- Giovannangelo Camporeale –
the rim (Praxias) and on the handle (Arnthe), refer to the same person (Beazley 1947, pp.
195–200; recently, with previous bibliography, Wachter 2001, pp. 194–196; Poccetti
2009). It is diffi cult to say whether he is a potter or painter, because the verb that would
specify this is omitted. His Greek origin is confi rmed by the fact that the picture labels
are written in Greek letters, and this is repeated in other vases of the Group. He has been
integrated into Etruscan society, taking a typical Etruscan praenomen and transforming
his original Greek name into the gentilicium: an analogous phenomenon had occurred in
the seventh century bc with Rutile Hipucrates (Fig. 48.5), attested in an inscription at
Tarquinia (TLE 155), in which the praenomen is a local, or perhaps Latin, personal name
and the gentilicium is an Etruscan version of his Greek name (Hippokratēs). Likewise,
Larth Telicle, attested in an inscription from southern Etruria (TLE 761), has taken a
characteristically Etruscan praenomen and has used for gentilicium a Greek name (Teliklēs).
After the naval defeats infl icted on the Etruscans by the Syracusans at Cumae in 474
bc and Elba in 453 bc, the ports of the southern Etruscan metropoleis, Caere, Tarquinia
and Vulci, were barred from commerce in Attic goods; the only port remaining open to
this commerce is Populonia in the mining region of northern Etruria. Numerous Attic
vases of high quality of this period are found in Populonian tombs. Around the years
450–440 bc an artist’s signature appears pertinent to our enquiry: Metru menece, on an
Attic red-fi gured cup close to the style of the Penthesilea Painter, found at Populonia
but perhaps made in Vulci (indicated by the ending of the verb in perfect tense, -ce, with
the palatalized guttural). Metru is the Etruscan adaptation of the Greek name Mētrōn
(De Simone 1968, p. 94; De Simone 1970, pp. 231–232) and menece is the Etruscan verb
designating the action of the master (potter or painter?). He is a Greek who works for an
Etruscan clientele and writes in Etruscan, but he lacks an Etruscan gentilicium and thus is
a metic, not fully integrated into Etruscan society (Colonna 1975, pp. 190–191; Colonna
1980–1981 [1982], pp. 171–172). His position and civic status in Etruscan society is
different from that noted for Arnth Praxias, also active in Vulci.
From the mid-fi fth century bc, Greek infl uence in Etruria continues, but it is no
longer focused on the cities of the Tyrrhenian coast, but rather toward the hinterland,
traveling along the valleys of the Tiber, Chiana and Arno (to Veii, Falerii, Orvieto, Chiusi,
Arezzo). Many sculptures in terracotta or stone in these cities, belonging to the decoration
of temples or to cinerary statues hollowed to receive human remains, show that the
Figure 48.5 Inscribed vase (fragmentary oinochoe), dedication of Rutile Hipucrates, from Monterozzi,
Doganella, Tumulo del Re (Tarquinia), seventh century bc. Drawing, after Hencken, Tarquinia,
Villanovans and early Etruscans (1967), vol. 1, p. 381 fi g. 371, g, following L. Cultrera, “Tarquinia –
Scoperte nella necropoli,” Notizie degli Scavi 1932, 100–116.