The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• chapter 60: Animals in the Etruscan household –

...and death, to the Etruscan, was a pleasant continuance of life, with jewels and wine

and fl utes playing for the dance. It was neither an ecstasy of bliss, a heaven, nor a

purgatory of torment. It was just a natural continuance of the fullness of life...

Etruscan Places, Chapter 1 (Lawrence, 1972)

But was life for an Etruscan so clear-cut? Moreover, do the fragments of artwork that
remain support such a use of animal motifs or are they more mundane? In order to assess
this point, one has fi rst to amass a set of data pertaining to known Etruscan animal
motifs, and thereafter examine the data for trends and changes.

CLASSIFICATION

Most of the objects tallied represent personal possessions, moveable objects that belonged
to individuals in life, or that were given as grave gifts or votive offerings – such items
were the result of personal selections, so we may assume that the decorative images (of
animals) they feature were also a source of interest and prestige for the owners/givers.
According to one scholar, pottery formed the most ubiquitous connection between life
and art in Etruria, even if (at a guess) some 80 per cent of vessels in daily use carried little
or no decoration as such (Spivey 1997: 35). However, such material as exists has not yet
been classifi ed. I therefore propose a form of classifi cation that covers the domesticated,
wild, exotic and also the mythical animals associated with tomb art, pottery fi nds, metal
artifacts and jewelry – essentially an Aristotelian classifi cation of animals (see Fig. 60.1).
Besides this initial selection criterion, items of known source and age have been chosen in
preference to others that were less clearly ascribed a region of manufacture or particular
fi nd site or indeed chronological date. Items shown in books have been given equal
weighting to those displayed in museums around the world, although I have tried to
describe or illustrate items that I have been able to see in person, and which readers may
be able to visit for themselves.

I – Airborne

II – Terrestrial

III – Aquatic

Domesticated

A

I – House

II – Farm Stead

I – Airborne

II – Terrestrial

III – Aquatic

Wild

B

Exotic

C

Mythical

D

I – Airborne

II – Terrestrial

III – Aquatic

Figure 60.1 The classifi cation system adopted for this chapter in terms of Etruscan animal motifs

(see Table 60.1 for more details).