Etruscan Places

Walking through the ancient Etruscan tombs I was taken aback by the vibrancy and life depicted on the walls. Instead of mourning death, death appeared to be a celebration. Death was not a sorrowful event, but instead a continuation of the splendor of life on Earth. When one thinks of a cemetery in the United States ghostly, haunting images comes to mind. Cemeteries are a place where bodies are housed and await judgment day, where it is decided if they will reside in Heaven or Hell. This negative concept of the afterlife instills the idea that death is a terrifying, unknown experience. In the Etruscan tombs there is no feeling of morbidity, the colorfully painted walls depict and afterlife that is full of fancy, fun and more celebration. In this light, death is not a scary experience.

In Etruscan Places D.H. Lawrence uses diction that denotes his contradicting concept of death. As they two travelers walk towards Ladispoli Lawrence notes the contrast between the “ancient” “ghostliness” of the town in contrast with the “new concrete villas, new concrete hotels…” (Etruscan Places, 49) that also fill the place. The town is a mirror for Lawrence’s divide between the ancient Etruscan belief of the afterlife and his own concept of death. In the town the new villas and hotels taint the streets, sucking from them the life and vibrancy of the past, just as the Christian belief of the afterlife has removed celebration of life. Lawrence begins to struggle with the contrast between life and death when he visits the effigies and see the tombs “the carved figure of the dead rears up as if alive from the lid of a tomb…” (Etruscan Places, 62). Although the image is made of stone there is still an eternal life to the image. It is this eternal life, this continuation of life even after death that fascinates and simultaneously contradicts Lawrence’s own concept of death.

D.H. Lawrence witnessed the Etruscan tombs only a year or two before his own death. Instead of shying away from the experience of death Lawrence chose to visit the tombs. In his writing he struggles with the European concept of death as dirty, tainted and impure in contrast with the Etruscan celebration of the afterlife. The idea of the afterlife as continuation of the good of life on Earth would have been a foreign concept to someone who lived entrenched in Christian ideology of the afterlife. Lawrence knowing of his impending death looks to the Etruscans and their understanding of the “mystery of the journey out of life, and into death; the death journey, and the sojourn in the after-life” in order to find another solution to the question of life and death (Etruscan Places, 86). Knowing that this is a journey he will soon be taking, but appearing unsatisfied with European concept of the afterlife he begins a dance with the concept of death as a celebration. The reader is aware that this dance is not smooth, a series of jerky motions, as Lawrence struggles with his internalized notions of death as the end. It is the idea of death as the ending point of everything and not a continuation that appears to be the most daunting idea surrounding death.

The Etruscan concept of the afterlife as a continuation of the celebration of life on Earth is very clear in the images depicted on the walls. One feels death is not the ending point, that with death life continues, upon entering and viewing the tombs. I felt such awe at witnessing celebration surrounding death instead of the typical American mourning of passing. The idea of celebrating death struck me so strongly that as I walked from tomb to tomb I had to think of what death and the experience of death meant to me. I am not afraid of my own death, but what I fear most is the death of loved ones around me. The idea of the afterlife and where one goes when they pass does not concern me. The idea of loss and the concreteness of death is what scares me. The idea of not getting to say goodbye or not saying everything I meant to, thinking of all of those missed moments, has always been my greatest fear. Walking through the tombs enabled me to take a step back from the absoluteness that we perceive as death and take a moment to think about death in another light. To think about death not as an ending point, but as another step in life, gives life another meaning. The desire to constantly question and fixate upon death is absolved and there is a feeling that life can be a celebration. The Etruscans seem to have shared this belief. Because death was not the focus of life, life could be lived vibrantly and with a passion that has been lost to this age.
The tombs, however, did not feel like cells for the dead, but places of celebration. The aspect of rejoicing at passing and knowing that the afterlife is only another experience of life helps to curb the terror of loss.