- chapter 32: Worshiping with the dead –
Figure 32.12 Sovana, model of the Ildebranda Tomb – temple rock tomb of Hellenistic period
(Sovana, Museo Archeologico).Many of these splendid rock tombs had a permanent visual contact with the city of the
living. Most of them did not serve only for burials but were conceived as cult places and
monumental altars too (Fig. 32.13). The upper platform of the cube tombs could be
reached indeed by lateral stairs.
ROCK MONUMENTS OF THE LATE ETRUSCAN
AND ROMAN PERIODThe Etruscan tradition of rock monuments mostly of funerary character continues even in
Roman times – especially in the fi rst century bc and the fi rst century ad. A conspicuous
number of monuments called “Piramidi,” “Predicatori,” “Massi” etc. are concentrated
between the Monti Cimini and the Tiber Valley in the triangle between Bomarzo,
Soriano nel Cimino and Vitorchiano (Prov. of Viterbo) and partly characterized by Latin
inscriptions indicating the names of the deceased, the donators and some gods such as the
Bona Dea (Figs 32.14, 32.15).
INFLUENCES FROM HOUSE, PALACE AND
TEMPLE ARCHITECTUREOften one can read that Etruscan tomb architecture is an imitation of house architecture.
This assertion is only partly true – we have to distinguish between the different periods,
tomb types and architectural elements. But without any doubt tomb architecture is a
partial and precious substitute for the mostly destroyed and lost Etruscan house and palace
architecture and this is especially valid for Cerveteri where the tombs of the second half
of the seventh century bc and of the greater part of the sixth century bc are reproducing
many details of the interior shape of the houses. This concept of the tomb or tomb
monument as the hut or house of the dead is refl ected already by the cinerary hut urns of
the Villanovan period imitating the structures of the dwelling huts of the deceased, leaving
them within their usual environments and furnishing them with everything they liked
and which could be useful for their Afterlife. Different kinds of furniture, implements