- chapter 58: Mirrors in art and society –
What drove the demand for these mirrors in late Etruscan times? In the case of the
Dioskouroi, their shared immortality (according to Greek and apparently Etruscan myth)
may have been a factor in making them especially appealing for funerary purposes. Nancy
de Grummond (1991), building on several previous investigations into the iconography
and signifi cance of the Dioskouroi in ancient Italy, has speculated that these twins had
a special role on mirrors. She connects the divine twins with the concept of the double
manifestation of the living woman using her mirror and her image in the mirror. A
woman’s refl ection on an important mirror in the British Museum (Fig. 58.16)^48 is labeled
hinthial (genitive of hinthi), a word that means “of the Underworld,” “soul,” “ghost,” or
“shade” in Etruscan. Furthermore, the association of the divine twins with the dokana,
a gate-like attribute either visible or referenced symbolically on many Etruscan mirrors
with the Dioskouroi, may represent the gate to the Underworld. These are fascinating and
provocative interpretations. They help to explain the popularity of this type of mirror in
the last phases of Etruscan culture. My only problem with this hypothesis is that it omits
a signifi cant population from consideration: Etruscan men. Are only Etruscan women
able to use their mirrors to gain safe passage to the Underworld? If the mirror had such
an important funerary function in Etruscan culture, how do we explain its absence in the
tombs of almost all men and even many women? It would seem that everyone needs a
mirror to assist in this ultimate journey, but we fi nd them only in some tombs. Perhaps
it means that not everyone shared this belief, but surely many, if not most, would have.
In the case of the Lasa mirrors, we can imagine that these characters acted somewhat
like the popular contemporary belief in “guardian angels.” For the Etruscans, the Lasa’s
functions include protecting innocent victims from harm, facilitating or encouraging
lovers, and assisting brides in their grooming and adornment before marriage. The last
two functions clearly demonstrate why Lasae often appear in the entourage of Turan, the
Etruscan Aphrodite. These functions may help to explain the popularity of Lasa mirrors
Figure 58.16 “Toilette of Malavisch,” provenance unknown, circa 350–325 bc. (British Museum,
London, inv. 626). From ES II, pl. 213.