CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

THE BANQUET THROUGH

ETRUSCAN HISTORY

Annette Rathje

W

hat is banqueting? Banqueting means eating and drinking together at formal
parties, rituals and ceremonies. Eating as well as drinking is associated with
initiations, burial rites and hospitality, indeed many aspects of human life. How can we
understand the banquets of the Etruscans? They did not leave us with written descriptions
about their manners and customs. The Greek and Latin literary sources are late and
often marked by hidden agendas. We have to turn to archaeological sources and in this
case we can analyze actual remains of food and drink,^1 places where it was prepared and
places where it was consumed as well as banquet equipment. Representations of food and
depictions of eating behavior can add to our knowledge and fortunately, the imagery of
the Etruscans is abundant. The Etruscans have left us with a spectacular world of images
from which we must carefully examine the evidence.

THE EARLY BANQUETS

Banquets are evidenced from the earliest Etruscans. The incinerated dead were put
into urns that are sometimes anthropomorphic and, especially at Chiusi, placed on
throne-like chairs before tables with food and drink. This custom must be seen in
connection to the cult of the forefathers that distinguished this people from the Iron
Age on.^2 The burials from Tolle in the Chiusine area are good examples, and from the
same location we have the earliest representation of a reclining banquet (Fig. 44.1) on
top of a lid belonging to an urn.^3 One of the earliest representations of a meal is seen
on the lid of another terracotta urn from Montescudaio (territory of Volterra) (Fig.
44.2) from circa 650 bc.^4 The small fragmentary fi gures are made in the round and
the motif is quite clear. A man is seated at a table laden with food (bread, focacce?) and
a female servant (?) is fanning him. The scene suggests that he is a person of a certain
rank and has adopted a Near Eastern custom. He raises his right arm in a gesture,
likely he is performing a toast. A large vessel for mixing wine and water is next to the
table and traces of a round base might refer either to a round chair for another person
or to another vessel.^5