- Jean MacIntosh Turfa with Marshall J. Becker –
Pliny said grew in Etruria and was used to treat toothache and wounds, when mixed
with lard was used to treat oxen accidentally cut by the plow (NH 24.152). The lily-
like plant with aromatic fl owers known in Antiquity as Ephemeros (L. cicuta) has been
variously identifi ed by scholars but was associated by ancient authors with Etruscan
drug production. Theophrastus (Historia plantarum 9.16.6; Pliny NH 24.16) said that
the Tyrrhenians (Etruscans) of the town of Heraclea (now unknown) were the special
producers of a drug from this toxic species (see Bonacelli 1936: 484, note 1).
Seemingly trivial materials may have been recognized for health or safety benefi ts
(as today, for instance, kohl eyeliner protects against fl y-borne diseases of the eyes,
and the specifi c gravity of ingredients in cosmetics or perfumes makes them effective
antibacterial compounds). An alabaster unguent vase buried in the second century bc at
Chiusi still contained traces of its original contents, possibly a skin- or face-cream with
a base of mastic and pine resins, and moringa oil (probably) imported from Egypt/Africa
(Colombini et al. 2009). The moringa oil may have protected the skin from infection, or
even from the side effects of cosmetics such as face powder containing heavy metals (cf.
Fahey 2005). See Becker 2009 for comments on the containers for drugs and unguents.
On analogy to the survival of ancient herbalism in modern Italian folk medicine,
some modern and Roman-era spas with mineral waters or hot springs might have
Etruscan origins (cf. Tabanelli 1963: 109–115). Many sanctuaries included features of
springs, pools or running water (e.g. the Cannicella shrine in the Orvietan necropolis,
the “Fountain shrine” at Marzabotto, the monumental pool at the Portonaccio sanctuary
of Veii). The water features of Mezzomiglio, near the modern spa of Chianciano Terme,
included a temple-like shrine and large immersion pool employing thermal springs high
in sulfates, carbonates and calcium; according to excavator David Soren, “the spa certainly
functioned from at least late Etruscan times,” the third century bc, although its height
came in the Trajanic period (Soren 2010: 13).
DENTAL HEALTH AND DENTISTRY IN ETRURIA
(MARSHALL JOSEPH BECKER WITH
JEAN MACINTOSH TURFA)The origins of dental extraction and related surgeries almost certainly predate the period
during which the recognizable Etruscan cities emerged. We may be certain that one
of the early health-related occupations in Etruria involved the extraction of teeth and
perhaps the related pharmaceutical skills (Becker 2009). Analgesic use and the delicate
techniques needed for the successful removal of a problematical tooth are cited in the
Hippocratic corpus and certainly were known to the Etruscans. The absence of direct
evidence for these activities in Etruria has more to do with the absence of extensive
written reports. The one aspect of Etruscan medicine for which intervention is most
clearly attested relates to a very different aspect of dentistry. The striking evidence for
the use of dental pontics among the Etruscans, however, is strongly linked to the medical
procedures involving dental bridges. The earliest Etruscan examples of gold pontics were
designed as ornaments that were related to a cultural activity involving tooth evulsion
(the deliberate removal of one or more anterior teeth as a cosmetic activity for specifi c
members of some cultures, often associated with coming-of-age rituals). How this was
determined involves the study of dental health among the Etruscan and Italic peoples.
Twenty burials have been found within ancient Etruria with skeletons still wearing gold