- Richard Daniel De Puma –
in late period Etruria. By this time, too, mirrors must have been less expensive and more
accessible to a larger segment of Etruscan society. There is every indication that they were
widespread and available from many bronze workshops.
THE POSSIBLE FUNCTIONS OF MIRRORS
IN ETRUSCAN SOCIETYIt is obvious that mirrors in all ancient societies were used primarily to afford a view
of a person using them. They are shown being used by women in several works of art,
including on Etruscan bronze mirrors and Praenestine cistae. One can groom, inspect
and refi ne one’s image, check the appearance of the skin, the hair, or adjust jewelry or
makeup. We have seen that, at present, the archaeological and artistic evidence suggests
that in Etruscan society mirrors were used primarily by women. There is no evidence
concerning the cost of a good Etruscan mirror, but many were not easy to produce and, I
suspect, often involved the skills of more than one artisan working with costly materials
like bronze, sometimes silver and ivory. We must assume that, at least until the late
fourth century bc, they were expensive items and therefore status symbols.
Mirrors have often been considered marriage gifts, and certainly some subjects
depicted on them (for example, elaborate toilette scenes that probably represent the
bridal preparations) seem appropriate for such a purpose. Indeed, some inscriptions
on mirrors indicate that they were marriage gifts, presumably from groom to bride or
perhaps parents to their daughter. Recently, some interpretations of familiar and new
inscriptions on mirrors have given more weight to this idea of mirrors as wedding gifts. A
mirror in Florence showing the parents of Achilles, Peleus and Thetis (a frequent couple
on Etruscan mirrors and one that may symbolize marriage), has an inscription with the
word malena. It has often been assumed that this word means “mirror” because it appears
in several inscriptions with proper names in the genitive preceded by the word mi. In the
case of the Florence mirror the retrograde inscription reads: mi malena larθia purubenas. If
malena means “mirror” then the inscription would translate as “I am the mirror of Larthia
Purubena,” and thus belongs to a large class of objects, mostly vases, that address the
reader: it is as if the vase is speaking.^49 But it now seems more probable that malena means
“wedding gift” and the proper name is male so the inscription means “I am the wedding
gift of Larth Purubena [to his bride].” The inscription on a recently-published mirror
in a private Japanese collection supplements this interpretation: mi malana larθiia cavis
spuriiex or “I am the wedding gift of Larth Cavi Spuriie [to his bride].”^50
Many mirrors depict scenes of divination or prophesy and some scholars have
interpreted mirrors themselves as possible instruments of prophesy.^51 A subdivision of
this type shows the oracular head of Orpheus (Urphe in Etruscan). In his treatment of a
mirror with this subject now in Siena (Fig. 58.17), Adriano Maggiani^52 suggested that
Orpheus is prophesying a happy and fruitful marriage for a mythical couple with whom
an Etruscan couple can identify. I have combined Maggiani’s interpretation with the idea
of the appropriate wedding gift. In my discussion of an elaborate mirror in Princeton
(Fig. 58.18), I state:
The symbolism of this subject, the consultation of the oracular head of Orpheus, would
have reassured the [bridal] couple and their families...The Princeton mirror, then, was
perhaps a wedding gift to a young Etruscan woman about to become a bride. Like all