Das Isisgrab von Vulci

In February 1839 in a part of the Etruscan necropolis of Vulci, which was then known as the Polledrara, a rich and well-preserved tomb, which once must have served members of the local elite as their burial place, happened to be discovered. The most striking feature was the presence of several Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects, which had left a deep mark on the sepulchre. The Isis-Tomb or Polledrara-Tomb, as the hypogeum was called, was refilled with earth soon after the finds had been recovered and is since lost. However the finds, which are the only remains of this conspicuous monument, soon fell into new hands. While some material went to enrich other collections, the nucleus of finds, to which the Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects belong, was sold in 1850 to the British Museum. The present volume contains the first comprehensive catalogue of the objects in London, which are highlights of the Etruscan collection of the British Museum and have played an important role in a number of scholarly debates ever since. Based upon these finds, even though they were previously only superficially known, a cultural phase at the end of the Orientalizing Period in Etruria was defined. Thus the academic publication of these objects fills a gap in archaeological literature. Furthermore the volume presents a full account of the Isis-Tomb, including details of the architecture and the other parts of the tomb-group, which have never reached the British Museum. The Isis-Tomb of Vulci, an outstanding monument, gives evidence of the intensive cultural contacts between the Etruscans on the one side and the peoples of the Aegean and the East Mediterranean, especially the Ionians, Phoenicians and Egyptians, on the other in the later part of the seventh century BCE.