An Etruscan Itinerary: Tarquinia’s Monterozzi Necropolis

by Mary Jane Cryan

  In the 1830’s the mayor of Corneto (the old name of Tarquinia) discovered blocks of stone closing a subterranean room while searching for material to repair the town’s roads. He was one of the first people to enter the frescoed tombs of the Monterozzi necropolis, the unique Etruscan city of the dead that has been visited by thousands interested in this mysterious civilization. Part of the excitement of the visit lies in the act of climbing down inside the tombs to admire their painted walls. Unfortunately this is no longer possible since the toms have been sealed off to protect them from further damage by micro-organisms, changing temperatures and humidity.

 The fourteen tombs open to visitors are protected by glass doors maintaining a constant interior microclimate.

 Between the 7^th and the 2^nd centuries B.C. more than 6,000 single chamber tombs were built a few meters underground, carved out of the soft limestone known as macco. Approximately 200 of them are painted and the entire necropolis extends over approximately 3 square kilometres on the edge of the modern town of Tarquinia.

The tumuli, small mounds of soil are held up by a cylindrical base in stone while the small constructions over the access stairways were built recently, mostly in the 1960’s .

A tomb dating from the Copper Age has also been discovered on this plateau as well as the foundations of a Villanovian village of the 10^th – 9^th century B.C., the most ancient phase of Etruscan civilisation. Several carved stone cases set in the ground and used as cinerary urns . dating from the Villanovian civilization in volcanic tufa can be found in the small enclosure near the entrance and visitors’center . They were discovered in 1998 on the slopes of the hill towards the sea.

As time went by, this type of inhumation disappeared due to a change in religious practices and increased wealth allowed families to build underground tombs that were painted using different methods.

By the 7^th century the painting was done directly on the smooth rock using pigments such as coal-black , red, brown and yellow extracted from different coloured clays. During the 6^th and 5^th centuries, the stone surface was evened with a mixture of clay and crushed rock and finished off with a thin layer of lime. The painter then made a preparatory graffito design and applied the colours, some of them imported from the Orient such as blue or the Egyptian frit made of copper, calcium and silica as well as malachite green. During the next Hellenistic period the layer of lime became thicker and the pigments were spread out on the wet surface, producing a real fresco painting.

 From the open high ground stretching beyond the necropolis of Monterozzi the visitor can see where the ancient Etruscan town-Civita- once stood. A valley divides the plateau in two parts. The left section is known as “Pian di Civita”, that on the right side, further away, as “Pian della Regina”.

The excavations carried out at Pian di Civita for many years have yielded exceptional results and the imposing base of the large Temple , the Altar of the Queen still remains. Here, in 1938, the terracotta winged horses now on display at the National Museum of Tarquinia, were found.

 The first tomb usually visited in the Monterozzi necropolis is the Pulcinella tomb, named after the female figure destroyed by tomb robbers in 1963. The face of a slave, purchased a few years later by a German Museum, was recently returned to the Museum of Tarquinia where it is now on display.

The hypogeum, decorated with a typical 5^th century B.C. banquet scene is entered through a long dromos. On the rear wall of the tomb, barely visible, are the paintings of two winged figures, which show a new religious concept of Greek origin: the afterlife is populated with demons, similar to the two on the niche who lay a veil over the dead to protect his endless sleep. On the side walls, four couples are banqueting. One man caresses the face of the woman next to him. The woman of the next couple offers an egg, symbol of life, to the man facing her.

The tomb of the lotus flower painted around 520 B.C., has been named after the stylised flower that decorates the support of the ridge-pole. On the sides, two felines in unreal colours, face each other. The long, winding form of the animals is of Ionic style which was spread through Etruria by Greek artists.

 Two felines also give the name to the tomb of the lionesses whose large udders are symbols of regeneration and life. The tomb’s sloping ceiling is decorated with a chessboard pattern.

Here dolphins sport in the waves, birds dive into the sea and four men participate in a banquet. On the rear wall figures cheer up the feast with music and two slaves dance rhythmically: The light-skinned woman slave wears a transparent frock and the male slave, naked and dark-skinned, holds a water jug.

This tomb of hunting and fishing has two chambers and may be dated to 520 B.C. The paintings include naked or scantily clad figures dancing a Dionisiac rite, garlands hung from the trees, two horsemen returning from the hunt followed by a slave carrying the captured prey.

In the second chamber three seascapes include darting dolphins and waterfowl, a diving youth, boats with people on board, and three spectators watching men throwing the harpoon and fishing with a sling-shot.

 The tomb’s decoration, datable between 520 and 510 B.C., is attributed to a Greek painter for its miniature painted figures. The probable owners of the tomb are shown reclining: the man offering lovingly a garland to his wife while a handmaiden prepares a garland of flowers and a servant draws the beverage for the banquet from a large crater.

The Tomb of the Hunting Pavilion, painted around 510, stands out for its originality. Probably the tomb of an aristocrat fond of hunting, it shows game birds and roes hanging on the left wall. On the opposite wall a grazing fawn is meant to be a prey for the deceased during his afterlife existence.The rolling landscape on the left wall shows a large plain, probably the coast of Tarquinia.

The Jugglers tomb, dated around 510 B.C., is part of a group painted by a Greek from Ionia. The tomb is rather small, with a double sloping roof. Paintings include two fighting felines, games and dances performed in honour of the deceased. On the pavement are traces of a funeral bed. At the back a nude character is shown defecating and the words ”Aranth Heracanas” “Aranth, the slave of Heracanas”, a possible portrait of the painter.

The Cardarelli tomb, discovered in 1959, is named after poet, Vincenzo Cardarelli, who died the same year. The plan is typical: a small chamber with a double sloping roof painted in Ionic style. The ridge-pole is decorated with rosettes, ivy leaves and scenes of lions attacking deer. Musicians are playing their instruments and a woman, probably the deceased, wearing a tunic and cloak , dances gracefully preceded by slaves holding flabellum , a mirror and a kantharos. The interesting game of kottabos (literally throwing drops of wine from a kylix cup) is illustrated on another wall and near the entrance, two sturdy wrestlers are about to fight.

The small chamber known as the tomb of the Bacchantes is named after the Dionysian scenes depicted on its walls. It is one of the two important tombs located just beyond the fence at the far end of the Monterozzi site. Together with the Leopards tomb it is probably the most well known and its bright colors makes it seem almost modern.

The paintings are probably from the same workshop as the Cardarelli Tomb and like the Cardarelli Tomb, there are two lions sinking their fangs into two deer, facing each other on the sides supporting the column. The musicians and dancers are shown in an indecorous dance, under the influence of alcohol and with a Dionysian setting. 

The Tomb of the Leopards, discovered in 1875 has striking paintings with rich colors thanks to the recent restoration by a Japanese sponsor. They were only cleaned of the salt deposits and by fixing the plaster to the background.

The banquet theme which characterises most of the 5^th century tombs is developed by three couples of personages reclined on the klìnai. A man and a woman are lying on two klìnai at the right side and a male couple on a third one.

Along with the banquet scenes the footwear is notable for the Ionic shoes have been replaced by ankle laced sandals. 

Other tombs to visit include the Tomb of the Flogging dating back to the final years of the 6^th - beginning of the 5^th century. The chamber is large and the traces of a klìne are visible.

Three large afterlife doors dominate the walls; all around, individual personages or groups take part in what is likely a Dionysian rite. On the right wall two erotic scenes refer to the orgiastic atmosphere of the ceremony: a man flogging a woman with whom he copulates from behind. Another man, in front of her, is depicted at the acme of orgasm. 

The large chamber of the Gorgoneion tomb painted around the end of the 5^th century was named after the black Gorgon’s head with its red tongue painted on the pediment. The Gorgon is one of the symbols of Athena-Minerva, and in this representation, as a sign of good luck, it can be interpreted as a sign of particular devotion of the tomb’s owner to the female divinity. A bench carved in the rock surrounds the three sides of the hypogeum.

The static nature of the tomb emphasises a certain sacredness which is not always noticeable in other tombs. 

The tomb of the Charontes, dating from the first half of the 3^rd century, is built on two levels. The walls to the lower chambers are decorated with sculpted and painted doors representing symbolic thresholds to the afterlife with couples of winged characters including two blue Chàrun, the demons of the Etruscan afterlife. In their hands they hold a hammer and a weapon to protect the deceased in the voyage to the afterlife. The frightening demons show the change of attitude towards the afterlife as the Etruscan civilization was passing through difficult times. Next to each demon you can read the word “Charun”.