- chapter 60: Animals in the Etruscan household –
Symbolism and mythologyThe majority of the animals used as motifs by the Etruscans as decoration on their everyday
as well as their more decorative and funereal items were no doubt animals they liked,
were proud of, held in high esteem or deemed to be of high status. However, there may
also have been a considerable degree of symbolism applied to their artwork. Symbolism is
interesting in the context of portraying animal attributes that must have been noticed by
the Etruscans as we ourselves tend to do today, however, symbolism relating to the zodiac
as we know it originates from Babylon around 700 bc (Sachs, 1952), and is fi rst thought
to have been adopted by Greek astronomers around 400 bc in connection with Eudoxus
of Cnidus, a Greek astronomer, mathematician and student of Plato, so these symbolic
interpretations can only really be applied to animal motifs from the mid Classical and the
Hellenistic periods of Etruscan civilization.
DOMESTICATED ANIMALSEtruscan artisans in Archaic and Classical times sometimes used domestic animals as
elaboration or complements to the main motifs. It is fair to assume that this trait was also
borrowed from Greek black- or red-fi gured vases along with the main motifs, even if these
small in-fi ll ornaments were treated with a distinct Etruscan touch of humor. In the later
Etruscan period, however, such forms of elaboration seem to disappear (Wiman 2004).
The houseEtruscan animal representative art includes a number of domesticated species including
cats and dogs. Indeed, the architectural frieze plaques with banqueting scenes from
Aquarossa, Tuscania and Velletri all show dogs under the tables, hopefully awaiting
crumbs from their master’s meals (Wiman 2004) and there are similar examples in the
British Museum (see Fig. 60.2m = GR 1891.6–24.53). However, there are also examples
of another more exotic species, namely the monkey (Rm 25 Case 4; Villa Giulia, Rome),
which is also depicted on a hydria found at Caere and dating circa 520 bc (Villa Giulia,
Rome). This motif is also to be found in the Tomb of the Monkey (Tomba della Scimmia)
at Chiusi dating from the early fi fth century bc, which shows a little striated monkey
tied on a leash to the acrobat troupe’s dwarf and equilibrist (Steingräber 1985: 273–274
no. 25 rear wall left). Most likely these luxury pets came from North Africa and examples
of this motif have been attributed to local memories of such an animal either in the
possession of a mercenary of Chiusi who had fought in an African campaign, or given as
a gift by a Punic businessman to a client in Chiusi (Heurgon 1961: 120).
The farmsteadThe farmstead animals include pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, goats etc. and numerous
examples are known, although by far the most popular of the farmstead species seems
to have been the horse. There is evidence of an interchange between the Greeks and
Etruscans in terms of horses and their breeding techniques. Moreover, discovery of early
Celtic horses in northern Italy shows they were very small, although this did nothing to
decrease the demand for them. At fi rst, Greek horses were of the smaller variety, but this