- Maurizio Sannibale –
Simultaneously, objects of Etruscan production, mainly bronzes and bucchero vases, will
reach Greek sanctuaries and other sites in the Mediterranean.^4
The Orientalizing phenomenon in Etruria is manifested mainly in southern cities
not far from the coast and which are more open to contacts (Veii, Caere, Tarquinia, and
next Vulci) while in contact with the mining district of the mountains of Tolfa. To the
north, actually on the sea, we fi nd Populonia, linked to mineral resources and the Colline
Metallifere (“Metal-bearing Hills”) and the island of Elba; the major cities of the interior
include Chiusi, Vetulonia, and Volterra. In this period the process of urbanization comes
to fruition and establishes a monumental and more permanent form for necropoleis as well,
as in the notable case of Cerveteri, where there is a sudden burgeoning of the monumental
tumulus, perhaps derived directly from the Near East; this will spread elsewhere.
Among the most important innovations incorporated in Etruria during the
Orientalizing phase are surely the acquisition of the alphabet and writing technique
that occurred by the late eighth century bc. The alphabet adopted by the Etruscans is
basically the western Greek, Chalcidian script, which must have been acquired by the
cities of southern Etruria as a result of their contact with Euboeans located in the Bay of
Naples (Fig. 6.1). In the burials are ostentatious sample alphabets and syllabaries with
the teaching sequence of the 26 letters of the Euboean alphabet, incised on objects that
recall this recently introduced practice, such as the ivory tablet of Marsiliana d’Albenga
and the so-called Regolini-Galassi inkwell. To formulae written during the practice of
gift-exchange is thus added the memory of the event with the explicit mention of donor
and recipient.
The contacts underway during colonization in the West led to the acquisition not only
of goods but also of cultural models. Among these the custom of the banquet assumes
the central place at court, following the Greek custom derived from the East,^5 to which
may be traced the most precious objects and furnishings: bronze cauldrons with animal
fi nials originating in eastern Anatolia and northern Syria (Fig. 6.2) and skewers used in
the preparation of meat which was then divided according to specifi c codes of hierarchy
among those admitted to the court.
Even the ritualized consumption of wine, an exotic and valuable drink, fi rst imported
and then manufactured in Etruria (archaeology increasingly reveals traces of early
cultivation of the vine), will constitute a genuine prerogative of noble groups. Around the
ritual of drinking among equals in a communal event will develop alliances and decisions,
established relationships with foreigners: destined for this are pitchers, cups and chalices
of precious or expensive material, such as glass and fi ne ceramics. In particular, there is
the adoption of drinking vessels of solemn ceremonial function from the eastern courts,
such as ribbed bowls (patere baccellate), which acquire a lofty symbolic value recognized
as an attribute of rank, originally reserved for kings and their dignitaries at the Assyrian
courts (Fig. 6.3).^6 At fi rst imported and then widely produced in Italy, they did not remain
confi ned to the aristocratic banquet of the living: their deposition among funerary offerings
extends the theme of royalty to the feast of the dead and the ancestors. The same goes for
the hemispherical cup, a banquet vessel of ancient Near Eastern tradition, introduced early
in Italy (at Torre Galli in the ninth century, in bronze), of which there are adaptations in
glass (Bernardini tomb, Palestrina) and imported versions in precious metal (see Fig. 6.8),
or the local “scales cups” in silver, produced at Cerveteri (see Fig. 6.32).
The same consumption of wine in the ritualized conviviality of the banquet offers
numerous opportunities for the simultaneous presence of accessories that bring together