- Maria Anna De Lucia Brolli and Jacopo Tabolli –
represented by the presence of both male and female heads almost exclusively veiled
(capite velato), against a very small percentage of non-veiled heads, in contrast with
what is documented in Falerii (Comella 1986). It was noted that the representation of
the offrant with veiled head is prevalent in the territories politically dependent upon
Rome, while the bare-headed types are most common in southern Etruria and Campania
(Pensabene et al. 1980, pp. 47–48). At Veii, the gradual spread of veiled heads, attested
to a lesser extent in the fourth century bc, becomes prominent in the second century
bc; it may illustrate the overlap of the Roman religious tradition with that of the
Etruscans (Comella 1982). At Falerii, on the other hand, the adoption and persistence
of the Greek rite could fi nd its ideological motivations in superb vindication of the
epic origins of the city, which, according to a theory formed no later than the fi fth
century bc, and further consolidation in the imperial age, was supposedly founded by
the Argive Halesus (Camporeale 1991). The different behavior of Narce versus Falerii
seems to emphasize its affi nities with the neighboring Veii, and with the Etruscan area
in general, and this is also well attested in the cultural context of the funeral, and could
be a further sign of the lower resistance of the old southern center of the Ager Faliscus
in its contacts with the Roman conqueror.
Mobility phenomena concern also the broad Faliscan northern center, and in this
context the relationship between Etruscans and Faliscans fi nds its fullest realization
especially at Corchiano, which, under the control of Falerii, implements a policy of
openness towards the Etruscan cities of the northern Tiber valley, Volsinii and Chiusi,
with signifi cant results in the fi eld of urban, cultural and socio-economic development
(on the issue most recently De Lucia Brolli - Michetti 2005) (Fig. 14.22). The site has
furnished signifi cant archaeological and epigraphic evidence that proves the presence
of Etruscan-speakers as early as the late Archaic age (the zuchu of clear Chiusine origin,
CIE 8384) and a strong penetration of elements of Etruscan origin in the Faliscan
social structure, concentrated especially between the fourth and third centuries bc.
Figure 14.21 Votive head from the sanctuary of Monte Li Santi-Le Rote, Narce.