ROCK TOMB ARCHITECTURE IN ETRURIA AND IN THE MEDITERRANEANStephan Steingräber The so-called "rock tombs" in the southern Etruscan inland zone constitute an especially characteristic and impressive group for which there is no parallel in Italy in quantity, monumentality, or variety of types. On the other hand, the phenomenon of rock tomb architecture was quite common in several other, different cultural areas in the Mediterranean. Thtis the Etruscan rock tombs do not cdnstitute an isolated case. The geographical and geological situation, of course, is the fundamental precondition for the origin of rock tombs. Normally they occur in landscapes of volcanic origin with deep ravines and steep cliffs. The distribution of rock tombs in the central and eastern Mediterranean tells us that such conditions occur elsewhere than in southern Etruria, namely in several regions of Asia Minor such as Lycia. Caria and Paphlagonia, in the Palestinian and Nabatean area and in the Cyrenaica. We encounter rock tombs also in Eastern Anatolian Urartu, in the Kurdish border area between Iran and Iraq, in the surroundings of Persian Persepolis, in Saudi Arabian Hegra and in Egyptian Beni Hassan. A marked rock architecture can be found also in areas of a completely different culture, such as India and China, but normally the rock monuments there belong to sacral and not sepulchral architecture. The chronological range in the Mediterranean extends from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (Dynasty XII in Beni Hassan) to the Roman Imperial period. Before the sixth century B.C. we find only relatively few examples (e.g. in Urartu and Phrygia). During the fourth century B.C. the phenomenon increased markedly and then reached its high point in the Hellenistic and early Roman Imperial periods. In the typology, size, equipment, and decoration of rock tombs there is a wide spectrum. On the other hand we also encounter several characteristics that are common to different regions. This phenomenon was particularly typical in the so-called "peripheral" cultures, which often in a relatively short period had a strong economic upturn and became very rich, mostly as the result of trade.A.Schmidt-Colinet formulated this fact very well in an article on Nabatean rock tomb architecture: "One can perceive, behind all these cities of the dead in the rock effort to grant to the houses of the dead, quite clearly in contrast to the houses of the living, - as far as we can understand these things at all archaeologically - permanence and monumentality." In general one can say that the main emphasis in rock tomb architecture was laid on the outward appearance, i.e. on the monument and not so much on the tomb chamber or the deathbed or the burial gifts. Obviously the owners of these tombs wanted to be noticed by their contemporaries and descendants. Therefore the "ideology" of most of these tomb monuments expresses not only material prosperity and need for admiration, but also a particular pretension. The Etruscan rock tombs are concentrated in the southern Etruscan interior. This landscape of pastoral character is still quite intact and is especially distinctive for its volcanic tufa stone, its deep canyon-like valleys, its plateaux with naturally-defended settlements, and its several crater lakes. The distribution of rock tombs extends from the edges of the eastern Tolfa around Stigliano in the south to southwestern Toscana around Sovana in the north, with main centers in Blera, San Giuliano, Norchia, Castel d'Asso, Tuscania and Sovana. The beginnings of southern Etruscan rock tomb architecture go back to the first half of the sixth century B.C. The most recent examples date from the second century B.C. This phenomenon had its high points in the later Archaic period (second half of the sixth century and beginning of the fifth century B.C.) and in the early Hellenistic period (end of the fourth and first half of the third century B.C.). During the first period of flourishing, the most numerous and interesting rock tombs were situated more in the south around Blera and San Giuliano (an area that belongs to the sphere of political influence of Cerveteri) and Tuscania (which is the hinterland of Tarquinia). The most important rock tombs of the second flourishing can be encountered more in the north, at Norchia, Castel d'Asso, and Sovana (i.e. in the areas of influence, respectively, of Tarquinia and Vulci). During the Etruscan Classical period the phenomenon of the rock tombs was less important. That probably resulted from, on one hand, an evident economic crisis in this area and, on the other, a stronger social leveling of the population structure. Agriculture was certainly the main economic basis of the southern Etruscan rock tomb area, but also domestic trade and, in part, utilization of the nearby metal deposits could have contributed to prosperity. In addition, during the romanization of Etruria, Roman political forces supported the smaller inland centers at the expense of the larger coastal centers. This fact is reflected also in the building of the Via Clodia. Especially after the middle of the second century B.C., a general decline in southem Etruria is undeniable. Chronologically one can divide the research on southern Etruscan rock tombs into three main periods. The Englishmen Samuel James Ainsley and George Dennis are to be regarded as the real discoverers of the rock tombs in the middle of the 19th century. The Italians L.Canina and F.Orioli and the Frenchmen H.Labrouste and A.Lenoir rendered outstanding service mostly for their illustrations of these tombs. In the period between the First and Second World Wars there were the intensive excavations and researches of the Germans H.Koch, E.von Mercklin, and C.Weickert in Blera, of R.Bianchi Bandinelli in Sovana, of A.Gargana in San Giuliano, and of G. Rosi on southern Etruscan rock tomb architecture generally. Only during the 1960s did a lively activity of research start again, represented mainly by the Swedish excavations under King Gustav VI Adolf (at San Giovenale and Luni sul Mignone), by the Etruscologist couple E. and G.Colonna (at Castel d'Asso and Norchia), by S.Quilici (on the topography of Blera and Tuscania), by A.Maggiani (at Sovana), by J.P.Oleson (in a fundamental discourse on southern Etruscan rock tomb architecture), and finally by R.Romanelli (in a general discourse on the southern Etruscan rock tomb area). The systematic series of publications of all relevant Etruscan rock tomb necropoleis initiated and edited by the CNR in Rome unfortunately came to a standstill several years ago; the most recent discoveries in Tuscania, in particular, make perfectly clear to us the necessity for continuation of these publications and for an intensive analysis of this unique phenomenon. One can divide the southern Etruscan rock tombs into several types and variants according to geographic distribution, chronology, and size. The spectrum ranges from simple chambers, Ioculi, or niches cut into the tufa rock without elaborated façade to very splendid temple-shaped rock monuments. The so-called "cube tomb" (tomba a dado) rs the most common type from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. Among the other types to be mentioned, are the house tomb (sixth to third centuries B.C.), the Archaic portico tomb (second half of the sixth century B.C., only in San Giuliano), the Hellenistic temple- and portico tomb, the Hellenistic aedicula tomb, and the Hellenistic tholos tomb. It is characteristic of the development of Etruscan rock tomb architecture that in the course of time the façade gained in importance as a tomb monument at the expense of the tomb chamber or burial, which since the fourth century B.C. was transferred to beneath the façade and was less precisely elaborated. The tomb façades - or their details, at least - were originally painted, while inscriptions and reliefs are relatively rare. One of the most characteristic elements - especially of the cube tombs - is the so-called porta dorica, which in the older period still forms the real entrance to the tomb chamber. During the fourth century B.C. it becomes a mere false door, probably with a symbolic significance. Some elements of rock tombs, such as the platforms with moldings and lateral stairs on cube tombs, obviously only served purposes for the cult of the dead. These platforms are formally and functionally comparable to altars and could serve also as supports for cippi of different forms and sizes. The so-called sottofacciata rooms, with stone benches partly in front of the façades, of Hellenistic cube tombs in Norchia and Castel d'Asso, were probably intended for the funeral banquet. Normally the rock tombs were carved out of the tufa faces from the top to the bottom. Sometimes individual structures were also built of stone blocks. Fixed measurements were apparently not used. Especially for the most flourishing periods of rock tomb architecture we have to postulate a large number of simple stonemasons, and also specialized sculptors for the working out of the details, vyho probably referred to models or to graphic drawings. Among the different tomb types and their decoration we find both local Etruscan and foreign innovative elements. The cube tomb, with its several variants, is a characteristic Etruscan type. On the other hand, the monumental and expensive temple- and portico tombs of the Hellenistic period are inconceivable without foreign models and influences. In their general conception they remind us primarily of the mausoleum and heroon tradition in Asia MinOr, whereas with regard to the details of the decoration and reliefs we can ascertain prototypes especially from Southern Italy and A pulia. Topographical amangement and organization of the larger rock tomb necropoleis are not accidental but an expression of an intended rational use of space and of new urbanistic tendencies. The rock tombs often are arranged in rows side by side and on terraces on top of each other, connected by paths and stairs. They concentrate particularly on the areas along the main entry and exit roads of the ancient city, or are situated around rectangular squares. Well known are the similar tentendencies reflected in the rectangular system of cube tomb streets in the necropoleis of Cerveteri and Orvieto, which date from the second half of the sixth century B.C., and in the "Hippodamean" town system of Marzabotto, which dates from about 500 B.C. Only a certain number of types, ground plans, and details of rock tombs are borrowed from Etruscan house architecture: e.g. the house-shaped type, the ground plan of the transverse house with two or three rooms side by side, or individual elements, such as the saddle roof or beds (klinai). Generally the discrepancy between tomb and house architecture becomes still more obvious in the later rock tombs of the Hellenistic period. From the beginning the phenomenon of the southern Etruscan rock tomb architecture certainly was not determined only by geological factors but was aimed also at scenographic and prestigious effects. This fact is reflected not least by the commonly intended orientation of the tomb façades toward the city, to establish a permanent visual contact between the area of the living and the area of the dead. Already at the beginning of rock tomb architecture the façade was especially emphasized, but the relation between the external architecture and the tomb chamber was still appropriate and functional, whereas from the fourth century B.C. this relationship completely changed in favor of a pure and often very expensive false façade architecture, which neglected the subterranean, rather hidden tomb chamber. This emphasis of the tomb monument and its exterior appearance doubtlessly expresses the intention of the social ruling classes - a kind of landed gentry - to stand out in public and perinanently to recall themselves to the minds of their descendants. The numerous burials - in the latest period up to 70 per tomb - and burial gifts dating from several generations prove that most of these rock tombs constitute aristocratic complexes used for several generations. Of course, only exceptionally do we find tomb inventories still intact; this makes the dating of many tombs more difficult. The origin of the Archaic Etruscan rock tomb architecture is still not clatified in all its respects and is still disputed among scholars. Of particular interest in this regard is a large rock tomb area on the western slope of Pian di Mola in Tuscania. It was excavated by the Soprintendenza of Southern Etruria from 1984 to 1989, and recently partly restored and explained in some brief articles by A.M. Sgubini Moretti. This area contains several rock tombs situated along a funeral road and oriented toward the Peschiera necropolis, on the opposite side, and toward part of the ancient city. In the center of the area, there is a large house tomb carved almost entirely into the tufa, both front and rear. The portico in front is mostly constructed from blocks and slabs of tufa and peperino in different colors with chromatic effects. The quality of the stone masonry is excellent. The house tomb is 24.2 m. in length and 20.4 m. in depth. On and also partly beside the columen of the roof, which was originally decorated with two lateral pediments, there were five rectangular bases, several house- and omphalos-shaped cippi, and a number of sculptures, among which two tphinxes and a lion are still preserved. The pediments are characterized by molded ends of the longitudinal beams, a central vertical pillar, and a mdlded architrave. Both ends of the columen were decorated with disk-shaped acroteria, which were originally painted. The tomb façade stands out due to the central entrance door and two lateral false doors (subdivided into four panels) - all in the porta dorica type - a profiled base, and a profiled upper zone with "owl's beak" ("becco di civetta"), fascie and torus. The central entrance originally was closed by stone blocks, which also imitate the structure of a paneled door. The portico consists of two antae with profiled bases and four Tuscan columns, among which we can still see the bases with their rich moldings. An entablature of Ionian type, which probably carried a flat roof with imitation of wooden beams on the underside, had an incline in front. Small sculptures of reclining lions were probably arranged on top of the entablature of the portico. A staircase on the left led to the portico roof, which doubtlessly served as a platform for cult ceremonies (as did the platforms on top of many rock cube tombs). Inside the house cube we find three chambers arranged side by side with ground plans that are not perfectly rectangular. The central chamber is characterized by a horizontal ceiling with beams and, in front of the rear wall, a bed (kline) with turned legs and two heads. The side chanibers have three rather simple stone beds and a ceiling with a small angle of inclination. Fragments of Etruscan and Greek ceramics and faience, and a bronze lion statuette (from a cauldron) found in the tomb testify that its use dates from the second quarter until the end of the sixth century B.C., that is, for three generations. North of this tomb (in sector A) and especially south (in sector B) we find several simple house tombs without any portico. Their columina also supported cippi. These tombs are characterized by a cross-shaped ground plan or by a plan with two chambers, one behind the other, by a molded upper zone, and partly by lateral pediments with central pillar and beam heads. They can be dated to the second and third quarters of the sixth century B.C. thanks to fragmentary burial gifts. A little older than the main tomb is a small pozzo or "well" tomb in which an Attic krater functioned as an urn. This tomb was topped by a well elaborated house-shaped cippus with disk-shaped, acroteria and traces of paint. This kind of cippus reflects the form of the house tombs in miniature. The portico tomb of Pian di Mola and the annexed group of monumental rock tombs, particularly in sector A, doubtlessly belonged to one of the aristocratic clans that dominated Tuscania politically and economically. Unfortunately we do not know the name of this clan but probably there was intended a Precise genealogical and "ideological" relationship between, on the one side, the cremation burial in the (not much older) pozzo tomb, containing the Attic krater and the house-shaped cippus, and on the other, the main inhumation burial in our house tomb with portico. Already this early we can ascertain an intended demonstration of social status in the tomb architecture of the southern Etruscan inland because there greater emphasis was placed on the façades than on the interiors of the tombs. This tendency will increase in later periods. The portico tomb of Tuscania generally belongs among the oldest rock tombs in the Mediterranean area although it is not "of pure race" with regard to its structure. Older rock tombs or rock monuments, for example those in Urartu and Phrygia, cannot be considered prototypes for typological reasons. The oldest carved portico tombs outside Etruria, such as those in Persia, Cyrenaica (Barka) and Paphlagonia, have to be dated at least several decades later. Definitely later, too, are the oldest house tombs of Lycia, which also are not comparable in typological respects to the Etruscan examples. Still later are the Lycian and Carian temple tombs. Therefore we have to assume that our monumental rock tomb in Tuscania was influenced mainly by the architecture of the Etruscan house and palace and not by that of the temple nor by foreign tombs. On the other hand we must also question whether the phenomenon of rock tombs, which had been deeply rooted in some parts of Asia Minor since early times, could not have given some impulse to the genesis of Etruscan rock tomb architecture, not so much in specific typology but in a more general conceptual way. It could also speak well for this hypothesis that the oldest Etruscan rock tombs of the second quarter of the sixth century B.C. were not the result of a long local development but appeared suddenly, completely developed and monumentalized. There were manifold relations between the coastal centers of Etruria and several regions of Eastern Greece and Asia minor as early as the eighth and especially in the seventh century B.C. From this point of view, we have to see possible influences from Asia Minor in the architecture of the monumental tumuli that started quite suddenly during the first half of the seventh century B.C., particularly in Cerveteri. Recently F. Prayon drew our attention to this fact by reminding us, for example, of the big Lydian tumuli with partly carved chamber tombs and interior painted decoration. As has been clearly proved, eastern influence, especially from northern Syria, was decisive for the monumentalization of Etruscan funeral sculpture in the seventh century B.C. G. Colonna and F.W. von Hase illustrated this very well in the "Tomba delle Statue" at Ceri, which dates from the second quarter of the seventh century B.C. ■ BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Colonna, L'Etruria meridionale interna dal villanoviano alle tombe rupestri, StEtr 35, 1967, p. 3 ss. |
| 前頁へ | 表紙に戻る | 次頁へ |