Etruscan tombs yielding Egyptian or Egyptian-like objects were known in the nineteenth century as Egyptian grottos. The most Egyptian-like of these grottos, the Isis-Tomb of Vulci, is the subject of this book. Unearthed in 1839 during the excavations of the Princes of Canino it was a spectacular discovery then. While the structure itself was soon afterwards lost, the finds have remained a cornerstone for the definition of the orientalising period in Etruria until the present day. These finds, widely known throughout the scholarly world and always referred to in the standard literature on Etruscan art and archaeology, were not published by the excavators, Lucien and Alexandrine Bonaparte. For this reason and because of the fact that they passed through several hands before they finally reached the British Museum in 1850, doubts as to their authenticity have surrounded the Isis-Tomb of Vulci ever since. In an attempt to provide a firm starting point for an in-depth study of this tomb, the author presents plenty of documents collected from several historical archives. On the basis of these documents, among which are excavation reports, minutes of meetings, sporadic notes on finds, account statements and personal correspondence, she captivatingly tells the story of the tomb from the moment of its discovery through to the time when the bulk of the finds entered the British Museum. She then reconstructs, as far as the documents still allow, the original tomb-group, which turns out to be larger than the group preserved in the British Museum. Thus for the first time a clear picture of this most important Etruscan tomb emerges, closing a serious gap in general knowledge. The story of this Egyptian grotto also touches upon the history of archaeology, as it was practised under a combination of circumstances determined by certain institutions, legislature and initiatives during the second quarter of the nineteenth century in the Papal States and by and by developed into an academic discipline. The author explains the general attitude towards archaeological finds, which were likewise of scholarly, commercial and political interest. Egyptian and Egyptian-like objects from tombs of the orientalising period received special attention, because they connected Etruria with the antique civilization of Egypt, which still dominated thinking. Since some of the persons concerned with the Isis-Tomb of Vulci were leading figures in politics and society, this volume also provides a fascinating glimpse on the historical situation in Italy during the time of the Restauration.weiterlesen