The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• Stephan Steingräber –

together with the tomb-founder couple buried in the back chamber. Many tumuli have
ramps (especially in Cerveteri) or added platforms (as in Artimino) or terraces and many
cubes have lateral stairs that allow entrants (priests and relatives of the dead) to climb
up to the top of the monument obviously for ritual purposes. The upper platforms of the
cube tombs had the size and function of monumental altars. The sottofacciata areas with
their benches probably served funeral banquets. Also the dromos or an open space in front
of the burial chamber could be used to deposit offerings or to make libations. A really
impressive example is the so-called terrazza-altare of the Tumulo del Sodo II in Cortona-
Camucia, decorated with palmettes of Ionic type and two sculptural groups and dating
from the Late Orientalizing period. From this monumental terrace-altar one could climb
up to a naiskos/aedicula on the top of the tumulus. Both structures were clearly intended
for funeral rites and ceremonies. We know of open squares and “ritual theatres” also in
Grotta Porcina (in combination with a round altar), Vulci (in front of the main tomb
of the Cuccumella) and Tarquinia (in front of the tomb in the Luzi Tumulo). Unique
in Etruria is the rectangular base originally with two rows of monumental obelisk-like
cippi beside the Tumulo Cima in San Giuliano. This “area cultuale all’aperto” (G. Colonna,
1985) was probably an uniconic monument in memory of the ancestors of the aristocratic
owner family of the tumulus.

TOMB INSCRIPTIONS

Tomb inscriptions were rather rare in the early periods apart from the Orvieto tombs
but later documented on cippi and façades such as in Norchia and Castel d’Asso. In the
case of Orvieto the inscriptions give us information about the different provenance of the
tomb owners (from Umbria and even from the Celtic area). Frequent carved or painted
inscriptions in the gentilicial (extended family) tombs of the Hellenistic period enable us
to partially reconstruct the genealogy of the owner family.

CIPPI AND TOMB SCULPTURES

Cippi = tomb signs in stone could be erected in front of the tomb entrance, upon the
tomb monument or sometimes even in the tomb and indicated specifi c burials. Their
size, material and typology are different according to local customs and different periods
in Etruria (Fig. 32.16).
Sculptures of wild animals and monsters, standing as “guardians” in front of the tomb
monument or tomb entrance, were probably of apotropaic character and mainly common
in the Archaic period but later too. In Vulci and its territory this custom was particularly
popular.

BURIAL GIFTS

The composition, materials, number and richness of the burial gifts – in most cases
unfortunately no longer intact – give us a lot of information about age, sex, social status,
taste etc. of the deceased and of course, about the chronology and duration of the use
of a tomb. Additionally, the composition of the burial gifts, including often both local
and foreign objects, informs us about the economic and cultural relations between the
respective Etruscan town and other Etruscan towns and foreign areas. In the Orientalizing