- Erika Simon –
During the fi fth century bce Greek myths came to be known by a new type of
poetry: drama. Elsewhere I have shown that Etruscan art was infl uenced by the Athenian
theater.^43 Many famous tragedies about Theban myths exist, for example, “The Seven
against Thebes” of Aeschylus or the Oedipus tragedies of Sophocles.
Finally, the Theban and Trojan cycle and other myths were highly regarded, because
they dealt with genealogy and ancestors. One of the most famous was Aeneas, a member
of the Trojan royal house who fl ed Troy with his father, son and comrades to central
Italy.^44 This myth was already circulating in Etruria in the sixth century bce – half a
millennium before Vergil wrote his epic. Many black-fi gure Athenian vases decorated
with the fl ight of Aeneas were found in Etruscan graves.^45 An Iliad scene with Aeneas
(5.511–518) is shown on the shoulder of a late black fi gure Etruscan amphora (Fig.
24.16).^46 His mother Aphrodite (Turan) rescues him from the battlefi eld. She makes
Aeneas invisible to Diomedes by throwing her mantle upon him. Turan is winged as
often in earlier Etruscan art. The Aeneas myth even became a cult. Excavations in Veii
brought to light votive statuettes of terracotta (Fig. 24.17).^47 They represent Aeneas, who
carries his father Anchises on his shoulder.
Figure 24.15 Bronze mirror from Vulci. Odysseus (Uthuze), the shadow (hinthial) of Teiresias and
Hermes (Turms). Berlin, Staatl. Mus. (n. 41).Figure 24.16 Etruscan black fi gure amphora, shoulder frieze: Aphrodite (Turan) throws her mantle on
Aeneas. Wuerzburg, M. v. Wagner Mus. (n. 46).