- chapter 60: Animals in the Etruscan household –
Animals: sacrifi ce and omensA good many of the Etruscan funerary urns depict scenes of animal sacrifi ce (see Chapter
28). There was a tradition of sacrifi cing an animal, typically a sheep or ram, as part of the
funeral celebrations. An example of this can be seen below on the front of an Etruscan
alabaster casket at the British Museum (Fig. 60.11). It depicts in the bottom right-hand
corner just such a ram being led to the entrance of a tomb.
However, the Etruscans considered omens as highly signifi cant, in particular, it is
said that omens coming from bees were considered to be sinister by the Etruscans after a
swarm settled in the Forum at Cassino (Heurgon, 1961: 225). It is likewise reported that
Tarquinius the Elder, on his arrival in Rome, saw an eagle steal his cap, carry it off and
then put it gently back on his head, whereupon Tanaquil did not hesitate to entertain the
highest hopes for the future (Heurgon 1961: 225).
Another form of prediction used the Brontoscopic Calendar, which was intended to
function as a reference for priests who interpreted the phenomenon of “thunder” with
regard to herds, fl ocks, deer, wild birds and fi sh of both river and sea (Turfa 2007, 2012).
For example, such warnings relating to thunder on a specifi c day include:
June 9. If in any way it should thunder, there will be a loss of fl ocks through being overrun by
wolves.May 28. If it thunders, there will be a plenty of marine fi sh.Highly specialized Etruscan religious practices were arranged into a systematic code in
several sets of books written in Etruscan and known today under the generic Latin title
Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini, for example, dealt with divination from the
Figure 60.11 The front panel relief of a Hellenistic Volterran alabaster urn showing a funeral
celebration procession and the preparation of a ram for sacrifi ce at the tomb monument.
(British Museum Collection D 69, ThesCRA vol. I: pl. 42, Etr. 138 = Rafanelli 2004;
see Haynes 2000: 369 and Fig. 291) © http://www.bmmadsen.dk