called
themselves Rasena, and who must have settled on the west coast of
Italy, between the rivers Arno and Tiber, at a very early period.
Their origin is, however, very obscure, some authorities believing,
upon apparently good grounds, that they came from Asia Minor, while
others assert that they descended from the north over the Rhaetian
Alps. But whatever that origin may have been, they had at the time of
the founding of Rome as a city attained a high degree of civilisation,
and showed a considerable amount of architectural skill; and their
arts exercised a very great influence upon Roman art.

Considerable remains of the city walls of several Etruscan towns still
exist. These show that the masonry was of what has been termed a
Cyclopean character,--that is to say, the separate stones were of an
enormous size; in the majority of examples these stones were of a
polygonal shape, though in a few instances they were rectangular,
while in all cases they were fitted together with the most consummate
accuracy of workmanship, which, together with their great massiveness,
has enabled much of this masonry to endure to the present day.
Cortona, Volterra, Fiesole, and other towns exhibit instances of this
walling. The temples, palaces, or dwelling-houses which went to make
up the cities so fortified have all disappeared, and the only existing
structural remains of Etruscan buildings are tombs. These are found in
large numbers, and consist--as in the earlier instances which have
already been described--both of rock-cut and detached erections. Of
the former, the best known group is at Castel d'Asso, where we find
not only chambers cut into the rock, each resembling an ordinary room
with an entrance in the face of the rock, but also monuments cut
completely out and standing clear all round; and we cannot fail to
detect in the forms into which the rock has been cut, especially those
of the roof, imitations of wooden buildings, heavy square piers being
left at intervals supporting longitudinal beams which hold up the
roof. Fig. 122 is an illustration of the interior of a chamber in the
rock. Occasionally there were a cornice and pediment over the
entrance.

[Illustration: FIG. 122.--SEPULCHRE AT CORNETO.]

The other class of tombs are circular tumuli, similar to the Pelasgic
tombs of Asia Minor; of these large numbers exist, but not
sufficiently uninjured to enable us to restore them completely. They
generally consisted of a su