Identifier: uphilldowndalein00seym (find matches)
Title: Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Seymour, Frederick H. A
Subjects: Etruria -- Antiquities Tuscany (Italy) -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : Fisher Unwin
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
n of the Archin Italy is attributed to the Etruscans, it is doubtfulwhether that people availed themselves generally ofthe Arch in the construction of gates. But that it wasknown to them and practised in bridges and worksof drainage, such as the Cloaca Maxima in the RomanForum, and in the Arch at the Gravisca Port ofTarquina discovered by Mr. Dennis, there can belittle question.2 The Porta all Arco is then the only Gate whichmay be attributed to the Etruscans, and the absenceof others certainly proves that the present walls donot follow those of the Etruscan enceinte. Certainly 1 A cinerary urn precisely similar to this is to be seen in theEtruscan Museum in Florence, and there is another (wanting thearch, however) in the Inghirami Tomb at Volterra. 2 At Perugia, e.g., another famous Etruscan City, where muchEtruscan masonry remains, no arched gateway of the Etruscanepoch can be seen. The Gateways that may be attributed tothem are, or were, Square. Arches have been subsequently added.
Text Appearing After Image:
VOLTERRA 91 we know that the mediaeval wall which may be re-ferred to the times of Otho I., broke off from theEtruscan to the South of the present Porta S. Fran-cesco (upon the South-West) and running due North,turned to the East so far as the Porta a Selci, wheremay have been an Etruscan Gate, and at which pointthere is a great deal of Etruscan masonry preservedin the walls. The great Fortezza here was doubtlessconstructed upon the Etruscan Arx and conceals allthat primitive stronghold. The imposing appearance of the Walls of the City,the introduction into them of large and massive blocksof Etruscan masonry, and above all the famousEtruscan Porta dell Arco, have so strong an influenceupon the mind of the newcomer that at first sighthe is led to believe that he is contemplating anEtruscan enceinte. But he is undeceived, not onlyby the general character of the masonry of the wallsthemselves when he comes to go round them, butby the information that the modern enceinte has themodest cir

Note About Images