Tombs of the Rusciare Necropolis Archaeological PArk

Tombs of the Etruscan Necropolis of Pian delle Rusciare

Texts of the panels of the Archaeological Park of Macchia della Riserva at Tuscania (VT, ITALY)

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The necropolis of Pian delle Rusciare includes eleven tombs, subject to interventions of violation of various entity, which then were intentionally fill up with earth. The tombs, of various types, were carried out through an artificial cut in the tufa rock and arranged on two axes clearly defined, at the foot of two hills that delimit, to the north and to the east, a natural basin. Tombs nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, located on the eastern side, are arranged in parallel and have the same orientation north-west / south-east. These are three tombs with an underground chamber, preceded by a rather steep access corridor (Nos. 1, 2, 4), one of which with three lithic sarcophagi (n. 1); one with a small individual chamber, with a short corridor at the height of the floor (no. 3), and a structure of uncertain identification (no. 6); their distribution is paratactic. At the base and along the slope of the northern hillside, are located tombs nos. 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, which, unlike the previous ones, are articulated according to a scheme which provides an underground chamber tomb more relevant than the others, for its size and for the presence of three lithic sarcophagi (n . 5), near which are arranged some minor tombs, belonging to the pit typology (nos. 7, 8, 11 and possibly 10) and one to the chamber typology with a single platform (n. 9). The funerary structures of this side have two orientations, one south-west / north-east, and one perpendicular to it. The chamber tombs of this necropolis present quite different plans, the interior is rather simple, sometimes equipped with platforms for the deposition of the deceased or grave goods, and walls carved into the natural rock with their surfaces left coarse. No external monumental structures are present, and the facade is simply constituted by a smooth wall, cut above the entrance, orthogonally in relation to the access corridor. The pit tombs are rectangular in shape, sometimes with a depression on the bottom to house the deposition. The distribution of the tombs of Pian delle Rusciare seems to reflect a certain social structure, in which emerge a few families who must be mentioned for their position within the community and a level of wealth probably higher than the others, which qualifies them as the owners of funerary structures of larger dimensions, of a more complex layout and equipped with stone sarcophagi for the depositions.

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Tomb 4

Underground chamber tomb, preceded by a long and steep access corridor. Its presence was signalled by a deep hole dug by the violators who thought that the structure was unfinished due to the hardness of its filling, abandoning their intrusion and allowing the preservation of a virtually intact context. The burial chamber has an irregular rectangular plan, with a straight internal corridor, flanked by three deposition platforms following a "U" shape. The two side platforms extend towards the entrance with two deep niches, probably intended originally to house the ceramic grave goods, as appears to confirm the finding in the right corner of a group of about twenty vessels, mostly intact, sometimes stacked, sometimes in falling position. The platform at the end, preserves the original arrangement of a slab of nenfro, upstanding, which probably served as a structural delimitation of the deposition behind it. A similar stone slab is also present on the right platform, currently tilted towards the side wall of the chamber. In regard to the grave goods, except for a few fragmentary vessels found in the access corridor, the ceramic vessels discovered come almost exclusively from the small niche in the right platform, as mentioned previously. Among these a lid, perhaps of a cinerary urn, a cup, dishes, black glazed and purified ceramic with painted bands dishes, two black glazed jugs (oinochoai), a few small jars with black glaze, with purified ceramic with painted bands and purified achromatic and coarse, a multiple overpainted vessel in Gnathia style, a fragment of purified achromatic ceramic perfume flask. Some of the black glazed dishes and plates are decorated with graffiti and imprinted stamps with numerical marks and letters of the alphabet: on two of them, the inscription CU seems to link the ownership of this tomb to a branch of the important gens Curunas, holder of three funerary complexes in the necropolis of Madonna dell’ Olivo in Tuscania. The tomb dates to the early 3rd century BCE.

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Tomb 1

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The mirror with the Telephus myth

Tomb 1

The mirror found in tomb 1 presents a comprehensive engraved decoration of the disc, with a mythological scene of the Greek hero Telephus. For its interpretation we can resort on Classical literary sources: it is the episode of the breastfeeding of Telephus child by a doe (logo of the Park). The myth tells us that the king of Tegea, Aleo, received a prophecy from the oracle of Delphi, who warned him that the child born from his daughter Auge, would have killed the brothers of his wife Neera. Fearing the materialisation of this prophecy, he forced his daughter to become a priestess of the cult of Athena, established by him, in order to maintain her chaste. The arrival in Tegea of Hercules upset the situation: the drunken hero violated the girl at a fountain near the sacred enclosure of the goddess Athena and she became pregnant. When the pregnancy became obvious, Aleo, furious, asked king Nauplio to take away Auge and drown her. During the journey towards Nauplia, the girl asked if she could retire to a forest on Mount Partenio were she gave birth to a child, who left there to give him a chance of salvation. Nauplio did not kill her, but he sold her to some Carian merchants that brought her in Teutrania, the region corresponding to Misia, to king Teutrante who made her his bride. The child was breastfed by a doe and survived until some shepherds found him. They named him Telephus and took him to their master, the king Corito, who adopted him. Later, Telephus, now grown up, once asked the oracle of Delphi about his true origins, sailed to Teutrania where he was welcomed by King Teutrante, who gave him his daughter Argiope in wife and adopted him. This would have allowed Telephus to succeed him as king of the Misi. In a variant of the myth, Auge is adopted as a daughter by Teutrante and given in marriage to Telephus: both are unaware of being mother and son and the gods must intervene to allow recognition.
In the Etruscan world, mirrors are often a wedding gift for the bride and this scene evokes as an auspicious a divine marriage between Turan (Venus), goddess of beauty, and Laran (Mars), god of war, at the presence of Hercle (Hercules), Uni (Juno) and Menrva (Minerva), and the birth of an illustrious offspring, represented by the hero Telephus child.

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Tombs of the Etruscan Necropolis of Pian delle Rusciare

Tomb 4

Tomb 1

The mirror with the Telephus myth

Tombs 2, 3, 6

Tomb 5

Tombs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11