THE KIRCHERIAN MUSEUM.
This museum is in a chronic state of being "arranged." The entrance fee is one lira, and the old custodians follow the visitor about as though the latter wished to eat the bronzes. On Sundays and Government festas the entry is free.
Entry Hall.—In a case down the centre are many highly interesting objects, mostly in bronze—early money, gems, styli, etc. The Glandes Missiles, or lead sling-bullets, are unique; many of them have messages cut upon them. In the cases against the wall are many objects of interest. The second on the left contains Silver Cups found at the Aquæ Aureliæ on Lake Bracciano, three of which have itineraries from Cadiz to Rome engraved upon them. They are of the times of Augustus, Vespasian, and Nerva, and are supposed to have been thrown in by people who had made the journey and were cured by the waters, as an offering to the genii loci.
An ancient mosaic forms the floor of the hall, and in a semicircle at the end statuettes are grouped.
First Room, on the left of entry hall, is devoted to bronzes used for domestic purposes, and to Lares and Penates. In the centre of the room is the Bisellium, or chair of state, formed of bronze inlaid with silver. It was found at Otimo. The Cista Mistica was a prize given to gladiators to contain the requisites for their toilets. Three eagles' claws pressing on toads form the feet. Upon the cylindrical vase are engravings,—a gladiator stepping out of a galley with the cista in his hand; Amycus being killed by Pollux, the Argonauts looking on. It was found at Palestrina, where several similar ones have recently been found. The handle is formed by three figures with their arms entwined.
The Third Room, at end on left, contains the caricature found cut in the plaster of the Domus Gelotiana of the Palatine—the Skit of the Crucifixion. It represents the body of a man with an ass's head being crucified. Below, on the left, is the figure of a man in adoration; beneath, in Greek, "Alexamenos adores his God." The Romans mixed up the Jews and the Christians; and believing that the former worshipped a white donkey (Tacitus, "H." v. 3), they applied it to the Christians, and in this way, because they knew the Christian's God was crucified. Tertullian ("Apol." xvi.) says it was a common caricature against the Christians. The date is about 200.
The inscriptions and reliefs are early Christian; also the objects in the glass case. To the right, at the end of the entry hall, is the entry to the Natural History and Pre-historic Museums. Passing through these, or better, returning and passing by the entrance, we enter the rooms of
TREASURE TROVE AT PALESTRINA.
Whilst some peasants were recently digging up their plot of ground near the Church of S. Rocco they came upon a subterranean tomb, which, upon examination, was found to contain arms, shields, sacrificial implements, jewellery, utensils, and other objects of value and interest. We may remind our readers that Præneste was destroyed by Sulla,—that is, the ancient city founded by the Greeks, and surrounded by the Pelasgic wall. This tomb is of that period, and measures five metres by three, and is composed of large blocks of tufa, without cement. The vault had fallen in, and thus damaged some of the objects, the principal of which are:—
Personal Ornaments.—1. An object which might be called a huge fibula, as without doubt it was sewn on a dress. It is made of a rectangular piece of solid gold, 0m.17 long, 0m.10 wide. The borders and the central line are ornamented with bands, worked "a meandro," ending with lions' heads. On the flat surface one hundred and thirty-one animals, such as lions, sphinxes, and sirens, stand or crouch. The skill with which the gold is worked in the most microscopic details is quite wonderful. 2. A fibula of gold, 0m.12 long, not different from the Etrusco-Roman shape. 3. A few yards of a golden fringe or fimbria, which trimmed the edge of the dress, and in which the movable strings are attached to a band or heading, ornamented with swallows and crows. 4. A stick of silver, which seems to have ended with a hand, and might be considered as a sceptre. 5. Many clasps of gold, on which are fixed couples of lions and sirens of the same material.
Utensils: Familiar or Sacred Supellex.—1. The funeral-bed, with the framework of oak-wood and the ornamentation of bronze. On the junction of the four poles of the frame are groups of telamones, whose heads are dressed with huge feathers, not unlike South American caciques; chimeras carrying away human bodies; dogs persecuting lions, &c. 2. A kind of strong-box, inlaid with exquisite bas-reliefs of ivory, coated in gold, and representing heads of monsters, lions eating up bodies dressed in Eastern fashion, Egyptian boats, females in priestly attire, battle-scenes between horsemen and infantry, &c. 3. Three cylinders, 0m.19 long, 0m.027 in diameter, inside of which are concealed sticks of palm-wood. 4. Two tripods, with their basins or lebetes, round the lips of which are human figures and monsters looking inside. 5. Tazza of gold and silver, 0m.18 in diameter, with reliefs representing an Eastern king hunting cynocephali, or some other kind of monkey. 6. Tazza of pure gold, 0m.12 high, in the shape of a Greek "skyphos," with handles ending with winged male figures. 7. Several other cups of blue Phœnician glass, of gold and silver, and pure silver, one of which is exceedingly interesting, as it bears the signature of the artist. The paleography of the letters resembles that of the stones of Mesa and Esmunazar; and the text, taken as a whole, recalls to mind the signatures of the cuneiform contracts discovered in Assyria, which belong to the seventh century before Christ. And such is certainly the date of the signature found at Palestrina, which has been interpreted by Professor Fabiani, "Esmunie 'ar ben 'asta." The same philologist thinks that the artist must be contemporary with, if not anterior to, Euchyros and Eugrammos; and if so, Esmunie 'ar would be the earliest goldsmith whose name is historically known, with the exception of Bezaleel (Ex. xxxi.), B.C. 1491.