Tomba Campana

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1843 view of the first burial chamber
Paintings of the Campana tomb

The Tomba Campana is an Etruscan tomb in Formello in the Italian region of Lazio . The tomb is located in the area of ​​the former Etruscan city of Veji and was discovered in 1843 by Giampietro Campana , after whom the tomb was named. It contained numerous additions, including Corinthian vases , but is best known for its wall paintings, which date back to the Orientalizing period of the Etruscans around 600 BC. To date. It is one of the first Etruscan tombs painted with large figural scenes. In the 20th century, the discovery by Campana turned out to be a cleverly planned hoax, which also cast doubt on the authenticity of the murals.

discovery

The discovery of the tomb by Giampietro Campana caused a certain echo among archaeologists of the time. The grave complex found on the property of the Chigi family impressed with its rich and very well-preserved grave goods and wall paintings, which were unique to Veji. Shortly after the first excavation report was sent in February 1843, it was visited by a commission headed by Pietro Ercole Visconti . Even before the public heard of Emil Braun's discovery in March 1843 , the entrance to the grave had already been secured against unwanted visitors with an iron grille.

Subsequently, it was Campana himself, as well as the archaeologist Luigi Canina and the British archaeologist George Dennis , who contributed to the fame of the tomb with their publications, so that the tomb soon became an obligatory destination when visiting the Veji excavations. In doing so, however, the required supervision was lacking, so that grave goods soon disappeared and vandalism also occurred. Some of the stolen grave goods were replaced by other objects of unknown origin. In July 1901, the pieces that remained in the grave were taken to the Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia , where they were forgotten in a storage room until they were rediscovered in the 1960s.

With the rediscovery, interest began again in the grave and the discovery by Campana. When examining the finds, it turned out that some objects originally came from other graves and had been smuggled into the Tomba Campana before the first excavation report was completed by Campana in February 1843. This discovery raised doubts about the originality of the other grave goods. These doubts were also reinforced by the fact that drawings of the tomb were first made around 1825. It can therefore be ruled out that in a grave known and accessible for decades before the alleged discovery, well-preserved original grave supplements were found and the grave supplements found there were brought there by Campana itself or by helpers. Because of this, there are justified doubts about the originality of the tomb paintings, which were very well preserved from the alleged discovery in 1843, for which the tomb is known, especially since the tomb was accessible for decades and the tomb paintings showed signs of decay within a few years after the "discovery" by Campana exhibited.

description

The grave complex is located within the Veio Nature Park ( Italian Parco Regional di Veio ) on the orographic left bank of the Cremera on the municipal border with the Roman Municipio XV . The complex, which is dug into a hill made of tuff , can be reached via an approximately 15 meter long canyon-like entrance.

The tomb consists of two rooms. In the first there were two dead, in the second three. The wall paintings have all faded today and are best known through drawings by Luigi Canina. The back wall of the first chamber in particular is painted. To the left and right of the door to the second chamber there are two registers each depicting people and mythical animals. There are also sprawling floral patterns. The paintings are clearly influenced by Corinthian and Etrusco-Corinthian vase painting. The long legs of the animals are more reminiscent of sculptures from Prinias on Crete . In the upper right corner there is a representation of a procession. A naked rider sits on a horse, two men accompany him on foot. The interpretation of the scene is controversial. It may be a hunting scene, the return of Hephaestus or the dead man's journey into the underworld. The latter interpretation is favored by research today.

literature

  • Luigi Canina : L'antica città de Veii . Rome 1847, pp. 75-76, pl. XXVIII-XXXII.
  • Filipp Delpino: La tomba Campana e la “sua scoperta” . In: Iefke von Kampen (ed.): Il nuovo Museo dell'Agro Veientano a Palazzo Chigi di Formello . Edizioni Quasar, Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-7140-481-3 .
  • Stephan Steingräber : Abundance of Life, Etruscan Wall Painting . Los Angeles 2006, ISBN 978-0-89236-865-5 , pp. 58-59.

Web links

Commons : Tomba Campana  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Filipp Delpino: La tomba Campana e la “sua scoperta” . In: Iefke von Kampen (ed.): Il nuovo Museo dell'Agro Veientano a Palazzo Chigi di Formello . Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-7140-481-3 , pp. 97-98.
  2. ↑ See Filipp Delpino: La tomba Campana e la “sua scoperta” . In: Iefke von Kampen (ed.): Il nuovo Museo dell'Agro Veientano a Palazzo Chigi di Formello . Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-7140-481-3 , pp. 99-100.
  3. ↑ See Filipp Delpino: La tomba Campana e la “sua scoperta” . In: Iefke von Kampen (ed.): Il nuovo Museo dell'Agro Veientano a Palazzo Chigi di Formello . Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-7140-481-3 , pp. 101-102.
  4. ^ Luigi Canina : L'antica città de Veii . Rome 1847, p. 75, pl. XXXI-XXXII.
  5. ^ Stephan Steingräber : Abundance of Life, Etruscan Wall Painting . Los Angeles 2006, ISBN 978-0-89236-865-5 , p. 59.
  6. ^ Stephan Steingräber: Abundance of Life, EtruscanWall Painting . Los Angeles 2006, ISBN 978-0-89236-865-5 , p. 60.

Coordinates: 42 ° 1 ′ 59.4 ″  N , 12 ° 24 ′ 21.5 ″  E