- Jean-Paul Thuillier –
to what happens in Greece, where victory in the quadriga is reserved for a social and
political elite: it is well known that the Charioteer of Delphi ran on behalf of a Sicilian
tyrant. But the Etruscans had a predilection for the triga, the chariot drawn by three
horses, with two draft horses and a horse harnessed on the outside in traces and, on
Archaic reliefs of Chiusi, almost half of the chariot races are with trigae (Jannot 1984:
350–355; Bronson 1965). But the Greeks never held such races, while the Romans
will take this contest into their circuses, as shown by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and
several inscriptions presenting the victories of star charioteers. There was at Rome, in
the Campus Martius along the Tiber, an equestrian training site called the Trigarium
because of the triga races that were held there. This Trigarium dated from the Etruscan
presence in the Urbs under the Tarquins (Coarelli 1977). Regarding races on horseback,
we must emphasize the interest of the Etruscans and Romans for horse races and acrobats
(in Latin, the desultores), who “jumped down” from their mount at a particular moment of
the race, or who jumped from one horse to another, while neither the Etruscans nor the
Romans almost ever depicted classic races with jockeys (after the evidence of Murlo, we
no longer fi nd such representations in Etruria) (Thuillier 1989). The Romans certainly
later adopted quadriga races, but on the whole issue of horse games we can only note the
proximity between Etruria and Rome, and the differences between Etruria and Greece.
CONCLUSION: RELIGIOUS ASPECT, SOCIAL ASPECTSWhile symbolist interpretations have sometimes been proposed, it is clear that the frescoes
of Tarquinia and Chiusi and the Archaic reliefs of the latter city (to confi ne ourselves to
these two types of documents) evoke the funeral games in the ceremonies held at the funeral
of the founder of the tomb. The Etruscans clearly were familiar with a ritual like the one
described by Homer for the funeral of Patroclus in Book 23 of the Iliad, with various
equestrian competitions – the biga-race is the most important – and athletic contests,
among the latter, especially boxing and wrestling. This is one phase of a rite of passage that
also includes other events: in addition to the viewing of the dead (prothesis) and transporting
the remains, which some pictures (on the reliefs of Chiusi) or analysis of the furnishings
of certain great tombs permit us to restore, we can quote at least the banquet, dance and
“scenic” (theatrical) performances associated with sports in several frescoes. But, in the
absence of texts describing the funeral ceremonies, it is diffi cult to establish with certainty
the order of the rites, even if it can be assumed that the games come last (Jannot 1998: 66).
These rites are intended for the dead but also for the living: the family group, and
even beyond, neighbors and some of the inhabitants of the city are at times tested and
devastated by this loss that endangers society and that it is therefore necessary to overcome.
Competitions, dances, the banquet (see Chapter 44), allow the group to overcome this
psychological trial, to refresh themselves in every sense of the term and regain strength
for the future of their community (D’Agostino 1989: 1–10). If the funeral games can
be called initially private, since they are organized by a family (clan) group, and these
games and their images endeavor to illustrate the status, power and wealth of the family
in question – they exceed this framework to become almost public on certain occasions.
The case of the Tomb of the Bigae and the grandstands depicted there is a good example,
and you may even wonder whether or not the deceased was a zilath (magistrate/praetor)
of Tarquinia. The Etruscans also knew of public and sacred games organized by cities or
by the Etruscan League, as is evident when the inhabitants of Caere are encouraged to