- chapter i: Etruscan environments –
Figure 1.2 The Vipenas brothers ambushing Cacu and the boy Artile.
Note the Pan/Satyr overlooking the scene from above a cliff. Courtesy the Trustees
of the British Museum.was, of course, the Master of Animals, the protector of fl ocks and herds, of shepherds and
herdsmen.^62 Interestingly, Bagnasco Gianni proposes a reading of the name Umaele, as
equivalent to Eumalos, a member of the Bacchiads from Corinth. His name means “rich
in herds” and he appears on the famous mirror where Tarchon acts as haruspex (Chapter 26,
Fig. 26.1).^63 The tools of these diviners were the livers from sacrifi ced animals, a tradition
the Etruscans shared with Mesopotamian and Anatolian people. Heracles, himself liminal,
is also seen as the defender of a goddess against creatures on the other side of the human
limes (border), such as sirens and giants.^64 Hercle, as discussed above, became associated
with water, especially running water.^65 A symbol of running water in Graeco-Roman and
Etruscan iconography was often an amphora held either to the spout of a nymphaeum
or simply the amphora was depicted lying on the ground with the mouth facing the
onlooker, as seen on many mirrors depicting Hercle. Water for your fl ocks and to quench
your own thirst was vital when travelling on long transhumance passages.
Nature or natural scenery often appears in tomb painting. It is sparse and, as in the
Roman paintings of Pompeii, showing landscapes dominated by human beings and their
enterprises. A wall in the Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia shows Achilles ambushing the
young Troilos when he comes to water his horse (Chapter 24, Fig. 24.10). The outdoor
landscape of nature is indicated by a row of trees embellished with ribbons and exotic
fl owers on tall stems. It does not get any wilder than this except for the untamed animals,
hunting or being hunted, in long friezes, for instance in the François Tomb of Vulci.
Birds are painted in fl ight or as targets for shooting and fi sh are to be hooked. “Nature”
is an invention of the eighteenth century and the Etruscans seem to have taken it for
granted. To them, nature was an arena in which people performed. The Underworld
couple is surrounded by black cloud-like formations in later tombs, as are other creatures