Cerveteri

On Friday we boarded a double-decker bus and headed to Cerveteri to explore the world of the Etruscans. Cerveteri is near the coast, approximately 3/4 of the way to Fiumicino Airport if you take the coastal route to get there. The Etruscans settled the region during approximately 800 BC and remained there for roughly 700 years. They had a written language although very little of it is preserved. Most of what we know about them comes from primary source material written by the Romans and others who wrote about them contemporaneously. One lasting mark they made on the countryside are their necropoli or "cities of the dead". The funerary inscriptions on their tombs provide all of the existing written materials in the Etruscan language.

The first portion of the excursion was a visit to the Etruscan Museum in a medieval castle in the center of Cerveteri. The museum has an interesting collection of artifacts taken from the tombs during archeological excavations. Over the centuries, most of the tombs have been disturbed in some way, but there are 1000's of tombs in the necropolis so there is still a great deal of research to be done. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, much of the best material has been removed. The best of the best pieces reside in the Vatican Museum since the popes had claim over all of the region for many centuries. Much of the remaining better material is in the National Museum of the Etruscans in Rome. Still, even what is present in Cerveteri provides an interesting glimpse of Etruscan life.

The city of the dead, the Necropli della Banditaccia, is on the outskirts of town. It is huge with only a small portion of it open for public viewing. The approach through the countryside is by a long road, lined on both sides by characteristic umbrella pines. The necropolis itself is aranged like a small city. There are tombs spanning the entire range of Etruscan Civilization. The most interesting to look at are the mounds. Tombs were cut into the rock and then these giant mounds were raised over them. The largest are around 30 yards across and extend 20 feet above the ground. The tombs themselves can be another 20 or 30 feet below grade. These particular tombs are shaped like the inside of small houses with interesting details such as ceiling beams and beds carved out of the stone. The tombs would have originally been painted and all of the items necessary for daily life would have been buried with the occupants. The necropolis at Cerveteri is a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the necropolis at Tarquinia. Many of the tombs at Tarquinia have their original painting, but there is only one like that on display at Cerveteri. The advantage to that is that at Cerveteri they allow visitors to roam pretty much at will through any of the tombs while at Tarquinia the tombs are sealed to preserve the interiors and can only be viewed from afar through glass.