Inside the underground tombs at Cerveteri

The decoration is meant to give the effect of an Etruscan house,
for the dead to live in.


tomb with beams


Here beams have been carved out of the rock to make it look like the wooden roof of a real house. Between the beams there are lines going across the rock like smaller pieces of wood.  The beams are only for decoration.




tomb with column

Here as well as the beams there is a column.
Also between the beams there is a pattern which is meant to look like the straw  of a roof.




tomb with window 1

These two pictures are from the same room in an underground tomb. They show the couches around the side of the room. There is also a doorway into the next room and windows in the wall. Also there is decoration around the walls and the doors and windows. All of this has been carved out of the rock so that this rich man's tomb has the appearance of a house. It would have been painted as well.

tomb with window 2



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the Capanna tomb

other views of Cerveteri

more information on Etruscan tombs

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