Museo Archeologico Nazionale

dell' Umbria

Large Cloister, Upper Loggia



Cinerary urns (late 3rd-1st century BC)

The loggia around the upper level of the large cloister is lined with urns from the necropolises that were built outside the city walls in the Hellenistic period.  These held the ashes of the deceased and were placed inside their hypogea (subterranean tombs).  A family hypogeum might contain the urns of several generations. 

The urns from this period were mass-produced to designs that were probably the work of Greek artisans.  They were generally made from local travertine, usually polychromed and occasionally gilded.  The deceased was often portrayed reclining on the lid in Greek dress, with his or her name inscribed below.  The great majority of these inscriptions are in Etruscan, although some that date to the period after the formation of the municipium in 89 BC are in Latin.

Some urns, particularly the earlier ones, were decorated with reliefs of scenes taken from Greek mythology.   (The website of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell' Umbria contains an interesting page on some of the more common ones).  

Ponticello di Campo

A number of the urns (2nd and 1st centuries BC) exhibited here were discovered in hypogea at Ponticello di Campo, south east of Perugia (slightly to the north of the larger the Palazzone necropolis (see below). 

  • Numbers  1 - 38 came from nine hypogea excavated in 1878-88.  Five of these (numbers 12 - 16) came from one of these hypogea that was used for women of the Selvathri family.  They belong to successive generations and are mostly identified by their maternal descent:

    •  
      Urn of Thana Selvathre
       (number 14)
      The relief depicts Orestes pursued by Avenging Furies after he has murdered his mother
      Carcinei, wife of Selvathre (15);

    • Thana Selvathre, wife of Cusithe, daughter of Carcinei (14);

    • Thania Cusithi, wife of Chvesna (13);

    • Hermi, wife of Cacei, daughter of Acsi (12); and

    • Fasti Vipi, wife of ..., daughter of Hermi (16).

  • Numbers 39 - 47 came from the Ipogeo dei Veti, which was excavated in 1925-6.  They belonged to three generations of male members of the Veti family and their wives.  The urn of Larta Pomponia, daughter of Aule (42) is the only one with an inscription in Latin.

  • Numbers 130 - 143 came from the Ipogeo dei Pompu Plaute, which was excavated in 1792. The urn of Lucius Pomponius Plotus, son of Lucius (142), which is in the form of a Roman temple, is the only one with an inscription in Latin.  The cognomen Plaute (Etruscan) or Plotus is a form of the more common Latin cognomen Plautus, which means flat-footed.

Those from the Ipogeo dei Setna, which was discovered at Ponticello di Campo in the 1960s, are separately exhibited, just beyond the upper loggia of the small cloister.

Ipogeo di Donne, Casaglia (2nd - 1st centuries BC)

The so-called Ipogeo di Donne (hypogeum of the women) was found in 1987  at Casaglia, outside Perugia (beyond the cemetery, along a road that led to the Tiber).  It contained the urns of four women from the same family (numbers 63 - 66). 

Three of the urns have Etruscan inscriptions identifying the deceased:

  • Ani, daughter of Vapsuntei (63);

  • Larthi Alfi, wife of Veltsna, daughter of .... (64); and

  • Thania Veltsnei, daughter of Larth and Armni, wife of Luesna (65).

    The fourth (66), which has its inscription in Latin, belonged to Lusinia, daughter of Iota.

 
 Urn of Thania Veltsnei
 (number 65)

The urn of Thania Veltsnei (65) is particularly moving:

  • On the lid, she embraces her husband, Luesna

  • In the relief, she reluctantly takes her leave of him.  Another man tugs gently at his toga as she prepares to go with another noble lady to her life after death.  This second lady holds the handle of a box (probably a jewel box) that is similar to a box made of bone that was found with the ashes in the urn.




Ipogeo dei Rafi (2nd - 1st centuries BC)

This hypogeum was discovered in tact in 1887, cut into the rock on the site of the cemetery of Perugia (see Detour II, Walk VI).  It contained 36 funerary urns (including numbers 92 - 123) and a number of terracotta vessels that also contained the ashes of human cremations.  The Etruscan inscriptions on the lids of the urns revealed that they belonged to four generations of the Rafi family.  They were distributed on the floor of the tomb, with that of the founder of the complex at the centre.  The sarcophagus of his wife was beside his, and those of his parents were nearby. 

 
Urn of Vei Rafi
 (number 104)
The inscription on the founder’s urn (104) identifies him as Vel Rafi, son of Arnth and Cai.  He is depicted on the front of his urn as an old man dressed in Roman style .  It would seem that he was an architect since he holds a ruler and stands beneath an arch that he presumably built.  The arch is probably meant to represent the gate of Hades, but it may have been inspired by one of the city gates.

Another 16 urns (85 -91) that belonged to members of this family were discovered in 1822 at an unspecified location north of Perugia.



Ipogeo dei Tetina (2nd century  BC)

This hypogeum (2nd century BC) was excavated in 1880 in Pacciano, near Castiglione.   It contained:

  • the urn (127) of Larth Tetina, son of Marcnei, the founder, which was in the main room; and
  • the urns (respectively 128 and 129) of his son Larth and of Thania Herini (who was either his wife of his dauther-in-law), which were in the corridor.

A Greek helmet(late 4th or 3rd century BC), which lay near the urn of the founder, is displayed in the small cloister.

Palazzone Necropolis

The Palazzone necropolis (which can be visited) is just outside Ponte San Giovanni (a few kilometers from Perugia), on a slope that descends to the Tiber.  The area is named for the Villa del Palazzone, which belonged to the Baglioni family.  It was first recognised as an Etruscan burial ground in the 1790s, when a few hypogea were discovered.  However, interest increased dramatically when the amazing  Ipogeo dei Volumni was unearthed during roadworks in February 1840.

Subsequent excavations  established the fact that this hypogeum was on the edge of a large necropolis.  Unfortunately, the excavations were unsystematic and porly documented, and the original provenance of most of the funerary urns and grave goods they unearthed was lost.   The area was then largely neglected until 1963, when systematic excavation revealed some 200 hypogea that were cut into the rock.  The great majority belong to the Hellenistic  period (4th - 1st centuries BC),  although five are considerably older.  (Grave goods from some of these archaic hypogea are exhibited in the Early Etruscan Section). 

Most of the cinerary urns discovered in the Hellenistic hypogea are exhibited at the entrance to the Ipogeo dei Volumni.   A few are displayed here:

  • Three urns (124-6) belonging to women of the Velimna family  (which also owned the Ipogeo dei Volumni) were among nine discovered in 1797.  An important mirror (ca. 320 BC) found here, in which the goddess of fate, Atropos presides over the deaths of Adonis (shown with Aphrodite) and Meleager (shown with Atalanta), is now in the [Berlin Antiquarium].  It is perhaps a hundred years older than the urns and was presumably a family heirloom.
 
Urns of
Fasti Titi Petrui (144, above) and Larth Facui (145)
  • The urn of Fasti Titi Petrui, wife of Cacei (144) has in interesting relief of a boar hunt on the front.  It probably represents Meleager killing the Calydonian boar.

  • The urn of Larth Facui, son of Vel and Titi (145), which Conte Giancarlo Conestabile discovered in 1870, has a relief depicting Odysseus (newly returned from Troy and in disguise) spying on his wife Penelope in her bedroom.

  • Two urns from the Ipogeo dei Casni (176 and 177) were discovered in 1843.



Ipogeo delle Madri e Figlie (2nd century BC)

The so-called hypogeum of the mothers and daughters was discovered in 1925 at Villa Barbiellini [near Villa del Palazzone].   It contained five urns, four of which carried inscriptions (numbers 153-7).  The inscriptions identified ladies from what seem to be four generations of the same family:

 
 Urn of Larthi Paniathi
(number 155)
The relief shows the deceased leaving for the underworld, accompanied by female demons.
  • Leunei, wife of Venthn[a], daughter of Achrati (154);
  • Venthnei, wife of Arzni, daughter of Leunei (156);
  • Thana Arznei (i.e. daughter of Arzni), wife of Paniathe (153); and
  • Larthi Paniathi (i.e. daughter of Paniathe - 155). 




Ipogeo dei Praesenti (1st century BC)

The urn of Hastia Aemili Praesenti (159) came from a hypogeum (1st century BC) that was discovered in 1869 on the site of the nunnery of Santa Caterina Vecchia outside Porta Sant' Angelo.   Hastia is identified by the Latin inscription.  The relief on the urn depicts Odysseus (newly returned from Troy and in disguise) spying on his wife Penelope in her bedroom.


The hypogeum, which consisted of two or three small rooms, also contained three other travertine urns (not exhibited), which belonged (respectively) to:

  • Presnte (Hastia's husband);

  • his mother; and

  • another lady.

The first two had Etruscan inscriptions while the third inscription, like that of Hastia, was in Latin.  A number of objects (3rd or 4th century BC) that were found nearby are exhibited in the Early Etruscan Section.  These are much older than the hypogeum, and must have been heirlooms.

Ipogeo dei Sortes (1st century BC) 

The urns exhibited as numbers 199 - 206 came from a relatively late hypogeum that was discovered in an unspecified location on hill of Monteluce (see Walk VI).  All of these except numbers 202 and 205 belonged to men from three generations of the Sortes family.

All of the inscriptions are in Latin.  The last member of the family whose ashes were interred here (in urn number 201), Lucius Nigidius Sors, son of Lucius, used a Latin form of the family name (as opposed to the form Sortes used by the others).  His inscription also contained the interesting information that he was "scriba aedilium curulium" or secretary of the Aediles Curules (municipal magistrates).

Urn of Annia (ca. 50 BC)

This lovely marble cinerary urn (currently un-numbered and exhibited to the right of the facade of San Domenico Vecchio)) is on the south side of the loggia, just before the corridor that leads to the rest of the museum.   The inscription identifies the deceased as Annia, daughter of Sextus, who was born of Cassia (i.e. Cassia was her mother).  She belonged to the Annii, a clan of Etruscan origin that had achieved consular status in Rome in the 2nd century BC. 

The original provenance of the urn is unknown, but it was used as a font in the Duomo from the 16th century until 1833.   The front of the urn has a relief of putti holding a garland of wheat, suggesting that the lady might have been a priestess of Cerere. 

Inscriptions

Inscriptions of the Sexti Valerii (1st and 2nd century AD)

These inscriptions are on the plinth (236) of what was probably a funerary monument, which was discovered in 1996 in [Via della Sorgente, Bettona]. 

  • The first inscription (1st century AD) commemorates Sextus Valerius, son of Sextus, who had been:

    • a miltary tribune;

    • a priest;

    • twice duorviro quinquennali; and also

    • aedile.  

  • The second inscription (2nd century AD) commemorates Sextus Valerius, son of Sextus, who had been:

    • duorviro;

    • a priest; and

    • praetor of Etruria.   

The inscriptions also note that the Decurioni (magistrates of the municipium) had paid for the funerals and places of burial of the two deceased.

Plinth of a Statue of Emperor Antonius Pius (166 AD)

The plinth (239) was embedded in the facade of Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo until 1787.  Its inscription records that the people of Perugia had provided funds for the erection of a statue to the duoviro (magistrate) Egnatius Festus after he had instituted games in the city.  He however asked that the money be spent instead on a statue of the Emperor Antonius Pius, who had died five years earlier. 

Inscription of Publius Volumnius (1st century BC)

This inscription (245) was preserved in San Francesco delle Donne until 1815.    It probably served as the base of a statue that the citizens of Perugia dedicated to Publius Volumnius Violens, son of Publius, who had served as quattuorvir and then duovir.  This change in the form of the Perugian magistracy probably occurred in 89BC, when Perugia became a municipium. 

Publius belonged to an old Etruscan family, the Velimna, and his ancestors were commemorated in the Ipogeo dei Volumni.  It may well be that the family Latinised its name at about the time of municipalisation.  It is interesting to note that it adopted the cognomen Violens (absent from the Etruscan form of the name) presumably to suggest descent from Volumnius Violens, who had been a Roman consul in 307 BC and again in 296 BC. 

Neither Publius nor his father, Publius senior was commemorated in the family hypogeum, which fell out of use in the 1st century BC.  This suggests that they suffered badly in the civil wars that afflicted Italy during much of the period.

Bellucci Amulet Collection

A room off the west side of the loggia (with its entrance between exhibits 33 and 34) houses the collection of some 1,700 amulets that Giuseppe Bellucci (died 1921) donated to the city.  These came from central and southern Italy and span the entire period from the stone age to the 20th century.

Chariots of Castel San Mariano (570-520 BC)

Remains from the important archaic bronze chariots of Castel San Mariano are exhibited in a room off the east side of the loggia (with its entrance between exhibits 206 and 207).


Leave the large cloister by the corridor on its south side and continue to the upper level of the small cloister.

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