Montefiore

MONTEFIORE Ascoli Piceno, S Etruria, Italy.

A chamber tomb accidentally discovered in 1960 22 km N of Rome in a tufa quarry. The tomb is Etruscan in form with five burial alcoves each containing a funeral bed on which were placed four burial urns. The measurements and decoration, however, are Roman. The ceilings are the only completely extant ceilings of the Second Style. They are divided into painted coffers. In the lunettes over the alcoves are birds, a lion (?), and two monsters. The tomb is either of the second half of the 1st c. B.C. or from the Vespasianic period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

P. Bonvicini, “Le grotte sepolcrali di Massignano e Montefiore dell'Aso,” Studi Picena 28 (1960) 112-14; A. Laidlaw, “The Tomb of Montefiore: A New Roman Tomb Painted in the Second Style,” Archaeology 17 (1964) 33-42; W.J.T. Peters, “Prille keur: Een nieuwe vondst te Montefiore,” Hermeneus 35 (1964) 242.

J. P. SMALL