File:Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria (1910) (14595556037).jpg

Identifier: uphilldowndalein01seym (find matches)
Title: Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Seymour, Frederick H. A
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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t to 15 or 20 feet. Uponthe South and West, where the polygonal blocks arein considerable Evidence, the walls seem; to have beenalways less high, chiefly of a retaining character,as in the wall at Populonia. The wall of Cortona,e.g., which presents the best and most continuousseries of Etruscan masonry in Italy, certainly doesnot anywhere exceed 15 feet in height. I shouldsay that the average height there would not be morethan 12 ft. The stone employed throughout—whetherof the polygonal masses or of the Etruscan style—isof travertine and limestone, both stones incliningto a horizontal rather than to a vertical cleavage.The Pelasgi, then, must have had harder work thanthe Etruscans in shaping their blocks, I imaginethat the stone was quarried in the neighbourhood,although I did not learn the exact spot. Micali I believe Mr. Dennis spoke of many more gates. His authoritycan never be disputed, but he was here many years ago, whenthe ruins may have been in a less pronounced condition.
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GROSSETO FOR RUSELL^ 147 detected diggings both of macigno and travertinewithin the precincts of the walls. If that was so,the Etruscans would have had little labour in thetransport of their stone. The reader who has seen the. fine remains of theRepublican period upon the Palatine will rememberthat the Romans were likewise enabled to draw theirsupplies of stone in the immediate vicinity of theirbuildings. You can wander at will over the Northern andEastern portions—the site, I suppose, of the Arx.But upon the other sides your progress is mtich im-peded by the bristling bush and briar which hasclothed the huge polygonal blocks. It has been sofor centuries, for Polybius relates that during en-counters betwixt Romans and Gauls in these districts,the Gauls, who were accustomed to fight almost nude,suffered severely from; the prickly character of thebush and briar through which they had to penetrate.I could sympathise with the Gauls, although I wasclad rather more in the Roman style than

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