- Maurizio Sannibale –
the worlds of Greece and the Near East: the metal cheese graters, associated with pottery
drinking cups, reminiscent of the ancient Greek custom of garnishing wine with cheese
(Fig. 6.4), while some ceramic tripod-bowls, found in Etruria and Latium, were used as
mortars for grinding aromatic substances intended to enhance the fl avor of wine, and
may be traced to northern Syria and the Phoenician colonies in the central Mediterranean
(Fig. 6.5). In addition, fans, censers, plectra for stringed instruments, and spoons for
cosmetics, precious ornaments for clothes, and jewelry eloquently evoke the splendor of
palace life (Fig. 6.6). These objects also convey the image and the offi cial ideology of the
prince; always pictured as a warrior hero, whether on land or sea, as on the Aristonothos
krater. On the Phoenician-Cypriot engraved paterae (bowls), objects worthy of a king,
issues related to royalty stand out, such as hunting, war, the triumph of Pharaoh, divine
nursing scenes, dynastic and eschatological symbols that summarize well the essence of
the Orientalizing phenomenon: we are dealing with precious Phoenician craft creations,
which draw upon an Egyptianizing iconographic repertoire with Near Eastern infl uences;
they were received as prestige-gifts by Etruscan princes, but also by the lords of Palestrina
and Pontecagnano (Figs. 6.7 and 6.8).
Figure 6.4 Grater in bronze. Provenance unknown. Seventh century bc.
Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 11175. Photo © Musei Vaticani.Figure 6.5 Tripod-bowl, ceramic. Ceremonial vase of Phoenician type after Assyrian prototypes.
From Vulci, formerly Raccolta Giacinto Guglielmi. 625–600 bc Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 39704.
Photo © Musei Vaticani.