In the hills up from the seashore near Rome is this sanctuary, located in the resort town of Santa Marinella. It's not worth a trip, but I've been there three times to pray.
Notice the bottom photo, though. This is the view of the sea, covered by mist and rain. Can you see the little hill near the middle? That is what an old Etruscan tomb looks like. If excavations were to be done a giant room with tombs would very likely be discovered inside the middle. Hundreds of similar tombs are located all along the coast north of Rome.
1 comment:
Absolutely fascinating. I have a book on Graeco/Etruscan art. It's awesome to study...and I'm no archeologist.
Have you ever seen the ruins of the Greek temples at Agrigento etc. (Not the Roman era temples...but the Greek ones which predate the Romans by 500 years.)
The Greeks in the 600's BC colonized Sicily, and large parts of Italy, expecially along the coasts. Archeologists have taken to calling it "Magna Graecia"--"Greater Greece", and indeed the Greek colonists thought of this territory as such.
Greek temples in arcitecture are much lighter in style and appeal than the imposing , oftentimes overpowering Roman style. I prefer the Graeco/Etruscan era (especially Archaic Greek epoch (8th-550 bc) better than the period known as "Classical Greece" 500-350 BC.
I prefer the "Hellenic" or "authentic" period of Greek culture (1,000-350 BC) to the "Hellenistic" era which is basically Alexander the Great imposing the Greek style of "everything" everywhere he conquered. Cheap immitations.
Romans did the same thing.
I like the originals and that era over Roman times anyday.
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