The Etruscans, like the Greeks and the Romans, believed in an afterlife. This concept is nowhere more eloquently embodied than in the necropolis of Cerveteri outside of Rome (see below). The tombs date from the 9th century BCE to around the 3rd century BCE. At Cerveteri, the tombs are cut into the soft rock of the landscape, though also partly constructed. The form of these tombs is extraordinary; they take the shape of huge, low domes of rock. The tomb entrances are carved into the sides. You can see one of those entrances here. The site is truly a ‘city of the dead’, with streets and tombs that appear as otherworldly houses of the deceased. In fact, there are some streets with the grooves of chariot wheels deeply cut into the bedrock, indicating the centuries of funerary carts that delivered the patrons to their final resting places.