The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• chapter 60: Animals in the Etruscan household –

TYRRHENIAN SEA

Montescudaio Volterra

Arezzo

Chianciano Chiusi

Cetona

Perugia

Todi

Orvieto

Roselle

Saturnia

Barbarano

Talamone

Giglio

Gravisca

San Giovenale

Marsiliana d’Albegna

Orbetello

Sovana

Bolsena

LAKE BOLSENA

Bisenzio

Tuscania Viterbo

BleraSutri

Nepi

Capena

CerveteriVeii

Pyrgi

Tolfa

Tarquinia

Rome

Palestrina

(Praeneste)

Velletri

Satricum

Vulci Norchia Castel d’AssoCivita Castellana (Falerii Veteres)

Poggio

Buco

Sarteano

LAKE TRASIMENE

Casal Marittimo

Vetulonia

Castellina

in Chianti

Populonia

Elba

Siena

Asciano

BrolioCortona

Montepulciano

Cécina

Tiber

Ombrone

Tiber

Ansedonia^ (

Cosa

)

A = domesticated animal motifs

B = wild animal motifs

C = exotic animal motifs

D = mythical animal motifs

A = domesticated animal motifs

B = wild animal motifs

C = exotic animal motifs

D = mythical animal motifs

Figure 60.9 Etruscan animal categories collated according to fi nd site.

Note that the cities of Vulci, Chiusi, Cerveteri and Tarquinia account for some 70% of the artefacts

catalogued. This may be biased because of the locations of major museums today – many small, regional

museums displaying recent discoveries can furnish different types or ratios of decorative motifs

(map modifi ed after Spivey, 1997: p. 6).

ETRUSCAN ANIMAL MOTIFS AND WAR, SPORT,

AGRICULTURE AND CULTURE

“...the horse is always the symbol of the strong animal life of man...”

Etruscan Places, Chapter 6 (D. H. Lawrence)

Certain animals have always been used as weapons on the battlefi eld and been seen as
the spoils of war to be taken freely by the victor (see Fig. 60.2r = GR 1856.12–26.796;
British Museum). Thus, put simply, the number and quality of, for example, horses
owned by an individual would surely have served as a sign of that individual’s status in
Etruscan society. Moreover, horses are often represented as being connected to the life-
style of the aristocrats and involved in hunting, competition and warfare (Wiman 2004).
If horses were seen as weapons by the Etruscans, then the number of horses that a
given region was capable of mustering must also have been seen in terms of that region’s
strength. Likewise, with horses being seized as the spoils of war, this would tend to make
wars with neighboring tribes a profi table enterprise. It is therefore perhaps not surprising