The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• Adrian P. Harrison –

originating from Chiusi, and carved in the form of a house or temple with two panthers
standing guard on the roof (GR 1873.8–20.757).
Other Etruscan items involve animals more in the events leading up to burial. They
typically show the dead on foot, horseback, in a chariot sometimes preceded by a small
hooded fi gure, or a covered wagon. Sometimes they use highly unusual forms of locomotion
such as serpents, a hippocamp or a centaur to pull the vehicle. Then, at the start of the
third century bc, the most frequent image is that of a cortege in which the deceased and
his guides Charu(n) and Vanth appear, Charun holding his mallet with which he unlocks
the great bar on the door of the World of the Dead, and the winged Vanth bearing a torch
with which she lights the route (Jannot, 2000). An example of this can be found on the
sarcophagus of a man from Volterra circa 150–130 bc, where the lower panel shows the
journey to the land of the dead in relief. A woman leads a horse, upon which rides the
deceased, while a slave holds the horse’s tail (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen). In
a similar setting, the end wall of the sarcophagus of Ramtha Viśnai found at Vulci (circa
350 bc) illustrates two women under an umbrella being drawn by two horses to the
Underworld, led by a Vanth (Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Haynes 2000: 289 Fig. 232c).
The images left by the Etruscans are far from complete in terms of providing us with
a clear picture of their near-death and after-life experiences and expectations. However,
it is clear that Etruscans believed in ghosts, as there is mention of shades (ghosts), which
are referred to by the Etruscans as hinthial, depicted in the Tomb of Orcus II, Tarquinia
(circa 400 bc; Bonfante and Swaddling, 2006: 68).
It is also clear that griffi ns were seen as being protective, and could have been intended
to protect the occupants of the tombs and their buried wealth. Winged lions may have
served a similar guardian role in the tomb, as did the lions at the Palace of Ashurnasirpal
II at Nimrud. However, it is possible that they performed a role as escorts for the soul as
it was transported or carried to the World of the Gods (see Fig. 60.10). Indeed, there are
many winged lion statues in the necropoleis of archaic Vulci, one would almost say it was
their trademark, as they line the dromoi to big tombs (Van Kampen, 2007).

(Heros or Deified

Individuals)

(Body in Grave

or Tomb)

Realm of the DEAD

(Corpse Soul)

Access to

the tomb

• Source of counsel for the LIVING

(Vanth waiting

• The privileged few

Perhaps SHIP

or HIPPOCAMP

(I or Self Soul

+ Vanth

+ Griffins

+ Winged Lions – wings needed?)

plus Griffins,

winged Lions)

(the DEAD

+ Charun

+ Tuchulcha)

DEATH

WORLD of the GODS

Figure 60.10 A possible role of animal motifs in the after-life beliefs of the Etruscans.