- chapter 44: The banquet through Etruscan history –
society would be sitting or reclining on couches at their tables, made of ivory, wood or
metal. The equipment would excel by quality and quantity; local items are made by the
fi nest craftsmanship and many items are imports from abroad and thus very valuable.
Items of gold, silver and bronze are often seen together with objects made of more exotic
materials like glass, ostrich egg, shells or faience. We are talking about vessels for mixing
(wine and water), pouring and drinking; cauldrons for mixing liquids as well as cooking
meat, fi re-dogs and spits for roasting and last but not least plates, dishes and bowls
for serving the food. These items together with the actual food and drink were status
bearing; they separated the persons of status, the “aristoi” from the rest of society. The
banquet served as a paramount status marker both to the host and to the participants.
The food was the best and boiled, stewed or roasted dishes of meat were accompanied
with local as well as imported wines.^7 When many items are involved we might even
be able to distinguish internal hierarchies, some persons were treated to the best piece
of meat or were given the best wine. Sometimes we can even distinguish a division of
drinking habits between men and women.
The feast based on meat and wine, where guests were either seated or reclining, connects
the elites of the cultures around the Mediterranean and further east. The Etruscans have
not left any written descriptions, we have no literary records from their hand, but we
know of the phenomenon from the Homeric epic, the Old Testament, Assyrian records
and elsewhere.^8
BANQUETING AT MURLOA fabulous party has been immortalized at Poggio Civitate, Murlo near Siena. A large
palace-like building (60 x 60 m approx.) consisting of four wings around a courtyard was
decorated with terracotta friezes with four different motives of which one is representing
a banquet (Fig. 44.3).^9 Banquet equipment like that represented on the frieze has been
found associated with the structure and it can thus be concluded that the representations
symbolize real banquets that actually took place in the building. In fact, the northern
wing probably functioned as a banquet hall. The great building had an earlier predecessor
from around 630 bc. This older construction was destroyed by fi re but has left us with
a deposit of banquet equipment that was actually large enough to accommodate a large
Figure 44.3 Frieze plaque, terracotta, from the Upper Building at Poggio Civitate (Murlo), scene of
reclining banquet, circa 575 bc. Illustration by Thora Fisker.