- Adrian P. Harrison –
found in a tomb at Orvieto (circa 520–500 bc), two men are depicted wrestling a stag
to the ground, perhaps some form of dangerous aristocratic sport (Museo Archeologico
Nazionale, Florence). Finally, I should mention the vase from Orvieto that depicts a
horseman startling a spotted fawn, illustrated in Fig. 52.11a, b in this book.
Hares are also depicted in connection with wild animal hunts. A Caeretan brazier
found at Cerveteri (circa 550–530 bc) depicts, by means of a roller-stamped frieze, a
hare hunt (British Museum and elsewhere: see Camporeale 1984: 116–118, pls. 48–
49). Hares were also used as the motif for perfume bottles, as for example the terracotta
perfume bottle from Nola, Campania (circa 600–550 bc) that was part of the Sir William
Temple collection (British Museum; see also Turfa 2005: 169 no. 150).
AirborneEtruscan representative art is very fond of all sorts of bird motifs, some rather more easily
discernible than others. In an attempt to bring some structure to this particular aspect
of Etruscan animals, I have chosen to identify not only a number of examples of Etruscan
bird art, but also to combine this data into a table of Italian native bird species.
As Heurgon put it, the Tomb of the Triclinium at Tarquinia “is a veritable aviary
of birds” (Heurgon 1961: 121; Steingräber 1985: 352 no. 121). In addition to a cock
and hen watched by a cat beneath the banqueting couches, there are blackbirds and
thrushes perched in the trees and a partridge on the ground. Then there is the Tomb of
the Augurs, also at Tarquinia (Steingräber 1985: 283 no. 42, color pls. 13–22), which
is marked by the fl ight of palmipeds (web-footed birds), which have been identifi ed as
cormorants. Then again in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing at Tarquinia (Steingräber
1985: 293–294 no. 50, color pls. 41–51), hunters stand on a cliff and try to reach with
their slings a multi-colored fl ight of wild duck. Strabo (cited in Heurgon 1961: 121)
noted that Etruscan lakes and marshes were famous for waterfowl.
The eagle is seen as the king of everything that fl ies, just as the lion is the king of the
terrestrial animals. The Etruscans saw the eagle as a source of omen and an example of
this bird as an Etruscan animal motif can be found in the Caeretan hydria that depicts
two eagles in fl ight, found near Chiusi (circa 600 bc) and currently residing at the Louvre
(Camporeale 1984, pls. 40a and 54).
Swans appear on a number of Etruscan items, for example the limestone panel from a
cippus depicting a banqueting scene that was found at Chiusi (circa 490–470 bc, British
Museum GR 1873.8–20.752, Jannot 1984: 52–53 no. 14, Fig. 179).
A wonderful Etruscan example of ducks as an animal motif is the gold fi bula found
at Marsiliana d’Albegna (circa 650 bc), which depicts a number of ducks in a row on
the catch (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence). Another example is that of the red
fi gured askos in the form of a duck that was discovered at Chiusi (circa 400 bc) and is
now on display at the Louvre (Brendel 1978: 351 and Fig. 273). However, perhaps the
most fascinating example is that of the duck pyxis (cosmetic box) to be found at the
British Museum (see Figure 60.3 (8, GR 1884.6–14.37). This is a wooden carved duck
that can be split apart, which has some residue of the original paint remaining. Based
on the paint coloration and its specifi c application it is quite likely that this particular
item represents a Common Shelduck, which tends to frequent salt marshes and estuaries.
The dove was the sacred bird of Turan (equated with Aphrodite/Venus), the goddess of
passion and the world of form, beauty and harmony (see Fig. 60.3–9, GR 1873.8–20.211;