The François Tomb is an important painted Etruscan tomb from the Ponte Rotto Necropolis in the Etruscan city of Vulci, in what is now central Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It was discovered in 1857 by Alessandro François and Adolphe Noël des Verges. It dates to the last quarter of the fourth century BC. The tomb seems to belong to the Etruscan family of the Saties (or Seties) and one of its chief occupants is Vel Saties, who appears with his dwarf, Arnza. Its painted frescoes are significant both iconographically and also in terms of their comments on Etruscan history and identity.

The François Tomb also contains a fresco depicting Caelius Vibenna

Caelius Vibenna

Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, (Etruscan Caile Vipina, was a noble Etruscan who lived c.900BC and brother of Aulus Vibenna (Etruscan Avile Vipina).Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius. He and his brother Aulus are also recorded as having...

 (whom the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 believed the Caelian Hill

Caelian Hill

The Caelian Hill is one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. Under reign of Tullus Hostilius, the entire population of Alba Longa was forcibly resettled on the Caelian Hill...

 was named after) and Mastarna (a legendary figure whom the Emperor Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

 identified with Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...

).

Sources

• Bloom, Marcia G. 1974. The François tomb at Vulci, an etrusco-hellenistic monument. Thesis/dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
• Holliday, Peter James. 1993. Narrative and event in ancient art. Cambridge University Press.