- chapter 9: The last Etruscans –
One more fashionable female hairstyle found its way to Volterra, the so-called neck-
tail, which dates to the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius. Now the hair has again
a central parting, but down the neck there is a plaited “tail.” One female lid fi gure wears
it (Fig. 9.8), but some of its features – the fi sh-like position on the stomach, rasp-marks,
and other peculiarities – connect her with an analogous male fi gure, who is lying down
clad in a large Roman toga.
A third lid fi gure to be connected with these two represents a boy, who holds in his
hands writing tablets and a book-scroll, the customary attributes of the “Diptych Group”
of the Augustan period, thus representing a link between the Augustan and the Tiberian
periods.^23 With them, the Etruscan tradition dies out at Volterra. The Romanized and
Latinized Etruscans were still living there, while others attended their careers at Rome.
With the donations of two ex-Volterrans, A. Caecina Severus and A. Caecina Largus, a
Roman theatre was built on the slopes of the town, probably between the year 1 bc and
ad 25. From the sculptural decoration of the theatre derive some Julio-Claudian portrait
statues: a small-scale portrait of young Octavian, and bigger busts of Augustus and
Tiberius. A head of Livia may serve as a signifi cant link between this style icon and the
Volterran ladies: originally, this portrait had a nodus bun on top of the forehead, but it was
removed, leaving some rough chisel grooves on the spot. Probably stucco amendments
turned it to a more up-to-date hairdo of the Tiberian era (Fig. 9.9).^24
a b
cFigure 9.7 A couple being transported in a carpentum pulled by two mules to the Underworld.
The woman in the wagon (b) and the girl at the left corner (c) wear nodus-coiffures. From Volterra.
Circa 40–0 bc. London, the British Museum, D 67. Photos by the author.