- chapter 9: The last Etruscans –
about the relationships between the deceased gets increasingly detailed, including who
married whom.^2 We can also follow the shift of language, from Etruscan to Latin and a
number of inscriptions were given in both languages.^3
With or without inscriptions, the sculptural decorations (banqueting lid fi gures and
chests with reliefs) give a picture of the cultural horizons and ambitions of the families in
question, and transform the – mostly roughly hewn – tomb chambers into banquet halls
or scenes for funerary games and dramatic performances. In the following, I will give a
rough idea of both these approaches.
THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THOSE
BURIED TOGETHERWhen analysing the genealogical ties between those buried in the same tombs, as
documented by the inscriptions, different patterns take form: it is evident that there was
no overall consensus about how far the obligation to bury family members reached.^4
The prevailing custom was, however, the one which still appears most obvious: men –
fathers and sons – in an agnatic lineage, as well as their wives/mothers, but no daughters
(they were supposed to be buried with their husbands). Not seldom two or three brothers
and their wives follow the parents and so forth, in parallel lineages, but there were limits
as to how large a crowd the tomb was able to host.
A very restricted version of this norm is constituted by tombs where only men in
an agnatic lineage were buried. The clearest case of such a tomb is that of the Cutus at
Perugia: there are fi fty men and no women.^5 This secured a place for a large crowd of
male Cutus, who claimed descent from the same ancestor, an anonymous man buried
in a sarcophagus in the back chamber of the tomb. Who the Cutus were married to can
only be deduced from their mothers’ names. On balance, some women married into such
families solved their burial problem by founding separate tombs, with access only for
women, in a more or less direct matrilineal line.^6
An enlarged version of the normal pattern is represented by tombs with men and their
wives, with the addition of one or more daughters, whose names do not mention any
husband. They probably had died before getting married, but we cannot be sure.
The well-known Perusine Tomb of the Velimnas/Volumnii may be attributed to this
category, in spite of its absolute male dominance (Fig. 9.1).^7 When it was discovered in
1840, only the back chamber contained chests, with fi ve banqueting Velimna men. In
the left back corner, however, was placed the sitting funerary statue of Veilia, daughter
of Arnth Velimna. The dedicatory inscription tells that her father Arnth and uncle Larth
built the tomb for their offspring (husiur): but, in fact, Velia is their only representative.
Instead, the monuments belong to Arnth and Larth themselves, their brother Vel, as well
as their father Aule and grandfather Thefri. All the magnifi cent monuments seem to have
been executed at one moment.
The rest of the spacious tomb was found empty – perhaps the family had moved
elsewhere. Yet the memory of the tomb was not forgotten, since one more chest, of marble
and of Roman workmanship, was placed at the left front corner of the back chamber in the
early Imperial period. Signifi cantly, the name was given in both Etruscan and Latin: “pup
velimna au cahatial / P. Volumnius A.f. Violens Cafatia natus.”^8 The chest must post-date
the Perusine War of 42 bc, which resulted in a devastating (albeit accidental) fi re in the
city, and the “ritual” slaughtering of 300 Etruscan noblemen by Octavian. In the funerary