are almost all sinister. The devils brandishing torches and snakes,
familiar both from the paintings and from the reliefs on the cinerary
urns, remind one of Livy’s[108] description of the fight of the
Tarquinians and the Faliscans against the Romans in 354 B.C., when a
troop of Etruscan priests, armed with flaming torches and live snakes,
threw themselves in ecstatic fury on the Roman armies, who received
them undauntedly and won the day. Charun, also, is a common figure on
the Etruscan sarcophagi and cinerary urns of the fourth and following
centuries, suggesting by his colour the demon of putrefaction,
Eurynomus, whom Polygnotus had painted, in his great picture of the
Underworld in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi, seated snarling on
the skin of a carrion-vulture, his flesh the colour of a blue-bottle
fly.[109] Charun, therefore, is not identical with the old ferryman,
Charon, of the Greeks; he is the messenger of death, the terrible
fetcher of souls, like Charos in the popular Greek belief of our
own day. Only the ‘Charon door’ of the Greek theatre indicates the
existence of similar popular ideas among the ancient Greeks.
The winged Vanth in the François tomb seems to be one of the benevolent
demons of the underworld, the Lasas. Such a one also appears in a door
panel in the Tomba Golini, already frequently cited: here she has
wings, snakes in her girdle, and a scroll in her hand (fig. 40). She
is evidently either receiving or escorting the dead, a young man in a
mantle, who stands in a biga with running horses; in the inscription
above him the word Larth can easily be read, proving that he is not a
professional charioteer, but a young man of high standing. His arrival
in the underworld is greeted by a trumpeter, painted over the door. We
may notice here that the ‘Tyrrhenian trumpet’ was famous far and wide
and was even introduced into Greece; it is mentioned several times in
Greek tragedies.[110] The curved trumpet here seen is also depicted on
a wall in the Tomba degli Scudi at Corneto and, like the curved staff
of the augurs, was adopted by the Romans, who designated both of them
by the name of lituus; Cicero maintains that the lituus-trumpet was
the earlier of the two and gave its form and name to the lituus-staff,
the badge of the augurs. The introduction of the lituus-staff was
attributed to Romulus, and his sacred staff was said to have been
rediscovered by a miracle in the time of Camillus.[111]
[Illustration: FIG. 39. WALL-PAINTING FROM THE TOMBA FRANÇOIS AT VULCI]
[Illustration: FIG. 40. PAINTING IN THE TOMBA GOLINI AT ORVIETO]
[Illustration: FIG. 41. PAINTING FROM THE TOMBA DELLA PULCELLA]
The scroll in the hand of the female demon, referred to above,
presumably contained an account of the good actions of the dead, to be
used when he presented himself before the throne of Hades. The good
genius herself is seen at work in a small panel of the Tomba degli
Scudi, where she is scratching an inscription on a tablet (cp. fig.
27), while another holds a torch upside down. Both these figures are
repeated in the reliefs of the Etruscan cinerary urns and pass directly
into the plastic art of Roman sarcophagi as two allegorical figures:
Fama, who writes the merits of the dead on a tablet, and the genius of
Death with torch inverted.
[Sidenote: CEREMONY OF THE CERECLOTH]
A couple of flying genii appear already in the Tomba della Pulcella,
which belongs to the first half of the fifth century, in the pointed
pediment above the recess in which the ashes of the dead were
deposited. They carry between them a cloth which they seem to be laying
down, probably the cerecloth for the dead (fig. 41).[112] Perhaps
this also explains the mysterious scene, figured on two tomb altars
from Chiusi, one of which is in the Barracco Collection (fig. 42),
the other in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Catalogue No. H. 76). The
motives of the reliefs on these limestone altars from Chiusi and on the
cinerary urns from the same town, all dating from the sixth century,
are taken from the funeral, like the subjects in the contemporary
tomb-paintings, and represent the lament of men and women over the dead
on the bier, the burial feast and the preparations for it, and the
wild dancing-scenes at the funeral. It may thus be that the scene on
the relief illustrated, which seems to give a picture of the women’s
quarters, represents the women of the house in the act of scrutinizing
and choosing the cerecloth for the deceased; meanwhile, the house
was probably draped with cloth, and the dwellers of the house put on
mourning. Presumably the mourning colour of the Etruscans was white,
like that of the Romans at a later date; when in mourning, the women
of Rome, to the wonder of Plutarch, assumed white dresses and white
headgear, at the same time loosening their hair.[113] The hair flowing
down upon the shoulders is also frequently seen in reliefs on cinerary
urns. But there is still something mysterious in this motive, and an
examination of the mutilated ash urn in the Museum of Chiusi (fig.
43) does not make it any clearer. This urn has hitherto been explained
as representing a marriage scene. But as the opposite side of the
urn represents scenes at the door of the tomb, it is more natural to
interpret this relief also as a death scene; the flute-player and
the two men with laurel branches we know from the funeral ceremonies
(cp. p. 19), and the curious scene to the right, where two men draw a
fringed cloth like a baldachin over a veiled centre figure, each of
whose arms is held by two side figures (probably a man and a woman),
might then be conjectured to represent a sort of symbolic interment
where the dead is placed in a sitting posture, supported by the family,
instead of the normal posture, full length on the bier.
It is to be hoped that future investigation may throw some light
on this point, and may also deal with the question whether the
oft-recurring motive on the Roman sarcophagi of two genii holding a
cloth (parapetasma) between them, as a background either for a scene or
for the portrait of the deceased (fig. 44), can be traced to Etruscan
prototypes or not. Hitherto, we have probably been too one-sided
in attributing the types and symbols of the plastic art of Roman
sarcophagi to Greek pictures, and the investigation of the share of
Etruria therein would be a fine subject for a monograph.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] Livy vii. 17. 3-5. Cp. iv. 33. 2.
[109] Pausanias x. 28. 7-8.
[110] Sophocles, _Ajax_ 17. Aeschylus, _Eumenides_ 567. Euripides,
_Rhesus_ 988.
[111] Cicero, _De divinatione_ i. 30. Plutarch, _Camillus_ 32.
[112] An Etruscan gem shows the dead Ajax and a winged genius in the
act of placing the cerecloth over him. Beazley, _The Lewes House
Collection of Ancient Gems_, p. 34., no. 37.
[113] Plutarch, _Aetia romana_ 26 and 14.
XVIII
[Sidenote: ETRUSCAN DEMONS]
[Sidenote: TOMBA DEL TIFONE]
But the benevolent genii and Lasas are absolutely in the minority in
the paintings and plastic art of Etruria, and become rarer as time goes
on. The mood rises from sinister gloom to wild terror. Two pictures
will illustrate this climax. In the Tomba del Tifone at Corneto, which
was discovered in 1832 and which is one of the grandest of the family
vaults of Etruria, there is preserved, besides the serpent-legged
demons from which the tomb has derived its name, a large wall-painting
representing the journey of a young man to the realm of the dead
(fig. 45). To the left is seen an altar towards which the procession of
mantle-clad youths moves; they are led by a young demon with snakes in
his hair, and a torch and a snake in his hands. The procession advances
to the sound of a lituus-trumpet, and the young men carry staves and
seem to be the clients of the central figure. The central figure is
made conspicuous by walking without any attributes in the centre of
the procession right in the front, but over his right shoulder we see
Charun’s clawlike hand, and Charun advances behind him like a black
shadow, characterized by pointed asses’ ears, snakes in his hair, and
his terrible hammer. The high rank of the young man is made apparent
by the inscription over his head: ‘Laris Pumpus Arnthal clan cechase,’
i. e. Laris Pumpus, son of Arnth, priest (_sacerdos_). Here, then, we
have another of the priestly aristocrats of Etruria. After him come
two more companions with staffs, and a trumpeter,[114] as well as two
young men without any attributes, and the scene is terminated by some
dim figures, one of which seems to be a woman with a snake in her hair
and another to be of negroid type; possibly these are the rulers of the
underworld according to a later local Etruscan conception. One thing,
at any rate, is plain, that the dead youth, in spite of his splendid
following, goes to meet a sorrowful fate. What can the sound of the
instruments avail when Charun’s claw is laid on his shoulder!
[Illustration: FIG. 42. RELIEF ON A TOMB ALTAR FROM CHIUSI
In the Barracco Collection in Rome]
[Illustration: FIG. 43. CINERARY URN FROM CHIUSI]
[Sidenote: TOMBA DEL CARDINALE]
This tomb dates, as far as can be judged by the style of the painting,
from the first half of the fourth century B.C.[115] From the beginning
of the next century dates the Tomba del Cardinale at Corneto, which
was discovered shortly after 1760,[116] then forgotten and filled in
again, and finally reopened in 1786[117] by Cardinal Garambi, bishop
of Corneto. It has suffered much by exposure to wind and weather and
to tourists for more than a hundred and fifty years. It has a narrow
frieze with battle scenes, doubtless mythological, but the interest
is centred in the long narrow frieze of pictures under the ceiling.
The subject of this is the march of the shades towards the other side
(fig. 46). A woman is drawn on a two-wheeled cart by two winged demons,
one light and the other blue-black, both wearing the traditional garb
of the genii of death, familiar from the contemporary sarcophagi
and cinerary urns: a shirt with braces, and high top boots. This is
perhaps the young woman who is mentioned in the inscription of the
tomb: ‘Ramtha, daughter of Vel and Vestrcni, who was wife (_puia_) of
Larth Lartha, and who lived (_valce_ instead of _svalce_) nineteen
years.’ A young man follows in a long cloak: he turns round to a black,
winged demon carrying a hammer (fig. 47). Beyond the gateway of the
underworld behind him a devil of the same type is seated, and then
comes a crowd of young people driven along by two devils, one of whom
threatens them with his hammer.[118] A woman, who looks back moaning,
is being brutally dragged along by two male demons, and at the end of
the procession two winged devils are seen hastening forward, slender of
limb and agile of movement, like poisonous insects. In a fragment of a
frieze, which is now badly damaged, the Charun devil was once more seen
in the act of crushing a skull with his hammer.[119]
[Illustration: FIG. 44. ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS IN THE NY CARLSBERG GLYPTOTEK]
[Illustration: FIG. 47. PART OF THE FRIEZE IN THE TOMBA DEL CARDINALE]
[Illustration: FIG. 46. PAINTED FRIEZE IN THE TOMBA DEL CARDINALE]
[Illustration: FIG. 45. PROCESSION OF THE DEAD IN THE TOMBA DEL
TIFONE]
[Sidenote: CONCEPTION OF THE HEREAFTER]
This picture has a quality which reminds one of the frescoes in the
Campo Santo at Pisa, but which is much more terrible because no hope of
paradise atones for the horror. The reliefs on contemporary cinerary
urns tell the same tale. To be sure, the dead reclines fat and finely
bedecked on the lid of these cinerary urns, holding a drinking-bowl,
or, if female, a fan. This is only tradition and has nothing to do with
actual feeling. It is clear enough that the old confident conception
of the hereafter as an eternal symposium has been exploded. To this
the reliefs on the urns bear witness. These reliefs, if they do not
directly evade the problem by choosing neutral scenes from Greek
mythology, reveal a demoniac possession of appalling intensity. We
need no literature in order to realize that the Etruscans under the
pressure of disaster became another people, pessimistic, in terror of
death, and devoid of any resiliency which would allow them to indulge
in the pleasures of life. If this spiritual incubus descended upon the
masses of the Roman people we can better understand how it is that the
poet Lucretius can feel enthusiasm, and can arouse it in others, when
he preaches the gospel of godlessness and the annihilation of the soul
in death.[120] For of the Etruscan people, at any rate, the words of
Lucretius[121] hold good:
Omnia perfunctus vitai praemia marces.
All that life had to give, thou hast enjoyed,
And now thou fadest.
FOOTNOTES:
[114] Trumpets at Roman funeral processions are known from reliefs on
sarcophagi. _Röm. Mitt._ xxxiii. 1908, pl. iv (pp. 18-25), and Cagnat
and Chabot, _Manuel d’Archéol. Romaine_, p. 586, fig. 315. Notice
in the second relief from Amiternum, _Röm. Mitt._ 1908, pl. iv, at
the bottom, how the banquet with the members of the family reclining
on festive couches is also preserved in early Rome (second to first
century B.C.).
[115] Contemporary and akin in subject is the Tomba Bruschi at
Corneto. _Monumenti_, viii, pl. 36. Stryk, _Kammergräber_, p. 101. The
processions here have quite a festive look; a woman finds time to look
at herself in a glass, but the devils, who appear in the crowds or lurk
in the corners, show that the occasion is a serious one.
[116] Caylus, _Recueil d’antiquités_ iv. (Paris, 1761), 112 f.
[117] Tiraboschi, _Storia della lett. ital._, Venezia, 1795, i. 13 ff.
footnote.
[118] Similar motives on tombstones and Etruscan gems. Cp. Grenier,
_Bologna villanovienne et étrusque_, p. 447. Ducati, _Monumenti dei
Lincei_ xx. pp. 607-12. Beazley, _Lewes House Collection of Ancient
Gems_, p. 33, no. 36 (pl. 3).
[119] Badly illustrated in Inghirami, _Monumenti etruschi_ iv. pl.
xxvii.
[120] _De rerum natura_ iii. 912 ff.
[121] iii. 956.
INDEX
The * indicates that the citation is in the notes.
A
Achilles, 9, 52.
Acrobats, 28.
Aeschylus, 19*, 54*.
Agamemnon, 51, 52.
Ajax, 52.
Altars, 55.
Amphitheatres, 25.
Apollodorus, 36*.
Apollonius Rhodius, 27*.
Appian, 15.
Aristophanes, 26.
Aristotle, 15, 29*, 33, 44.
Athenaeus, 13, 15*, 33*, 34*, 37*.
Attic influence, 20, 22.
Auguri, Tomba degli, 10 f., 41.
Augustus, 48.
B
Bacchanti, Tomba dei, 36.
Ballerina, la bella, 3, 17.
Ballot-balls, 32.
Barone, Tomba del, 1, 2, 20 f., 29.
Barracco Collection, 55.
Bells, 17, 37.
Bighe, Tomba delle, 1, 2, 22 ff., 28 ff., 46.
Black vessels, 23*.
Bolsters, 30.
Boxers, _see_ Pugilists.
Brass circles, 8.
British Museum, 14, 44.
Bruschi, Tomba, 57*.
C
Caccia, Tomba della, 43.
Caere, 8, 52 f.
Caeretan hydriae, 10.
Cakes, 35, 40.
Cameron, Mary Lovett, 3.
Campana, Tomba, 7 f.
Campania, 13 f., 28, 44.
Candelabra, candles, 39.
Cardinale, Tomba del, 58 f.
Casuccini, Tomba, 26, 29*.
Cato, 32, 35, 40, 44.
Catullus, 48*.
Cerecloth, 55 f.
Chaplets, 17, 20, 37, 42.
Chariot race, 23.
Charun, 7, 14, 52 ff., 57 ff.
Chiusi, 5, 8, 26, 29*, 38, 44, 55.
Cicero, 11*, 26*, 27, 35, 48*, 54.
Clients, 46.
Cloth, 55 f.
Clusium, _see_ Chiusi.
Copenhagen, _see_ Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
Corneto, 1-2 _and passim_.
Cortsen, 13*, 16*, 34, 38*.
Cosa, 8.
Couches, 30, 41 f.
Crete, 8, 29.
Critias, 38.
Cyprus, 8*, 23, 29.
Cyrene, 9.
D
Dancers, 16 ff., 19, 22, 26, 29, 36.
Danielsson, 10*.
Dasti, 3*.
Deacinare, 32.
Demons, 49 ff., 53 ff., 56 ff.
Dennis, 3, 40.
Diodorus, 48*.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 11*, 15, 16*, 23, 26, 33*, 44*, 45*, 46*.
Dispater, 13.
Door, painted, 11, 15.
Dromon, 37.
E
Eggs, 31, 38, 42.
Egypt 9 f., 20, 31, 38, 41, 42.
Equestrian procession, 13, 15 f., 23, 24.
Eteocles and Polynices, 52.
Etruria, 43 ff. _and passim_.
Euphronius, 24.
Euripides, 54*.
Euthymides, 24.
Exercises, preparatory, 27 f.
F
Fama, 55.
Fescennines, 18.
Flaminicae, 23.
Flute-players, 15, 16, 22, 26, 35, 40, 56.
Footstools, 41.
François, Tomba, 3, 51 ff.
G
Gauls, 47.
Geryon, 50.
Giustiniani, Tomba Francesca, 3.
Gladiators, 13.
Goethe, 2.
Golden vessels, 38.
Golini, Tomba, 37 ff., 40 f., 42, 50, 54.
Gregoriano, Museo, 5, 17.
H
Hades, 50.
Helbig, 5, 6.
Hermes, 28.
Herodotus, 52*.
Hesychius, 16.
Hetaerae, 32 ff.
Hieron, 44.
Hittites, 23.
Horses, 16.
Hunting leopards, 31, 38.
Hypothymis, 37.
I
Iliad, 13, 29*.
India, 31.
Inscriptions, 10, 11, 15, 21, 34, 35, 38 f., 47 f., 50 f., 57, 58.
Ionian style, 9, 10 f.
Isaeus, 33.
Iscrizioni, Tomba delle, 1, 2, 14 ff., 19 ff., 41.
Isocrates, 13*.
J
Jacobsen, Carl, 5, 17.
Juvenal, 23*, 31*.
K
Kestner, 1, 14, 20, 28.
Kitchen-scenes, 40 f.
Kneading, 40 f.
Körte, 3, 9, 21, 53*.
Kyme, 44 f.
L
Lanista, 13.
Larth, 39, 54.
Lasas, 54 f.
Lassoing of the horse, 24.
Laurels, 19 f., 32, 56.
Lectisternia, 34, 42.
Lecythi, 51.
Leonesse, Tomba delle, 3, 19, 31.
Leopardi, Tomba dei, 30 f.
Lesche, 53 f.
Letto funebre, Tomba del, 41 f.
Lituus, 54, 57.
Livy, 8, 15*, 16*, 18, 23*, 26*, 35*, 44*, 46*, 47, 53.
Lucretius, 59.
Ludii, ludiones, 18.
Lysias, 18*.
M
Magliano, 8.
Martha, Jules, 3, 23*.
Medical lore, 19.
Melian vases, 7 f.
Mezentius, 53.
Michelangelo, 51.
Milani, 6, 26.
Minium, 18.
Morente, Tomba del, 24, 40.
Morto, Tomba del, 16, 41.
Müller-Deecke, 23*, 48*.
N
Naked pages, 33.
Nicocles, 13.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 5 _and passim_.
O
Odrysians, 19.
Odysseus, 51.
Olympic Games, 25.
Orco, Tomba dell’, 36, 49 ff.
Orfeo e d’Eurydice, Tomba d’, 37*.
Orvieto, 37.
P
Palaestra, scenes of the, 28 f.
Parapetasma, 56.
Parthenon, 25.
Patroclus, 52.
Pausanias, 54*.
Persephone, 50.
Persius, 42.
Persona, 13*.
Phersu, 12.
Philochorus, 43*.
Phoenicians, 10, 27.
Pindar, 44.
Plautus, 18*, 30, 32, 36, 41*, 47, 50*.
Plutarch, 15*, 18*, 47*, 53*, 54*, 55.
Polybius, 44*, 59*.
Polygnotus, 53 f.
Pompae, 15 f.
Porsenna, 39, 44, 45.
Priesthood, 35, 57.
Prinia, 8*.
Prisoners of war, 52 f.
Propertius, 48.
Prylis, 29.
Pugilists, 15, 27, 28.
Pulcella, Tomba della, 3, 38, 55.
Pulcinella, Tomba del, 12 f.
Pyrrhiche, 29.
Q
Querciola, Tomba, 36, 43.
R
Rasenas, 39.
Reclining at table, 34, 36, 57*.
Riding sideways, 27.
Rings, 32.
Rome, 45 f. _and passim_.
Rumpf, Andreas, 7 f.
Rushforth, 39*.
Ruva, 38*.
S
Salii, 18.
Samnites, 47.
Sappho 23*, 37*.
Sarcophagi, 14, 34, 53, 55 f., 57*.
Schulze, Wilh., 39*, 45, 46*.
Scimmia, Tomba della, 25 f., 29, 45.
Scudi, Tomba degli, 34 ff., 54.
Seneca, 41*.
Shields, 8.
Skutsch, 16*.
Slaves, 41.
Soothsayers, 48.
Sophocles, 44, 54*.
Spectators, 24 f.
Stackelberg, 1, 2, 14, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28.
Stands, 24 f.
Strabo, 43*.
Struppus, 23*.
Stryk, von, 3 f.
Sunshade, 26.
Symposia, 29 ff., 37 ff., 42.
T
Tacitus, 20*.
Tapestries, 8 f.
Tarquinius, 45.
Tarquitius Priscus, 48.
Technique, 21.
Tertullian, 13*, 23.
Tevarath, 11.
Theophrastus, 19*, 34*.
Theopompus, 34*.
Theseus, 49 f.
Thomsen, Vilh., 40*.
Thucydides, 44*.
Thulin, 48*.
Thürmer, 1, 20.
Thymiaterion, 26, 39.
Tifone, Tomba del, 56 f.
Timaeus, 33*.
Tiresias, 51.
Tomba, _see the different names_.
Tonsilia tappetia, 30*.
Tori, Tomba dei, 3, 9 f., 20, 51.
Torlonia, 51.
Treasury of the Siphnians, 25.
Triclinio, Tomba del, 16 f., 20, 27, 31.
Tripudium, 18.
Triumphators, 18.
Troilus, 9.
Trumpets 54, 57*.
Tuchulcha, 49 f.
Tusurthi, 34.
Tutulus, 22 f., 42.
Tyrrhenians, 43.
U
Urns, cinerary, 19, 30*, 34, 53, 55, 56.
V
Vanth, 52, 54.
Varro, 19, 41*, 45.
Vases, 4, 20, 22 ff.
Vasi: Tomba dei V. Dipinti, 5, 36.
Vecchio, Tomba del, 37.
Veii 3, 7, 35, 47.
Virgil, 48*.
Vitruvius, 25.
Volnius, 45.
Vulci, 3, 51.
W
Weege, 2, 4, 6, 7, 22 ff., 27, 28, 31 f., 34.
Wigand, 26*.
Women, Etruscan, 33.
Wrestlers, 11, 15, 28.
X
Xenophanes, 19.
Xenophon, 19.
PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
Variations in hyphenation has been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.