The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria

Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol

The cities and cemeteries of Etruria

Dennis, George

1883

Chapter XV Bombarzo

urn:nbn:at:at-ubi:2-12107 CHAPTER XV. BOHABZO.

Miremur periisse homines ?—monnmenta fatiscunt, Mors etiam saxis nominibusque venit .—Ausonius. Ecce libet-pisces Tyrrhenaque monstra Dicere. Ovid.

About twelve miles east of Viterbo, on the same slope of the Ciminian, is the village of Bomarzo, in the immediate neighbour¬ hood of an Etruscan town where extensive excavations have been made. The direct road to it runs along the base of the mountain, but the excursion may be made more interesting by a detour to Fdrento, which must be donfe in the saddle, the road being quite impracticable for vehicles. From Ferento the path leads across a deep ravine, past the village of Le Grotte di Santo Stefano, whose name marks the existence of caves in its neighbourhood,1 and over the open heath towards Bomarzo. But before reaching that place, a wooded ravine, Fosso della Vezza, which forms a natural fosse to the Ciminian, has to be crossed, and here the proverb —Chi va piano va sano —must be borne in mind. A more steep, slippery, and dangerous tract I do not remember to have traversed in Italy. Stiff miry clay, in which the steeds will anchor fast ; rocks shelving and smooth-faced, like inclined planes of ice, are the alternatives. Let the traveller take warning, and not pursue this track after heavy rains. It would be advisable, especially if ladies are of the party, to return from Ferento to Viterbo, and to take the direct road thence to Bomarzo. A diligence runs daily between Viterbo and the railway station at Orte, passing not far from Bomarzo.

1 I could not learn that excavations had -with no great success. He found, however, been made here, though at Monte Calvello, another well -tomb, similar to those of about 14 mile beyond, Ruggieri of Viterbo Ferento, the shaft to which was 127 palms excavated in 1845 for Prince Doria, but deep. CHAP. XV.] THE BY-EOADS OE ITALY. 165

This is a village of considerable size situated on a wooded cliff- bound platform, with an old castle of the Borghese family at the verge of the precipice. It commands a glorious view of the vale of the Tiber, and the long chain of Umbrian and Sabine Apen¬ nines to the east ; of the vast Etruscan plain to the north, with Monte Fiascone like a watch-tower in the midst, and the giant masses of Monte Cetona and Monte Amiata in the far horizon. Like most villages in the old Papal State, Bomarzo is squalid in the extreme ; so that as we rode down its main street, not a house could we see whose exterior promised decent accommodation. We pulled up at one of the best, the Casa Fosci, to which we had been directed as a place where travellers were entertained. One great point of contrast between France and Itaty—I may say, between northern and southern Europe—is that in every French village or hamlet, be it ever so small, there is some one house, often several, where Pierre or Jean so-and-so “ donne a boire et &manger,” or “ loge a pied et a cheval; ” but in Central and Southern Italy such signs are as rare as notices of spiritual refreshment and halting-places for the devotee are abundant. Here and there a withered bush at a doorway shows that wine may be had within ; but as to an inn, except on the great high¬ ways—you might as well look for a club-house. Some one or more of the most respectable inhabitants of these country-towns and villages is always, however—thank Mercury !—ready to entertain the traveller, for a consideration—for what will not an Italian do for gain ?—especially the Homans, who, however unlike in some points, resemble their ancestors in thirst for foreign spoil. “ Omnia Romse cum pretio ”—holds good now as in Juvenal’s day. This occasional Boniface is generally a man of decayed fortunes, and, as in this instance, shows his gentle blood by his courtesy and attention, and by doing everything that the slender resources of a country village will allow, to con¬ tribute to the traveller’s comfort. The ruder sex may be content with their modicum of this, and thank God it is not less, but should ladies desire to explore the antiquities of Bomarzo I can scarcely recommend them to make more than a flying visit. The site of the Etruscan town, which Bomarzo represents, lies on a platform nearly two miles to the north of the village, separated from it by the deep ravine of La Yezza. From the brow of the further height the valley of the Tiber opened beneath us, the royal river winding through it, washing the base of many a .town-capt height, of which that of Mugnano was the nearest 166 J30MARZ0. [CHAP. XV. and most prominent, and that of Orte the most distant, while midway lay the Yadimonian lake, on whose shores the Roman eagle twice soared in triumph, and the fate of Etruria -was doubly sealed as a dependent nation.2 The first ruin which met our eye was some Roman baths, in three parallel vaults of opus incerium, very massive in character. They are clearly of Roman construction ; for cement, though not unknown to the Etruscans , was rarely, if ever, used in their architecture—never to such an extent as to form the principal portion of the masonry. This ruin is without the ancient town, and the platform on which it stands, called Pian della Colonna, is united to that of the town by a narrow neck of land. Here Ruggieri of Viterbo made excavations for Prince Borghese, and found no less than twenty specchj in one tomb,3 On passing this strait , fragments of pottery, bricks, and wrought stone strewn over the ground, showed us we were on the site of former habitation ; but no more definite remains could I perceive than some fragments of red tessellated pavement—probably marking the site of an impluvium, or tank in the court of a private house. The town must have been of very small import¬ ance, for its size is limited by the natural boundaries of cliffs, save at the narrow neck already mentioned ; and the space thus circumscribed forms a single field of no great dimensions. Of the ancient walls not one stone remains on another ; but beneath the brow of the hill on the east lie a few of the blocks, of red tufo, and of the dimensions usual in Etruscan walls in the volcanic district. In the cliff, on the same side, are two sewers opening in the rock, similar to those on other Etruscan sites. The name of this town in Etruscan times we have no means of determining. It has-been supposed to be Mseonia, or Pneonia, but there is no authority for this in ancient writers. By others it has been thought to be Polimartium ; but as this is a name mentioned only in works of the middle ages,4 it may have had no connection with the Etruscan town, but may have been simply the original of the village of Bomarzo. The existence of an Etruscan town on this site had for ages been forgotten, when some years since it was proved by the dis-

2 See Chapter XI . Mugnano claims to fables and the plague . May not his own be the birthplace of Biagio Sinibaldi , a existence be called into question ?—may he famous traveller of the olden time , who not be an European embodiment of the visited Ceylon, Japan , the Eastern Archi - oriental myth of Sinbad the Sailor ? pelago , China, and Tartary, at a date when 3 Bull . Inst . 1845 , p. 21. Europe imported little from the East but 4 Dempster de Etrur. Reg. II . p. 110. chap . xv .J THE ETEUSCAN TOWN —PILLARED TOMB. 167 covery of tombs containing articles of value and interest. Exca¬ vations were commenced in 1830, and have since been carried on .witb various success. The platforms to the south and west of the town seem to have been the chief depositories of its dead. A few tombs are seen in the cliffs beneath the walls, but the greater part are sunk deep below the surface of the ground as at Tarquinii and Yulci, and were entered by long narrow passages, descending obliquely. Though very many have been excavated, few now remain open; the greater part, as at Yeii and Yulci, have been reclosed, in order to save for tillage the few yards of earth occupied by the entrance- passages. Many tombs do not merit preservation, but on the other hand it is well known that some of the most interesting opened in former years in this and other cemeteries are not.now to be entered, and their very sites are.forgotten. The principal group of tombs that still remain open, is on the edge of the hill facing Bomarzo. Two of them merit a few words of description. One is called

Grotta della Colonna from a massive pillar of Doric-like simplicity, which supports the ceiling. The chamber is about thirteen feet square, and seven in height, with a roof slightly vaulted, in the form of a camber-arch. The door is of the usual Etruscan form, smaller above than below, like Egyptian and Doric doorways; and the wall on each side of it, within the tomb, is lined with masonry— a rare feature in Etruscan tombs, especially in those of subter¬ raneous excavation. The blocks are very massive and neatly rusticated, a clear proof that this stjde of masonry was used by the Etruscans ; a fact also attested by other remains on Etruscan sites. It is worthy of remark that this style, which probably originated in Etruria , is still prevalent in this part of Italy ; and the grand palaces of Florence and Siena, so far as masonry is concerned, may be purely traditional imitations of those of Etruscan Lucumones, raised five-and-twenty centuries ago. The character of this tomb is most solemn and imposing. The rock-hewn pillar in the midst, more simple and severe than any Doric column5—the bare, damp walls of rock—the massive

5 Canina cites this as the most striking hewn columns in the tombs of Beni -Hassar. example of a Doric-like column among the Etruria Marit. II ., p. 166 . This column very few to he found in Etruscan tombs, is singularly formed , the side facing the and points out its similarity to the rock- door being rounded, the back squared. The 168 J80MARZ0. [chap . xv.

blocks of masonry—the yawning sarcophagus with its lid over¬ thrown, and the dust of the long-forgotten dead exposed to view —the deep gloom never broken but by the torch of the curious traveller—all strike the soul with a chill feeling of awe*

Grotta Dipinta. Let us leave this tomb and enter another hard by. We are in a chamber whose walls, gaily painted, are alive with sea-horses snorting and plunging—water-snakes uprearing their crests and gliding along in slimy folds—dolphins sporting as in their native element—and,—can we believe our eyes?—grim and hideous caricatures of the human face divine. One is the head of an old man, with eye starting from its socket, and mouth wide open as though smitten with terror . Another is a face elongated into a coffin form, or like the head of an ox, with one eye blotted from his visage, and the other regarding you with a fixed stare, no nostrils visible, the mouth gaping above a shapeless chin, and the hair standing out stiffly from the head, as though electrified. 1 could not readily bring myself to believe that this caricature was of ancient execution ; but, after minute examination, I was convinced that it was of the same date, and by the same hand, as the other paintings in this tomb, which are indubitably Etruscan. All are drawn in the same broad and sketchy style, with red and black crayons—“ rubrica picta aut carbone.” In the centre of one wall is a third head, no caricature, and probably the portrait of the Etruscan for whom the tomb was constructed, and whose ashes were found in his sarcophagus. The other two heads may represent respectively Charun and Typhon, i.e. the angel or minister of Death, and the principle of Destruction, both of whom are usually depicted as hideous as the imagination of the artist could conceive.6 Hippocampi and water-snakes are symbols frequently found in Etruscan tombs, either depicted on the walls, or sculptured on sarcophagi and urns. They are generally regarded as emblematic of the passage of the soul from one state of existence to another, an opinion confirmed by the frequent representation of boys shaft is 5 ft. high , and 18 inches in dia- 6 Typhon is here, as elsewhere in this meter , with a plain base. The capital is work, used conventionally , to express a di- 2 ft . square, with its lower edge bevelled vinity of Etruscan mythology , whose name down to the shaft . The whole is crowned has not yet been ascertained , but who bears by an abacus, 4 ft . square, and , like the some analogy to the Typhon of Egyptian and capital , about 1 ft . deep . Greek mythology . See Chapter XXV. CHAP. XV.] PAINTED TOMB—CAEICATUKES. 169

riding on their backs. This view is, moreover, borne out by their amphibious character—horse and fish, snake and fish— evidently referring to a two-fold state of existence . The dolphins, which form a border round the apartment, painted alternately black and red, are a common sepulchral ornament, and are supposed to have a similar symbolical reference ;7 though they have also been considered as emblematic of the maritime power of the Etruscans , the “ sea-kings ” of antiquity.8 The rolling border beneath them represents the waves, in which they are supposed to be sporting—

circum elari delphines in orbem JEquora verrebant caudis , sestumque seeabant.

Next to the Typhon -head is a large jar, sketched on the wall, out of which two serpents with forked tongues are rising. The demons or genii of Etruscan mythology are commonly represented brandishing these reptiles in their hands, or with them bound round their brows or waists, and sometimes, as in this case, having them by their side. That snakes were also made use of by the Etruscan priests and soothsayers, as by the Egyptian , to establish their credit for superior powers in the minds of the people, as evincing control over the most deadly and untractable creatures in existence , may be learned both from history and from sepulchral monuments,9 and it is possible that those used in the service of the temples were kept in such jars as this .1

Gori 7 Mus. Etr. II . p. 236. Inghirami called from this fable—Tyrrhenus piscis— Mon. Etrus. I. p. 160. Some have imagined Seneca, Agam. 451. cf. Stat. Achil. I. that the dolphins so frequently introduced 56. The dolphin is also an emblem of on Etruscan sepulchral monuments have Apollo, who once assumed its form, and reference to the story of Dionysos, told in drove a ship from Crete to Crissa. Horn. the Homeric Hymn to that god, who,, Hym. Apol. 401, et seq. when seized by some Tyrrhene pirates, as¬ 8 Tvpfiqvol BaWaTToKparovuTfs. Diod. sumed the form of a lion (v. 44), or, as Sic. Y. p. 295, 316. Strabo Y. p. 222. Apollodorus has it, turned the mast and 9 Livy(YII. 17) records that the Etrus¬ oars into serpents, and filled the ship with can priests made use of these animals to ivy and the music of pipes, which so ter¬ strike terror into their foes. See also Flo¬ rified the crew that they leaped into the ras . I. 12, and Front. Strat. II . 4, 17. sea, and were transformed to dolphins. 1 The serpent was an object of divination Apollod. III . 5, 3. cf. Ovid. Met. ni. among the Latins (iElian. Nat. An. XI. 575 ,etseq. Serv . ad An. I. 67. Hyginus, cap. 16), and probably also among the 134. Nonnus, Dionys. XLV. p. 1164, ed. Etruscans, as it continues to be among cer¬ Hanov. 1605. Eurip. Cycl. 112. But it tain people of Asia and Africa. Serpents is clear that these pirates were Tyrrhene were worshipped by the Egyptians, and Pelasgi, of the Lydian coast, not Etruscans. cherished in their temples (Alian . X. cap. See Niebuhr, I. p. 42. Muller, Etrus. 31, XI. 17, XVII. 5), and the Greeks kept einl. 2, 4, and I. 4, 4. The dolphin was representations of them in the temples of 170 BOMARZO. [chap. xv.

In this tomb was found the curious sarcophagus, now in the British Museum, of temple -shape, with a pair of serpents, in knotted coils on the roof ; and it appears highly probable, from this and the other adornments of the sarcophagus, as well as from the serpent-jar painted on the wall, that this was the sepulchre of some augur or aruspex, skilled in the mysteries of “ the Etruscan Discipline, ” and in interpreting the will of Heaven. His name, w'e learn from his sarcophagus, was “ Yel Urinates, ” a family name met with in other parts of Etruria ;2 and his portrait is probably seen on the right-hand wall.3 From the freedom of the sketches on the walls, from the Greek character of the ornaments, and the peculiar style of the

Bacchus (Sehol. ad Aristoph. Plut. III . sc. (Bn . V. 90). 2, 690), probably because this reptile was —agmine longo a symbol of regeneration and renovation. Tandem inter pateras et levia pocula The serpent is also a well-known emblem serpens, of Apollo, of his son iEsculapius, and of Libavitque dapes...... Minerva in her character of Hygieia. cf. Val. Flacc. loc. cit. It is probable that The Romans also connected the serpent the serpent was delineated on the walls of with the worship of the Lares; this reptile tombs, not so much to mark the sacredness being always found on the Lararia of the of the spot, as to keep it inviolate by ex¬ houses at Pompeii. The serpent indeed citing the superstitious terror of intruders. seems to have been used by the Romans as 2 The name Urinates is inscribed on a a mark of sacredness. They were wont to rock-tomb at Castel d’ Asso. It occurs paint it on walls for the same purpose that also among the Etruscan family names of the modern Italians paint crosses or souls Perugia, Volterra, and Chiusi. in purgatory. 3 This sarcophagus is unique. It seems Pinge duos angues: pueri, locus from the sloping roof, joint-tiles, andante- est s&cer: extra, &e., fisae, to have represented a house or temple, says Persius (Sat. I. 113). Whether it be yet nothing like a door is visible. The lid a traditional custom, or a mere coincidence, has a winged sphinx at each end of the I know not, but the modern Italians, espe¬ ridge, and in the middle are a pair of ser¬ cially the Romans, are very fond of chalk¬ pents curiously knotted together like ropes. ing huge serpents on walls, generally chained The antefixse are female heads, probably to a post. Larvae, as on the black pottery of Chiusi Serpents were regarded by the ancients and Sarteano. At each end of the monu¬ as genii of the place where they were found; ment are griffons, or beasts of prey, de¬ or as ministers to the dead; as when JEneas vouring antelopes, and on the sides at each sees one issue from the tomb of his father angle is a figure, also in relief, one repre¬ he was senting Charun with his hammer and a Incertus geniumne loci, famulumne crested snake in his hand ; another, a parentis winged female genius, with a drawn sword; Esse putet .—Bn . V. 95. a third , a similar figure, with an open So also Val. Flacc. Argon. III . 458.—TJm- scroll; and the fourth, a warrior, with brarum famuli. So says Isidore (Orig. sword and shield. The whole was origin¬ XII . 4)—Angues apud gentiles, pro geniis ally covered with stucco and coloured, and locorum erant habiti semper. Seneca(de traces of red, black, and blue, may still be Irfi, II . 31) speaks of them at banquets, detected. The name—Vel Urinates—is gliding among the goblets on the table ; so inscribed on one side just beneath the lid. also Virgil describes the serpent mentioned A plate of it is given, Mon. Ined. Instit. above, taking part in the funeral feast I. tav. XLII., and Etruria Mar it. tav. CXX. chap , xv .] SEEPENTS ON ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 171

sarcophagus, this tomh cannot be of early date. It must be some centuries later than the Grotta Campagna at Veii, coeval with the latest painted tombs of Corneto, probably subsequent to the conquest of Etruria , though betraying no foreign influence, save in its style of art, and the character of its adornments.4 This is the only painted tomb yet found in this necropolis. The .generality of sepulchres on this site are quadrilateral, of moderate size, with a broad ledge or bench of rock round three sides, on which lay the bodies, sometimes in sarcophagi, some¬ times uncoffined, with a lamp of terra-cotta or bronze at the head of each ; and weapons, vases, and other sepulchral furniture around. These benches were occasionally hollowed into sarco¬ phagi, which were covered by large sun-burnt tiles, three feet or more in length. Body-niches, so common at Sutri, Civita Castellans, and Falleri, are seldom found on this site ; and even small niches for lamps or vases are rare. I observed one tomb under the town-walls, which seems to have been circular, with a pillar in the centre—the usual form of the sepulchres of Volterra. In some instances, sarcophagi have been found not in tombs, but sunk like our modern coffins, a few feet below the surface of the ground, covered with large tiles, or stone slabs. These were for the bodies of the poor. At this site they did not always bury their dead ; for vases are often found containing calcined remains. As every necropolis in Etruria has its peculiar style of tomh, so there is a peculiarity also in the character of the sepulchral furniture . On this site the beautiful painted vases of Yulci and Tarquinii are not common; those, however, with yellow figures, are not so rare as the more archaic, with black on a yellow ground ; but they are seldom in a.good style of art. Articles of bronze, often of great richness and beauty, are abundant; consist¬ ing of helmets, often gilt, shields, greaves, and other portions of armour ; vases of different forms; specchj, or mirrors, figured with mythological scenes; tripods and candelabra; and long thin plates of this metal gilt, covered with designs in relief. Besides these have been found swords and bows of steel. But perhaps the most remarkable article in bronze here found is an asp is, or circular shield, about three feet in diameter, with a lance-thrust

4 The tomh is 18 ft . long by 15 wide , wards on either side . The floor is said to and nearly 7 high in the middle ; the ceil - have been covered with cement . The walls ing is cut as usual into the form of the are coated with a fine white stucco to re¬ roof of a house, with a beam along the ceive the colour, not here, as at Veii and centre , and rafters sloping from it down- Chiusi, laid on the rock itself. 172 BOMARZO. [CHAP. XV.

in it, and its lining of wood, and braces of leather still remaining, after the lapse of more than 2000 years. Go to the Gregorian Museum, and behold it suspended on the walls ; for the Pope purchased it of Signor Ruggieri, the fortunate excavator, for the sum of 600 scudi. It was found suspended from the wall, near the sarcophagus of its owner, and the rest of his armour hung there with it—his embossed helmet, his greaves of bronze, and his wooden-hilted sword of steel . In one tomb on this site a skeleton was discovered still retaining fragments of its shroud; and in another a purple mantle was found covering two vases and a garland of box! 5 In a third was a little cup of ordinary ware, but bearing on its foot an inscription , which proved to be no other than the Etruscan alphabet. What was the meaning of it in such a situation is hard to say—to us it is suggestive only of a present to a child. Though originally of little worth, it is now a rare treasure, being, until very recently, the sole instance known of an alphabet in the Etruscan character.6 Here is a fac-simile of it—

All these articles are now in the possession of the Prince Borghese . The fullest description of the excavations at Bomarzo will be found in the work of Don Luigi Yittori, arch-priest of the village.7

5 Yittori, Mem. Polim. p. 38. Another Etruscan alphabet has lately 6 A little pot was discovered at Cervetri been found scratched on a black howl, now some few years since, inscribed with an in the Museum at Grosseto, but the place alphabet and primer ; and a tomb at Colie, of its discoveryI could not ascertain. It near Volterra, opened two or three centuries closely resembles this of Bomarzo in the ago, had a somewhat similar epigraph on its order, and generally in the form of the walls. But in both those cases the letters letters, but contains twenty-two instead of were Pelasgic, not Etruscan. Here, how¬ twenty. See Chapter XLYII. In the ever, is an alphabet which is admitted to be Museum at Chiusi are three Etruscan in the latter character. The order adopted alphabets, all fragmentary, carved on slabs is singular. In Roman letters it runs thus: of tufo. They are of earlier date than the —A, C, E, V, Z, H, TH, I, L, M, N, P, S, two mentioned, and the letters, which do R, S, T, U, TH, CH, PH. The fifth, or not observe the same arrangement, run the zeta, is of a very rare form. The usual from left to right . See Chapter LIII. For form of the Etruscan zeta is J. It will be 7 other particulars regarding the observed that there are two thetas; the excavations on this site, see Annali dell’ ante-penultimate letter in the alphabet may Inst . 1831, p. 116 (Gerhard) ; 1832, also be a phi. The difference between the p . 284 ; 1832, p. 269 (Lenoir) ; Bul- two sigmas is supposed by Lepsius to con¬ lettini dell’ Inst . 1830, p. 233; 1831, sist in the first being accented, and the p. 6 ; p. 85 ; p. 90 ; 1832, p. 195 ; 1834, other not ; but they are often used indif¬ p. 50. ferently in the same word. chap . XV.] AN ALPHABET POTTED POP POSTEEITY. 173

We returned to Viterbo by the direct road along the foot of the Ciminian Mount. It presents many picturesque combinations of rock and wood, with striking views of the Etruscan plain, and the distant snow-capt mountains of Cetona and Amiata. This dis¬ trict is said to be rich in remains of Etruscan roads, sepulchres, and buildings.8 I observed in one spot a singular line of rocks, which, at a short distance, seemed to be Cyclopean walls, but proved to be a natural arrangement ; and I remarked some traces of an ancient road ; but beyond this, I saw nothing—no tombs or other remains of Etruscan antiquity.9 About two miles from Viterbo is the village of Bagnaja, with the celebrated Villa Lante of Vignola, and thence the curious in natural phenomena may ascend to the Menicatore, or rocking-stone, near the summit of the mountain—an enormous block of peperino, about twenty-two feet long, twenty wide, and nine high, calculated to weigh more than two hundred and twenty tons, and yet easily moved with a slight lever.

8 Ann . Instit . 1832 , p. 282 (Knapp). On the corridor open four chambers. Orioli, 0 At Corviano, about three miles from who describes it , could not pronounce Bomarzo, on this road, there is said to be a whether it was Etruscan, Homan, or of the singular tomb, composed of a very long Low Empire, (ap. Ingh . IV. p. 189 , tav. corridor lined with masonry, ending in a XXXXI . 2.) The passage and shaft are narrow passage which terminates in a well. quite Etruscan features. ite/miff.

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