The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• Richard Daniel De Puma –

INSCRIPTIONS ON ETRUSCAN AND

PRAENESTINE MIRRORS

The previous discussions of mirrors demonstrate the importance of inscriptions.^54 Most
inscriptions on mirrors are simple labels that identify characters portrayed in the scene.
Almost all are engraved near the relevant fi gure but some examples place the inscriptions
within cartouche-like frames (for example, Fig. 58.16). These identifying inscriptions
are similar to those frequently painted on Greek vases to serve the same function. On
the famous Attic black-fi gure amphora by Exekias showing Achilles and Ajax playing a
board game, the artist has done something more elaborate. He records a brief conversation
between the two contestants. This is very rare on mirrors. I know of only one example
that portrays a conversation between a young couple, who are also playing a board game,
on a Praenestine mirror (Fig. 58.19).^55 Here the fi gures speak in the archaic Latin of
Praeneste. The young woman says: devincam ted (“I’m going to beat you.”) to which the
young man responds opeinod (“I believe you are.”) Sometimes inscriptions describe the
event depicted on the mirror. For example, Fig. 33.3 shows a bearded fi gure on the right
who is holding a tablet with retrograde inscription in fi ve lines with words separated by
interpoints (“colons”) that reads:

eca:sren:

tva:iχna

c:hercle:

unial:cl

an:θra:sce

This may be translated as “This shows how Hercle, Uni’s son, suckled [milk].” He thus
became her legitimate son and was admitted to Olympos.
We have seen that mirrors intended as wedding gifts might carry an inscription
identifying the donor. A few mirrors record the names of donors, owners and even artists.
It is interesting that while the names of many potters and painters are recorded on vases in
the Greek world, very few artists signed mirrors. One exception is on another Praenestine
mirror (Fig. 58.20) that labels both fi gures depicted and identifi es the artist: painiscos
(Paniscos or “Little Pan”) and marsvas (Marsyas, the satyr). The artist’s signature appears
vertically beside the satyr’s left leg: vibis pilipus cailavit or “Vibius Philippus engraved [this
mirror].” To explain the absence (at least so far) of Etruscan mirrors with “conversational”
inscriptions and with artist signatures, Larissa Bonfante and Nancy de Grummond
proposed an intriguing idea: that “There are important differences, not only of language,
but of customs, between Etruscan and Praenestine mirrors.” They imply a more serious
tone in the use of the “adoption paper” recorded on the Hercle and Uni mirror (Fig. 33.3).^56

MIRRORS IN FUNERARY CONTEXTS

There is another kind of mirror inscription that has been the focus of several studies in
recent years. Approximately 21 extant mirrors were intentionally defaced by the normally
rough engraving of the word śuθina, usually on their refl ecting sides.^57 This word means
“for the tomb” (śuθi = tomb), in other words, an object never again to be used by the
living. Mirrors with this inscription have been known for a long time,^58 but now we are