FROM CHIUSI Museo Chiusino 31 S

BIGA IX A CHARIOT-RACE. FROM A TOMB AT CHIUSI . . Mon. Inst. 320

DOOR OF AX ETBUSCAX TOMB, CHIUSI G. D. 322

siMPULUM fiasco Gregoriano 325

PUGILISTS. PrRBHICHISTES. AXD DWARFS, MOXKEY TOMB, CHIUSI Mon. Inst. 332

HORSE-RACERS AXD ATHLETES. MOXKEY TOMB, CHIUSI . . MoD, Inst. 333

CIXERARY UEX, SHAPED LIKE AX ETRU.SCAX HOUSE . . . Braun 345

ETBUSCAX SPHixx Braun 3.")2

HERCULES COMCATIXG THE AMAZOXS. MUSEUM OF AREZZO . Mon. Inst. 387 SATYRS AXD HARPY, FROM THE ETRUSCAX LAMP, COBTOXA MUSEUM

Mon. Inst. 394:

AXCIEXT WALLS OF CORTOXA '. G. D. 8'J7

BOY IX BBOXZE Ann. Inst. 402

THE ETBUSCAX LAMP, CORTOXA MUi^EUM Mon. Inst. 403

HEAD OF HYPXOS, FBOM PEBUGIA Mon. Inst. 413

ARCH OF AUGUSTUS. PERUGIA From a Photograph 419

ETRUSCAX FOUB-WIXGED DEITY Micali 427

PAIXTED AMPHOBA WITH A POIXTED BASE .... 3Ion. In.«t. 431

KALPIS. OB WATEB-.JAB Gruner 43<»

KBATEB, WITH DECOBATIOXS IX BELIEF CoHCStaLile 437

BILIXGU^VL IXSCBIPTIOX G. D. 440

AMPHOBA, PEBFECT STYLE G. D. 452

HUT-UBX FBOM THE ALBAX MOUNT Vi>COnti 457

ETBUSCAX POBTBAIT, FBOM VULCI Birch 459

KYATHUS. OB DBIXKIXG-BOWL Micali 471

BBOXZE VISOR Musco Gregoriaiio 470

ETBUSCAX LITUUS. OB TRUMPET Museo Gregoriano 476

LIST OF PLANS TO VOLUME 11.

XV

BROXZE i:\vrAi

ETRUSCAN ARUSPEX ETRUSCAX CAXDELABRA

FIRE-RAKE

ETKITSCAN JOINTED CLOGS. ETRrSCAN STELA, BOLOGNA MUSEUM

PAOE

. Muson (jrcEToriano 477

Musco Gregoriaiio 478

JIusco (ire,!,'oriano 47i>

Musco Gregoviano 481

. Musco Grcgoriano 484

. I'-rom a rhotojrrai)h 500

LIST OF PLAXS IX A^ULOIE II.

PLAN OF SOVANA AND ITS NECROPOLIS G. D. 5

PLAN OF VOLSINII . . ' From Canina IS

PLAN OF FIESOLE From Mieali 122

PLAN OF VOLTEERA. ANCIENT AND MODEP.N .... From ^licali 144

PLAN OF POPULONIA From Micali 217

PLAN OF RUSELL3: Adaptca from :\Iicali 22(;

PLAN OF COSA Adapted from Micali 247

PLAN OF PART OF THE POGGIO GAJELLA .... From Gruncr :;rjl

PLAN OF CORTONA Adapted from Micali .39.5

PLAN OF PERUGIA Adapted from Murray 416

MAP OF ETRUEIA From Scgato and otlicrs at tlicrnd

THE CITIES AND CEMETEKIES

OF

ETRUKIA.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

SOVAXA.— .S7,'J.VJ. Novella ilall' Etruria porto. — Filicaja.

La geiite che per li sepolcri giace

Potrebbesi vecler ? — gia. son levati

Tutti i coperul)j, e ne.s.sun guardia face. — L»a.\te.

We are apt to regard Ital}' as a country so thoroughly beaten by travellers that little new can be said about it ; still less do we imagine that relics of the olden time can exist in the open air, and remain unknown to the world. Yet the truth is, that vast districts of the Peninsula, especially in the Tuscan, Pioman, and Neapolitan States, are to the archreologist a terra incognita. Every monument on the high-roads is familiar, even to the fire- side traveller; but how little is known of the by-ways! Of the swarms of foreigners who yearly traverse the country between Florence and Piome, not one in a hundred leaves the beaten tracks to visit objects of antiquit}'; still fewer make a journe}' into the intervening districts expressly for such a purpose. How many leave the train to explore the antiquities of Cortona, Chiusi, or Orvieto "? or if a few run from Pome to Corneto to visit the painted tombs, not a tithe of that small number continue their route to Yulci, Toscanella, or Cosa. That wide region, on the frontiers of the former Tuscan and Poman States, which has been the subject of the last two chapters, is so rarely trodden by the foot of a traveller, even of an antiquary, that it cnn be no matter of surprise that relics of ancient art should exist there, and be utterly unknown to the world — gazed at with stupid astonishment b}' the peasantry, or else more stui)idly unheeded. In a country almost depopulated by malaria, inhabited only by

vol,. 11. u

2 SOYAXA. [chap, xxxiv.

shepherds and hushandinen. and never traversed by the educated and intelligent, the most striking monnments may remain for ages nnnoticed. So it was with the magniticent temples of Pffistum. Though they had reared their mighty columns to the sunbeams for some three and twenty centuries, isolated in an open plain where they were visible for many a league, and stand- ing on the sea-shore, where they nnist have served for ages as a landmark to tlie mariner ; yet their ver^' existence had been for- gotten, till in the middle of the last century a Neapolitan painter discovered them afresh, rescuing them from an oblivion of fifteen hundred years. ^ So in Etruria, the interesting cemeteries of Xorchia and Castel d'Asso were brought to light not seventy j'ears ago by some sportsmen of Yiterbo. I am now about to describe some other remarkable remains of Etruscan antiquity, which owe their rediscovery to the intelligent enterprise of an Englishman.

In the spring of 1843, ^Ir. Ainslev, my former fellow-traveller in Etruria, in the course of a third tour through this interesting land, penetrated to I'itigliano, and thence made an excursion to Sovana. Being aware that that place was known only as the site of the Roman Suana, lie had no reason to expect relics of Etruscan times ; yet, having established such an antiquity for Pitigliano, he shrewdly suspected the same for the neighbouring site. Here he inquired for antiquities. Antiquities ! — Nobody at Sovana had ever heard of such " roha." Erom the provost to the hind, all were alike ignorant. But his curiosity was excited by some columharia and rock-hewn tombs of familiar character, and he proceeded to explore the surrounding ravines.

His suspicions were soon confirmed. Here were tombs with rock-hewn facades as at Norchia and Castel d'Asso, -^and, follow- ing the range of clifis, he came to a monument in the form of a temple, in a style both unique and beautiful. His surprise and dehght at this discovery explained to the villagers who accom- panied him the nature of the objects he was seeking. They were no less astonished to find a stranger display such interest in what to their simple minds was meaningless, or a mere " scherzo " — a freak of Nature imitating Art, or a fanciful work carved in an idle or wanton mood by the ''rude forefathers of the hamlet."

* I give the current story, ■which I be- to the painter's discoveiy, which was 1755.

lieve, however, to have been disproved as See Dcl;'j;ardette, Ruines de Pii'stum, p. 15.

regards the discoverer, — a description of It is at least established that those niar\'els

the temples having been published at of Greek art have been known to Europe

Naples, by Antonini, in his work on Lu- for little more than a centurj-. cania, ten years before the date assigned

CHAP. XXXIV.] DISCOVERY OF THIS NECROPOLIS. 3

" Scherzi, schcrz'i ' — is that tlie rohtt you want? tliere are plenty of such u-Jiiins.'" cried they ; and they led him on iVom one rock- hewn monument to another, which excited his surprise and admiration L}' theii* multitude, variet}', and novel character, and afforded him convincing evidence of the Etruscan origin of Sovana. He returned day after day to the spot, and in defiance of a midsummer sun, and its noxious influences, persevered till he had made finished drawings of the most remarkahle monu- ments, and had taken their dimensions with the fullest detail. He forthwith sent a description of this necropolis to the Archffio- logical Institute of Iiome, together with drawings, plans, and sections of the principal tomhs for puhlication. In truth, he has left little to be done b}' future visitors to Sovana, so detailed and accurate are his notices and drawings, and such the zeal with Avhich he prosecuted his researches for the benefit of antiquarian science.

The discover}' is of the highest importance, for these sepulchres, though in general character resembling those of Xorchia, Castel d'Asso, and Bieda, have novel and striking features peculiar to the site. Mr. Ainsle}^ j^^stl}' observes, that after " having visited nearly all the antiquities of this kind known to exist in Etruria, I can trul}' sa}' that I have seen no place which contains so great a variety of sculptured tombs as Sovana." -

Sovana is but two miles and a half from Pitigliano, and appears to the e3'e still nearer, but in these glen-furrowed plains distances are deceptive. You ascend from the ravine of Piti- gliano by an ancient rock-sunk road, fringed with aloes. On the surface of the plain above, j'ou niaj* trace the road b}' ruts in the tufo, formed partlv perhaps in more recent times."^ The road commands a wide sweep of the great Etruscan plain to the south ; but on every other hand the horizon is bounded by heights, here clothed with wood or verdure, there towering into lofty peaks, for half the year diademed Avitli snow.

Sovana stands on a tongue of land, scarcelv half a mile in

- r.uU. Inst. 1S43, p. 159. Gentleman's m.iy be of intentional con.stniction, and

ilag. , Oct. 1S43, p. 419. how far the result of reiterated transit, in

•* Similar traces of ancient roads in Greece any jiarticular case, can only be determined

are supposed to have been formed puqiosely, by careful exanunation. The softer cha-

the ruts or furrows being channelled in tlie racter of the rock in Etruria renders it

rock to facilitate the passage of vehicles, still more diflicult to form a satisfactory

on the principle of tram-roads — forming, opinion ; but ancient roads indicated by

in fact, a sort of stone railway. Mnre's parallel ruts, cut or worn in the tufo, are

Tour in Greece, II. p. 251. How far they of veiy common occurrence.

K 2

4 SOVAXA, [chap. XXXIV.

length ; at one end rises the square tower of the Duomo, iuul at the other the me(li<\.'val castle, -which, with its tall masses of yellow ruin, and crunihlhig niachicolated battlements, forms the most prominent and picturesque feature in the sceneiy of the spot.

It is obvious from the strength of these fortifications that Sovana was a place of importance in the middle ages. This cit}- — for such it is in name — " this city, which governed itself by its own laws, even after the arrival of the Lombards, which for a long period was the residence of bishops and of a powerful race of Counts ; this city, which in 1240 was able to make head against Frederic II., and to sustain a siege, is now reduced to such a miserable state, that in 1833 its population was not more than sixty-four souls ; "^ and is now still further diminished. It is the see of a bishop, but for six centuries past this dignitary has not resided there, delegating his duties to a j^roposto, or provost. Such is the summer scourge of " ariarria,'' that even the wretched hamlet to which the city has dwmdled is well-nigh depopulated, and most of its houses are ruined and tenantless. It may well be called, as Kepetti observes, " The city of Jeremiah." It is but the skeleton, though a still living skeleton, of its former greatness. Pestilence, year after year, stalks through its long, silent street.'^ I visited it in the healthy season, when its population had not forsaken it, and on a fete- day, when every one was at home ; yet hardly a soul did I perceive, and those few seemed to have scarcely energy enough left for wonderment. The visit of a stranger, however, is an epoch in the annals of the hamlet. I learned from the provost that the monotonous, death-like calm of Sovana had not been disturbed by a single visitor since ]\Ir. Ainsley left it nearly a 3'ear before.

Nothing is known of the ancient history of Sovana. Till now it was not supposed to have had an Etruscan origin. The Pioman colony of Suana is mentioned in the catalogues of Pliny and Ptolemy;*^ and that it occupied this site is proved by the preservation of the ancient name, wliich has remained almost unchanged — being called inditierently Soana or Sovana.*" Tlie

■• Repetti, v. Soana. are only " suspecteil " of, not infectdl by,

" It woiikl be interesting to trace tlie malaria, cause of its unhealtliiness. It cannot be " Plin., III. S ; Ptol. Geog. i>. 72, ed.

entirely owing to its situation in the liert.

plain, for it is raised about 960 feet above ^ Repetti always speaks of it as Soana ;

the level of the .sea ; and other sites on but in the country it is generally called

much lower ground, and nearer the sea, Sovana — which is more consistent with the

CHAP. XXXIV.]

A CITY OF THE PLAGUE.

only Iiistorical interest it possesses lies in its being the birth- place of Hildebrand, Gregory' VII., the great ecclesiastical reformer of the eleventh centur}-, the founder of the Papal supremac}' over all secular power. Of lionian remams I observed only three cij>pi in the Piaz/a, with inscriptions of no interest. Below the Duonio, on the descent to the western gate, are j)ortions of the ancient wall, of tufo and cmplccton, as at

^^ . >-\ MONTE ROSELLO

ROUGH I'LAX OF SoVANA AND ITS NECROPOLIS.

A. Castle.	K.	Bridge.
B. Cathedral.	L.	]\Iadonna del Sebastiano.
C Piazza.	M.	Ancient road cut through the rock
D.D.Gates.	X.	Grotta Pola.
E. Columbarium in tlie cliff.	P.	Bridge.
F. Tomb with ribbed ceiling.	Q-	Tomb with Typhon's head.
G-.G. Ancient roads.	K.	House-like tombs.
H. Columbarium.	s.	Polyandrium.
I. Tomb called La Fontana.	T.	Fontana del Pischero.

Sutri and Falleri. The Etruscan town must have been of ver}' small size, little more than a mile in circumference. Yet the multitude and character of its sepulchres seem to indicate con- siderable importance, though this test is often fallacious. Suana can never have been of much weight in the Etruscan State ; and must have been dependent on some larger city, probably o\\ Volsinii.

Italian mode of corrupting Latin names, as exemplified in iLintova, Padova, Genova

-and with the vulgar tendency to iaseit v, -Pdvolo for Paolo.

G SOYANA. [CHAP. XXXIV

Should any one be tempted to follow me to this desolate site, which, during the winter months, ma}- he done with impmiit}- if not without discomfort, let him leave Sovana by the western gate. As he descends into the ravine he will observe the opposite cliffs hewn into a long series of architectural fjicades, among which one with a recessed arch stands conspicuous. At some distance he might take it for a new stone building ; but let him force liis way through the thick copse on the slope, and he finds its whiteness is but the hoariness of anticputy. This monument is called

La Foxtaxa,

from some fancied resemblance to a fountain."^ It is hewn from the tufo cliff, and in general size and foim resembles the tombs of Xorchia and Castel d'Asso, but instead of Etruscan cornices has a Doric-like frieze, surmoimted by a pediment with singular reliefs ; and in place of the door-moulding on the facade, it has an arched recess, Avitli an inscription carved on the inner wall, and a couple of steps below it, which give it some resemblance to a modem way-side shi-ine.'^ The general features of the monu- ment, even -R-ithout the open tomb beneath, would prove it to be sepidchral.^

The projecting /a -scirt bears much resemblance to a Doric frieze,- but the pediment is veiy un-Hellenic in character. In the centre is an Etruscan mermaid, or marine deity —

Prima hominis f acies. et pulchro pecix)re rirg-o Pube tenus ; postrema iminani corpore pLstrix Delphinum caudas utero commissa —

Her fiice has been destroyed ; her bod}- is naked, but over her head float her robes inflated bv the breeze, and she is stri-sinjj to

® See the ■woodcut on the opposite page. ^ The sepulchral chamber is entered by

' The inscription is in letters ten inches a passage opening in the hill-side, at an

high. It appears to be an epitaph, and in unusual depth below the fa9ade. It is in

Koman letters would be no -way remarkable. In the excavations

that were made here in 1859 it was found tLat in certain of the passages sunk in the rock to the doors of the tombs, some of the It is stated by Count G. C. Conestabile steps were moveable, made so to conceal

that in some other tombs of Sovana where another passage leading to a lower chamber.

this arched recess occurs in the facade, it Conestabile, loc. cit.

was occupied by a stone sarcophagus with - It is divided into metopes, and what

a recumbent figure on its lid, vestiges of resemble trighiihs in outline, but not being

which still remain. Bulletino degli Scavi channelled, are not entitled to the name ;

della Societa Colombarui, 1859, p. 8. there are no yK«a:. Each metope contains

Yet it is strange that no sarcophagi were a patera.

found within the tombs.

XCLI . . lA. VKLC VELUS.

CHAP, xxxrv.] LA FONTANA— ETEUSCAN MEEMAID. 7

confine tlieni -with lier lunuls.'' The huge coils of her fishes' tails roll away on each side almost to tlie extremity of the i)e(liment. On either hand, fiying from her with wings outspread, is a male genius ; tlie one on her left hears a shield on his arm, and shows some traces of a helmet.

1/:^ I

4

5^/wi«=-— ~

EOCK-KEWN TOMU CALLED " LA FUXTAXA," AT SOVAXA.

These figures, which are in prominent relief, are by no means distinct. They have sufi'ered from a huge beech, which has taken rt)ot on the summit of the rocky mass, si)ringing from above the head of the mermaid, which it has almost destroyed, and riving the monument to its very base. The antiquar}- may complain, but the artist must rejoice ; for the tree overshadowing the monu- ment renders it eminently' picturesque.^

^ Mr. Ainsley took hoi- rohes to be wings ; seen covering tlie left arm. She holds no

and in truth the reseniTilance is not slight, instrnnient iu her haml, as usual in suck

and the analogy of similar figures on Etrus- figures.

can urns, leads you to expect wings; Imt ■* Jlr. Ainsley's descriptions of tliis mo-

here, the folds of the drapery are distinctly numeut will be found iu Bull. Inst. 1S43,

8 SOYAXA. [chap, xxxiv.

I agree with ]Mr. Aiusley in regarding tliis monument as of a late period in Etruscan art. " There is a freedom of design, a certain flow of outline in the figures, together with a boldness of execution in the whole composition, which difter widely from the primitive style of Etruscan art." The subject is one which is not to be seen elsewhere in Etruria on the facade of a tomb, though frequent on the cinerary urns of Yolterra, C'hiusi, and Perugia. These marine deities are of either sex, and are often represented with wings outspread, and with a small pair at their temples, which are bound with snakes. Sometimes they are brandishing harpoons or anchors, sometimes oars, swords, or even snakes, like the Furies. They are commonly called Glaucus or Scylla, according to the sex ; but these terms are merely conven- tional, and it is possible that they may have no relation to those beings of the Greek mythology. IMyst^rious symbols of a long- forgotten creed, thus prominently displayed, they cannot fail to stir the imagination of the beholder.

In the line of cliff, called Poggio Prisca, is a long range of sepulchral monuments, in general form, size, and character, like those of Xorchia and Castel d' Asso, but in their details differing from any others yet discovered in Etruria. For, besides the Egyptian character of the outline and the horizontal mouldings, Avhich these tombs have in common with those on the sites men- tioned, here Ave find cornices not receding but projecting, and actually taking the concave form, with the prominent torus beneath, so common on the banks of the Xile ; and this not in a solitary monument, but repeated again and again, so as to remove all suspicion that this striking resemblance to Egyptian architecture was the result of accident. The Etruscan character is seen in the moulded door on the facade, and in the inscription within it ; but the dentilled fillet below the torus, and the rock- it. lo7 ; Anil. lust. 1843, pp. 227 — 229 ; frieze 10 feet, .ind tlienre to the apex of Gentleman" .s Mag., Oct. 1843, p. 418. For the pediment 7 feet. The recess is 8 feet his illustrations, see Mon. Inetl. Inst. III. 9 inches in height, and 7 feet 6 inches in tav. LVI. What differences e.xist between width. There is a buttress of rock on each his observations and mine (Ann. Inst. side of tlie arcli, now much defaced ; which 1843, p. 234) are explained by the seasons Mr. Ainsley suggests may have supported in which we respectively visited the spot. figures of lions, or other decorative sculp- The shade of the summer foliage must tures. Similar buttre.s.ses are attached to have greatly impeded his investigation; a tomb at Castel d' Asso. See Chapter XVI. while I found the tomb exposed to tlie full p. 182. Steps anciently cut in the rock glare of a vernal .sun. by the side of the monument lead to the

The dimensions of La Fontana are : — summit of the cliff. ■\Vidth at the base 17 feet. Height to the

CHAP. XXXIV.] POGGIO rPvISCA— GEOTTA TOLA. 9

liewn jiedestal wliicli often suniiouiits the niouuiiioiit, sire Greek rather tlian Etruscan features.

The ujiper chamber, so common at Norchia and Castcl d' Asso, is unknown at Sovana, but there is some analog}' to it in a recess hollowed in the facade of a monument, and having a bench at the back ; either for a sarcophagus, for the clppus, or for the accom- modation of mourning friends. It is a feature not unconnnon on this site ; it is seen, in fact, in the Fontana.''

These facades are separated as usual b}' flights of steps, hewn in the rock, and leading from the base of the cliff to the level of the plain. ^ In front of each monument is a long pit, the deeji narrow passage to tiie tomb, -which lies at an unusual depth, and lias a moulded door j)recisely like that on the facade. Even where the roofs of these passages have not fallen in, there is a large oblong pit at the base of the monument, the mouth of a vertical shaft, like those at Fallori and Civita Castellana. The sepulchres are in general spacious, surrounded by benches of rock, but with no internal decoration, so far as I could perceive.

Following the range of cliffs northward, I came upon another group of tombs of similar chfiracter, and many with inscrij^tions more or less legible. This part of the necropolis is called Sopraripa.

It were vain to attempt a visit to these tombs unarmed with a hatchet, so dense are the tangled thickets ; and all care must be had in crossing the yawning joits with which the slopes are furrowed ; for the ground is kept moist and slippery by the overhanging foliage, and a false step on the brink would, in every sense, be a .step into the grave. Mr. Ainsle}' was obliged to get tlie peasants to pioneer him a way from one monument to another with their wood-bills, and to clear the foliage from the jflicades ; and I also reaped unequivocal benefit from their labours.

From the Sopraripa I perceived the cliffs on the opposite side of the wide ravine to be full of tombs, and crossing the stream by a bridge of some antiquity-, I reached the

Gkotta Poi-a,

one of the most singulnr monviments in tliis necropolis, and the onh'one of the sepulchres of Etruria wliicli bears any resemblance

•' In the Sopraripa is a nionnniciit with and it is i)roliable that most of tlicse arched

a recessed arch, as in the Fontaiia, l>ut recesses lield cippi, portable in some cases,

without inscription or sculptured pediment ; fixtures in others.

and in tlie cliii's on the opposite side of the *" An instance is shown in the woodcut

glen, a similar arch contains a sepulchral on page 7. column or cijjpax, hewn out of the rock ;

10 SOVAXA. [chap. XXXIV.

to the celebrated temple-tombs of XorL-liia. Ileie is Mr. Ainsley's descriptiou of it : —

" It has the form of the portico of a temple, cut out of the solid tufa. One column only remains, supporting a corner of the pediment, and behind it is a stpiare pilastei', attached to the suriace of the rock, representing the body of the temple. Both column and pilaster are tinted, and adorned with corresponding capitals, which seem to have been very similar to one that I have seen in Signor Campanari's museum at Toscanella, having foUage running round its base, and springing boldly up to the comers, somewhat in the manner of the Corinthian, but with large human heads placed in the middle of each face of the cai)ital, between the fohage.^ The eli'ects of time are too great to allow one to judge of the character of these heads. It is apparent that the column, tha pilaster, and the face of the rock have been covered Avith stucco and coloured ; and this is most manifest in the latter, where a hvoad fascia of the usual deep red colour has run along the bottom. The portico seems to have consisted of four columns, but not equall}' distant from one another, being coujiled at the two ends, so as to leave a wider space between the two pairs than between each column and its fellow. The pediment is too much injured to allow one to judge if there has been sculpture in it ; but the soffit of that part Avhich remams is decorated with medal- lions. The whole monument is elevated on a base, without any traces of steps, and must have had an imj)osmg ai^pearance when perfect ; whilst in its ruin, decorated as it is with the trees which grow out of the crevices, and have partly occasioned its destruc- tion, it presents one of the most picturesque objects which my portfolio contains."^

The style of this monument marks it as no very early date, and it may be of the time of Roman domination in Ktruria. No

7 See the woodcut at page 4S1 of Men. Ined. Inst. II. tav. XX. No volutes

Volume I. are now remaining in these cajiitals, and

* Gentleman's ilag. , Oct. 1843, p. 418. it can only be from analogy that ilr. Ainsley

I can add little to this accurate descrip- deems them to have existed. ^Ir. Ainsley's

tion ; yet I am by no means certain that accurate plans and sections of this monu-

the decorations of the column and pilaster ment will be found in the Mon. Ined. Inst,

represent human heads. The surface of III. tiiv. LV., and a furtlier description in

the tufo, out of which the monument is Ann. Inst. 1843, yix 224 — 7.

hewn, is so decayed, that it is difficult to The height of the column and i)ilaster

determine the point, but to my eye there is 15 feet (i inches ; diameter of both alx)ut

was some resemblance to large jjine-cones, 3 feet. Height of the podium, or base,

a common sepulchral emblem among the from 7 to 8 feet. The portico is 7 feet

Etruscans ; yet analog}' would rather favour deep, and about 26 feet wide. the heads. See Lull. Inst. 1830, p. 136.

CHAP. XXXIV.] TOMBS IX THE FOEM OF HOUSES. 11

tomb is seen Lelow it, because tlie pnssafje to it is not cleared out ; 3-ettbevo can be no doubt of its sepulcbral cbaracter. Tliis l^ortico seems ))ut a small ixnlion of a nnudi mightier monument ; in trntb it is liinblv i)robable, from tlie traces of art on tlie ad- joining rocks, tbat tliere has been on tliis sjx^t, as ]\Ir. Ainsley observes, " an union of objects of architectural grandeur, not to be seen in any other part of Etruria.'"-^

Tlie height in -which the Grotta Pola lies is called Costa del Felceto, In the line of cliffs more to the east, below the height called Poggio Stanziale, are many tombs in curious variety. Some ^^r- — "^-^

are purely Egyptian in outline and ^ IZ_

mouldings, as shown in the annexed x .

woodcut. Some are siu'mounted by

two long masses of rock, as a , , .^,

pedestal for a figure or cipjins, but ' L/ )) ll Vi

in most it is of more artificial form.

In some of the facades are two or

three long body-niches, recessed

one above the other ; which must

be of subsequent formation to the

monuments, and may be even of

Christian date.

The most remarki'.ble sepulchres facade ok a to-mb at sovana. in this part of the necroi)olis are

■what may be termed house-tombs, as they are detached masses of rock hewn into that form. They have a sort of portico in antls, in one instance flanked b}' pilasters with simjde capitals, and sur- mounted by i)ediments, with a cornice below, and the beam-end of the roof above, in obvious imitation of woodwork. The house-character is seen also more clearly in the roof, which in one instance is roinided, and ribbed with i)arallel ridges, aj)- parently in rejiresentation of a hut arched over with hoops, and covered with skins ;^ indeed, there is much iirimitive character in these tombs, and the}' recall the singular hut-urns of the Alban Mount. In this instance, there is a moulded door within the portico, indicating the entrance to tlie abode.

'■' There i.s a wide artificial i>assage Loliinil liavc given the mominient, in its original the monument, ,a.s sliown in i\Ir. Ainsley'.s .state, a very close analogy to the temple- plan. I have little doubt that there ha.s toml)S of Norchia.

been a second portico adjoining, for I re- ' There are also traces of antcftxcr at the

marked traces of four columns, somewhat extremities of the.se ridges, just as on many

in advance of the Grotta Pola. This mu.-^t Etruscan urns and sarcophagi.

12 SOY AX A. [CHAP. XXXIV.

One of these house-tombs has its pediment dtcoiated ^vith a colossal head, in high relief, of veiy bold and imposing cdiaracter. It represents the Etruscan Typhon, or Principle of Destruction, and has long serpent-locks, one of his usual attributes.- The soffit of the portico is cofiered with a diamond pattern.

As tyi"»es of Etruscan domestic architecture, these tombs of Sovana have a peculiar interest. That most of the other monuments on this and kindred sites, which have moulded doors in their focades, represent dwellings there can be little doubt ; but these few in question are too pali)ably imitations to admit of a moment's scepticism. I know no other instances of gabled tombs in Etruria, save one at Bieda, which does not bear so close an analogy to a house, except in having the sepulchral chamber within the bodv of the monument, instead of beneath it, as in those just described. No Etruscan necropolis more truly merits that name, or has the character of a *' city of the dead " more stronglv expressed in its monuments, than this of Sovana.

In the cliff beneath the town opposite the I'ontana is a singular tomb with a vaulted roof, with something like a large Maltese cross in relief. The inner wall is recessed like the apse of a church, and there are niches around the chamber.

The tombs described are the most remarkable among the countless numbers around Sovana. The glens on the east of the town are also full of sepulchres, but of more ordinary character — simple chambers surrounded by rock-hewn benches, without decoration, inside or out. It might be inferred that there Avas some separation of classes in this necropolis — that in these glens lay the commune vulr/as, while at the west-end were interred the l)atrician and sacerdotal dead of Sovana.

I agree with Mr. Ainsley in considering the monuments in this necropolis to be generally less archaic in character than those of Castel d'Asso and Xorchia, saving the temple-tombs on the latter site, though there is by no means an appearance of uniform antiquity. At the same time there is here a nnich larger number of cliff-hewn sepulchres than on any other Etruscan site ; and a far greater varietv of architectural decoration. Nowhere are the mouldings so singular and so varied ; for they show the charac- teristics of distant countries, and of different ages. Egyj)t,

- Jlr. Ainslej- took these snake-locks for filled with foliage in relief, whose flowing

"flowing hair."' I think he is mistaken. and elegant character marks the monument

Nor could I perceive any signs of wings on as of a late epoch. He h:is given an eleva-

the brows, which he thought he distin- tion and section of this tomb in ilon. Ined.

guished. The angles of the <^/»2)rt>n(«i are Inst. III. tav. LVII. 1, 2.

CHAP. XXXIV.] ABUNDANCE AND VArJETY OF SErULCHRES. 13

Greece, Ktriuia, wud Pvonie, have all their stamp here expressed." In the general character of its sepulchres there is the same variet}' ; for to its own peculiar features Sovana unites the characteristics of other Etruscan cemeteries — Norchia, Bieda, Castel d'Asso, Falleri, Sutri, Cervetri. Yet I did not perceive one tumulus like those of Cervetri, Tarquinii, and A'ulci. No- where are sepulchral niches in greater abundance and variety. There arc niches for urns, and niches for bodies — the large conical niches, surmounted by small ones, so common at Civita Castellana — shelf-niches in double or triple tiers — port-hole niches, and loop-hole niches — and of columbaria there are as many as on any other site, except Sorano. Nowhere, moreover, are inscriptions on the exterior of the monuments so abundant ; and of the Poggio Prisca and Sopraripa it may almost be said —

nullum est sine nomine saxum.

Nearly every rock here speaks Etruscan.*

The neighbourhood of Sovana abounds in ancient roads cut through the tufo. The most remarkable of these are to the west, behind the jNIadonna del Sebastiano, where two ways are cut through the rock up to the level of the plain. They are not more than eight or ten feet wide, though seventy or eighty feet deep, and the thin strip of sky overhead is almost shut out by overshadowing trees. A few tombs and water-channels indicate the Etruscan origin of these clefts. The profound perpetual gloom of these mediterranean roads has invested them with a superstitious awe, and no Sovanese ventures to enter the Cave di San Sebastiano without signing the cross and committing himself to the care of the A^irgin and his favourite saint. The Virgin is within hearing, for her shrine stands at the foot of the slojie ; and she is reminded of her tutelary duties by a pra^-er inscribed on the portico. " Santa Maria ! protecjcjcte Sovana, a te devota ! "

Sovana presents a new field to the excavator. The tombs in the cliffs have been rifled ages since ; but the plain above must also be full of sepulchres, to which the spade and mattock are the onlv keys. The richness of architectural decoration in this necropolis seems to augur a corresponding wealth of sepulchral furniture.

This suggestion of mine Avas acted on by the Societa Colom- baria of Florence, who, in the spring of 1859, commenced excava- tions in this necropolis. In twenty days they opened about

•' See the Appendix, Note I. given in tbe Appendix to this Chapter,

■• The inscriptions that are legible are Note II.

14 SOYAXA. [chap, xxxrv.

fifty tombs, yet with very little success, for the sepulchres had all been rifled in former times. Even when the door was intact, it was found that the tomb had been entered either throuuh the roof, or the side-wall, and the soil washing in tlu'ough the apertiu'e had choked the chamber, so as greatly to increase the labour of excavation. The tombs were generally of a single chamber, surrounded by rock-hewn benches, on whicli the dead were laid. It was evident that the Etruscans of Sovana did not usually burn their dead, for not a single ash-chest, either of stone or terra-cotta, such as abound at Chiusi, Perugia, and Volterra, was here brought to light ; not even a tile to cover a niche for a cinerary urn. Nor were sarcophagi of stone discovered in these tombs, yet the rock benches bore abundant proof that the dead were interred, for on every one a number of nails lay in regular order round the edge, marking the place of the wooden coffin, whose dust lay mingled with that of its occupant,'' Xo inscriii- tions were found on the walls of the tombs, nor on the bronzes and pottery thev contained.

In the spring of 1860 the Society ojiened one hundred and four tombs in thirty days, 3'et with little better success. Not yet willing to despair they made a further attempt in the follow- ing year, but from the very inadeipiate result the}" were comiielled to relinquish their labours.

On one tomb on Poggio Grezzano they found traces of rude paintings on the walls and ceiling. The jjortable produce of their excavations was confined to ordinary pottery, black and red, some vases with black figures on a red ground, a few mirrors, sometimes gilt, with other objects in bronze rarely entire, articles in iron, ivory, glass, beads of amber, and an earring of gold. The most archaic objects were two sitting female figures of soft stone, like those found at Chiusi, hollowed to contain the ashes of the deceased, and Avith movable limbs.^

Such is the necropolis of Sovana, and if it ofiers feM' treasures to the excavator, it ofiers much to the antiquarv. Eet no one who feels interest in the past, enter this district of Etruria without paying it a visit. It is better worth a pilgrimage than one half of known Etruscan sites. In point t)f sepulchres, what is there at Ealleri — what at Castel d'Asso — what at Toscanella — what at

* Similar traces of wooden coffins have in Greek tombs which I have opened in

been found at Corneto and in other Etruscan Sicily and in the Cyrenaica. cemeteries, as well as in those of tlie Greek '• Dullettiui degli Scavi dolla Societ;i

colonies in Italy. I have found them also Colombaria, 1859 — 01.

CHAP. XXXIV.]

ArvCHITECTUE AL MOULDING S.

15

Bieda — to rival it in interest? In exterior attraetions, its toniLs ■will bear comparison with tliose of any otlier necropolis in Southern l^truria; even Xorchia cannot surpass it. Kvcrythin{4", however, be it remembered, yields in interest to the " shadow- peo])led caves " of Corneto, Chiusi, and Orvieto.

Sovana may be reached from three sides; from the east, leaving" the high-road to Siena at Acquapendcnte, or San Jjoren/o ; from the west b}' the road leading from Orbetello through Manciano ; and from the south, from IMontalto or Toscanella, through Farnese, or Tschia. ; and it sliould always be borne in mind that Pitigliano, not Sovana, is the point to be aimed at, as the latter is utterl}^ destitute of accommodation, and at the former "the ])aby " welcomes the traveller with open arms.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXXIY.

NoTK I. — ^rnuMuxns of Tomus at Sovana. See p. 1?,.

Fi- L Fh. 2.

Fi-. 3.

Fi-. 4.

|i I

Fi- r,.

J

i'l

! !i

Fi?. 6.

These mouldings are tlioso of the facades of tombs at Sovana, seen in profile, A^irying from 12 to 20 or 25 feet in heiglit. The upper part recessed in figs. 5 and G, is the pedestal of the cijipus or statue which surmounted the tomb ; it is shown in the woodcut at page 513. The lower member of the cornices in figs. 1, 3, 5, G, is dcntilled. Tlirse mouldings are unlike those on any other Etruscan site ; and probably have their coimtcrparts in no other land ; though certain of them have a strong Egyptian character. The most singular is that of lig. 4 ; and next, perhaps, fig. 2. But further comment

16 SOYAXA. ■ [chap, xxxiv.

from an unprofessional man is uncalled for. I pve these mouldings rather in the hope of exciting cm-iosity in the unstudied subject of Etruscan archi- tecture, than with any expectation of satisfyuig it.

XuTK II. — Etrus'AX iNscniPTioxs. Sec p. 13.

The inscriptions at Sovana, though unusually numerous, are in many cases quite illegible, owing to the decay of the surface of the monument on wliicli they are carved. The tufo here is of a deep red hue, which indurates better perhaps than the lighter sorts, but it is filled with large lumps of carbon, which, decaying sooner than the earthy matter by exposure to the weather, leaves holes in the surface of the rock. There are other diiheulties in the way of making correct transcripts of the inscriptions on Etruscan sepulchres. Unless the sun fall on the facade, it is often impossible to read from below, and the inscription must he felt — in all cases the surest means of arriving at accuracy ; for the finger can distinguish the indentation formed by the chisel from that effected by accidental causL'S, and thus will often correct the eye. But to reach with the hand letters which are generally at the upper part of the fa9ade of a smooth-faced monument is not always an easy matter. Often have I reclined on the top of a tomb, with my body hanging half over its face, clinging for support to some projection of the rock, or some friendly bough, while I endeavoured, too frei[nently in vain, to feel my way through an inscription or bas-relief ; and often have I been forced to assume a more perilous position, standing on tip-toe, spread-eagled against the front of the monument, with nothing to save me from the yawning pit at my feet, some tliirty or forty feet deep, but the ledge of the rock on which I stood, only two or three inches wide, and ever slippery with moisture, and the grasp of one hand on the angle of the facade, or in some shallow hole in the smooth- hewn tufo. Yet thus have I hung many a while,

'• Spelling out scrolls of dread antiquity."

The inscriptions Instead of being, as at Castel d'Asso, on the principal fascia of the cornice, at Sovana are invariably within the moulded doorway, which is always immediately under the cornice, as shown at page 7.

The inscription within the arch of La Fontana has already been given at page 6, and in its Etruscan form is seen in the illustration of that monu- ment at page 7.

On a tomb, in the same line of cliffs, I read " THrxsEHVRixi:," which is but a fragment.

On the next tomb is —

Or, in Roman letters, '■ Thestia : Yelthuuxa . . . necxa." l

The first letter in the lower line is doubtful ; the former part of it may be-

a natural indentation in the rock, and the rest may have been an L. The

' Count G. C. C'onestabile reads this, Bull. Societtl Colombaria, 1859, p. 10. "tqestia velthurnas nes.va (or pesxa)."

CHAP. XXXIV.] ETRUSCAX INSCEIPTIOXS AT SOVAXA.

r

inscription is tlie opitai)!! of <i female, Tliestia. Her gentilitial name Velthurna is equivalent to Voltnrna, or Voltnnnia, the great godde.ss of the Etruscans. Lecna is the Etruscan form of Lieinia. On another tomb, liartl hv, is —

X

iopiJiovMc^)a

or " EcASUTHll.ATiri Al.i ii.xiA,"' which I would divide thus, " Eca Suthi Lathial (for Larthial) Cilnia." The latter word is the great Etruscan gens, so celebrated in the annals of Arretium, and to which il;ecenas belonged ; though it is not generallj'- so written in Etruscan, but is metamorphosed into Cvelne, Cvenle, or Cvenles —

AA54V\^:l)

See Chapter XLII. The strange star above tliis inscrijition has been con- jectured to be a numeral.

In the Sopraripa is a tomb with " Sa Eantiia," wkicli is probably but a fragment. Eantha or Ramtha is an Etruscan female name.

Of one inscription I could only trace the letters . . " tiira "^ . . and of another of two lines, only " laktha " was distinguishable.

In the Poggio Stanziale, near the house-tombs I read this fragment, " TiUAS . r . . " On an adjoining monument is the simple word " cal," which formed the entire inscription.

In the same line of cliff is this epigrai^h — " cktc evkl . nes." The letters, however, are by no means distinct. If, as Mr. Ainsley reads it, there be no stop before the last syllable, we have cevelxes, which betrays a strong affinity to the Cvelnes or Cvenles, mentioned above, and strengthens the probability of the great Cilnian gens having been located at Suana, as well as at Arretium.

- According to Concstabile tbis should be "PHRAC." He gives an inscription on a tomb in the Sopraripa which escaped my observation —

"eca suthi LARTUAL RUilPC (or PUJIPC) CILISAL,"

and another ou the Felceto, near the Grotta Tola—

"aVLE PETRUS CELUS,"

(op. cit. pp. 17, 18).

ML'/resi-

YOLSIXII AND UOLSENA.

CHAPTER XXXV

BOLSEXA— VOLS FN IT.

positis nemorosa inter juga Volsiniis. — Juvenal.

Vedeva Troja in cenere e 'n cavernc :

0 Ilion, come te basso e vile Mostrava '1 segno die li si discerne ! — Dante.

From Pitigliaiio and its interesting neiglibouihood I proceeded to Bolsena, b.y way of Ornano, a wretched village seven or eight miles from Sorano.

Hence a road runs to Acquapendente, on the highway from Florence to Eome. This has been erroneously supposed to be the Acula of Ptolemy, and the colony of the Aqnenses mentioned by Pliny^ — an opinion founded merely on the similarity of its

1 Ptolem. Geog. p. 72, cd. Bert. ; riin. N. H. III. 8 — Aquenses, cognomine Tau- i-ini. Dempster (de Etruria Regali, II. ]). 342) held this opinion. But Cluvcr (Ital. Ant. ir. p. 570) sliow.s that the Acula

of Ptnleniy wa.s no other tlian the Ad Aqui- leia of the Pcutingerian Table, the first stage from Florentia on the road to Clu- sium. And tlie Aqu:e Tauri of Pliny wei'e in the mountains, three miles from Cen-

CHAP. XXXV.] CnAEMS OF A SOUTHERN WIXTEE. 19

name, wliicli is evidentl}' derived from the pln'sical peculiarities of the site. Acquapendente appears to be wholl,y of the middle ages — no traces of the Romans, still less of the Etruscans, could I jK'rceive on this spot.

At Ornano I chose the more direct route to Bolsena, -which I had soon cause to repent, for the lanes through ^vhich it lay ^vere beds of stiff clay, saturated with the recent rains, so that the heasts sank knee-deep at ever}- step. Thus —

*' I long in miry ways was foiled And sore discomfited, from slough to slough Plunging, and half despairing to escape," —

till I found tcrni-firma again at Le Grotte di San Lorenzo. This is evidently an Etruscan site ; the surrounding ravines contain sepulchral caves, though hardl}- in such numhers as to entitle the village to the name, par excellence, of Le Grotte. The red wine to which it gives its name is known at Rome as among the best produced within the limits of the old Papal State."

A couple of miles further carried me to San Lorenzo Xuovo, on the highway from Elorence to Rome, where "the great Vol- sinian mere " bursts upon the view. The road thence to Bolsena is well known, but I may mention that the picturesque and de- serted village of San Lorenzo A'ecchio, about a mile distant — un mhjUo (jrai^so, "a fat mile," as the natives say — occupies an Etruscan site, for the cliffs beneath the walls abound in sepulchres.^

It was a glorious day when I approached Bolsena. The sky was without a cloud — the lake, its islets, and ever}^ object on its shores, were in a summer blaze of light and warmth — the olive- groves were full of half-clad labourers, gathering the unctuous harvest — myriads of water-fowl darkened the sail-less Avatei-s — my eye roved round the wide amphitheatre which forms the ancient crater, and on every hand beheld the hills from base to summit dark with variejiated foliage. How then discredit the evidence of ni}' eyes — of every sense, and admit it to be the depth of winter, ere vegetation had put forth a single bud or blosscjm ? Yet so it was, — but it was the winter of Southern climes.

tnmcellse, or Civita Veccliia, as saj-s Eu- 8, 5.

tilius(I. 2-i!>). ^ This cannot have been anciently a

- If the Lago MeKzano, which is only ?ix town. Its circumscribed area, not larger

or seven miles distant, be the Lacus Sta- than that of a small castle, rather indicates

toniensis, this may be the very wine famed it as one of the stronj,'hol(ls — aisttUu —

of old as the Statoniau. Plin. N. H. XIV. which Volsinii possessed. Liv. IX. 41.

f; 2

20

BOLSEXA.

[CHA?. XXXV.

Bolsena is the representative of the ancient Volsinii,^ one of the most ancient,^ most "wealthy, and most powerful cities of Etruria,^ and Avithoiit doubt one of the Twelve of the Confedera- tion."

The first mention we find of A'olsinii in ancient writers is in the year of Eome 362 (b.c. 392), shortly after the fall of A'eii. when, in conjmiction with Salpinum, a neighbouring town, it took the occasion of a famine and pestilence that had desolated the Eoman territor}', to make hostile incursions. But these were soon checked ; the Volsinienses were beaten, Liv}- says, with great ease, and 8,000 men laid down their arms, and were glad to purchase a truce of twenty 3'ears on humiliating terms.^

Yolsinii, with the rest of the Etruscan States, took jiart in the Avar which broke out in the vear 443 (b.c. 311), commencing with

■* Yolsinii must have been called Velsina liy the Etruscans, or jjerbaps Velsuna, as it would apjiear from coins. If the first, it had anciently the same appellation a.s Bologna — Felsina. Velsi, or Velsina, was a common family name, often found on sepulchral inscriptions. The change of the Etruscan e into the Latin o was frequent — c.fj., Volumnius for Velimnas in the cele- brated tomb at Perugia. Tliese vowels, indeed, were interchangeable among the Romans, who had originally henns for Jxinus, del or for dolor, &c., which still holds among their Iberian descendants, who have hiieno, dudo, &c. The original name of Yolsinii may well have been Yel- suua, a.s we find " Yolsonianus " in an inscription found near Yiterbo. referring to places in the neighbourhood. Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 175. Propcrtius (lY., eleg. 2, 4) lia.s Yolsanus, though in some edi- tions wTitten Yolsinius. But the name of Yulsine has also been found, and at Bol- sena itself (Linzi, II. p. 406) ; and Yuisina, or Yusina, occurs several times in the Lecne tomb, near Siena. Lanzi, II. p. 3(31. There is a gold coin, with the type of a woman's head and a dog, and the legend " Yelsu" in Etruscan letters, which Scstini has a.ssigned to Yelia or Felsina (Bologna), but which iliill';r (Etnisk. I. p. 334) attributes to Yolsinii (VeLsine or Yelsune) ; and he thinks tliat many copper coins that have been referred to Yoltcrra, or Bettona, more properly belong to Yolsinii. Bunsen (Bull. Inst. 1833, p. 97) considers this conjecture of Miiller s, as to the gold coin, to be most

hapjiy.

■' Zonar. Annal. YIII. 7.

" Plin. N. H. II. 53 ; Yal. Max. IX. 1 ; Flor. I. 21 ; Liv. X. 37 ; cf. Plin. XXXIY. 16.

'' Livy (loc. cit.) ranks it with Arretiuni and Perusia, as among the "capita Etni- rije ;" and Yalerius ^laximus (loc. cit.) so designates it. Pliny (II. 54), however, speaks of Porsena a.s king of Yolsinii, which might be interpreted into a depen- dence on Chiusi, but perhaps indicates merely a connection. It is highly probable, as Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 17) opines, that after the fall of Tarquinii, A'olsinii was the mightiest state of Etruria.

** Liv. Y. 31, 32 ; Diod. XI Y. p. 319, ed. Rhod. The latter writer states that the battle was fought at Gurasium, which Cluver (II. p. .5.57) regards as a conniption of some better known name. Niebulir (III. p. 274) .says it is clear, from the feeble way in which the war of 368 was can-ied on, that it was the enterprise of Yolsinii alone. But this city is not mentioned by Liv^- (YI. 9, 10), who records the events of that war.

Miiller (Etnisk. einl. 2, 15, n. 124) thinks that the Solonium mentioned by Dionysius (II. 37) as an Etniscan cit}', wlience a Lncumo. prol)ably Cades Yibenna, came to the assistance of Romulus, was Yolsinii. Cluver (II. i)p. 454, 473), hov>-- ever, thinks Vetulonium is here the true reading ; while others would have it Pojiu- lonium.

<HAP. XXXV.] HISTORY OF VOLSIXII. 21

the siege of Sutriuia,^ and after the fatnl overthrow on the A^uli- nionian hike/ which must have heen in the territory of Volsinii, we iind it stated that J'libhus Decius ]Mus, the llonian Consul in the year 446, took several strongholds belonging to this cit}'.^

In the year 460 (n.c. 294) L. Postn'mius Megellus, the consul, laid waste the territory of the Volsinienses, and routed their army not far from their city, leaving 2,800 of them dead on the held. In consequence of this, with Terusia and Arretium, they sought for peace, and ohtahied a truce for forty j-ears on the pay- ment of a heavy fine.''

After this, just before the war witli Pyrrhus, the Volsinienses again took up arms against Pome, "^^ but were defeated, together with their allies, the Vulcientes, in the year 474 (b.c. 280) ; '' and it would seem that they were then finally subdued.** Yet it is difficult to reconcile their energy and the love of independence shown in their being among the last people of Etruria to resist the Roman yoke, with the abject state of degradation into which, but a few years after, they had fallen, when tlie}^ besought the aid of Pome to regulate their internal affairs. It seems that the}^ had sunk into such an abyss of luxury and effeminacy, as to find the government of their state too irksome a task for their hands, and — unparalleled degradation ! — they committed it in part to their slaves. These soon usurped the supreme power, rode rough- shod over their masters, driving them into exile, or treating them as slaves, forbidding them to assemble even at the banquet, compelling them to draw up wills as they were commanded,

' Liv. IX. 32, M. FVLVIVS.Q. F.JI.X.FLACCVS.AN.CDXXCIX.

1 Liv. IX. 39. C0S.DE.VVLSIN3ENSIBVS.K.N0V.

- Liv. IX. -11 ; Diodorus (XX. p. 7S1) Aureliiis Victor (de Yiris Illust. XXXVII.) merely says that the Romans took a castle _<<App. Claudius Caudex, victis Vulsi- calied Oaprium, or as some readings have niensibus "-must refer to the same event ; it, Cffirium. ^ £qj, 'iQjir^i-.j^^ expressly asserts that the Vol-

Liv. A. 3(. sinienses on that occasion called in the

* Epitome of Liv. XI. Komans, as being already their allies—

- See the Fasti Consulares in the Capi- ^^^^ouSoi yap ?,aav avTwu ; which seems ''"^ most consistent with probability ; for it is

VNCANIVS.TI.F.TI.X.COS. AXN.CDLXXiii. ^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^^ ^f security Consequent on an

. . VLSINIEXSIIJVS. ET. VVLCIEMIB. K. FEBR. alliance with, or dependence on Koine, that

Pliny (N.H. XXXIV. 16) states that Me- can explain their sudden fall into such

trodorus Scepsius, a (ireek writer greatly depths of luxury. Therefore, the reduction

prejudiced against the Ilonians, had a.sscrted of this people to the lloman yoke must

that Volsinii was attacked for the sake of have been earlier ; and as there is no men-

two thousand stjitucs it contained. tion of any inten'ening contest, it is most

" The conquest which the Fasti Cousu- probable that the war of AH was that in lares record, in the year 489, must refer which they were finally subdued. to the subjugation of the revolted slaves —

BOLSENA.

[chap. XXXV.

uniting tlieniselves Ly nuirriago with the first families, and com- mitting other acts of unbridled license. The llomans sent an army to the assistance of the masters, and soon restored to them tlie dominion they had so pitifully renounced.'^

AVe hear little more of Volsinii in ancient times. It was the hirthplace of Sejanus, the favourite of Tiberius.^ Pliny —

Quel savio gentil che tutto seppe—

asserts that it was once consumed and utterl}' destroyed by a thunderbolt,'' and also that lightning was once drawn from heaven by certain sacred rites and prayers, to destroy a monster, called Yolta, which was ravaging the land.^ He further states that hand-mills were invented at Volsinii, and that some turned of their own accord ; ~ whence it would a2)pear probable that " that shrew'd and knavish sprite, called Robin Goodfellow," was of Etruscan origin — a fact w'orthy of the attention of all Etrusco- Celtic theorists.

That A^olsinii continued to exist under the Empire is evident from the mention made of it by ancient Avriters,"' as well as from remains discovered on the spot.

'' So the story is related hy Valerius !Maximus, IX. 1 ; Floriis, I. 21 ; Zonaras, Aun. YIII. 7 ; Orosius, IV. 5 ; A. Victor, in Decio Mure. This event was just before the first Punic war, and as Floras states that the Romans on this occasion were commanded by Q. Fabius Surges, it i^ro- bably occurred in 489, when he «'as consul. Zonaras says that Q. Fabius and .Umilius were consuls, liut tliis must be an error for Mamilius — L. Jlamilins Vitulus, wlio shared the considate with Gui'ges. It must be this event whicli is referred to in the Epi- tome of the XVI. book of Livy — res contra Pocnos et Vulsinios prospere gestas continet. Aurelius Victor erroneously states that the V'olsinian slaves were subdued bj' Decius Mils, for he, that is tlie third of his name, was slain in 475, in the Tarentine War (Cic. Tusc. Quiest. I. 37 ; De Fin. II. 19) ; and Victor seems to have confounded this suljjugation of the slaves with the war of conquest against Volsinii, fifteen years pre- vious. Cluver (II. p. 558) falls into a .similar error.

In all the above-cited accounts, tlie in- surgents at Volsinii are called slaves — nerri, oiKfrai — but Niebuhr pronounces thcni to have l)ecn not domestic .slaves, but

serfs — the governed class in the feudal system of Etruria. On this view, the mystery of tlie reported sudden fall into lu.>:ury vanishes ; for it was by the aid of the serfs that Volsinii had pre»'iously been enabled to maintain, almost single-handed, so long and obstinate a struggle with Rome, and "for the defenders of their common liome," as Niebuhr remarks, "to become citizens was a matter of course." The great historian of Rome considers the fact to amount to no niorc than tliat the serfs obtained, by force, jdiysical or moral, the franchise, seats in the senate, and the rights of intermarriage and inheritance ; and that all colouring superadded must be attributed to party hatred, or to the foolish exaggerations of Greek writers. Hist. Rome, I. p. 124; III. p. 546.

•■^ Tacit. Ann. IV. 1 ; VI. 8.

'■" Plin. II. 53 ; cf. Tertul. Apolog. XL. ; de Pallio, II.

' Plin. II. 54.

- Plin. XXXVI. 29.

'•> Tacit. loc. cit. Strabo (V. p. 22G) refers to it as one of the principal cities of Etruria in his day. Ptolemy, Greog. p. 72. ed. IJert. Plin. III. 8.

CHAP. xxx\-.] THE SITE OF YOLSINII. 23

To a practised eye it is evident at a glance that the Etruscan city did not occuijy the site of Bolsena. The low rock on which the mediaeval castle stands, is only large enough for a small fortress ; and if that were the acropolis, the city must have stood on the shore of the lake, and on the slope of the long-drawn hill, which rises behind it — a position of no natural strength, and such as belonged to no city of Etruria, save those of Pelasgic origin on the coast ; and which, moreover, is at variance with the situation of ^'olsinii, which was remarkable for its strength. In fact it is on record that on the conquest of that cit}' by the Romans, it was razed to the ground, and its inhabitants were compelled to settle on another and probably less defensible site ; ^ as was the case with Falerii. This then was the origin of Bolsena, which, as is confirmed by extant remains, occupies the site of Iloman, not of Etruscan, Yolsinii. The latter must be sought on more elevated ground.

Some have thought that Etruscan Volsinii occupied the site of Orvieto — Urbs Vetus — "the old cit}-," jx<;" excellence;^ others place it at Monte Fiascone,'' but there is no reason to believe it was eight or nine miles from its lioman representative. More pro- bably it stood in the neighbourhood of Bolsena ; in which case it must have occupied one of the clitf-girt heights to the south or east, which are full of sepulchral caves, or the crest of the hill which overhangs the ruined amphitheatre. Baron Bunsen has asserted that "on a rock of ditiicult access, on whose slopes lies Bolsena, considerable remains of the original citj- were to be seen ; " " but that description is vague enough to apply to any of the heights just mentioned. The uncertainty attaching to the site led me to revisit Bolsena in the summer of 1846, when I had the satisfaction of determining that tlie Etruscan city must have occupied the summit of the hill above the amphitheatre, the loftiest height on this side of the lake, Avhere the ground spreads out into a table-land, extensive enough to hold a city of first-rate imjjortance. The si)ot is commonly called II Piazzano, and is the property of the Count Corza Capusavia. If this be the site referred to by Bunsen, it has now no considerable remains to show, or they were lost to my sight in the corn and underwood ; but the soil, wherever visible, was strewn with broken pottery,

■» Zonaras, Annal. VIII. 7. ' IJulI. Inst. 1833, p. 06. He strenu-

* Miiller, Etrusk. I. p. 451 ; Orioli, ously coml)ats Muller's uotion of Volsinii

Nouv. Ann. Inst. 1836, p. 50. being at Orvieto. ^ Abeken, ]\Iittclitalien, p. 3-1.

24 BOLSENA. [chap. xxxv.

Avitliout any iulniixture of marbles or more iiret-ious materials, such as commonly mark the sites of lloman cities — thus bearing testimony to its early habitation. Towards the lake the ground breaks into cliffs, which, together with its great elevation, must have rendered the height difficult of access.^

The vestiges of the Etruscan greatness of A'olsinii are few, indeed. Her walls, so mighty and strong,^ are level with the dust; not a relic of her temjiles and palaces — not a limb, not a torso of the multitude of statues which once adorned the city — is now to be seen. Beyond the broken pottery, and a few caves in the cliffs below, now hardly to be recognised as tombs,^ nothing is left to indicate the existence of this once powerful and opulent city of Etruria, —

' ' High towers, f aire temples, goodly theaters. Strong walls, rich porches, princelie pallaces, Large streetes. brave houses, sacred sepulchres, Sure gates, sweete gardens, stately galleries. Wrought with faire pillours and fine imageries ; All those (0 pitie !) now are turn'd to dust, And overgrowue with black oblivion's rust."

In Eoman remains Bolsena is not deficient. Just without the Florence gate stand the ruins of a temple, vulgarly called Tempio di Xorzia, but on no other authority than tliat Nortia, the For- tune of Etruscan mythology, is known to have had a shrine at

^ Signer Domenico Golini, of Bagnarea, rising in the midst of an extensive cemetery between 1849 and 1856 made extensive of Etruscan tombs, all hollowed in the

excavations in the vicinity of Bolsena, in tufo, and rifled in ancient times. Bidl.

the search for the true site of Volsinii. Inst. 1857, pp. 131 — 140. Signer Golini

He, of course, recognised "II Piazzano " does not attempt to decide which of the

as the site of ancient liabitation, but he three plateaux was the true site of Volsinii

discovered two other cliff-bound plateaux and he gives us no information as to the

in the near neighbourhood, which, as size of the two called " Civita," but as he

ancient sites surrounded by extensive mentions each of these as an "acroiDolis,"

cemeteries, might dispute with this the and as II Piazzano is spacious enough to

honour of having held the celebrated contain a first-rate Etruscan city, the

Etruscan city. One was a densely wooded balance of probability is in favour of its

height called "Civita," about two and a being the true .site of Volsinii. half miles from Bolsena to the N.E., not ^ Zonar. Ann. VIII. 7 — rerxos oxvpci-

far from the lake, which almost washed raToy. Canina (Etr. Alarit. II., p. 141)

the slope beneath it. The height was states that the foundations are extant, and

composed of basalt, resting on tufo, and prove the walls to have been of squared

its summit was level, and had been blocks, and to have been fortified with fre-

separated by art from the contiguous quent quadrangular towers, lieights to render it more difficult of access. ' These sepulchres are not such as to

The other was a somewhat similar but tax the traveller's time or attention, bein"

vine-covered height six miles to the south, formless, defaced, and tenanted by ho"-s

and one mile and a half from the lake, or mendicants, A few are columharia. also bearing the name of "Civita," and

CHAr. XXXV.]

EOMAX e]-:mains at BOLSENA.

Yolsinii.- The temple of this goddess seems to have been of peculiar saiictit}', ft)r it was made the national calendar — a nail being driven into it ever}^ year, as into the temple of Jove on the Capitol of llome,^ That temple being Etruscan, most probably stood on the site of the ancient city. The ruins in question are undoubtedly Roman, being of ojnia incertum alternating in layers with brickwork. Ixoman also are the sepulchral tablets and cippi, arranged in front of the said gate, though among them may be recognised the Etruscan name.s of Ca^cina and Vibenna. And a bas-relief of a sacrifice seems also to belong to the lloman period.^

From the temple a road of basaltic pavement leads in a direct line u}) the hill. It probably ran from lloman A^olsinii to the ancient town on the site of Orvieto, and is still the path to the amphitlieatre, or as the natives term it, La Piazza del Mercatello, — a smtill structure in utter ruin and so palpably Herman that it is difficult to understand how it could ever have been taken for

- Liv. VII. 3 ; TertulL Ai.ologct. 24 ; ad Natioocs, II. 8. Juvenal (X. 74) imiilies the same, by .supposing Nursia, as lie calls tlii.s goddess, to favour Sejanu.s, who was liorn at Volsinii. She is also mentioned as the goddess of this city, in a Latin votive inscription, given by Fabretti (X. p. 742) — Nortia te venei'or lare cretus Volsiniensi ; who gives a second inscription — Magna; Dea; Nortite. cf. Gori, Mus. Etru.s. II. pp. 17, 303. Gerhard (Gottheiten der Etrusker) regards Nortia as nearly allied to Minerva.

■* Liv. loc. cit. Livy does not state it from his own knowledge, but on the asser- tion of one Cincius, a cautions authority for such monuments. This custom was, without doubt, introduced into Home fi'om Etruria, for it had existed from the time of the kings — a nail being annually driven into the wall of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus — and falling at length into disuse, was revived in the year of Home 391 (b.c. 363), for the sake of stay- ing a pestilence ; when, strange enough, a dictator was choseu simply for the sake of driving the nail. This was the case also on subsequent occasions. Liv. VIII. 18 ; IX. 28. The custom, Jis Livy confesses, .savoured of a semi-barbarous age— quia rara^ per ea tempora literie erant — yet was preserved, from some superstitious notion

of its efficacy, not merely as a curious relic of the olden time, as the Lord Mayor of London counts hobnails on tlie Exchequer- table on the day of his installation. The nail evidently had a symbolic meaning with the Etruscans, implying the fixed decree of fate ; for on a well-known mirror, found at Perugia, it is represented in the hand of the Etruscan winged Fate— " Athrpa," or Atropos — who is about to drive a nail with a hammer, to indicate the predetermined death of Meleager and of Adonis. Inghir. Mon. Etrus. II. tav. 02, p. 550. Vermi- glioli, Inscriz. Perug. I. p. 49. Gerhard, Etrusk. Spiegel, taf. 17(5. Muller (Etnisk. IV. 7, 6) shows that "Athrpa" is luit the Nortia of the Etruscans, with a Hellenised appellation. The same symbolical idea of the nail was adopted by the Romans ; and liavo trabcdl jixicm was a proverbial saying, signifying what was unalterably fixed by Fate or Fortune. Cic. in Veir. VI. 21 ; Petron. Satyr. 75. Horace's (Od. I. 35, 17) picture of Necessity, the companion of For- tune, bearing such nails in her hand, which he also terms adamantine (Od. III. 24), will recur to the reader.

■* It is illustrated by Adami (Storia di Volseno, p. 133), who calls it "the sacri- fice of the Arvales," and describes and delineates many other Roman remains existing in liis day— about a century since — in the nei'dibourhood of Bolsena.

26 BOLSENA. [chap. xxxv.

Etruscan. It occupies an elevated site about a mile from Bol- sena, and is surrounded by vine3'ards and cbestnut-groves. In fact Juvenal's picture of Volsinii, " jilaced among ^vooded bills," is as applicable as ever, for all tbe slopes bebind Bolsena are densely clotbed — olives below, and cliestnuts above, Anotber Roman road, running eastward, and i)robably leading to Balneum Regis, now Bagnarea, ma}' be traced on the beigbts above tbe Franciscan Convent, near tbe neAv road to Orvieto.''

Tbougli tbe vestiges of tbe city and of tbe ampbitbeatre ma}' not tem})t bim, let not tbe traveller neglect to ascend tliese beigbts, for tbe sake of tbe magnificent view tbey command. Tbe lake, broad and brigbt as an arcbangel's sbield — its islets, once ever cbanging place and form at tbe breatb of .Eolus or tbe cai^rice of popular tradition, but now two fixed spots of beauty on its fair surface — Yalentano glittering on tbe dusky beigbts oppo- site,—

" Like a rich jewel iu an Etliiop's ear " —

Marta nestling beneatb its bold beadland — tbe broad ccstiis of verdure girdling tbe lake, — all tbese and more distant features of beauty are seen over tbe slopes of olives and vines, of figs and cliestnuts, and over tbe caverned clifi's wbicb rise around tbe castled-crag of Bolsena.

Otber Roman remains bave been discovered at Bolsena ; ^ and in front of tbe cburcli of Santa Cristina are sundry column-sbafts of grey and red granite, and an oval marble sarcopbagus witb reliefs of tbe triumpb of Baccbus. Altars, cipj)}, votive and sepulcbral tablets bere and tliere meet tbe eye in tbe streets.

Tbougb so little is to be seen of tbe Etruscan age of A\)lsinii, at tbe call of tbe pickaxe and sbovel tbe eartb yields ber bidden treasures. Tbe site bad been long neglected by tbe excavator, wben Signor Golini of Bagnarea, considering tbat tbe neigbbour- bood bad not been explored to tbe extent wbicb a place so renowned for antiquity, wealtli, and luxury, demanded, resolved to devote bimself to tliis object. He commenced bis labours in 1849 and continued tbem for seven or eigbt seasons, exi)loring

" On this roarl, just above the convent, shows how much caution is necessary in

are some singular sections of earth, show- determining ancient sites from extant re-

ing Roman masonry and opus inccrtum, mains, wlien the ground, as in this case,

with a layer of broken pottery above it, is commanded l)y higher, contiguous land,

eight or ten feet below the present surface ; The surface may present no vestige of

the superincumbent earth having been former liuViitation. washed down from the hill above. This " Bull. Inst. lS:i7, p. ISS; 1S38, p. 6.

CHAP. XXXV.] EXCAVATIONS IX THE XEIGIIBOURIIOOD. 27

the wooded hills, north, south, and cast of Bolsena through a district six miles in length, and discovering numerous tombs, and several distinct cemeteries ; but without the success his perse- verance merited. The sepulchres, with rare exceptions, had been previousl}' ritled. On the slopes of the Piazzano, above Bolsena, he found two extensive cemeteries of Etruscan tombs sunk in the tufo rock, some of magnificent forms, but containing mere fragments of vases and bronzes, from which, however, he was able tt) infer the existence in early times of a people wealth}- and skilled in the tine arts. In a wooded hill called Lo Spedaletto, 1^ mile south of the Piazzano, he found a little necropolis of fortj-- tliree tombs, which yielded him a number of magnificent bronzes, together with articles of glass and jeweller}-, but no painted vases. Many of the bronzes bore the inscription " suthina," in Etruscan characters. In one of the tombs which had a vertical shaft sunk from the surface of the hill above, as at Civita Castellana and Falleri, he found the foot of a bronze statue of exquisite art, the only fragment extant of the 2000 statues for which Yolsinii was renowned of old. At two miles east from Bolsena, in a wooded spot called Cavone Bujo, he opened a tomb which contained an enormous sarcophagus of basalt, as well as an urn containing ashes, and numerous vases of bronze, with handles ornamented with human heads or figures, most of them bearing Etruscan inscriptions in which the word " sutjiina " occurs, sometimes alone, sometimes with other words. In the hills of Bucine, S. Antonio, Scopetone, and Turona, three miles to the north- east of Bolsena, he discovered a vast necropolis, but thoroughly ransacked in former times. He had no better success in another cemetery in the spot called (Irotte di Castro, six miles further south, where the tombs Avere most abundant and larger and grander than he had previously excavated, and appeared to belong to an ancient site, called Civita, which crowned a lofty hill rising in the midst."

But the most valuable discovery of Etruscan ri)h(i in the necro- polis of Volsinii was made in 1856, by Count Flavio Ravizza of Orvieto, on opening a tomb which had been indicated by Golini. It lay three miles to the north of Bolsena, in the district of S. Lorenzino, and not far from Barano. It proved to be a virgin tomb, the sepulchre of two Etruscan ladies of rank. Besides some beautiful mirrors and other articles in bronze, it contained

7 For details of these excavations see Bull. — 1 40 (Golini). The bronzes nientioneJ in Inst. 1857, pp. 33 — 3G (Brunn); pp. 131 the text are now iu the JIuseo Gregoriano.

28 BOLSEXA. [chap. xxxv.

two sets of jewellerv, two wrcatlis of olive uml lauixl leaves, one in gold, the other in drctntni ; two pairs of gold bracelets, one of the nsual serpent form, two rings, and two ^tibithc, and above all, two pairs of earrings, with winged ^'ictories as pendants, of ex- quisite and elaborate art, and among the most beautiful specimens of goldsmith's work that have ever been rescued from the tombs of Etruria.''

A chapter on Bolsena would not l)e complete without a word on its miracles. The Santa Cristina, to whom the church is dedicated, was a virgin-martyr, who was cast into the lake by "the bewildered Pagans of (dd time," and though she touched the bottom, as is proved by the prints of her feet on the rocks, which remain to this day to confound the inibeliever, she would not drown, but came safely to land. Her body was preserved in her church till some pilgrims committed a pious fraud and i?muggled it off to Palermo. But this is not the celebrated ■"Miracle of Bolsena," which lias made the name of this pett}' town known from Chili to Japan, wherever the Poman Pontiff has power or advocates, or the genius of Palfaelle worshippers. That event occurred in this same church of Santa Cristina, some six centuries since, when a priest, performing the mass, enter- tained doubts of the real presence — doubts not even expressed — when blood forthwith burst from the wafer, and left its stains on the altar and marble lioor, where they may be seen to this da}' — screened, however, from heretical scrutiny.

It remains to be said that the modern representative of this ancient greatness is a poverty-stricken picturesque town of some 1700 souls. Being on the old high road to Pome, and a post- station, it has an inn — the Aquila d'Oro — which trumpets its own l)raises, and promises the traveller " niost excellent entertain- ment." Lc parole sonfcmmhic, i fatti vuischl — "words are femi- nine, deeds masculine," saitli the proverb; or as the Spaniards

express it —

Del dicho al hecho Hay gran trecho, —

therefore put not your faitli in the Boniface of Bolsena.

■"^ Bull. IiLst. ISoS p. 11 (Golini) ; pp. possession. They have since imssed into 18-1—9 (Briinn). I saw these ornanieuts the hands of Signer Alessandro Oastellani, in 1862 at Orvieto, in Count Ravizza's and are now in the IJritisli Museum.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

MONTE FIXSCO^E— FA XUJf VOLTUMX^E? Temple and tower went down, nor left a site. — Byuux.

Quale per incertam liinam, sul) luce malignd, Est iter in silvis, ubi coehun condidit iimbrd Jupiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem. — Virgil.

It is a distance of nine miles from Bolsena to Monte Fiascone, and the road on the long ascent commands superb views of the lake and its richly-wooded shores. That the lake, notwithstand- ing its vast size, was once the crater of a volcano, seems proved by the character of the hills encircling it. In one spot, about a mile from Bolsena, there is strong evidence of this in a cliff of basaltic columns, irregular pentagons, hexagons, and heptagcnis, Jailed up horizontally. The quarries, for which these shores were of old renowned, liave recently been recognised in the neighbour- hood of Bagnarea, between that town and the Lake.^

Though the lake took its ancient name from Yolsinii, the prin- cipal city on its shores, yet, as the ager Tarquliiieiisis stretched up to its waters on the south, it was sometimes called the Tar- quiuian Lake.^ In all ages something of the marvellous seems to have attached to it. The blood-flowing wafer, and the foot- prints of the virgin-martyr, have already been mentioned. Its islands are described as floating groves, blown b}- the Avind, now into triangular, now into cii'cular forms, but never into squares.'^ Shall we ]iot rather refer this unsteady, changeful character to the eyes of the beholders, and conclude that the propagators of the miracle had been making too dee}) potations m the rich Avine of its shores ? Now, at least, the islands have lost their erratic and Protean propensities, and, though still capt with wood, have taken determinate and beautiful forms, no longer plastic beneath the breath of .1'a)1us.^ As early as the Second Punic War, this

' See Vol. I. p. IGl ; and p. 493. •'' Plin. loc. cit.

- Plin. II. •JCi, * The Isola Martana is said to retain

30 MOXTE riASCOXE. [cuap. xxxvx.

lake was the subject of a miracle — its waters were changed into blood '" — a portent of the pestilence that ensued. If miracles have ceased, malaria has not, but summerly visits the spot, and makes these beautiful and fertile shores, whicli might be a para- dise, a desolation and a curse. Man has well-nigh deserted them, and the fish and wild-fowl, whicli abounded here of old, have still imdisturbed possession of its waters.**

Monte Fiascone stands on the very summit of its hill, the loftiest gi'ound on the shores of the lake. It is a town of some importance, with a neat cathedral b}' San ]\lichele, on the plan of the Pantheon, but with no decent inn. Beyond the gloiious prospect it commands, and its wine, the far-famed, prelate-snaring, lu'elate-slaj'ing "Est, est, est,'^~ which, if it be not Latin for *' good," as the natives tell you, is understood to represent that quality in the vernacular, and the quaint mediaeval church of San Flaviano, on the descent to Viterbo, there is little of interest in Monte Fiascone.

The natural position of !Monte Fiascone is so strong, that it is difficult to believe the Etruscans could have neglected to avail themselves of it. It resembles that of Volterra, Fiesole, and some other cities in the northern part of the land, but has no counterpart in this southern district. Its Etruscan antiquity is indeed universalh' admitted ; yet there are no remains of that origin on the spot. The fortifications are wholly oi the middle ages ; but Latin inscriptions, found on the site, indicate an existence under the Romans, while tombs in the neighbourhood give evidence of yet higher antiquity.*^ Such of these sepidchres as

vestiges of antiquity. The other, called death, and for a harrel of the fatal wine to

Bisentino, must have received its name be poured upon his grave. The first part of

from the Vesentum or Vesentium of Pliuy's the bequest is religiously attended to, but

catalogue (HI. 8), the site of which town the people now dispense with tiie heathenish

lies on the western shore of the lake, tliree libation, and pour the wine, which Sancho

or four miles N.W. of Capo di Monte. Panza would have pronounced "very Ca-

Bull. Inst. 1864, p. 101. The island con- tholic," down their own throats instead, tains no remains of ancient times. Canina, ^ The disappearance of the Etruscan

Etr. Marit. II. p. 137. fortifications, if there were any, may be

' Liv. XXVII. 23. explained by the fact that they must have

•• Strabo, V. p. 22(5. Columella, de Re been of tufo, and therefore much more

Rust. VIII. 16. Strabo errs in saying that liable to destruction than tliose of the cities

the reeds and rashes of this lake were to the north, coni]iosed, as they are, of

borne I)y the Tiber to Rome, for the lake enormous masses of limestone or hard s;md-

has but one emissaiT, the JIarta, which stone. They would doubtless have been

falls into the sea below Coraeto. absorbed by the modern walls and houses,

7 The family of the Rev. John Fugger a process which has taken place to a greater

bequeathed a sum of money for masses to or less extent throughout the tufo district

be said for his soul on the anniversarj' of his of Etruria.

CHAP, xxxvr.] THE SITE ETRUSCAN, BUT NAME UNKNOWN. 31

are now open in the slopes below the town have lost their distinc- tive character from serving as ahodes to the labonringpopnlation, who are content to dwell in caves and holes in the rock, in the most abject squalor and wretchedness. Of them mny it verily be said, " They remain among the graves, and lodge in the monu- ments ; and tlie broth of abominable things is in their vessels." But tombs of undoubted P^truscan origin are found not only on the lower slopes, but also in the plain at the base of the hill to tlie south of the Lake. Extensive excavations were made in the spring of 1876, which yielded no vases of value or interest, but an abundance of bronz;es, some of considerable beauty, besides a few articles in the more precious metals. This is a new and promising field for excavating enterprise.

The original name of this site has been sought in its modern appellation, which has been variously converted into Mons Phiscon — Mons Falconis — Mons Faliscorum, or the site of Falorii ; though it seems clearl}' to be derived from the wine for which the Mount has for ages been celebrated — Fiascone signifying " a large flask." By one it has been regarded as the site of the Etruscan Yolsinii ; ^ by another of Trossulum,^ a town which was taken by some Roman knights without the aid of foot-soldiers, and which is said to have lain nine miles on this side of Volsinii." 'J'rossu- lum, however, is more likely to have stood in the ])lain, at a spot called Vado di Trosso, or Vado Trossano, two miles from IMonte Fiascone towards Ferento, which was recognised some ages since,"'^ though at the present day both site and name are utterly un- known."'' ]\Ionte Fiascone is hardl}^ the sort of place to be taken at a gallop.

' Abckcn, Mittelitalien, p. 34. cannot Le the case, because Troilium was

* C'luvci-, Ital. Antiq. II. 1). .'jG2. Canina, not taken by a sinldcn assault, but licforc

Etruria JIaiit. II. p. 130. it was attacked, 470 of its inhabitants,

2 Plin. XXXIII. 9. Fcstus ap. Paul. men of great wealth, purchased iinniunity

Diac. V. Trossuli. Schol. in Pers. Sat. I. of Carvilius the Consul, and were allowed

82. This exploit long conferred on the to leave the town. And after the cajituro,

Uoinan cquitca the name of Trossuli, it the same Roman foi'cc took five castles, all

is not so singular a feat as was iicrfonned in strong natural positions,

by a body of French cavalry in 17i);'5, when •* Mariani, dc Etruria IMetrop. p. 4() ;

they captured sonic Dutch ships of war, and before him, Holsten. Annot. ad Chiver,

stuck fast in the ice. Trossulus from being p. C7, and Albcrti, Dcscrit. d' Italia,

nn honourable appellation became one of p. (W.

reproach, equivalent to a luxurious, cffe- ■• I have on several occasions made in-

minate fellow. Seneca, Ei)ist. 87, 8. Livy qniries at Monte Fiascone, Viterbo, and

(X. 46) mentions a town of Etruria, called IJoIsena, and have never been ab'e to leara

Troilium, taken by the Romans in the year that my spot in this neighbourhood now

461 (B.C. 2St3), which Cluvcr (loc. cit.) bears the name of Trosso. In the time of

thinks identical with Trossulum. This Holstenius and Mariani it was probab'.y

32 MOXTE FIASCONE. [chap, xxxvi.

There tire two places spoken of by ancient writers, either of Avhich is more likely than any of those yet mentioned to have occupied this site. One is GMiarea, a city of Etruria, which sub- mitted to be governed by its manumitted slaves, and is described as " extraordinarily strong, for in the midst of it was a hill rising tliirty furlongs in height, and having at its base a forest of all sorts of trees, and abundance of water."' Though the usurpation of the slaves evidently refers to the events at Yolsinii, already re- corded, it is possible that the writer erred chiefly in assigniug them to another site in A'olsinian territory, the situation of which, even to the ascent of the hill, foin* miles in length, accords closel}' with that of Monte Fiascone.'' The name, which given by a foreigner, may be merely an epithet descriptive of the place — Winy or Yiny — ma}' be cited in corroboration of this view. Indeed it is nenrly equivalent to the actual appellation — Fiascone. The light volcanic soil of these slopes must have been in all ages well adapted to the cultivation of the vine ; which still flourishes on many sites in Ital}^ where Bacchus was of old most renowned.

But I think it quite as probable that this was the site of the Fanum "N'oltumnte, the shrine at which " the princes of Etruria " were wont to meet in council on the general affairs of the Con- federation." A\'e have no record or intimation of the precise locality of this celebrated shrine, but we know it must have been north of the Giminian, for after the conquest by the Iiomans of the whole of the Etruscan plain to the south, we find it still mentioned as the grand seat of council.^ Then Avhere so likelj'

a mere " Inor/licttaccio," and now is so reganls tlie bill rising in the midst of the

utterly desolate that its very name has city ; the fact resolves itself into this, that

jjerished. the city stood on a hill, not thirty furlongs

^ De Mirab. Aiisciilt. cap. 96, commonly in perpendicular height, but the ascent to

ascribed to Aristotle, and printed -with his which was of such a length, works, but written by an unknown Txreek '' Liv. IV. 23, 25, 61 ; V. 17 ; VI. 2.

about the 130 Olympiad (260 B.C.). He *' Liv. VI. 2. It is elsewhere strongly

is quoted by Stephanas of Byzantium, who intimated by Livy (V 17) that the Fanum

calls the town Oiva {xuh race). Niebuir Voltumn;e was in this district of Etruria,

(I. p. 124, n. 382) considers this un- for when Capeua and F.derii sought assi.st-

doubtedly to mean Viilsinii, and that ance in behalf of Veil from the confederate

Oluapea was a distortion of the name, com- princes of the land there sitting in council,

mitted by the author or transcribers. So they received for reply that no succour

also Ai-nold (Ili.story of Rome, II. p. 530) ; could be afforded — that it was vain to look

and Miillcr (Etrusk. If. 2, 10), who amends for it, " especially in that part of Etruria,"

(Enarea into Olsanea, remarking that Pro- on account of the unexpected invasion of

pertius (IV. eleg. 2, 4) has " Volsanus," the Gauls ; wlio must then have been be-

and that Volci was called by the Greeks sieging Clusium, which lies in the valley

"O^Kiov. of the Clanis, tlie natural entrance to the

'' It is scarcely necessary to obseiTc that gi'eat Etruscan plain from the north Some-

the text must not be taken literally as thing may perhaps be deduced from the

CHAP. XXXVI.] mOBA-BLY THE FANUiM V0LTUMX7E.

3;J

as in the great plain of Etruria, which was originally in the very centre of the land, and contained the metropolis of the Confedera- tion— Tarqninii — the spot hallowed as the source of the civil and religious polity of the Etruscans ?^ That the shrine stood on an eminence we may conclude from analogy. The temple of Jupiter Latialis, the common shrine of the Latin cities, as this was of the Etruscan, stood on the summit of the Alban Mount.^ We also know that the Etruscans were wont to " make high places " to their gods^ — a custom they had in connnon with the Greeks

fact tliat tlie statvie of Vortunimi.s, an Etruscan deity nearly allied to Voltumna, ■which was set \ip in the Tuscus Yicus at Home, was captured from this part of Etruria, as rropcrtius (IV. eleg. 2) states —

Tuscus CLjo, ct Tuscis orior ; nee pccnitet inter Pra-lia Volsanos deseruisse tocos.

Vertumnus seems to have heen an Etrus- can IJacchus, a god of wine and fruits. He is called Vortumnus liy Yarro (L. L. V. 8 ; VI. 3) ; and prolialily also Volturnus, by Festus (ap. Paul. Diac. v. Volturnalia), as well as by Varro (L. L. VII. 45) ; though neither recognises the relation in this case. See Miiller's views on Vertumnus (Etrusk. III. 3, 3). Voltumna was probably his wife, equivalent, thinks Gerhard (Grottheitcn der Etruskcr, p. 8), to Pomona. Voltumna or Volturna was also an Etruscan family- name, found in sepulchral inscriptions at Coineto, Perugia, and also at Sovana. In its Etruscan form it was Velthurna.

•' Antiquaries have \iniversally agreed in placing it in this region, though differing as to its precise locality. The general opinion, from the time of Annio, has favo\ired Viterbo, from the existence of a church tliere called S. Maria in Volturna. IVIulIer (Etrusk. II. I, 4) inclines to jilacc it near the Vadimonian Lake. Caniua (Etr. Mar. II., p. 131) places it at Valentano, on the west of the Lake of Bolsena (see Vol. I. p. 494). Lanzi (Saggio II. p. 108) thinks it must have occupied a central situation, like the similar shrines of Delphi and of the Alban Mount. The site of the latter is siiid by Dionysius (IV. p. 250) to have been chosen for its central advantages. The traces of the name preserved at Viterbo, even were it ascertained that the said church occupies tlie site of a temple to Voltumna, do not prove this to be the celebrated Fanuni, It VOL. ir.

is not to be supposed that the goddess had only one shrine, any more than tiiat Apollo was worshipped oidy at Delphi, Diana at p]phesus, or Juno at Argos. It was merely the Fanum of Voltumna par excellence, just as St. Peter has his chosen temple at the Vatican, St. .lames at Compostela, and the Virgin at Loreto.

^ Dion. Hal. loc. cit. The shrine of Apollo was on the summit of Soracte ; and that of Feronia, common to the Sabines, Latins, and Etruscans, has been shown to have occupied in all probability the elevated shoulder of the same mountain (see Chapter X. p. 129).

- The temple of ,Tuno was on the Acro- polis of Veii (Liv. V. 21 ; Plut. v. Camill. 5), and at Falerii it stood on the summit of a steep and lofty height. Ovid. Amor. III. eleg. 13, 6. The Ara Mutiie, another Etruscan shrine, mo.st probably occupied the summit of Monte Musino. See Chapter IV. p. 57. It was an Etruscan custom to raise in every city a triple temple to the three great divinities, Jove, Juno, and Minerva (Serv. ad Virg. lEu. I. 422), and from the analogy of the Romans, who borrowing the custom from the Etruscans, raised the same triple shrine on the Capitol, we may conclude it was upon the Acropolis or highest part of the city. On the Roman Capitol, indeed, were images of all the gods. Serv. ad SaW. II. 319. It seems to have been a very ancient and general Italian custom to raise temijles on the Arces of cities. Thus, Orvinium in Sabina, a town of the Aborigines, had a very ancient shrine of ]\Iinerva on its Acropolis. Dion. Hah L p. 12. Virgil (.T,n. IIL 531) de- scribes a temple to the same goddess on such a site on the Calalirian coa.st — tem- ]ilunique apparet in arce Minervoe. Tlie word Arx seems sometimes to be used as e(piivalent to temple, a.s in Liv. I. 18.

34 MONTE FIASCONE. [chap, xxxvi.

and oriental nations,'' and one conformable to the natural feelings of humanity; just as kneeling or prostration are by all men, save Quakers, acknowledged to be the natural attitudes of adoration and humility. Analogy leads us to the conclusion that the Fanum Voltumnie, the shrine of the great goddess of the Etrus- cans, whither the sacerdotal rulers of the land 'vvere -wont to resort in times of ditiiculty and danger, for the sake of propitiating the goddess, or of consulting the will of heaven by augury, must have stood on an eminence rather than on the low site which has generally been assigned to it. And if on a height, and in the great Etruscan plain, where so probabh' as on the crest of Monte Fiascone, which rises in the centre of the expanse, and from its remotest corner still meets the eye — a city on a hill which cannot be hid "? To j^^'oi'C the tact we have not sufhcient data ; but it is strongly fovoured by probability.

It is not to be supposed that the temple stood wholly apart from habitations. The priests must have dwelt on the spot, and accommodation must have been found for '" the prmces of Etruria " and their retinues, as Avell as for those who flocked thither to attend the solemn festivals and games,'* and for the traders who availed themselves of such opportunities to dispose of their wares ; '' so that, as in the case of Feronia, there must have been a permanent population on the spot, attracted by the

^ In Greece, temples to the gi-eat gods So in the East, Jnjiiter (Horn. II. XXII.

were generally on the Acropolis — as that 170) and Cybele (Virg. ^n. IX. 86) had

of Minen-a at Athens, and at Jlegai-a (Pan- shrines on Jlonnt Ida. The ancient Per-

san. I. 42, 4) — of Jove and ^Minerva at siaus also, though they raised no statues or

Argos (Pans. II. 24, 3) — of several deities altai-s to the gods, sacrificed to them on

at Corinth |Paus. II. 4, 6, 7) — and of elevated sites. Strabo, XV. p. 732. The

Apollo at Delphi (Pans. X. 8, 9). Besides examples of other oriental nations that

which, the most important shrines were might lie taken from Sacred Writ are too

generally on eminences — as the temple of numerous to quote, and will occur to the

Panhellenic Jove in the island of JEgina memory of the reader. (Pans. II. 30, 3) — as the HeriBum at * That sucli festivals were held at these

Argos (Pans. II. 17, 2), rediscovered of national conventions, we learn from Li v.

late years by Greneral Gordon (Mure's V. 1. Similar solemnities were celebrated

Greece, II. p. 177, et seq.) — and as the at the temple of Jupiter Latialis on the

celebrated temple of Venus on the summit AUian Mount. Dion. Hal. IV. p. 250. of Moimt Erj-.\, in Sicily. Polyb. I. 55 ; ^ This might lie presumed from the

Tacit. Ann. IV. 43. The .shrines of Apollo analogy of the Lucus Feroni;e, where large

were usually on mountain-tops. Horn. fairs were held at these religious gatherings

Hymn. Apol. 144. Lofty [daces were dedi- (Dion. Hal. III. p. 173 ; Liv. I. 30) ; but

cated to Saturn ; whence Olympus was called it is also .strongly implied by Livy (VI. 2)

the Saturnian height. Lycoph. Cass. 42. when he says that merchants brought to

Mountains, says Lucian (de Sacrif. p. 185, Home tlie news of the Etrn.scan council at ■

cd I3ourd.), are dedicated to the gods by the Fanum Voltumn;e. Fairs were held

the universal consent of mankind. Similar at the similar annual meetings of the *Eto-

instauces might be multiplied extensively. liau League at Thermum. Polyb. V. 1.

CHAP. XXXVI.] SFECULATIOXS ON THE TEMPLE. So

temple und the wants of llio worsliippers. This wouhl ex))hiiu tlie tombs found on the slopes of the hill.

"Well may this heiglit have been chosen as the site of the national temple ! It commands a maf:^nificent and truly Etruscan panorama. The lake shines beneath in all its breadth and beauty — truly meriting the title of " the great lake of Italy " ^ — and though the towers and jialaces of Volsinii have long ceased to sparkle on its bosom, it still mirrors the white cliffs of its twin islets, and the distant snow-peaks of Amiata and Cetona. In every other direction is one " intermingled pomp of vale and hill." In the east rise the dark mountains of Umbria; and the long line of mist at their foot marks the course of " the Etruscan stream " —

" the noble river That rolls by the towers of Rome."'

The giant Apennines of Sabina loom afar off, dim through the haz}' noon ; and the nearer Ciminian, dark with its once dread forests, stretches its triple-crested mass across the southern horizon. Fertile and populous was the country-, numerous and liotent the cities, that lay beneath the confederate princes as they sat here in council ; and many an eye in the wide plain would turn hitherward as to the ark of national safety. The warriors gathering at the sacred lake in defence of their children's homes and fathers' sepulchres, would look to the great goddess for succour — the augur on the distant arx of Tarquinii or Cosa, would turn to her shrine for a propitious omen — the husbandman would lift his eye from the furrt)W, and invoke her blessing on his labours — and the mariner on the bosom of the far-off' Tyrrhene would catch the white gleam of her temple, and breathe a prayer for safety and success.

•"' riiu. X. 11. II. 96. It is saii_l to be more th;in twentv-four miles in circumference.

D 2

CHAPTER XXXVII.

OE^^ETO.

Poco portai in la volta la testa,

Che mi paire veder molte alte torri, Ond' io : Jlaestro, di', die terra c questa ? — Dante.

La cith, de Orvieto e alta e strana.

Questa da' Roumn vechi el nome prcse Che andavan li, perche laer era sana.

FaCCIO TtEGLI UbERTI.

The last Etruscan site in tlie great central plain that I have to describe is Orvieto, which lies on the extreme verge of the plain to the north-east, and is easily reached from Florence or Eome, as it lies on the direct railway between those capitals. It Avas not always so accessible. When I first laiew it, the nearest points to it were Bolsena, nine miles distant, and Monte Fiascone, nearly eighteen ; both I'oads being carriageable. On one occasion, in default of a better mode of conveyance, I was fain to make the journey on an ass, with another for mj' luggage. This mode of transit is pleasant enough in a fine countr}- and fair weather ; and in Italy one sacrifices no dignity by such a montan'. But when nehulce vialusque Jiqnter rule the heavens, or the road is to be travelled witli all speed — preserve me from the pack-saddle ! I cannot then exclaim — dcUciiun est as'inus .' — be he as excellent as any of sacred or profane renown, from the days of Balaam to those of Apuleius or Joan of Arc, or even as Dapple of immortal memory. Asses, like men, are creatures of habit. Ofinnno al sua modo, ed il sommaro aW (intico — " Every one to his own way, and the ass to the old way," sa^'S one proverb, — Trotto d'asino non dura troppo — " An ass's trot never lasts too long," says another — both of which I verified to my cost on this journe}' ; for though the rain burst from the sky in torrents, my beasts were not to be coaxed out of their wonted deliberate pace, consistent with the transport of charcoal, flour, and fire- wood, by any arguments ad liunhos I could ofier; and I had no

CIVITA VI UAGXA'.tEA

CHAP. XXXVII.] CIMTA DI 13AGXAREA. 39

alternative but to follow their example, and take it coolly fur the rest of the journe}'.

Between Monte Fiascone and Orvieto, hut <'onsidera])ly to the right of the road, lies Bagnarea, on a cliii-bound liill, about eight miles from the former town. Not a mile beyond is anotber still loftier and isolated height, called " Civita " — a name which in Italy is a sure clue to the existence of habitation in ancient times. This, not only from its position, shown in the woodcut at page 37, but from tlie luimerous tombs in the rocks aroiuid, and the ex- cavations made in the neighbourhood, has been recognised as an Etruscan site, though its ancient name is quite unknown.^ Its modern ai)pellation is a corruption of Balneum liegis, the name it bore in the middle ages, i)robably so-called from the Bioman baths, whose remains are said still to exist in the valley to the north. Though the hill is so steep and strong by nature, the rock of wliieh it is composed is extremely friable, and is con- tinually' cruml)ling away, especiall}' after heavy rains, so that tlie inliabitants have now almost deserted this site for the modern town of the same name."

The first view of Orvieto from this side is among the most im- posing in Ital}'. The road, which is nearly level and utterly barren for the greater part of the way, leads unexpectedly to the verge of a clili', where a scene magnificent enough to compensate for any discomfort, bursts upon the view. From the midst of the wide and deep valley at my feet, rose, about two miles distant, an isolated height, like a truncated cone, crowned with the towers of Orvieto. The sk}- was overcast, the atmosphere dense and mist}', and the brilliant hues of sunshine were wanting ; 3'et the grand features of the scene were visible as in an engraving. There were the picturesque convent-towers embosomed in groves on the slopes in the foreground — the luxuriant cultivation of the valley beneath— the Paglia snaking through it, spanned by its bridges — there was the wide stretch of the cit}', bristling from its broad cliff-bound rock, in the centre of the scene — the background of Apennines, which looming through vapour and cloud, lost nothing of altitude or sublimit}- — and the whole was set in a

' Dempster (II. p. 413) says tluit some times for tlic "intinite virtues" of their

liave taken Jiagnarea for tlie Novempagi of procliiee, especially for sculpture ami arclii-

riiiiy (III. 8). But tlii.s is mere conjecture. tcctural decorations, are said to have been

We have no clue to the Etruscan name of discovered of late years in the ncighljour-

tliis site. hood of liagnarea, between that town and

- The quarries, called by Vitruvius (II. the Lake of Jiolsena. Canina, Etruriii

7) "Anitiana'," which wei'e famed in Konian Marittima. II. p. 4(1.

40 OEVIETO. [CHAP. XXXVII.

fraiue-W(n-k of tall precipices, hung with woods, and with many a cataract strndving their steeps —

'• A pillar of white liglit upon the wall Of purple cliifs. aloof descried."

But why attempt to describe what Turner has made so familiar?

The rock on which Orvieto stands is of red tufo, scarped natm-ally beneath the walls, and then sinkin^j; in a steep slope into the valley on every side. This is the extreme verge of the tufo district, and the nature of the ground resembles that of the northern division of Etruria. The site in its perfect isolation differs from that of all the towns in the volcanic district, Horta and Sovana excepted, but resembles that of llusellre, Saturnia, or Cosa ; and the traveller who approaches it from the north, will hail the rock of Orvieto as just the site for an Etruscan city.

The antiquity of Orvieto is implied in its name, a corruption of Urbs Yetus. But to its original appellation we have as yet no clue. The general opinion of antiquaries has marked it as the site of Herbanum.^ Muller broaches the opinion that this l^rbs Vetus was no other than the " old city " of A'olsinii, which was des- troyed by the llomans on its capture.^ ]>ut the distance of eight or nine miles from the new town, Bolsena, is too great to favour this view. Niebuhr^ suggests, with more probability, that it may be the site of Salpinum, which in the year 3G2 (n.c. 392) assisted Yolsinii in her war with Bome.'^

Unlike most Etruscan sites, ( )rvieto does not retain a vestige of its ancient walls. It has even been asserted, on authority, that the city was not originally fortified. It is now however girt by walls of the middle ages, and has a fortress to boot.^

^ A town mentioned by Pliny (III. 8) iu more remote than YoLsinii feems evident

hi.s catalogue of colonies in Etruria. The from the fact that the llomans in this

similarity of the first syllable can alone campaign encountered first the forces of the

have suggested an identity with Or\-ieto. latter city. Tliat Salpinum was of con-

Cluver (II. p. 553) held this notion. siderable power and imi)ortance is shown

Dempster (II. p. 409) ridiculed it. by its association with Yolsinii, one of tlie

•• Etrusk. I. p. 451. Orioli (Nouv. Ann. Twelve. Niebuhr does not tlnnk it im-

Instit. 183(), p. 50) holds the same opinion ; probable that Salpinum itself was one of

whicli is refuted l)y Bunsen, IJull. In.stit. the sovereign states of Etruria (loc. cit, ;

1833, p. H<). Beecke, however, in his new cf. I. p. V20). And tliat it was .strongly

edition of ]\Uiller (I. 1, 5, n. 56), holds fortified by nature or by art would appear

with his author, that Orvieto is the ancient from the security its citizens felt within

Yolsinii. their walls — nuvnibus armati se tutabantur

^ Nieb. Hist. Rome, II. p. 493. This — and from the fact that the llomans,

opinion was also held by some of the early tliougli they ravaged its territory, did not

Italian antiquaries. venture to attack tlie city.

•" Liv. V. ''>1, 32. That Salpinum was ' It seems never to have been doubted

CHAP. XXXVII.] AVIIAT WAS ITS ANCIENT NAME?

41

Orvieto seems in all ages to have been recognised as an ancient site,*^ but that it was Etruscan lias been proved only within this century by the discovery of tombs in the immediate neighbour- hood ; some opened nearly fifty years since, but the greater part within the last few years.'^ For forty years or more excavations were suspended, but they have recently been resumed at Orvieto, and with great success.

that it is Orvieto which is spoken of by rrocoi)ius (lie IJell. (lotii. II. 20) in the si.xth century after Clirist, inuler tlie name of Urliiventns — OupPi^fUTSs — an a]>i)areiit corruption of Urbs Yetu.s — as being be- sieged, and captured from the (ioths, by Belisarius. Yet the picture he dra'vws of the phice is so far from accurate as to render it certain, eitlier that lie wrote from in- correct information, or that he did not refer to Orvieto. He says: — "A certain height rises alone from the hollow, smooth and level aliove, precipitous below. This heiglit is surrounded by rocks of ei|^ual altitude, not quite close, Imt about a stone's throw distant. On this height the ancients built the city, not girdling it with walls or any other defences, for the place seemed to them to be naturally impregnable. For there hajjpens to ]>e but one entrance to it from the (neighbouring) heights, which approach lieing guarded, the inhabitanls thereof feared no hostile attack from any other quarter. For save in the spot where nature formed the approach to the city, as has been stated, a river ever great and im- passable lies between the height of the city and the rocks just mentioned." Cluver (II. p. 553) and Mannert (Geog. p. -lotj) pronounce this to l)e a most accurate de- scription of Orvieto. It is evident that neither had visited the spot. It would be impossible to give a truer description — except as regards the size of the river — of Nepi, Civita Ca.stellana, Pitigliano, and many other P^truswin sites in the TolcaiKc district; but it is not at all characteristic ol Orvieto, whose complete isolation, caused by the absence of the usual istlimus, is its dis- tinctive feature, and from which the nearest of the .surrounding heights can hardly be le.ss than a mile distant. The description seems to lie written by one familiar with the spot ; and this contirms me in the opi- nion that it is not Orvieto to which it refers. The fact stated by Trocopius that the

founders of Urbiventus raised no fortifica- tions, being satisfied with the natural jiro- tection of the steep cliffs on whicli it stood — -

ExcelsR^ rupi imi)0situm sine mwuibus nil is —

is jjarticularly worthy of notice. For, if true, it will exjdain the alisence of all vestiges of ancient walling around certain Etruscan sites — Sorano, for instance, and Nejji, where the narrow isthmus alone seems to liave been fortified ; and also opens room fur speculation on the extent of the ancient walls on Etruscan sites in general. Yet we find remains of ancient fortifiaitions on heights utterly inaccessible, as at Civita Castellana, and must conclude that in such instances at least, the cities, however strong by nature, were comjiletely girt with walls.

** Monaldo Monaldeschi of Cervara, wlio in 158i wrote Historical Commentaries on Orvieto, states that "on the rock of the city therearequarriesof sand ai\d2MZzolaiui, and likewise subterranean roads hewn in the rock in ancient times, which lead from one jiart of the city to another. Caves also, ninning under ground, where wine is jjre- seiwed most fresh" (lib. II. p. 15). By these roads lie evidently means the rock- hewn sewers, common on Etruscan sites in the volcanic district. The caves were probably tombs in the slopes beneath the walls. For he elsewhere (lib. I. p. 3) states that "many sepulchres are found con- tinually, of i)agans and Greeks (i.e. Etrus- cans), with vases of black earth fashioned in sundry ways, and with divere figures, and other beautiful things, whereof many are to be seen in the Archivio of the city."

'•' For notices of the excavations made on this site at the former period, see IJull. Instit. 18-29, p. 11 ; 1830, p. 244 ; 1831, pp. 33-37 ; 1832, p. 21(i ; 1833, p. 93 ft xi'j. — Buusen ; Ann. Instit. 1834, j). 83. — IJunsen.

42 OEYIETO. [chap, xxxvii.

In 1871, at the foot of the cliU's beneath the city to the north, at a spot called '" Crocitisso del Tufo," a most interesting necropolis was brought to light, unlike any other hitherto found in Etruria. The tombs here disinterred nre not hollowed in the rocks, as in most sites in the southern districts of the land, but the}' are constructed of massive masonry, and arranged side by side, and back to back, exactly like houses in a town, forming blocks of tombs, instead of residences, each tomb having its doorway closed by a slab of stone, and the name of its occupant graven in large Etruscan characters on its lintel. These blocks of tombs are separated by streets crossing each other at right angles, so that we have here a veritable " cit}' of the dead." The inisonry is of the local red tufo, in large rectangular masses, generally isodomon, and always without cement. Enter an}' of the tombs and you see at a glance that they are of high antiquity. They are about 11 or 12 feet deep, 6 or 7 wide, and 9 feet high; constructed of very neat masonry ; for the three lowest courses the walls are upright, but above that the courses project on either side, and gradually converge till they meet in the centre in a flat course, forming a primitive sort of vault, exactl}' like that in the Kegulini-Galassi tomb at Cervetri, save that the faces <tf the blocks within the tomb are not hewn to a curve, so as to resemble a Gothic arch, as in that celebrated sepulchre, but the angles of the projecting blocks are simply bevelled ofl'. These tombs evidently date from before the invention of the arch in Etruria, and therefore, in all probabilit}', are earlier than the foundation of Iiome. Some of them are quite empty ; others retain a rude bench formed of slabs on which the corpse was laid. Though the block of sepulchres is a})parently one mass of masonry, each tomb is reall}- of distinct construction, and can be removed without disturbing its neighbours. Each terminates above in a high wall of slabs, which fences it in like a parapet, and keeps it distinct, inclosing the roof as in a pit. Across this inclosure stretches the masonry which roofs in the tomb, in a double flight of stone steps meeting in the middle in the narrow ridge which tops the whole. On this ridge or by its side, stood a stela or cippm of stone, shaped in general like a pine-cone or a cui)ola ; some of them bore inscriptions, and it was observed that when this was the case, the epitaph over the doorway was jdways wanting.^ llie woodcut opposite, taken from a pliotograph, gives a general view of this necropolis.

^ TLcKc c'}iiii are very ninnerous, and of various forms — not a few phallic.

CHAP. XXXVII.] MANCINI'S EXCAVATIOXS. io

The doors of the tombs are tall, narrow and witliout arolii- tectural decoration, not having even the Egyptian or Doric form so common in other Etruscan cemeteries. The insciiptions are very peculiar, not so much in the form of the characters — although there are points in which they differ from those found on better known Etruscan sites — as in the epitaphs themselves, which are written without the usual divisions into words, contain few proper names that are familiar to the student of the Etruscan language, and fail to set forth in the usual manner the family relations and connexions, with the sex and age, of the deceased. They have all, moreover, the peculiarity of commencing with the word "Mi."-

I am not aware tliat these inscriptions have been published, and I will therefore give some of them in Iloman letters. — In the street shown in the woodcut there are four epitaphs, vi/ : —

MIMAMARKESTEETHELIES3

MILAUCHUSIESLATIXIES

MIMAMARKESTRIASXAS

MILARTHIASRUPIXAS

In tlie street parallel to this, behind the tombs in the fore- ground of the Avoodcut, twelve sepulchres have been disinterred, seven on one hand, and five on the oilier. The following are the inscriptions that are legible : —

MIARATHIAAR THENAS

MILARIKESTELATHURASSUTIII^

MIVELELIASA RMINAIA

MILARISATLA SINAS

MIAVILESSASUXAS

311 M AM ARKESI /AVIATE

M I T II U KER//7/S AR////ES

MILARTHIAIAMAXAS

2 Miiller (I. p. 451) takes the initial ^ Mamarkes must lie Maincvciis, the

"Mi "in such sepulchral inscriptions as name of a very ancient Konian family of

these, to be the first person of the verb the Gens ^'Emilia, which claimed its origin

substantive, equivalent to el/xi, and points from Mamcrcus, tlie son of Numa. The

cut that it always precedes a proper name, name is Oscan, and derived from ^Mamers,

which appears from its termination in the Oscan, or, as Yarro calls it, the Sabine,

"s," to be in the genitive. Hj considers appellation of ^lars. Cf. Deeckc's Miiller,

all these inscriptions commencing with I. \t. 4f!7.

"Mi," to be Tyrrhene, and not Eti-uscan. ^ Lakikes must be equivalent to the

46 ORVIETO. [cHAr. xxxvii.

A little to the east of the tombs shown in the woodcut, or to the left of the spectator, is a deep pit, containing two sepulchres, facing each other at a great depth below the surface. They bear these inscriptions on their lintels :

MILARTHIAlirLCHEXASVELTHURUSKLES

MILARTHIASTRAMENAS

The above will sufiice to show that these are very unlike the Etruscan sepulchral inscriptions of Corneto, Chiusi, Perugia, or Yolterra.

The contents of these tombs confirm the antiquity suggested by their style of construction. A few though not important specimens of httcchero — the early black ware with reliefs — were found here, together Avith some painted vases of very archaic style ; some articles in bronze, but no mirrors, or anything that marked an advanced period of art ; a si:>ear-head with its sauroter or but-end, both of iron ; and a few ornaments in gold, of which a large circular brooch was the most remarkable. In these house- like tombs the dead were almost invariabl}' buried; traces of cremation being extremely rare. So far as I could leai'n, nothing has been found in these sepulchres of so late a date as 500 15.C.

Signor Pdccardo INIancini, the happy man who owns these tombs, and who carries on excavations here throughout the winter, informs me that he has found sepulchres of other descrii^- tions in the neighbourhood — some constructed of slabs, in two small chambers, whicli must be of later date than the house- tombs, and these always contain the most beautiful painted vases. He has discovered no figured mirrors, though such articles are occasionally brought to light in tliis necropolis. Most of the vases are of the second, or Archaic Greek, style, and very large and fine they often are, although rarely found in an unbroken state. The dnipliora is the most common form.

Most of the i)roduce of ]Mancini's pickaxe is now stored in the Palace of the Conte dellaFaina, facing the Duomo — a gentleman Avhose patriotism and good taste have urged him at a great expense to make a collection of tlie anti(|uities discovered in the vicinity of his native t(jwn, and whose courtesy leaves it at all times

Larcius or Lartins of tlie Romans, tlio dictator, were ilistinguisheil nicmljcrs.

ancient patrician Gens, of wliicli Spurius Dionysius writes the name AapKLos, which

Lartius, who kejit the Suljlician hridge is very near the Etruscan. Cf. Deecke's

with lloratius, and Titus Lartius, the first Miiller, I, p. 4C2.

CHAP. XXXVII.] THE LA FAIXA COLLECTIOX. 47

accessible to strangers. I sliould state tliat liis collection is not confined to the rohd, of Orvieto, but contains also many articles from Chiusi, and other Etruscan sites.

First Boom. — Small ash-chests of terra cotta, principally from Chiusi ; -with ordinary ware.

Second Jloom. — JUack vases with reliefs, some of archaic cha- racter ; others of very elegant forms but of much later date ; — some Avith a high lustre, from Castel (Horgio, a site two miles from Orvieto, on the road to Viterbo. ]>ron/,es of various descrip- tions, lamps, masks, and small figures in terra cotta. Beads of glass and amber, and Egyptian figures in smalt,— all found at Orvieto.

ThirdEoom. — Ih'icchcro. A portion of this pottery from Orvieto; the rest from Ohiusi ; including two tall cock-crowned vases.

Fourth Ilooin. — Figiu-ed vases, chiefly l.-yl'tkes, or drinking-bowls, with both black and yellow figures, but the latter in the severe archaic style of the former. Many with eyes.

Fifth Eoom. — I'igured pottery. Here are examples of almost every style from the early olpe with bands of animals and chimajras, in the so-called I^abylonian style, down to the black lustred' vases with floral decorations, in white and gold, of the second century is.c. Among the vases the following are most noteworthy : —

A kclchc Avitli archaic figures in various colours, like the pottery- of Corinth. An (tinpJioni in coarse red ware with archaic figures painted on it in white outlines ! Some good specimens of the Archaic Greek style, among which is an admirable Ji/jdria with warriors in a qii(idri;i<i, contending with hopJitcc on foot. LeLi/thi with black figures on a white ground, rarely found in Etruria. Two stanml in the Third Style, — INIinerva overcoming a Giant, andPeleus carrying off Thetis. A few amphoroi of very fine ware like that of Nola ; and others in the florid careless style of Magna Gnecia. Perhaps the gem of the collection is an amphora \<\i\\ red figures, but in a severe style of art, representing Hercules concpiering the Amazons, very similar in treatment and style, as well as in subject, to the celebrated vase in the Museum of Arezzo. Two vases unpainted, with figured handles in imitation of bronze. Vases of this description have been found in the necropolis of Orvieto, retaining traces of the silver leaf witli Avhich they were originally coated. They so closely resemble in style others found in Apulia, some of which have evidently been gilt, as to have given rise to the opinion that they must be impor-

4S ORVIETO. [CHAP. XXXVII.

tations from that purt of Italy, where imitations of gokl and silver vases in terra-cotta are not unfreqnent."

Sixth Room. — Coins and jewellery. — Among the gold ornaments is a pair of large earrings from Castel Giorgio, and a smaller but very elaborately wrought pair, from ^lancini's excavations at the Crocifisso del Tufo.

In the Opera del Duomo, adjoining the Palazzo della Faina, are a few Etruscan terra-cottas well worthy of notice. Among them is an alto rilievo of a man, about three feet high. Five masks, male and female, coloured, very archaic and (piaint, yet full of life. A female figure seated, headless and broken. A large gnrnone'wn coloured to tlie life.

The Etruscan antiquities of Orvieto are not all within or im- mediateh' around the town. The necropolis of the ancient city •extended across the deep intervening valley to the crest of the loft}" table-land Avhich arises to the south-west. On this elevated plateau is a natural mound called Poggio del Roccolo, which may l)e hardly three miles from Orvieto as the crow flies, and thus is accessible on foot in about an hour, though it takes double that time or more to drive to it by the high road. For you have to take the road to Viterbo, across the wide and deep valle}', ascending to the very brow of the heights opposite those on which the cit}' stands, and then to double back to the Poggio del Poccolo. Here in 1863 Signor Domenico Golini of Bagnarea made excavations in a chestnut wood, and opened a number of tombs l\-ing in tiers on the hill slope. Two of them, in the higher part of the hillock, had paintings on their walls, and one, for the novelty and interest of the subjects depicted, as well as for the excellence of the art exhibited, yields to none of the painted tombs ^'et discovered at Corneto or Cliiusi. The keys of these sepulchres are kept b}' Filomela Tonelli, who lives at a village some miles from Orvieto, and the traveller should give her some hours' notice of his in- tention to visit the tombs, or he ma}' make a fruitless journey to the spot.**

These tombs are entered by long level passages cut in the slope. The less important of the two may be designated the

TOMBA DELLE DUE BiCVHE.

On the very threshold you encounter figures from the Etruscan

•* Ann. Inst. 1871, pp. 5 — 27 (Klueg- hjUkes of this description made at Naucra- mann). Mon. Inst. IX. tav. 26, tav. tis on the Nile, ■d'agg. A.B.C. Athenffius (XI. 61) spealjs of ^ At Slancini's scavl you will find a man,

I^/..

^i^'^.-

1:1 '^B^ -g^;

?. : :

'■^L^^i

'\:: M

«?>-i.

' '^f .»

^^^

CHAP. xxxvii.J TOMBA DKLLE DUE BIGHE. 51

spirit-world; on tlio I'ight door-post Charun, witli Iduisli flesh and yellow wings, ])randishes a snake to keep out intruders ; opposite him stands a demon of douhtful gender, with yellow pinions. A step within the tomh hrings you hacdc to miuidane scenes. On each side of the door is a hii/d, drav.n by horses of contrasted colours — red and gre}' — the darker hue throwing out the lighter. The steeds are well proportioned and full of spirit : they have broad bands about their necks, by which they are attached to the pole. 'I'he (tnr'ujd who drives the car to the lefc of the door is clad in a white tunic with a broad red meander border, and wears his hair twisted on his crown into a high peak, like a tnfiilii^. These Ji'r/rr probably indicate the chariot-races which were held in honour of the deceased. Both the aurlfice had Etruscan inscrip- tions attached, now scarcely legible. In the pediment over the door a pair of huge bearded serpents are depicted in threatening attitudes. Similar reptiles appear to have occupied the opposite pediment. The figures wdiich adorned the wall below them are well-nigh obliterated ; yet in one corner you can distinguish the lower limbs of two warriors wearing greaves, one of them with a shield also : and in the other, two helmeted heads, with an inscription between them — " S.\Tnr.A. Tiialtaz "

The scenes on the side-walls have been wofuUy injured, yet enough remains to give an idea of their decorations. The wall to the right w^as occupied b}' three banqueting-couches covered with rich drapery, each having the usual hiipopodhim, or long footstool, beneath it, on which stands a pair of pigeons, and in one instance a pair of sandals also. Two only of the revellers have been spared ; both 3^oung men, crowned with laurel, and draped in white pallia, which leave the upper half of their bodies bare. They appear to be engaged in conversation, and j-our e3'e is struck with the animated expression of their countenances, and the ease and elegance of their attitudes. Their names are recorded on the wall.

The festivities were continued on the opposite wall, for one- half of it was occupied by two similar couches ; the other half b}' a band of musicians. Of the revellers nothing remains but two lieads, both fillet-bound ; one that of a man, the other, witli golden hair and fair complexion, belongs to a woman, named

Giampaolo Pasqualone, who will comrauni- ■will meet you at the spot where you are cate with the said Filomena, and, if re- oUiged to leave your carriage, and will con- quired, will guide you on foot to these duct you thence to the Poggio, a good half- tombs. If you t;xke the high-road, Filomela mile distant.

E 2

52 OR'STETO. [cuap. xxxvii.

" TnANTKViL," or Tanaquil. Her partner is quite obliterated, but his name, " Vel Cneius,'' is recorded on the wall. At the foot of the coucli stands a man pla^-ing a heptachord lyre. He is followed b\' a boy cupbearer ; then by four cornicines, or trumpeters, two Avith long straiglit Uttii, curved at the end ; the others Avith circular trumpets — both instruments of Etruscan invention.' All are draped in white, but not a figure is perfect. Fortunately the heads are preserved. Over the procession is the epigraj)!! "Presxthe.""^ In general cliaracter this in'ocession bears a strong resemblance to that in the now closed Grotta Bruschi at Corneto, the cliief difference being that this appears to be a scene from the upper world, while that was a procession of souls in tlie Etruscan Orcus.

The other painted tomb almost adjoins, and is called after its discoverer,

TOMBA GOLINI.

It is about 17 feet square and 9 feet liigli, and is divided into two chambers by a partition-wall of rock. It liad paintings on its doorjiosts, but they are almost obliterated. You still see the head and shoulders of a man witli a crook in his hand, and on the opposite wall, two bristling snakes with a small door-mat between them — the remains probably of Cliarun, or some other Etruscan demon, who has vanished from the wall, leaving only his hairy scalp to mark the place he once occupied.

If on entering the tomb you turn to the left, you are startled by the carcass of a huge red ox, suspended from a beam in the ceiling, while his freslil}' severed head, painted to the life, lies on the ground below. Hanging b.y its side are a hare and a deer between a brace of pigeons, and another of fowls, suspended by their beaks. This is apparently a butcher's and poulterer's shop, yet the trees show it to be out of doors ; or it may be a larder stocked for the funeral feast, which is represented on the other walls of the tomb.

On the wall adjoining you see half a dozen figures busied with prei)arations for tlie feast, all with their names attached. Close to the larder a luilf-clad youth, with gestures indicative of great

" Athenaus (iv. 82) tells us that both toiiiljs, takes this word to be equivalent to

curved and straight trumijets — Kfpara re the Apparitor of the llonians, Pitturc

Koi <T6.\-niyyfs — were the invention of the Murali, p. 22, tav. 1-3 ; cf. Bull. Inst.

Jitruscans. 1863, p. 50 (Hrunn.) for a description of

'^ The Count (iiancarlo Conestabile, who this tomb on its first discovery. has given a detailed description of these

CHAP, xxxvii.] TOMBA GOLIXI. 53

exertion, is clioi)})ing a mass of flesh on a low bench or bh)ck. Tlien comes a series of four tripod tables, resting on decrs' legs, and on each is a large pomegranate with eggs and bunches of grapes. Four domestics or slaves — two of each sex — are busied in various waj'S at the tables. One of the males is nude, the other, who plays the double-pipes, is half-draped. The women wear tight yellow jackets with short sleeves ; one has a white gown also ; the other, who seems a superior servant, wears a white h'niiatioii, or mantle, over her shoulder. Both have necklaces of gold ; and the latter, red earrings also, of quaint form. Their flesh, like that of all the women in this tomb, is a pale red, while that of the males is of a much deeper hue. In the corner next the snhiilo, a slave, with a yellow cloth about his loins, is kneading or grinding at a concave tripod table, which has a small lip towards the spectator. He holds in each hand an instrument like that now^ used for grinding colours ; but what his precise occupation may be is not eas}' to determine, although his surroundings show that in some Avay or other he is aiding the preparations for the feast.

On the inner wall of this chamber we have a representation of the kitchen. A large scjuare furnace or stove, with open door, is the principal object, in front of which stand two deep jars, jirobably full of water. Lord of the furnace, and lialf-hidden behind it, stands the cook, brandishing aloft a red chopper, and watching, the while, the culinary process going forward in two deep iron bowls, the bottoms of which, licked b}' the flames, are seen through the oj)en door. On one side his assistant, Avith a cloth about his loins, is stooping as he approaches the furnace, stretching forward one hand with a long spoon or dipper, Avhile lie screens his face from the heat with the other. But the most startling features in this scene are two symbols over the furnace- door ^ commonly used by the ancients to avert the evil eye, but which seem strangely out of place here, unless this Jasc'imim was a customary device of Etruscan cooks to secure success in their operations.

On the partition-wall adjoining, so far as we can judge from the scanty fragments of the scene that are left, similar preparations for the banquet were in progress : but the table in the centre covered with cups and bowls, and the lehane held by the slave behind it, suggest that here was represented the depository of

' At rompeii the same symbol lias been found in a similar position — over an oven attached to the House of Pansa.

54 ORYIETO. [CHA)'. xxxvir.

the ^Yines, or, as we slioiild say, the butler'a paiitrv. Two men's heads and one foot are the onl}' other fragments on this wall ; who they were, and what they were about, is dt)ubtless set forth in the inscriptions over their heads. ^

The busy scene of preparation ft)r the banquet in this half of the tomb brinies forcibly to mind those curious lines preserved by Athemeus,- of which we essay a translation : —

" And all the folks tlirougliout tlie house Are now preparing tlie carouse — ■ Are busy plucking, mixing, baking. Cutting, chopping, meiTV-niaking, Kneading, feeding, sporting, laughing. Skipping, lipping, flirting, quaffing, Joking, poking, singing, dancing, All to sounds of flutes entrancing. Cassia, myrrh, and choice perfumes — Nard and incense, fill the rooms. And such odours from the kitchen Of the meats the house is rich in ! "

The narrow front of the i)artition-wall, facing the door of the tomb, was not left without decoration. Here a monkey is de- picted climbing a j^ole surmounted by a small vase. A cord attached to one leg was held by a man of whom nothing remains but the hand.^

The partition-wall marks the separation between the two classes of subjects dei)icted in this tomb. In the half already described, we have the prei:)arations for the feast ; we look into the larder, the pantry, the kitchen, the butler's pantry, and jjerhaiis the cellar. In the remaining half Ave see the passage of a haj^py soul into the other world, and the bliss of the departed, repre- sented b}' their festive enjoyments in the presence of the great King and Queen of Hades.

As on entering this tomb we began with the wall to the left of the door, so now we must begin with the wall to the right.

The space is occupied by a handsome hig<t, drawn b}' a pair of pale red horses, and driven by a fair-haired youth, wearing a laurel crown, and wrapt in a white mantle bordered with red, one of the many illustrations of the togd prcdcxta, which the Ilomans

' AH the iiiscriiitidiis in this toiiil), so p. G(]) takes the pole for a sepulchral stele,

far as tliey are legible, are given hy 15niini, and attaches a symbolic meaning to the

r.ull. Inst. 1863, pp. 41-.')(>, and also by monkey; but to me it appears more na-

Count Conestabile, in his Pitture Murali. tural to regard this scene as a mere freak

- Athen. IX. 67. From the Hijipotro- of the artist, introduced to till an awkward

]il)os, or "Ilorsebreeder," of Mnesiniachos. space.

' Count Conestabile (I'itturc Jlurali,

56 OEYIETO. [CHAP, xxxvii.

received from the Etruscans.* B}' his side runs a female genius or Lasa, with bluish wings, with which she overshadows at once the youth and his steeds, and with a pair of knotted serpents springing in threatening attitudes from her waist. -^ Yet slie is no e\T.l demon, but evidently a good spirit, for she is handsome, with fair complexion and hair, has an amiable expression, and shows her sympathy with humanity in her decorations, wearing a neck- lace, trident-earrings, and snake-bracelets, all of gold. "Without her, this scene might indicate the chariot-races held in lionom* of the dead, but her presence proves it to represent the passage of the soul to the unseen world. In her right hand she holds up a scroll, the record of the deeds of the deceased, and that they were not evil is shown bj'his placid, happ}' countenance. Her left arm also is raised, but whether resting on something, or pointing to the inscription recording his name, is not clear. She is dressed in a tunic of deep red ; and her body is delineated in full, though her face and bare legs are tm-ned in the direction the car is taking ; as shown in the woodcut on the last page.

Over the door of the tomb, and immediatelv behind the soul, is the half-draped figure of a corn'icen, with a large circular tnmipet. His left shoulder, as well as that of the soul, is bordered by a dark, wavy-edged background of no determinate fonn, which may be introduced, as Count Conestabile conjectures, to throw out the white mantles into strong relief, as they would other- wise be confounded with the stucco ground;^ or it may be intended to represent clouds, as suggested by the analogy of the Grotta dell' Oreo at Conieto, and thus to express that the figures here depicted, are no longer in this life, but in the unseen world.

On the adjoining wall was a banquet of three couches, small fragments of which only are now visible. The figures on the first couch, however, retain tlieir heads and shoulders. Both are young men, garlanded with laurel, half-draped in white himatia, and reposing on cushions, whose rich decorations mark this as a scene of Etiiiscan luxury. One of them stretches out his hand to his companion's shoulder, as if to call his attention to the new arrival, and both of them tmn their heads round to greet the soul

■* Liv. I. 8 ; Flor. I. 5 ; Plin. YIII. think with Briinn that they -n-ere bound

74 ; IX. 63. round her waist (liull. Inst. 1863, p. 48) ;

' Conestabile (op. cit. p. 77) takes the if so, they must be regarded as her

snakes to be the bronze adornments of the attributes, pole of the li;/a, as they are too low for *< Titture Miinili, p. 110.

the Lasa's wai>t. ]5ut I am incline

CHAP. XXXVII.] THE ELYSIUM OF THE ETRUSCANS. 57

on his AViiy to share tlioir felifity. Of tlie pair on the next couch A'oii see hut a le^' and u liaiul liohling a Li/Iix; hesides two pigeons on the stool heneath. Enough of the third couch is left to show that the cou})le were of opposite sexes, hut the man's face is gone and his hair is twisted into a long tutiiln.^ at the to}) of his head, just as it is worn h}' one of the charioteers in the adj(jining Tomb of the Two ]3ig{e. He grasps hy the shoulder the young girl who shares his couch, of whom we see no more tlian that slie has a (rreek profile and is draped in white. An inscription of eight lines, in minute characters, covers the wall between these heads ; and a long inscription, in few cases legible, is attaclied to each of the other heads in this banijuct-scene. Between two of the couches stands a tall candelahvuin, and others are on the opi)osite wall — necessarj- accessories to a feast in the gloom v regions of Orcus.

The banquet is continued on the inner wall of the chamber b}' a fourth couch, on which recline two men, one holding a i)hiala, the other a kyllx. At the foot of their coucli a suhulo, and a hitJiarista with a heptachord Ij're, stand draped in white, playing their respective instruments. Attaclied to each reveller is a long inscription of three lines in minute characters. On the low stool beneath the couch, a cat named " kraxkru " is tearing her pre}' ; and at the other end a naked boy, or it may be a monkey, with hair erect as if with terror, is designated " Krupu." All the figures in this banquet- scene appear to have been backed by ash-coloured clouds, which throw their drapery into forcible relief, but only in those parts where their Avhite robes might otherwise be confounded Avith the stuccoed surface of the tomb.

The last paintings to be described are on the partition-wall. One half of its surface is occupied by the kylikeiiim, or side-board, with the wine for the banquet, and by the servants in attendance; the other half by a majestic group of Pluto and Proserpine sitting in state — a group which explains the whole scene and proves the figures here depicted to represent not living beings in the indulgence of their earthly appetites, but the spirits of the departed in the enjoyment of Elysium. On the tripod sideboard stand a large mixing-bowl, and two amphoric, with five small a'iiocJioa; of different sizes, a short tJnjDiidtcrium, or censer, with fire burning, and a small white casket, probably for the incense. The table is fianked by two tall caiulehihra reaching almost to the ceiling, each with three beaks : each beak holding a lighted

58

OEVTETO.

[CHAr. XXXVII.

candle, just like those of modern days.' The attendant slaves in this scene appear to be carrvinif wine to the banqueters, and

seem not to heed the presence of the august personages behind

' Tlie beaks of cnnddahra liave generally novel view of tlie use to wliicli they were been supposed to have served for the sus- put. Tlie spike of tlie beak seems to be pension of lamps. This painting gives a run into the candle.

CHAP, xx.xvii.] I'LL'TO AND PEOSERPIiNE. 59

them. Olio, dressed in a long Avliite tiinie, has a desiguatory inscription ; the other is naked and nameless.

The group of I'hito and Proserijine is the most striking in this tomb, 'i'lie god, who is designated " Eita," or Hades, wears a wolfskin over his head, aiul sits, wrapped in a dark greenish mantle bordered with red, on an elegant throne, whose legs, left white to represent ivorv or silver, are adorned with Greek volutes and honeysuckles. He has a red coinplexi(Mi, and heard of still deeper red, and holds in his right hand a spear, round the end of whieh is coiled a serpent. He rests his sandalled feet on a high block or footstool. The goddess, who is named " i'iikiisipxai," sits by his side with her bare feet on the same stool. They seem to be in earnest conversation, for their mouths are open, and she looks stedfastly at him as she rests her right hand on his thigh, thus answering the pressure of his left hand on her shoulder. She is of fair complexion and light hair, and wears a golden (iiiij)i/x on her brow, earrings with triple pendants, and a neck- lace of gold, from which depend large begemmed plarpies. On her left hand, in which she holds a sceptre surmounted by a small blue bird, she wears a wedding-ring, with a snake-bracelet on her Avrist. Her tunic is yellow, with slashed sleeves reaching to the elbow, and over this she wears a white mantle with a Yand3^ked border of red, which hangs over her shoulder, and descends to her ankles. Her right shoulder, where her white mantle would be lost against the stuccoed wall, is relieved by the usual cloudy background.

The similarity between the figures of Hades and Persephone in this tomb and those of the same deities in the Grotta dell' Oreo at Corneto, is striking. The representations of the god are so similar in every respect, that they have, with great probability, been supjiosed to have been worked out from the same origmal type. The figure of the goddess here is certainly much inferior in majest}' to that in the Tarcpiinian tomb, but her ornaments are very similar, and the border of her robe is identical in pattern. There is probably little difference in point of antiquity between the paintings in the two tombs. But, as Helbig observes, those in the Grotta dell' Oreo show more of the spirit of Greek art ; these of Orvieto more of a native character.''

It is impossible not to be stnick with the difterence in the art displayed in the two halves of this tomb. In the first part, where the preparations for the feast are represented, the figures

** Ann. Inst., 1S70, p. 6S.

60 ORYIETO. [CHAP. XXXVII.

fire more or less clumsy and awkward, tlie eounteiianct's vulgar. There is a rudeness of common life, as Bruini remarks, entirely' opposed to ideality, yet the whole scene is full of life, truth, and individual character.^ In the other half of the tomb, the design is more correct, the figures more graceful, the attitudes and movements more dignified, the expression more nohle. The one half seems the Avork of a plebeian, the other of an aristocratic hand. Yet there is no reason to doubt that they are contem- poraneous works, and even by the same artist, accommodating his style to his subject.

There is little chiaroscuro in these paintings,^ and the onl}' attempt at perspective is a signal failure, 3'et the full or three- quarter faces, the skill displayed in foreshortening, the natural aiTangement of the drapery, the dignity in the attitudes of certain figures, the ease and grace in the movements of others, the general correctness of the design, the truth of the anatomical development, the comparative freedom from conventionalities, and the stud}' of nature evident throughout, show a great advance on the archaic Avorks of the Etruscan jiencil, preserved in the earlier tombs of Corneto and Chiusi. The influence of Greek art is here manifest, yet it is not so powerful as to overlay the national characteristics. "NVith much probability Count G. Conestabile has assigned to this tomb the date of the middle of the 4th century of Eome, or about 400 b.c.~

The intense damp of these two sepulchres is fast destroying the paintings. Though the gi-ound on which they were laid is white, all is now so saturated with moisture, that the walls

^ Ann. Inst., ISOO, p. 433. ditferent hues. He is of oijinion that on

' Dr. Brunn (Ann. Inst., 18fi6, p. 43,')) this account, the Etruscan artists, even of

points out the existence of chiaroscuro in an advanced period, as in this instiince,

Pluto's footstool, in the heam to which often purposely adhered to the simplicity

the ox is suspended, and in the carcass of earlier ai"t.

itself, which, without these few hints of " Pitture Murali, p. 114. Urunii re- shadow, would have formed a very ugly marks that it is enough to consider atten- mass. But he shows that the absence of tively the majestic group of Pluto and chiaroscuro in these sepulchral jiaintings, Proserpine, and the elegant figr.re of the is not always a safe criterion of antiquity. cup-bearer, to be co)iviiice<l that in this For as the paintings were executed in tomb we no longer tind oui-selves in an subterranean chambers, which could admit ejioch of tmnsitiun, but in the middle of but little daylight, and were rarely lighted the period of the free development of art. by artilicial means, the introduction of Ann. lust. 18(50, p. 436. For illu.strations, cliiaroscuro would not be favourable to the see the very accurate plates, Xo. 4 to 11, impression they were intended to convey : which Conestabile attaches to his said for in the gloom of the sepulchre, tlie work ; from which the woodcuts at i)p. i)5, shadows, instead of increasing the effect, o8, have been cojiied. would rather have served to confound the

CHAP. XXXVII.] THE CATHEDRAL. CI

liiivc boeonie n lunt'ovni diiif^y brown, save where the stucco lins been a little detached, when it resumes its native hue. Signer v. G. Gamurrini, foreseeing their destruction, proposed to re- move these paintings to some museum for preservation, but the Government would not grant its permission, which is much to be regretted, for in a short time they will be utterly' ruined by the humidity. At least the wooden doors which now close the tombs should be exchanged for iron gratings, so that b}^ the free admis- sion of the atmosphere, the Avails might be relieved of some of their moisture.

In some of the other tombs opened b}' Signor Golini on this spot, were found beautiful bronze armour, and some interesting painted vases, very few of them Greek, but mostly of local manu- facture, displaying novel features, peculiar to Orvieto.'^

Orvieto is a cit}' of six or seven thousand inliabitants, and is neater and cleaner than most towns in this part of the l*apal State. The hotel of " Le Belle Arti " has fair pretensions to comfort. But, traveller, would you hire a carriage of the land- lord, beware of overcharges, and pay not until the contract has been performed. The two great lions at Orvieto are tlie Duorao, and the well of San Patrizio. Of the latter with its strange corkscrew descent, I have nothing to say ; but how can I be silent on the Duomo ?

It is foreign to the purpose of this work, or I could expatiate on the glories of this Cathedral. Willingly would I descant on its matchless facade, similar in style, but more chaste and elegant than that of Siena — on the graces of its Lombard architecture — on its fretted arches and open galleries — its columns varied in hue and form — its aspiring pediments — its marigold window with the circling guard of saints and angels — its primitive but eloquent reliefs — its many-hued marbles — its mosaics gilding, warming and enriching the whole, yet imparting no meretricious gaudiness, — the entire facade being the petrifaction of an illuminated missal — a trium})hant blaze of beauty obtained by the judicious combination of the three Sister Graces of Art. I could say niucli of the interior and its sculptured decorations — of its spacious- ness and gloomy grandeur, more devotion-stirring than most cathedrals of Central Italy — of the massive banded columns, with their (j[uaint capitals — of the manifold treasures of art — the dignity and alarmed modesty of Mochi's Mrgin — the intensity of

3 r.iuiiii. Bull. In.st. 1SG3, pp. 51-53.

62 OEYIETO. [chap, xxxvii.

feeling in the Pietd of Sealza, — tlie tenderness, and celestial radiancy of Fra Angelico's frescoes, — and above all I could descant on the glories of Luca Signorelli, not elsewhere to be appreciated — on the grandeur of composition, the boldness of design, and truthfulness to nature of those marvellous and awful frescoes which have immortalized his name, and which made him a model of sublimity to liatfiielle and Michael Angelo. But such subjects are foreign to mv theme, and I must pass them by, simply assuring the traveller, that no town in Central Itah' more urgenth' demands a visit, for the beautj'^ of its site and surround- ing scenery, and for the unrivalled glories of its Cathedral. If he be in search of objects of mediaeval art, let him omit what places he will between Florence and Rome, but let him see (Jiwieto.^

'' The traveller, on going northward, in this direction are Citth la Pieve, about

leaves the volcanic district at Orvieto. The 28 miles, and Chiusi, 3i miles distant,

region of plain and ravine is behind him ; both accessible by the railroad, and both of

that of undulation before him. Abrupt Etruscan interest. Eighteen miles to the

and perpendicular foiTus give i^lace to gentle east lies Todi, the ancient Tuder, on the

slopes and flowing outlines. Tufo is ex- left bank of the Tiber, and therefore in

changed for a yellow sandstone full of lar'ge Umbria, a most interesting site for its

oyster-shells and other marine productions, extant remains as well as for its beautiful

and often containing thin layers of rounded scenery, jiebbles. The nearest towns of importance

EXltUSCAN COIN, ASCRIIiED TU LUNA.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

LUNI.— LC/^Y^L

Lunai" jiortum esL opevte coguoscece cives ! — Esnius.

Anne nictallifcriX! repetit jam nuenia Lnn^, TyiTlieuasi[uc doiiKs ? Statius.

TiiK most nortlierl>" city of Etruvia was Luna. It stood on tlie very frontier, on the left bank of tlie Macra, which formed tlie north-western boundary of that hmd.^ And thongh at one time in the possession of the Ligurians, together with a wide tract to the south, even down to Pisa and the Arno, yet Luna was originally Etruscan, and as sucli it was recognised in Imperial times." It was never renowned for size or power ; '^ its import- ance seems to have been derived chiefly from its vast and com- modious port, truly "worthy of a people who long held dominion of the sea,"' and which is now known as the Gulf of Spezia.

Insignis portu, qno non spatiosior alter Innumeras cepisse rates, et claudere pontum.^

> Sti-alio (V. p. 222) speaks of Jlacra as a place — x'^p'^"" > ^^^i* Pliny (III. 7, 8) is more definite in inarl<ing it as a river, the lioundaiy of Liguria and Etruria.

- Much confusion has arisen from the contradictory statements of ancient writers in calling tliis territory sometimes Ligurian, sometimes Etruscan. There are numerous authorities on hoth sides. Livy (XLI. l:i) explains the discrepancy by stating that Luna with its ar/er was captured by the Romans from the Ligurians ; but that l)efore it belonged to the latter it had been Etruscan. Lycophron, however, repre-

sents the Ligures as disjjo.ssessed of Pisa and its territory by the Etruscans. Cas- sandra, V^r)C}.

•* Dempster erroneously classed it among the Twelve cities of the Etruscan Confe- deration (IL pp. 41, SO), in which he is followed by more recent writers. But Strabo testifies to the small size of Luna. Targioni Tozzetti says it was not more than two miles in circuit. Viaggi in Toscana, X. p. 400.

•• Strabo, V. p. 222.

5 Sil. Ital.VlII. 483. Pliny (IH. 8) also speaks of Luna as — oppidum portu nobile.

64 LUXT. [cHAr. xxxviii.

But its size and seciiiity are the least of its cliarms. To the tranquil beauty of a lake it unites the niajest}' of the sea. No liiirer bay could poet sigh for, " to Hoat about the summer- waters." Never did i)urer Avave mirror more glorious objects. Shining towns — pine-crested convents — luxuriant groves — storm- defying forts — castled-crags — proud headlands — foam-fretted islets — dark heights, prodigal of wine and oil — purple mountains behind, — and naked marble-peaked Apennines over all,

" Islanded in immeasurable air."

The precise site of Luna has been much disi^uted. As the Gulf of Spezia lay on the Ligurian, and Luna on the Etruscan, side of the Macra, it has been supposed either there was anciently a port, properly that of Luna, at the mouth of that river, or that the town occupied some other site. It is well ascertained that the alluvial deposits of the Magra have made large encroach- ments in the course of centuries, so as to have altered the course of that stream, and to have widened the strip of land between the mountains and the sea. The whole plain, in fact, seems to have been formed by these deposits. Yet no harbour within the mouth of the Magra would answer the description ancient writers give of the Port of Luna, which manifestly was no other than the Gulf of Spezia.** Researches made in 1837 and in 1857 have clearty established that the ancient town, which once stood on the shore, occupied the spot which traditionally bears the name of Luni, and now lies at a considerable distance from the sea.

About three miles from Sarzana, on the high-road to Lucca and Pisa, the traveller has on his right a strip of low cultivated land, intervening between him and the sea. Here stood the ancient city, about one mile from the shore and two from the mouth of the Magra. Let him turn out of the high-road, opposite the Farm of the Iron Hand — Casino di jNIan di Ferro — and after a mile or so he will reach the site. There is little

^ Holstenius (Annot. ad Cluvcr, pp. liave jjlaced it on the right l>ank of the 20, 277), however, insists on the port of Magra, a view favoui-ed by Strabo, who Luna being at the mouth of the Magra, says tlie Macra was between Luna and Pisa ; and declares he saw the posts with rings while Sarzana, Avenza, Spezia, even Car- attached, to which the ancient shipping rara, have respectively been indicated as bad been moored. Cluver (IL p. 456) its site ; and Scaliger went so far as to placed the site of Luna at Lerici, in which deny it a local haliitation, and to submerge he is followed by Maunert (Geog. p. 288), it beneath the sea. See Uepetti, v. Luni, who thinks this the reason why the L;itin IL p. 936. Cramer (L p. 171), however, con-ector of Ptolemy, instead of Luna; and Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 13) place its Tortus puts Ericis Portus. Others also site at Luni.

CHAP. XXXVIII.] SITE AND VESTIGES OE I-UXA. Go

enough to see. Beyond a few crumbling tombs, and a fragment or two of Pioman ruin, nothing remains of Luna. The scene, described by PaitiUus, so appropriate to a spot which bore the name of the virgin-queen of heaven — the fair walls, shaming with their whiteness the "laughing lilies" and the untrodden snow — if not the creation of the poet, have long vanished from the siglit.

Advehiinur celeri candentia moenia lapsu ;

Noininis est auctor Sole coriisca soror. Indigenis superat ridentia lilia saxis,

Et la!vi radiat picta nitore silex. Dives marmoribus tellus, qua; luce coloris

Provocat intactas luxuriosa nives.'^

\'estiges of an amphitheatre, of a semi-circular building, which may be a theatre, of a circus, a piscina, and fragments (d" columns, pedestals for statues, blocks of i)avement, and inscrip- tions, are all that Luna has now to sliow. The Avails, from Iiutilius' description, are supposed to have been of marble; in- <leed, Ciriacus of Ancona tells us that what remained of them in the middle of the fifteenth century, were of that material ;"" but not a block is now left to determine the point.

Since so little remains of the lioman town, what vestige can we expect of Etruscan Luna '? Xo monument of that antiquity has ever been discovered on the site, or in its vicinity ; ^ not even

? Rutil. Itiner. II. (53. ters has Leen found in the Val di Vara, 8 Ciriacus, who wrote in 1442, is the many miles inland, at the head of the Gulf earliest antiquary who gives us an account of Spezia. Promis, op. cit. p. 61. No of Luni. He describes the blocks of coins belonging to Luna have been disco- marble as being 8 "paces" (jtalms?) long, vered on the spot. Promis, p. 23. The by 4 high. Promis does not credit him as bronze coin, with this name in Etruscan to the material ; all the remains of masonry charactere, has on the obverse a bearded, at present on the spot being of the coarse garlanded head, which Lanzi takes for that brown .stone from the neighbouring head- of the r/enius of the Macra ; and on the land of Corvo ; and the fragments of ar- reverse, a reed, four globules, and a wheel •chitectural or sculptural decoration, which divided into four parts, and surrounded are of marble, are not more abundant than with rays like a sun. Lanzi, II. pp. 26, on similar sites in Italy (Memorie di Luni, 73, tav. I. 10 ; Passeri, Paralipom. ad pp. 61, 66). Muller (I. 2, 4) credits Ijoth Dempst. tab. V. 1. Miiller (Etrusk. I. p. Kutilius and Ciriacus, and thinks these 337) is inclined to refer these coins to luarble walk must have been of Etruscan Populonia ; so also Mionnet (.Supplem. I. times. Targioni Tozzetti (op. cit. XII. p. pp. 199, 203), Sestini ((jeog. Numis?. 11. 142) sjjeaks of the walls as still of marble p. 4), and Jlillingeu (Nuinis. Anc. Ital. p. in his day. 173). A series of coins, with a young ^ The JIarchese Angelo Remedi and the man's head wearing the cap of an ArusjHj.x, ]Marche.se Podesta have made excavations and with a sacrificial knife, an axe, and liere of late years, and have di-scovered two crescents, but no inscrijition, on tiie numerous Roman remains, but nothing reveri-e, is suppo.sed by Melchiorri to have Etruscan. Bull. Inst. 1858, pp. S-Kl. belonged to Luna. liull. Inst. lS3i', p. 122. A stone inscribed with Etruscan charac- See the woodcut at the head of this chapter.

VJ-j. II. F

66 LUXI. [chap. XXXVIII.

a trace of the ancient cemetery is to be recognised, either in the plain, or among the neiglibouring heights, where it shoukl be sought for, so that we might almost doubt the Etruscan antiquity of Luna ; yet such is expressly assigned to it by the ancients. No record ^>t' it, however, has come down to us prior to Roman times.

The earliest mention we have of Luna is from old Ennius, who took part in the exjiedition against Sardinia, Avhich sailed from this port in 539 (u.c. 215), under Manlius Torquatus ; and the poet, struck with the beauty of the gulf, called on his fellow - citizens to come and admire it with him, —

" Lunai portum est operae cognoscere, cives I " '

The first historical notice to be found of Luna is in the year 559 (B.C. 195), when Cato the Consul collected a force in the port, and sailed thence against the Spaniards.- It is mentioned again in the year 568,^ and in 577, in the Ligurian "War, it received a colony of two thousand Ilomans.^ In the civil war between Csesar and Pompey, it is said to have been in utter decay, inhabited only by a venerable soothsayer —

Arruns incoluit desertae mcenia Lurue.^

But a few years later it was re-colonised by the Eomans ; '' and inscriptions found on the s]3ot prove it to have existed at the close of the fourth century of our era.

After the fall of the Eoman Empii-e, Luna was desolated by the Lombards, Saracens, and Normans, but it was a yet more formidable, though invisible, foe that depopulated the site, and that eventually caused it, in the fifteenth century, to be utterly deserted."

Luna, under the Romans, was renowned for its wine, which was the best in all Etruria ; '* and for its cheeses, which were

' EnniiLS, ap. Pers. Sat. VI. 9 ; cf. Liv. Julia. Frontin. de Colon. !>. 19, ed. ]5S8.

XXIII. 34. ' There is an old legend which ascribes

- Liv. XXXIV. 8. its destruction to another cause. The lord

•* Liv. XXXIX. '21. of Luna won the affections of a certain

■• Liv. XLI. 13. ^Vhether Luna or Lnca Enipre.s.s, who, to obtain her end, feigned

is here the correct reading, is disputed. hei-self dead ; her lover playing the resur-

Paterculus (I. 15) has Luca. rectionist, and carrying her to his own

* Lucan. I. 586. Here again some house. This coming to the ears of the

editions have " Luca;." Dante, who Emperor, he not only took vengeance on

probably records the local tradition, the offenders, but laiil the city in the dust.

(Inferno, XX. 47), places this .soothsayer Alberti, Descrit. d'ltalia, p. 22.

in the mountains of Carrara. ^ Plin. XIV. 8, 5. ** By the Triumvirate, under the Le.x

CHAP. XXXVIII.]

THE M^iEBLE OF LUXA.

67

stamped -vvitli tlu; figure, either of the moon, or of the J'ltruscan Diana, and Avere of vast size, sometimes weighing a thousand })()unds.'' But -what gave Luna most renown was her marble ; known to us as that of Carrara. This does not appear to have been known to the Etruscans at an early period, for the few traces we find of it in the national monuments are not of ver}- archaic character ; and surely the people who made such extensive use of alabaster, and executed such excjuisite works in bronze, would have availed themselves of this beautiful material, as soon as it bcu-ame known to them : yet, on the other hand, it is difiicult to miderstand how its nirca metalla could have long escaped their eye.^ It does not seem to have been known to the liomans much before the Empire." The earliest mention we have of it is in the time of Julius Csesar ;^ but a stone which was whiter than Parian marble,'*' and yet might be cut Avitli a saAv,^ was not likely to be neu'lected bv the luxiirious Komans of that ai^c ; and

9 riin. XI. it? ; Martial, XII [, epig. 30 :

Caseiis Etruscce signatus imagine Lunae Pnestabit pucfis iivaiulia mille tuis.

Thoxigh the Greek writers translate the name of this town by '2.f\-i}V7}, and thoiigli .1 moon seems to have been the symbol of Luna umler the Romans, we have no ground for conchiding that such was the meaning of the Etruscan name. Some liave thought tliat Luna was derived from the form of its port— even JMiiller (Etrusk. I. 4, 8) held this opinion — but the name is not at all descriptive of the harbour, which cannot be likened to a moon, whether full, half, or crescent. Lanzi suggests that "Losna," the name attached to .a goddess with a crescent as her emblem, represented on a mirror (Saggio, II. p. 20, tav. 8 ; see also Gerhard, Etrusk. Spieg. taf. 171), may be the ancient Latin form ; Miillcr thinks it the Etruscan. Ikit this monument is certainly Latin. It appeai-s to me highly probable that Luna was an Etruscan word, misinterpreted by the Romans. For the three chief ports on thia coast, as we learn from coins, had this termination to their names — LuN.i, Pcpluna (Populonia), and Yktlu-VA (Vetulonia) ; and as no inland town of Etruria had the same ending, it is not improbable that Luna hail a maritime signification, and meant "a port" — this, which has no prefix to its name, being, from its superior size, prc-eminendy " the

port " of Etruria.

' The marble sarcophagi found in the tombs of Cervetri,Corneto, and Vulci, which, from their style of art are certainly not later than the 4th century, B.C., are pronounced not to be of the marble of Carrara, but Xirobably of that from the Tuscan Alaremma, though Canina (Etruria Marittima, I. p. 192) declares them to be of the marble of the Circ;can Promontory, which was used l)y the Etruscans before they discovered that of Luna.

- Pliny (XXXVL 4, 2) speaks of it as only recently discovered in liis day.

■* j\tamui-ra, Pra^fect of Caesar's army in Gaul, was the first who had his house lined with niarlde, and every column in it was of solid marble, either from Carystos or Luna. Corn. Nepos, ap. Plin. XXXVI. 7.

■» Plin. XXXVI. 4, 2. Strabo (V. p. 222) says truly that the quarries of Luna yielded not only white, but variegated marble, inclining to blue.

* Plin. XXXVI. 29 — Lunensem siliccm serra, secari. ThissZ/cc has been supposed to be only a white tufo, not marble ((^uintino, Marmi Lunensi, cited by Midler, I. 2, 4, n. G3) ; but the term was of general appli- cation to the harder sorts of rock, and the use of it here is expressive of the singu- larity of the circumstance that the stone should be sawn, and the word would lose its force if ai)plied to a soft volcanic forma- tion.

F 2

68 LUXI. [ciiAi'. .xxxviii.

accordingh' it soon came into extensive use, as the Pantheon, the Portico of Octavia, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, and other monuments of that period, remain to testify ; and it Avas to this discovery that Augustus owed his hoast — that he had found Pome of hrick, hut had left it of marhle. From that time forth, it has heen in use for statuary, as well as for architectural decoration ; and from the Apollo Belvedere to the Triumphs of Thorwaldsen, " the stone that hreathes and struggles " in im- mortal art, has heen chiefly the marhle of Luna.^

^ For furtlier notices of Luna and its to tlie work of Proniis, already cited, and port, I refer the reader to Targioni Tozzetti's to Repetti's Diiionario della Toscana. Toscana, X. pp. 403 — 4(56 ; Imt especially

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Alpliere veterem conteniplor originis urbeni (^luiiu cingunt geminis Araus et Ausur aquis.

IIUTILIUS,

Ox apin-oacliiiig Leghorn from the sea, I have always been inclined to recognise in it, Triturrita, with the ancient port of Pisa.^ It is true that the modern town does not "wholly corres- l)ond -with the description given by Rutilius. It has now more than a mere bank of sea-weed to protect it from the violence of the waves ; it embraces an ample harbour within its arms of stone; but it lies on a naturally open shore; it has an artificial peninsula, on which the Villa Triturrita ma}- have stood ; and, by a singular coincidence, there are still three prominent towers to suggest the identity.

1 Kntil. I. r.27 et scq. ; II. 12. Called "Tmiita" by the Peutingeriau Table, which places it 9 miles south_ from I'isK. The Maritime Itinci'aiy lias " Portus Pisa- uus " in the same i^osition. !Miicli doubt has been thrown on the antiquity of Livorno (Rei^etti, II. p. 717) ; and the liighcst generally ascribed to it is that of Iloinan times — either as the Ad Ilerculem of the Antonine Itinerary, on the Via Aui-elia, 12 miles from Piste ; or the Labro of Cicero (ad Quint. Frat. 11. 6) ; or the Liburnum, mentioned l)y Zosimiis (Anna!. V. cited by Cluver) ; whence the modern name, Livorno, as well as the LigurnuTu (Leghorn) of the middle ages. Cluver (II, p. 467), and Cramer (Ancient Italy, I. ]). 175), i>lacc the Poi-tus at the mouth of the Arno. Jtannei't ((leog. p. 353) on the other hand contends for the identity of Leghorn with the Portns Pi.sanus. He ]il;ices Labro at Salcbro and Ad Hercnlcm at Viulino. An intermediate opinion is held

by Targioni Tozzetti (Viaggi in Toscana, II. pp. 398 — 420), who. considers the port of Pisie to have been a bay between the Arno and the site of Leghorn, now filled np with alluvial dejiosits from the river ; and he finds Villa TrituiTita in some Roman remains on the inner .shore of this bay. It is well ascertained that the land has gained considerably on the sea in the Delta of the Arno, and that this coast has much altered since ancient times. Miiller (Etrusk. I. 1, 2 ; I. 4, 8)," who follows Tozzetti, considers this i)ort to have been connected with the city by an ancient branch of the Arno, now stopi^ed np, one of the three mentioned by Strabo, V. p. 222. If the Villi of the Maritime Itinerary be a transcriber's error forXIIII, which may easily be the ca.se, it would favour the claims of Livorno, for such is the true distance between that i)ort and Pisa.

70 riSA. [chap. XXXIX.

No traveller, now-a-da^'s, who reaches Leghorn by sea, omits to make a trip to Pisa. Like the Itinerant Gaul of old, he leaves his vessel in the port, and hurries away to lionise that cit}-. Pisa indeed is a great ganglion in the railway sj'stem of Italy, being on the highroad from London and Paris to the Eternal Cit}', and connected by trains with Leghorn, I'lorence, and Bologna, as well as with Genoa and Rome.

Of the thousands that annually visit the elegant and tranquil city of Pisa, who remembers her great antiquity '? — who thinks of her as one of the most venerable cities of Italy, prior to the Trojan War, one of the earliest settlements of the Pelasgi on this coast?- The Pisa of the middle ages is so bright a vision as to throw into dim shade the glories of her remoter antiquit}'. Pisse is one of the very few cities of Etruria, which, after the lapse of nearly three thousand years, still retains, not only its site, but its importance, and has shrouded the hoariness of antiquity in the garlands of ever-flourishing youth.

We have said that Pisa occupies her original site ; but her relative position has been greatl}^ altered in the course of cen- turies. For she anciently stood on a tongue of land formed by the confluence of the Arnus and Ausar ^ — a site, if we substitute rivers for ravines, very similar to that commonly chosen for cities in southern Etruria. The Ausar, now the Serchio, altered its course somewhere about the twelfth century of our era, and found a more northerly channel to the sea. In Strabo's time Pisa was only two and a-lialf miles inland, but by the accumulation

* Pis£B is classed by Dionysius (I. p. IG) Plin. III. 8. Cato (ap. Sew.), though ad-

amoDg the xirimitive cities of Italy, either niitting that this i-egion "ivas originally

taken from the Siculi, or suhsequently possessed by the Teutones, who spoke Greek,

built by the confederate Pelasgi and Abor- could not trace the foundation of Pisse

igines. Another tradition ascribes its earlier than the arrival of the Etruscans in

foundation to a Greek colony from Arcadia, Italy ; and he ascribes it to Tarchon. This

■who named it after the celebrated city of tradition of the Teutanes, Midler (einl. 2,

the Peloponnesus ; another to some of the 0, n. 55) regards as confirmatory of a

Greeks who wandered to Italy after the Pelasgic origin. Some say Pisre was taken

Trojan War (Serv. ad .Sn. X. 179 ; Strabo, by the Etruscans from the Ligurians.

V. p. 222) ; but the connection with Pisa; Lycoph. Cass. 1356. cf. Justin. XX. 1.

of Elis seems to have been generally be- But the almost concurrent voice of tradition

lieved. Virg. Mu. loc. cit. ; Serv. ad loc. ; assigns to Pisre a Greek origin, which its

Plin. III. 8 ; Claudian. de Bel. Gildon. name .seems to confirm ; though on the

483 ; Rutil. I. 5G5, 573 ; Solinus, Polyh. other hand its name, which Servius says

VIII. Servius records other traditions of signified a moon-shaped port in the Lydian

its origin, one assigning it to the Celts ; {i.e. Etruscan) tongue, may have given rise

another, that its site had been occupied by to these traditions.

an earlier town, by some called Phocis, by •' Strabo. V. p. 222. Plin. III. 8.

others Teuta, whose inhabitarts the Teuta\ Eutil. I. 506. Teutani, or Tentones were of (ireek race.

CHAP. XXXIX.] ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF TISJE. 71

of soil brouf^ht down by tbesc rivers, it is now removed six miles from the coast, ^ wliile the Serchio has left it iieiirly as far to the south.

Her remoteness from PiDine may well account for the absence of historical mention of I'isa during the i)eriod of Etruscan inde- pendence. Yirgil introduces her as sending aid to .Eneas against Turnus'' — a statement which can be received only as confirmatory evidence of her antiquity. Yet a modern writer of great weight does not hesitate to regard her as one of the Twelve chief cities of Etruria.** The earliest mention of Pisa in history occurs in the year 529 (b.c. 225), when just before the battle of Telamon, a Eoman army from Sardinia was landed here.'^ Erequent mention is subsequently made of Pisa, which played a prominent part in the Ligurian AVars.^ It was colonised in the year 574, at the request of its citizens.'' Tender the Komans, it Avas of con- siderable importance on account of its port, and was celebrated also for the fertility of its territor^^ for the quarries in its neighbourhood, and for the abundance of timber it yielded for ship-building.^

Of the ancient magnificence of Pisa scarcel}^ a vestige remains. Various fragments of lioman antiquity- have been discovered on

^ 111 the tenth century, according to that probability the descendants of the ancient ■«-andering Jew, ISenjamin of Tiidela, Pita forests, where Rutilius, when weather- was but four miles inhmd ; and as in Strabo's bound, amused himself with hunting the time it was only two miles and a half, we wild-boar (I. 621 — 8). The city is called may conclude that a thousand years earlier Pissa or Pissai by Lycophron, Polybius, and it stood almost close to the sea. Strabo Ptolemy.

(loc. cit.) represents the water, at the point •' Virg. JEu. X. 17'.b He calls her —

of contlucnce of the rivers, rising to such a iirbs Etrusca.

height in mid channel, that persons standing '' ]\Iuller, Etrusk. II. 1, '2. Stralio (V.

on the opposite banks could not see each p. 223) says that it had originally been a

other. Cf. Pseudo-Aristot. Mirab. Auscult. flourishing city. Mannert (Geog. p. 339),

c. 94. Colonel Mure remarks the similarity though he does not regard it as one of the

of sits of the Pisa of Etniria with that Twelve, calls it ' ' the natural rampart and

of Greece — both occupied "a jtrecisely f rontier- wall of Etruria towards the north." similar i-egion, a low, warm, marshy Hat, ^ Polyb. II. 27.

interspersed with pine-forest." Travels in ■'* Liv. XXI. 39 ; XXXIII. 43 ; XXXIV.

Greece, II. p. 283. The analogy of site -){]; XXXV. 21; XL. 41 ; XLI. 5. Pre-

may explain the identity of name ; which viously, in the Second Punic War, Scipio

Mure is doubtful whether to derive from had made use of its port. Polyb. III. ij(\ v7aos — a marsh — or from iriaaa — the fir or ^ Liv. XL. 43. Festus calls it a miuil-

pine-tree. The former, or an equivalent clpium. Pliny (III. 8) and Ptolemy (Geog.

derivation, is favoured by Stralm (VIII. j). j). 72) mention it among the Kmiian colonies

356), and by Eustathius (ail Horn. Iliad. in Etruria.

XX. 9) ; but the latter derives support ' Strabo, V. ]>. 223. Pliny also .^^pcaks

from the actual exi.stence of ijine-woods, of its grain (XVIII. 20), of its grapes (XIV.

both around the city of Elis, and also on 4, 7), and of its wonderful springs, Avhere

this coast, in the royal Cascine, where they frogs found themselves litei'ally in hot

jBver some square miles, and are in all Mater (II. 106),

72 PISA. [cirAP. XXXIX.

the spot ; but. \vitli the exception of sundry sarcojihagi, broken statues, and numerous inscrii^tions, nothing remains above ground beyond some mean traces of baths, and two marble columns with Composite capitals, probably belonging to the vesti- bule of a temple of the time of the Antonines, now embedded in the ruined churcli of San Felice.- As to the city of the Pelasgi and Etruscans, it has entirely disappeared. The traveller looks in vain for a stone of the Avails, which from the exposed position of the city must have been of gi'eat strength — in vain for a tumulus or monument on the surrounding plain — the city of tbe dead, as well as that of the living, of that early period, is now lost to the eye. Yet the necropolis of Pisa does exist; and traces of it have been found, not onh- on the neighbouring hills of S. Giuliano and Yecchiano, on the side towards Lucca, where are numerous tumuh, now broken down and defaced, so as hardly to be recog- nised as artificial ; but also to the west of Pisa, in the royal tenuta of S. Eossore, where, in the winter of 1848-9, Signor Francois found numerous sand-hills, now far inland, which he proved b}' excavation to be artificial and sepulchral, ^delding beautiful Greek vases with red figui'es in a severely archaic stA'le.'* The only relics of Etruscan antiquity now at Pisa are a few- sarcophagi and urns in that celebrated sepulchral museum, the Campo Santo.^ Even these were not found on the spot. The eye experienced in Etruscan remains at once recognises them

- Kepetti, IV. pp. 305, 372 ; Dempster ■• There are some small copper coins •n-ith

(II. p. 2iS) inters from Seneca (Thyestes, the head of AIercur>- on the obverse, and

L 123) that Pisa was anciently renowned an owl, with the legend Peithesa, in Etrus-

for her towers ; but the true reading is — can cliaracters, on the revei"se, which most

" Pisseisque domos ciirribus inclytas,"

probably belong to Pisa. The opinion of early Italian antiquaries was generally in

and the line refers to the city of Elis. The favour of Perusia ; Lanzi (Sagg. II. jjp. 27,

Italian Pisa, however, was renowned for 7(3) hints at the Arretium Fidens of Pliny,

her towers in the middle ages. Benjamin, Sestini (Geog. Is'umis. II. p. 5) was hardly

the Jew of Tudela, who lived in the tenth less extravagant in a.scribing these coins to

century, records that nearly 10,000 towers Veii (cf. ilionnct, f^uppl. I. p. 204). They

were to be counted, attached to the houses have also l;een assigned to Pitinum in Um-

— verily, as old Faccio degli Uberti says of bria ; but AliJller (Etrusk, I. p. 33S)

Lucca — " a f/uiaa d' un boscJteto." Other suggests that Peithesa may Ite the old

chroniclers increase this number to 15,000; Etruscan form of Pissa : and Cramer

and Petrarch vouches for a great multitude. (Ancient It;dy, I. p. 173) remarks that if

2 These tombs lay so close together that we sujtpose its pronunciation to have been

he could not doubt that this was the ne- Pithsa, it would not be far from the lissa

cropolLs of ancient Pisji. He found traces of Lycophron. ilillingen (Xumis. Anc.

of similar sepulture at intervals all across Ital. p. 170) thinks that these coins belong

the plain from Pisa to the mountains of to some forgotten town, near Todi in Umbria,

Leghorn, where Etruscan tombs have also because they are generally found in that

been discovered. Lull. Inst. 1849, pj). neighbourhood. 22-24.

CHAP. xxxix.J ETEUSCAX UENS IX THE CA^rPO SANTO. 73

as the roha of Yoltena. Tlicv were found at ^lorruua, iu tlic neij^-hbourliood of that town, and presented in 1808 to the city of Pisa. There is nothing among them of remarkable interest. Most of them are small square cinerary urns, or " ash chests," as the Germans term tliem, -with stunted and distorted figures on the lids. One of these recumbent figures holds an open scroll, Avith an I^truscan inscription in red letters. Among the reliefs are — a Ijancpiet; a sacrifice; a soul in a qiuKJy'Kja, conducted to the shades by Charun, armed Avith his hammer ; an Amazon defending her fallen comrade from a bear, which emerges from a Avell ; Orestes persecuted by a l^'ury ; Neoptolemus on an altar, defending himself against Orestes, who rushes up, sword in hand, to slay him; the parting of Admetus and Alcestis ; a grifibn contending with three Avarriors. But the most interesting Etruscan monument here, though of wretched art, is an urn, on whose lid reclines a female figure holding a vhyton, or drinking- cup, in the shape of a horse's fore -quarters. In the relief below is represented a she-demon, or Fury, winged, torqued, buskined, and half-draped, sitting, spear in hand, between two Avarriors. In character and attitude she bears a strong resemblance to one of the demons i^ainted on the AA-alls of the Grotta del Cardinal e at Corneto, Avho sits as guardian over the gate of Hell, and probably represents the Fury Tisiphone —

Tisiphoneque sedens, palla siiccincta cruenta. Vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesqiie."

In duty bound, I have noticed these Etruscan relics. Yet few Avho visit this silent and solemn corner of Pisa, Avhere the grandeur and glory of the city are concentrated, are lilcely to give them much attention. Few Avill turn from the antique pomp, the mosque-like magnificence of the Cathedral — from the fair Avhite marvel of the Leaning ToAver — from the cunningly Avrought pulpit and font of the Baptistery — or even from the frescoed A'isions, the grotesque solenmities of the Campo Santo, to examine these uncoutli memorials of the early possessors of the laud.

^ Virir. Jiu. VI. 555.

]iTRUSCA\ CIlIM.EilA, l.N mi'jSiK.

CHArXER XL.

FIEENZE.— i^Z on E NT I A .

Florence, beueatli the sun,

Of cities, fairest one I — Siiellky.

Di te, Donna dell' Arno, anch' io favellj. Til, in regio trono alterauiente assisa, L'imjierioso ciglio Volgi air Etriuia 1 — Filkaja.

Florence, the Athens of modern Italy, in the days of Etruscan greatness and of the earliest civilisation of the land, Avas nought. She cannot claim an origin higher than the latter years of the Jioman Piepublic.^ Yet she may be regarded as the representa-

^ Frontiniis (de Coloniis, p. 13, ed. T58S) says Florentia was a colony of the Trium- virate, established under the Lex Julia ; ■which has led some to conclude that such was the date of her foundation. Rei>etti, II. pp. 108, 150. Yet Florus (III. 21) ranks her with Spoletium, Interaniniuni, and PrEeneste, tho.se " mo.st splendid mu- nirlpia of Italy," which, in the"civil war.s of Marius and Sylla, suffered from the vengeance of the latter. Some editions have "Fluentia," hut this can be no other than Florentia, as the same name is given

by riiny (III. 8) in his li.st of the colonies in Etruria — Fhientini pra-fluenti Arno op- positi. Cluvc.- (11. p. 508) admits the higher antiipiity ; while JIannert (Greog. p. 293) thinks the city dates its origin from the Ligurian wars. In the reign of Tiberius, Florentia was an important niu- iticipiam, one of tho.se which sent deputies to Rome, to deprecate alterations in the course of the tributaries of the liber; their plea being that if the Clanis were diverted into the Arnus, it would bring destruction on their territory. Tacit.

CHAP. XL.] THE ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 75

tive of the ancient Etrnscan cit}' of Fjesuke, wliose inhabitants at an early iieriod removed from their rocky heights to the banks of the Arno" — an emigration in which Dante, in liis Ghibelline wrath, finds matter of vituperation —

qucUo ingrato popolo maligno, Che di.scese di Fiesole ab antico, E tiene ancor del monte e del macigno —

though it wouhl puzzle a i)oet now-a-days to lind an}- analogy between the courteous and polished Florentines and the rugged crags of Fiesule.

MusEO Etrusco.

It is not my province to make further mention of Florence, than to notice the collection of antiquities gathered from various sites in Etruria, and now preserved in the National Museum in this city.

This collection has of late been removed from the Uffizj to the Museo Egizio in the Via Faenza. It is open in summer from ten to four, and in winter from nine to three. Admission one franc ; on Sundays free.

Black Pottery, or Bucciiero.

First Boom. — The first room you enter contains the black, unglazed ware of Etruria, commonly called hnccJiero. It is coarse, unbaked jiotter}-; its forms are uncouth, its decorations grotesque, its manufacture rude in the extreme, and it has little aiiistic beaut}', yet it is of extraordinary interest as illustrative of Etruscan art in its earliest and purest stages, ere it had been subjected to Hellenic influences.

The stranger here finds himself in a new Avorld of Etruscan art, for this characteristic and genuinely Etruscan ware is not to be seen in the INIuseo Gregoriano at Bome, or in the British Museum, or, save to a limited extent, in tlic Louvre, or, I believe,

Aniial. I. 79. Vestiges of her Roman - The fact is not stated by the ancients,

magnificence remain in tlie ruins of the but has for ages been traditional. Inghi-

aniphitheatre near the Piazza di Santa rami (Guida di Fiesole, p. 24) refei-s the

Croce. emigration to the time of Sylla ; llepetti

Li vy (X. 25) speaks of an Etruscan town, (loc. cit.) to that of Augustus. According

Aharna, or as some reading.s have it, Ad- to old Faccio degli Uberti, the city re-

hamalia, which Lanzi translates Ad Arnum, ccived its name from the "flower-basket"

and tliinks that Florence may be indicated in which it is situated. (Sagg. I. p. 377 ; II. p. 391) ; but from j^j fiu^ gij hahitanti per mcmoria

the context it appears that Livy could Che Icra posta en un gran cest de fiori,

hardly refer to a city so di.stant from Rome. Gli dono el nome bello unde sen gloria.

76 riREXZE. [CHAP. XL.

in any otlier public collection in Europe, save at Cliiusi, and at Palermo, Avhicli now contaii.s the Museo Casuccini, once the glory of the former city.

This ancient pottery is so arranged in this room that the inquirer can readily trace its progi-ess from its earliest and rudest beginnings to its development in the well-known ware of Cliiusi and its neighbourhood. Case I. contains the most archaic vases, of brown clay without any glaze, and not baked, but merely sun- dried, clumsily shaped by the hand, not by the lathe; imitations, it may be, of pots hollowed from blocks of wood — .just such pots, in fact, as are made now-a-days by the naked Indians of South America, or as were fashioned of old by the primitive Celts and Teutons." Few show any decorations, and those are mere circles scratched round the body of the vase, or incised lines, or punc- tured dots, Avith a very rude attempt at design.

Case II. exhibits the earliest specimens of Etruscan black ware, still extremely rude both in form and decoration, yet show- ins an advance on the brown. Though wrought by the hand, tills ware sometimes bears a slight lustre. It is either plain, or rudely scratched Avith patterns some of which are familiar, as chevrons or meanders, others of more uncouth design. One pot has large concentric squares; another, found at Orvieto, is very rudely made, and carelessly decorated with meanders ; a third from Cortona has three bauds of varied ornaments on the neck, and a broad belt on the body of the vase, all simply scratched on the clay.

In Case III. begins the earliest black ware of Chiusi, with figures in relief, of which a vase on the lowest shelf offers a curious example ; and you can trace the progress of this pottery round the room, till in Cases XI^'. and XA\ you see it in its highest development, retaining the old forms, but improved in elegance, and displaying a certain degree of polish.

This ware, which is almost peculiar to Chiusi, Sarteano, Cetona, and the neighbourhood, consists of tall awphorce, or oliue, Avith cock-crowned lids, or of quaint, knobbed jars or pots Avitli strange figures in relief — veiled female heads, grinning nuisks, tusk- gnashing gorgons, divinities of most ungodlikc aspect, sphinxes, liegasi, chimeras of many a will conception, couching hons or panthers, and many a grotesque specimen of beast, fowl, fish,

•■' Dr. Birch (Ancient Pottery, p. 44.'!, it i.s often scarcely to Le