- chapter 41: Princely chariots and carts –
reality, only recently has it been understood that these did not belong to a chariot at all,
but to a cart that was driven from a seated position, pulled not by horses but by donkeys
or mules and that had to be used at a forcibly slowed gait because the axle belonged to the
type that revolved together with the wheels. This mechanism has been amply studied for
Greek carts and wagons (Crouwel 1992), but only in the last 20 years has the study been
deepened to include the vehicles of Etruria and the other Italic regions.^13 Unfortunately,
the cart of Populonia was found in a secondary deposition (Romualdi 1997), such that
we cannot know whether or not its box was originally covered with metallic decoration
over the leather like the sumptuous cart that came from the necropolis of Sabine Eretum,
later in date by more than half a century,^14 or if its sides were open or covered only with
leather. What can be suggested is that its wooden structure did not differ much from
that example (Figs. 41.16, 41.17) or from the bridal cart on the Etruscan terracotta frieze
plaques of Murlo (Fig 41.18), nor indeed from those Attic black-fi gured lekythoi of the
Amasis Painter and Gela Painter (Fig. 41.19),^15 dated to the third quarter and end of
the sixth century bc respectively. In favor of a carriage of the type depicted by the Gela
Painter militates the presence – among the remains in iron found together with the
wheels – of a series of 12 eyelets for suspension from wooden elements, that indicate
the presence of two footrests (see below), one in front and one behind, on which the
passengers seated in the vehicle could rest their feet. In this case we can attribute to the
Populonia carriage another four bindings made in iron, in matching pairs, made to fi t
the heads of the long arms of the rectangular frame, from which hung the footrests.^16
Unlike the Sabine region of the Tiber, where around the end of the seventh century
bc there appeared, in the city of Eretum, the cart of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek in
Copenhagen, splendidly covered in bronze sheets (see Fig. 41.16), in Etruria we must
wait at least one more generation to see a similar and equally sumptuous cart, which is
that of Castel San Mariano near Perugia (Fig. 41.20).^17 Unfortunately the conditions of
its discovery in 1812, and of the recovery of its metal fragments and their subsequent
dispersal into various collections and museums across Europe, has made the several
attempts at a restoration of its wooden structure diffi cult. The only thing certain is that
its box was closed on three sides, that is, also across the back. This fact, together with
the application of an elaborate decoration hammered into low relief on three large sheets
of bronze (apart from the minor friezes), makes it certain that it was designed for a
ceremonial function as in the parade chariots, excluding any sort of utilitarian usage.
It is further likely that it had two spoked wheels of Etruscan type and not the two
Figure 41.15 The wheels of the cart from Populonia, Tumulo dei Carri. From Emiliozzi 1997, pl. X.
(Photograph courtesy of Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, Florence).