Question

Discuss the characteristics of Etruscan tombs. Discuss both the exterior appearance of the tombs and the interior space and decoration.

Compare Etruscan tombs and Egyptian tombs. Discuss at least two similarities and two differences.

Answer 1

• The Etruscan tombs represent more than just the deaths of nobles of the past. They can also been seen as the symbol of the mightiest race that never was. Etruscan tombs were seemingly built to last for centuries using stone or rock-cut chambers.
• The earliest tombs were painted to replicate the architectural features of real houses. Others have ceilings painted to mimic tent fabric, alluding to the earlier Etruscan practice of using tents to cover the deceased.
• Mythical creatures are commonly painted on pillars and banquet scenes near the ceilings. Later tombs have false doorways and more ambitious painted scenes covering entire walls, especially of diners reclining on couches, drinkers on mats, hunting, games, and figures bidding a fond farewell to the deceased.
• The internal walls of Etruscan tombs such as those at Cerveteri and Tarquinii still contain the remains of magnificent murals which give us a considerable insight into the Etruscan way of life. A commonly recurring theme is the banquet, which in the case of the Necropolis paintings, carried a double meaning.
• For the banquet was also an intrinsic part of the religious ceremony at funerals. After all the formal funeral ceremonies were complete, the relatives of the deceased were treated to a sumptuous banquet, at which the spirit of the departed was believed to attend.In Etruscan daily life, the banquet was very much a status symbol, indicating to all and sundry that the hosts had "arrived" in the estimation of the Etruscan social elite.
• Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Chiusi, and Vulci, in particular, possess tombs with outstanding wallpaintings which depict lively and colourful scenes from Etruscan mythology and daily life, and, sometimes, even the tomb's occupant themselves.
• Magnificent though these paintings are, it is to be remembered that they were not seen by anyone except at the burial ceremony or perhaps briefly when another family member was later interred. The tombs, then, are a supreme example of conspicuous consumption – an elite demonstrating in a brief moment their wealth and superiority within the community.
• Beyond, this, though, the paintings have another purpose and almost certainly a more important one. The Etruscan tomb paintings show that these people believed in an afterlife and that such decoration, along with the provision of grave goods from gold jewellery to dinner sets, somehow comforted and helped the deceased on their journey into that new and unknown world.
• The most elaborate tombs in ancient times were those built by the Egyptians for their kings, the pharaohs. Early on, the Egyptians built mastabas, tombs made of dried bricks which were then used to shore up shafts and chambers dug into the earth,which was different from Etruscan tombs which used stone.
• The Etruscan obsession with elaborate burials leads us to suppose that they may have had an underlying belief, similar to the Egyptians that a part of the soul remained with the body, or at least that the body was important for the afterlife.
• In contrast to the tombs of the Egyptians, Etruscan tombs were not grand monuments to powerful rulers but emphasized sociability and the pleasures of living.