- Stefano Bruni –
The many depictions of ships and boats that characterize the Etruscan artistic
repertoire confi rm that since the fi rst decades of the seventh century bc, there are in
circulation in the Mediterranean Etruscan vessels of different types, as evidenced by
the two oinochoai of the so-called Pittore delle Palme, active at Tarquinia in the years
between 700 and 675 bc (Fig. 40.5), and which are echoed in mid-century by the famous
Caeretan crater signed by Aristonothos (Fig. 40.6): to a roundship, heavy, with high sides
and driven by sail, intended for commercial use (cf. the στρογγύλη ναῦς, “roundship,”
in Herodotus 1.163.2), is contrasted a leaner and quicker vessel, with curved keel that
is nearly straight, driven by a set of oars; the character of the ship is associated with
warlike and predatory activity which is reiterated by its exaggerated cutwater sheathed
Figure 40.4 Ship model in impasto from Tarquinia. Tarquinia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, s.inv.
Plan and reconstruction by Marco Bonino.Figure 40.5 Oinochoe by the Pittore delle Palme, from Tarquinia (?). Columbia, University of
Missouri, Museum of Art and Archaeology, inv. 71.114.