Nos. 10 to 33, 40 to 60. A collection of small metal images, Lari,
or household gods, most of them very Greek in treatment, some of
them archaic.
Nos. 34 to 40. A collection of lead missiles for slings. These are
inscribed with words of the most marked abuse designed for the
enemy. On one of them is written: (in Latin characters) "For thy
right eye"--the sort of naïve thing a schoolboy might design.
ROOM V.
"As beautiful pottery like that of Vulci and Tarquinii is very
rarely found at Perugia, it seems probable that it was not
manufactured on the spot," writes Dennis. And if one has seen the
various other local Etruscan Museums in Italy, one will feel
decidedly disappointed in the vase-room at Perugia. One or two
interesting points may however be noted. It is strange to mark the
difference between the two separate classes of vases, between the
genuine Greek work, which the Etruscans had the good taste to
prize, and that of their own imitations of it. Note Nos. 3, 5, 14,
all of which are probably Etruscan copies from real Greek vases.
They are like the imitative sketches of children, lacking in
understanding and in feeling, and pathetic in their clumsy failure.
Nos. 7, 8, 10, and 12, are all specimens probably of real Greek
work.
No. 22. A fine terra-cotta vase--probably genuine Etruscan
work--with four heads of Bacchus at the base.
ROOM VI.
The gems of the museum may be said to have been gathered together
in this room, and the object which at once attracts one on entering
is the large sarcophagus of an Etruscan gentleman and his evil
genius, or Fate, which stands by the east window. Dennis has an
admirable description of it: "An Etruscan of middle age," he says,
"is reclining in the usual costume and attitude of the banquet,
with a bossed phiala in his left hand, and his right resting on his
knee. At his feet squats a hideous old woman, stunted and deformed,
whose wings show her to be a demon. She seizes one of his toes with
her right hand and grasps his right wrist with her left. (Some
authorities say she is feeling the pulse of the dying man.) She
turns her head to look at him, yet he appears quite unconscious of
her presence. She doubtless represents the Moira or Fate, whose
touch deprives him of life. The monument is from Chiusi, and of the
fetid limestone of that district. Both heads are moveable, and the
bodies hollow, proving that this, which looks like the lid of a
sarcophagus, is itself a cinerary urn."
No. 18. An Etruscan helmet of the finest work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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