Three Etruscan Painted Sarcophagi 69 



stem. A somewhat similar form of palmette may be seen on an Etruscan 

 black-figured vase in Munich.' 



Aquatic birds belong to the familiar repertory of early Greek and 

 Etruscan art, and we sometimes find two confronted, as on A and C* 



The dog occurs occasionally on early vases, but the only near parallel 

 which I can find to the dogs of B is afforded by the Berlin sarcophagus of 

 this group. That has two dogs of the same breed as these, confronting each 

 other, with mouths open and tongues hanging out. 



The sphinxes of A easily fall into place among the innumerable examples 

 of their kind. Their wings have the recurved form usual in archaic Greek 

 And Etruscan art, and their inner markings are normal enough.^ The 

 sphinxes of B, on the other hand, are peculiar. Their wings approximate 

 the typical form, to be sure, but the inner markings of the wings, constructed 

 on two different systems, have no near analogies discoverable by me. 

 Furthermore these two sphinxes, instead of having hair recognizable as a 

 distinct mass, have what look like close-fitting caps, which are carried down 

 without a break to form the breasts. 



The hippocamps of B belong to a numerous family, but they deviate in 

 several particulars from the usual archaic type.* Thus the equine neck is 

 without a mane, in lieu of which there are lines suggestive of some abnormal, 

 perhaps marine, growth. The equine legs terminate, not in hoofs, but in 

 finlike forms. Finally the lower jmrt of the creature makes a complete coil, 

 such as is elsewhere unexampled before the fifth century B.C. The sea 

 dragons on one of the long sides of C differ from the hippocamps of B chiefly 

 in the form of the heads, in the notched growth above the heads and necks, 

 and in the absence of legs* — peculiarities which may possibly have been 

 suggested by the actual sea horse. Monsters of this type are common, as 

 is also the winged variety represented on one end or both ends of C, but 

 apparently not before the fifth century B.C. 



The half-human monster occupying the central place on one of the long 

 sides of C (Plate XXXV) belongs to a family more common in late than in 



' No. 838. SlEVEKiNG and Hackl, Die k. Vasensammlung zu MUnchen, Fig. loo. 



* For example, No. 797 of the Munich collection of vases (op. cU., Plate XXXI). 



* Compare, for instance, the sphinxes on a Corinthian vase of the sixth century: 

 Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, Plate CCXX, reproduced in Roscber, Lexikon der 

 griechischen und romischen Mythologie, Sphinx, 1395-96. 



• * See the exhaustive article Hippokampos in the new edition of Pauly's Realencyclo- 

 pftdie, to which indebtedness is acknowledged. 



' In front of each dragon there is a notched something which suggests a flipper. But 

 apparently it belongs to the central ornament and not to the dragon. 



