Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

You may wish to read a page on Ancient Volterra first.

(left) Palazzo dei Priori: former entrance to Museo Guarnacci (Museum Guarnaccium); (right) Palazzo Desideri Tangassi where the museum was relocated in 1876

April 20, 1790. Among the numerous ipogei which have been discovered, few remain now open; for after they were ransacked, the entrances were again closed. (..) From the numerous ipogei, discovered without the ancient walls have been drawn the valuable specimens of Etruscan workmanship, which enrich the different museums of Europe. But, notwithstanding the number thus sold and dispersed, an extensive collection still remains in the modern Volterra. The principal is that of the Palazzo Publico, which has been much augmented by the addition of the celebrated Guarnacci museum and library. It is almost completely disposed in several apartments, and both collections are entrusted to the superintendance of a librarian.
Richard Colt Hoare - A classical tour through Italy and Sicily - publ. in 1819
The Museum is one of the most extraordinary collections in Italy, and alone repays a visit to Volterra; it was opened in 1731, and is chiefly indebted for its treasures to the munificence of Monsignore Mario Guarnacci, who bequeathed his Etruscan collections to the town in 1761; it is full of tombs collected in the Necropolis, statues, vases, coins, bronzes, pateree, gold ornaments, &c. The whole are arranged in nine small rooms.
John Murray - Handbook for travellers in Central Italy - 1843
The necropolis of Volterra, as usual, surrounded the town; but from the nature of the ground, the slopes beneath the walls to the north were particularly selected for burial. Here, for some centuries past, numerous tombs have been opened, from which the Museum of the town, as well as other collections, public and private, in various parts of Europe, have been stored with antiquarian wealth. (..) But, though hundreds - nay, thousands - of tombs have been opened, what remains to satisfy the curiosity of the visitor? One mean sepulchre alone. All the rest have been covered in as soon as rifled (you may wish to read Dennis' account of his visit to an intact Etruscan tomb near Perugia).
George Dennis - The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria - 1848
The Museum has hitherto been contained in the Palazzo Pubblico of Volterra, where it was crammed into nine or ten small chambers, but at the beginning of 1877, it was transferred to another and more suitable building, where the monuments (..) are now exhibited to greater advantage. Dennis (1878 edition)

(left) Frontispiece of "De Etruria Regali" by Thomas Dempster with a Latin dedication to Grand Duke Cosimo III, dated 1723; (centre) illustration showing a stela very similar to one found at Volterra (see below); (right) illustration showing a statue from Volterra (see below)

The excavations at Volterra were commenced about 1728, in consequence of the interest excited by the publications of Dempster and Buonarroti. They were continued for more than thirty years; and such multitudes of urns were brought to light that they were used as building materials. It was seeing them lie about in all directions that first excited Gori's curiosity (Antonio Francesco Gori 1691-1757), and led him to the study of Etruscan antiquities. Even in 1743, he said that so many urns had been discovered in the last three years, that the Museum of Volterra surpassed every other in Etruscan relics; though it was not till 1761 that Monsignor Guarnacci presented his collection to the Comune of the city. After that time interest flagged in Etruscan antiquities, but of late years it has revived. Dennis
Interest in the Etruscan civilization flourished during the Renaissance period, but the number of Etruscan art collectors greatly increased in the XVIIIth century. The first great popular works were written in the form of treatises accompanied by rich graphic reproductions: "De Etruria Regali" by Thomas Dempster (a Catholic Scottish scholar 1579-1625) was rescued from oblivion by Thomas Coke (1697-1759) later Earl of Leicester. Aged 15, he started on the Grand Tour, and in Etruria befriended the Grand Duke Cosimo II. Through him he discovered the existence of Dempster's manuscript, which he purchased from its then owner. Filippo Buonarroti (1661-1733) emended the text and added a critical apparatus. The duke had his own engravers enhance Dempster's illustrations with new ones drawn from artefacts in various collections. The book sparked the first public wave of interest in the Etruscans throughout academic Italy.

Archaeological Museum of Florence: Etruscan cinerary urns of the IInd century BC: (left) fight between Greeks and Trojans from Città della Pieve; (right) Apollo at the centre of a battle scene from Chiusi

This room and the next of the Museo Etrusco of Florence are filled with sepulchral urns, or ash-chests, the greater part from Volterra, being a selection made in 1770 from the fruits of the excavations then carrying forward, and. at that time reputed the most beautiful relics of Etruscan antiquity extant. A few have been subsequently added from the same city, and from Chiusi. All the figures on the lids are reclining, as at a banquet, the men, as usual, are crowned with chaplets, and hold a goblet; many of them retain traces of the minium with which they were coloured. (..) Many of these urns bear scenes from the mythology of the Greeks. Dennis

Museo Etrusco Guarnacci: XIXth century set up which has been retained in the ground floor; the walls are painted in Pompeian red

There are upwards of 400 cinerary urns, mostly of alabaster; they are square, and about a yard in length. On the lids are the recumbent figures of the dead. Several have inscriptions, among which the Cecina, Paccia, Gracchia, and many other well-known Etruscan families, may be recognised. The bas-reliefs of these sarcophagi, independently of their interest as works of art, are as instructive in affording an insight into the costumes and manners of the ancient Etruscans, as the paintings in the Egyptian tombs are in developing the domestic habits and ceremonies of Egypt. There is no place in Italy where the customs and civilization of Etruria can be so well studied as in this museum; the bas-reliefs on some of the sarcophagi are coloured red, and one still retains traces of gilding. Murray
Some consolation for the loss of the tombs which have been opened and reclosed at Volterra is to be derived from the Museum, to which their contents for the most part have been removed. Here is treasured up the accumulated sepulchral spoil of a century and a half. The collection was in great part formed by Monsignor Guarnacci, a prelate of Volterra, and has since received large additions, so that it may now claim to he one of the most valuable collections of Etruscan antiquities in the world. Valuable not in a marketable sense (..) but for the light they throw on the manners, customs, religious creed, and traditions of the ancient Etruscans. (..) The urns often indeed exhibit scenes from the Greek mythology, but treated in a native manner, and according to Etruscan traditions. Thus the Museum of Volterra is a storehouse of facts, illustrative of the civilisation of ancient Etruria. Dennis
It is really a very attractive and pleasant museum, but we had struck such a bitter cold April morning, with icy rain falling in the courtyard, that I felt as near to being in the tomb as I have ever done. Yet very soon, in the rooms with all those hundreds of little sarcophagi, ash-coffins, or urns, as they are called, the strength of the old life began to warm one up. (..) As it is, they are fascinating, like an open book of life, and one has no sense of weariness with them, though there are so many. They warm one up, like being in the midst of life.
David Herbert Lawrence - Etruscan Places - Published in 1932, but based on a visit made in April 1927.

Exhibits other than cinerary urns: (left) stela of an Etruscan warrior; (centre) yellow figure vase; (right) Kourothropos (child nurturer) Maffei

A bas-relief representing a bearded soldier, is considered by Micali, Gori, and other archaeologists, as the oldest relic in the museum. (..) A female statue, discovered by Raffaele Maffei in the amphitheatre of Vallebuona, supposed by Gori to be the Dea Norcia of the Etruscans. It bears an inscription on the right arm. Murray
One of the most archaic monuments in the Museum is a basrelief of a bearded warrior, of life-size, on a large slab of yellow sandstone, which, from the Etruscan inscription annexed, would seem to be a stele, or flat tombstone. He holds a lance in one hand, and his sword, which hangs at his side, with the other. The peculiar quaintness of this figure, approximating to the Egyptian, or rather to the Persepolitan or Babylonian in style, yet with strictly Etruscan features, causes it to be justly regarded as of high antiquity. (..) There is not much pottery in the Museum; enough to show the characteristic features of Volterran ware, but nothing of extraordinary interest. (..) Yellow figures on a black ground betray a more recent date, and the best specimens seem but unskilful copies of Etruscan or Greek vases of the latest style. (..) There is a headless statue of a female with a child in her arms, of marble, with an Etruscan inscription on her right sleeve. The child is swaddled in the same unnatural manner which is still practised by Italian mothers. Dennis
Norcia was an Etruscan goddess of Luck, after whom a town in Umbria is named, but the inscription indicates the funerary origin of the statue: I am Larthia (..) mother (..) I was dedicated by Se (..) Velchines.

Lid of a cinerary urn portraying the dead wearing a crown and a long necklace; he held a patera, a ritual cup, with the missing arm (see a painted terracotta lid at Chiusi)

If we may estimate the perfection of the Etruscan sculpture, from the numerous basso relievos on the sarcophagi found in this neighbourhood, we cannot ascribe to it any very high degree of merit; for though abundant specimens are preserved in the museums, few are executed with skill, or knowledge of the art. But perhaps this may be deemed a partial judgment. Sepulchral monuments were probably kept ready fabricated, by sculptors, to supply the constant demand; and consequently we cannot expect them to exhibit great variety of subjects, or delicacy of finishing. (..) In the forms of the sarcophagi there is little variety, and the same subjects frequently recur. A reposing figure generally forms the lid or cover of the sarcophagus. Many of these are remarkable for the bad proportions of the head and limbs: and, indeed, as I have before observed, few exhibit any excellence in sculpture. Colt Hoare
These "ash-chests" are rarely more than two feet in length; so that they merit the name, usually applied to them, of urnlets. Most have the effigy of the deceased recumbent on the lid. Hence we learn something of the physiognomy and costume of the Etruscans; though we should do wrong to draw inferences as to their symmetry from the stunted distorted figures often presented to us. Dennis
So there the ash-chests are, an open book for anyone to read who will, according to his own fancy. They are not more than two feet long, or thereabouts, so the figure on the lid is queer.. (..) The head is nearly life-size. The body is squashed small. But there it is, a portrait-effigy. Very often, the lid and the chest don't seem to belong together at all. (..) Probably you only had your portrait carved on the lid, and left the rest to the survivors. (..) The mourning relatives hurriedly ordered the lid with the portrait-bust, after the death of the near one, and then chose the most appropriate ash-chest. Lawrence

Funerary urns of women with same subject boxes (Paris and his brothers - see below)

The equality of women in the social scale of Etruria may also be learned from the figures on these urns. It is evident that no inferior respect was paid to the fair sex when dead, that as much labour and expense were bestowed on their sepulchral decorations as on those of their lords. In fact, it has generally been remarked that the tombs of women are more highly ornamented and richly furnished than those of the opposite sex. Their equality may perhaps be learned also from the tablets which so many hold open in their hands, which seem to intimate that they were not kept in ignorance and degradation, but were educated to be the companions rather than the slaves of the men. (..) On these urns the female figures are always decently draped, while the men are generally but half clad. Dennis
You may wish to see the terracotta sarcophagus of Larthia Seianti at the Museum of Florence.

Oedipus and the Sphinx (alabaster - see a mosaic at Ostia)

The cinerary urns of Volterra cannot lay claim to a very remote antiquity. They are unquestionably more recent than many of those of other Etruscan sites. This may be learned from the style of art - the best, indeed the only safe criterion - which is never of that archaic character found on certain reliefs on the altars or cippi of Chiusi and Perugia. The freedom and mastery of design, and the skill in composition, at times evinced, bespeak the period of Roman domination. The urns, of which there are said to he more than four hundred, are sometimes of the local rock called panchina, but more generally of alabaster, which is only to be quarried in this neighbourhood. Thus no doubt can be entertained of their native and local character. (..) As to the reliefs on the urns, it may be well to consider them in two classes; those of purely Etruscan subjects, and those which illustrate well-known mythological legends; though it is sometimes difficult to pronounce to which class a particular monument belongs. We will first treat of the latter. (..) Oedipus and the Sphinx. - The son of Laius is solving the riddle put to him by "That sad inexplicable beast of prey," whose "man-devouring" tendencies are seen in a human skull beneath her paws. A Fury with a torch stands behind the monster. Dennis

Rape of Helen (on loan at the Town Museum at Palazzo Minucci Solaini)

The Trojan War has furnished scenes for some of these urns. The Rape of Helen. - A scene often repeated. Helen is hurried on board a brazen-beaked ship - attendants are carrying vases and other goods on board - - crateres auro solidi, captivaque vestis congeritur - (Virgil, Aeneid, Book II) all is hurry and confusion - but Paris, marked by his Phrygian cap, is seated on the shore in loving contemplation of "the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topmost towers of Ilium." (Christopher Marlowe's lines from his tragedy "Doctor Faustus"). Dennis. See a similar urn from Volterra at Verona.

Paris attacked by his brothers

A scene shows Paris, whien a shepherd, before he had been rendered effeminate by the caresses of Helen, defending himself against his brothers, who, enraged that a stranger should have carried off the prizes from them in the public games, sought to take his life. The palm-leaf he bears in his hand, as he kneels on the altar to which he had fled for refuge, tells the tale. The venerable Priam comes up and recognises his son. A Juno, or guardian spirit, steps between him and his foes. Dennis
It was a Trojan custom that, at the close of the sixth lap of the chariot race, those who had entered for the boxing match should begin fighting in front of the throne. Paris decided to compete and, despite Agelaus's entreaties, sprang into the arena and won the crown, by sheer courage rather than by skill. He also came home first in the footrace, which so exasperated Priam's sons that they challenged him to another; thus he won his third crown. Ashamed at this public defeat, they decided to kill him and set an armed guard at every exit of the stadium, while Hector and Deiphobus attacked him with their swords. Paris leaped for the protection of Zeus's altar, and Agelaus ran towards Priam, crying: 'Your Majesty, this youth is your long-lost son!' Priam at once summoned Hecabe who, when Agelaus displayed a rattle which had been found in Paris's hands, confirmed his identity. He was taken triumphantly to the palace, where Priam celebrated his return with a huge banquet and sacrifices to the gods.
Robert Graves - The Greek Myths - 1960

Ulysses and the Sirens (here represented as women rather than monsters - see a mosaic in Tunisia and a sarcophagus in Rome)

Ulysses and the Sirens is a favourite subject. The hero is represented lashed by his own command to the mast of his vessel, yet struggling to break loose, that he may yield to the three enchantresses and their "warbling charms." Dennis
Circe warned Odysseus that he must next pass the Island of the Sirens, whose beautiful voices enchanted all who sailed near. They had girls' faces but birds' feet and feathers, and many different stories are told to account for this peculiarity: such as that (..) Aphrodite turned them into birds because, for pride, they would not yield their maidenheads either to gods or men. They no longer had the power of flight, however, since the Muses had defeated them in a musical contest and pulled out their wing feathers to make themselves crowns. Now they sat and sang in a meadow among the heaped bones of sailors whom they had drawn to their death. "Plug your men's ears with bees-wax," advised Circe, "and if you are eager to hear their music, have your crew bind you hand and foot to the mast, and make them swear not to let you escape, however harshly you may threaten them.' (..) As the ship approached Siren Land, Odysseus took Circe's advice, and the Sirens sang so sweetly, promising him foreknowledge of all future happenings on earth, that he shouted to his companions, threatening them with death if they would not release him; but, obeying his earlier orders, they only lashed him tighter to the mast. Thus the ship sailed by in safety, and the Sirens committed suicide for vexation. Graves
The episode because of its possible allegorical interpretations has attracted the attention of many modern writers and philosophers.

Death of Actaeon (and the Etruscan inscription on the lid with the name of the dead) (see a relief in a temple at Selinunte in Sicily and an XVIIIth century fountain at Caserta depicting the same episode)

Actaeon attacked by his dogs. - This scene is remarkable only for the presence of a winged Fury, who sits by with torch reversed. On another urn Diana with a lance stands on one side, and an old man on the other. Dennis
Read Ovid's account of the episode.

Amazonomachy (see sarcophagi depicting this scene at Musei Capitolini, at Musei Vaticani and at Brescia)

Battle of the Greeks and Amazons. - This, a favourite subject on the sarcophagi of Corneto, is rarely found on the cinerary urns of Volterra. One urn, however, bears a spirited representation of this combat. The central group of a mounted Amazon contending with a Greek on foot is admirable: and there is much grace in the figure of the wounded heroine on the ground. (..) At each end of the scene stands a winged Lasa, holding a horse: the repose of her figure contrasting strongly with the passionate energy of the combatants. Dennis

Siege of Thebes

The Seven before Thebes. - There are three urns with this subject. One, which represents the assault of Capaneus on the Electrian Gate of Thebes, is very remarkable. The moment is chosen when the hero, who has defied the power of Jove, and has endeavoured to scale "the sacred walls," is struck by a thunderbolt, and falls headlong to the earth; his ladder also breaking with him. The amazement and awe of his comrades are well expressed. The gate of the city is evidently an imitation of the ancient one of Volterra, called Porta all Arco; for it is represented with the three mysterious heads around it, precisely in the same relative positions. (..) Polynices and Eteocles.- The fatal combat of the Theban Brothers is a subject of most frequent occurrence on Etruscan urns, and there are many instances in this Museum. They are generally represented in the act of giving each other the death-wound. A Charun, or a Fury, or it may be two, are present (see some terracotta funerary urns at Chiusi). Dennis

Etruscan myth: sea goddess (see a similar relief at Tarquinia)

Many of these urns bear mythological subjects purely native. The most numerous class is that of marine deities, generally figured as women from the middle upwards, but with fishes' tails instead of legs - Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne*. (..) Marine deities would naturally be much worshipped by a people, whose power lay greatly in their commerce and maritime supremacy; and accordingly the active imaginations of the Etruscans were thus led to symbolise the destructive agencies of nature at sea. One of these deities has an eye in either wing, a symbol, it may be, of all-searching power, added to that of ubiquitous energy. (..) It is highly probable that these sea-gods were of Etruscan origin; yet as we are ignorant of their native appellations, it may be well to designate them, as is generally done, by the names of the somewhat analogous beings of Grecian mythology, to which, however, they do not answer in every respect. The females then are usually called Scylla. (..) The male sea-divinities, which are of less frequent occurrence, are commonly called Glaucus. Dennis
*It is a line of poetry from Horace's Ars Poetica. It means "the beautiful woman ends in a fish's tail".
The downstairs rooms of ash-chests contain those urns representing "Etruscan" subjects: those of seamonsters, the sea-man with fish-tail, and with wings, the sea-woman the same: or the man with serpent-legs, and wings, or the woman the same. It was Etruscans to give these creatures wings, not Greeks. Lawrence

Terracotta cinerary urn (IVth century BC) with four heads of a winged goddess protecting the dead against evil eye (similar to heads of Medusa in later sarcophagi)

Some of these urns show the heads alone of these wing-browed divinities, which, in certain cases, degenerate into mere masks. (..) Other urns bear representations of dolphins sporting on the waves or marine-horses. - Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus - (the monsters the sea contains beneath its marbled waves - Virgil - Aeneid - Book VI) symbols, it may be, of maritime power, but more probably of the passage of the soul to another state of existence; which is clearly the case where one of these monsters bears a veiled figure on his back. (..) Griffons are also favourite subjects on these urns. That they are embodiments of some evil and destructive power, is evident in their compound of lion and eagle (see the image used as background for this page). Dennis

Funeral procession of a magistrate preceded by lictors and "cornum" (horn) players (see similar reliefs at Tuscania and at Tarquinia)

The reliefs illustrative of Etruscan life (..) may be divided into two classes; those referring to the customs, pursuits, and practices of the Etruscans in their ordinary life, and those which have a funereal import. It is not always easy to draw the distinction. Processions there are of various descriptions - funeral, triumphal, and judicial. (..) Before the chariot march two lictors, each with a pair of rods or wands, which may represent the fasces without the secures or hatchets, just as they were carried by Roman lictors, one of the consuls when in the City. Dennis

A woman on her death-bed (No 314)

The most interesting scenes, because the most touching and pathetic, are those which depict the last moments of the deceased. Sometimes a dying woman is delivering to her friend her tablets, open as though she had just been recording her thoughts upon them. This death-bed scene is a favourite subject. It may be remarked that the couches are sometimes recessed in alcoves, and sometimes canopied over like bedsteads, though in a more classical style. Behind the couch is often a column surmounted by a pine-cone, a common funereal emblem. (..) It is such scenes as these, and others before described, which give so great a charm to this collection. The Etruscans seem to have excelled in the palpable expression of natural feelings. How unmeaning the hieroglyphics on Egyptian sarcophagi, save to the initiated! But the ouches of nature on these Etruscan urns, so simply but eloquently expressed, must appeal to the sympathies of all - they are chords to which every heart must respond; and I envy not the man who can walk through this Museum unmoved, without feeling a tear rise to his eye. Dennis

Pre-Etruscan exhibits from "Tomba del Guerriero" (Tomb of the Warrior) which was discovered in 1996: (left) bronze crested parade helmet (see Greek, Roman and Dacian ancient helmets); (right) laminated bronze flask

Move to:
Introduction and the Ancient Town
The Medieval Town
Churches and Paintings (to be developed)

In Maremma - other pages:
Corneto (Tarquinia)
Corneto (Tarquinia) - Palazzo Vitelleschi and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia
Tarquinia - Etruscan Necropolis of Monterozzi
Montalto di Castro and Canino
An Excursion to Orbetello
An Excursion to Porto Ercole
An Excursion to Grosseto
An Excursion to Massa Marittima