The discovery of a woman gladiator bring Romans on the spot light again , after the successful reconstruction of High Street Londinium in the Museum of London, sponsored by Banca di Roma. Yet, the mighty Romans are quite in debt to their predecessors in Italy, the Etruscans.
They also have come to London, although in occasional exhibitions only, therefore they deserve a closer look. So who on Earth were the Etruscans?

The Etruscans The Greeks called them Tyrrhenians and avoided sailing their sea, named after them, because they were ruthless pirates. The Romans called them Etruscans because they inhabited Etruria, in central Italy, and didn’t feel safe until they defeated them once and for all in the I century BC. They called themselves Rasenna and enjoyed their power and cultural superiority until they passed their heritage on to the Romans .

The Etruscans, despite the romantic halo of their mysterious origins, language and disappearance, are the best the ancient Italic people have offered History. The result of a happy mixture of the indigenous race with visitors from Asia Minor and from the Alps, the Rasenna settled in what is known today as Tuscany. They were masters of iron-working, they specialised in augury (nobody surpassed an Etruscan Haruspex in finding special clues by examining animals entrails and meteorological phenomenon) they were natural farmers with a talent for hydraulic engineering, they were sharp traders and great spenders. But they never acted as a Nation, opting instead for a federalism among their main cities which sometimes disliked each other very much. The Tuscans displayed the same attitude in the age of the Comuni and Signorie ( from the 10th century onwards) when Florence for instance allied with Siena against Pisa or with Pisa against Lucca. Tuscans still retain much of their ancestors’ traits today: they have a high percentage of Etruscan genes in their blood and in some areas their facial features resemble those we see on Etruscan sarcophagi or frescoes. Superstitious rather than religious, not very warlike and with a fondness for good food, good music and good sex, the Etruscans entertained lavishly even in their last dwellings, as we can guess from the paintings on the walls of their stately tombs. They attended banquets, games, dances in gorgeous apparel, surrounded by astonishing furnishings (the ones left after centuries of pillaging) which speak from the kingdom of death of their joy of living.

A refined society that is now emerging from the mist of the past thanks to new archaeological discoveries and richer documentation, but still retaining information from as: although we can read the Etruscan language , we can’t always understand its meaning because it doesn’t belong to the great well known Indo-European stock. It appears that literature was not the strong point of these people and actually their language is one of their great mysteries. As for the facts, the Etruscan civilization was well established from the 8th century BC and Etruria was its birthplace. Their economy prospered on land and sea, their leader was the Luchmon, one political , military and religious authority in each of the 12 large urban centres such as Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vetulonia, Populonia, Arezzo, and Volterra etc, which formed the "Etruscan Dodecapolis”. Oligarchic government and strong divine beliefs ruled their society in which nothing was done without first consulting the gods. For instance, an Etruscan architect had to be familiar with magic practices as well as with technical matters. The foundation of a town or a loft conversion had to respect a ritual procedure with fastidious attention to the orientation of doors, windows, roads and temples. Aruspices were summoned for business travels, for military expedition or for sowing a field. They performed horoscopes at births and marriages , but of course funerals were the highlight of their profession. The Etruscan departure from the world of the living was not traumatic ( according to their sacred texts the dead were granted two visits back to the world of the living a year ) but it had to be done properly to please the hundreds of spirits they were acquainted with, starting with the personal winged genie who is similar to our guardian angel. The Etruscans’ relationship with the supernatural was very colourful: the world of the living was so filled with omens, spells and beliefs, occult influences and superstitions, that there was already a sort of intimacy with supernatural forces.

Dying was simply leaving a world and entering another where time was suspended, accompanied by the same spirits. As for their tombs, they boasted every comfort: cheerful paintings on the walls, beds, chairs, rich clothes, even richer jewels, and artistic earthenware, as every tomb raider know. Just based on what we see on these walls, we can deduce that the Etruscans liked hunting, fishing, racing, enjoying music at every hour of the day, dancing and banqueting in relaxed company. They are probably responsible for the Italian soft spot toward convivial meals which brought their culture a fondness of wine and the art of cooking. Actually in some Tuscan towns they have recipes so old that one might think they belong to the Etruscan kitchen where elaborate dishes for strong appetites were prepared with aromatic ingredients soaked in olive oil and flavoured with wine. They particularly liked red meat, game in spicy sauces, seasoned cheese topped with honey and they cared not a fig for putting on too much weight ( actually they loved figs ) as we can judge from the buxom aspect of Etruscans on the lids of their sarcophagi. This is especially true in the 3rd century, in striking contrast with the elongated votive bronzes sometimes found in their tombs. Take the so-called Shadow of the Night : it might be the result of some abstract-like style launched by an innovative artisan in Volterra to boost a new artistic school in 3rd century BC, but it belongs to a local tradition related to the magical-religious world. It resembles the sacred image of the soul of the dead , the shadow of his body: one might be fat, but within there is something stretching toward more spiritual yearnings, reaching out to a dimension free from the weight of the flesh.

It is a very suggestive statue, anatomically accurate, with an extraordinary expressive power in its filiform shape topped by a small round head. It is the face of a young man, wistfully smiling and very engaging with his modern features framed by a modern hairstyle. It exudes regality and authority, it is solemn yet intriguing, it is surrounded by an aura of mystery and magic and it was the centre piece of the exhibition : “The Shadow of the Night, Etruscan Treasures from Volterra in Tuscany” at the European Academy for the Arts in London in Spring 99.

The exhibition was sponsored by the Fondazione Piaggio, renowned worldwide for being associated with another Italian symbol, the Vespa motor scooter, and by the Province of Pisa because in its district lies Volterra, Velathri for the Etruscans, from whose archaeological museum the Etruscan items were sent to London. Among these, under the “shadow” of the bronze ephebus mentioned above, one could admire fine examples from a recently discovered tomb of the 8th century BC, labelled “The warrior tomb” because of the artefacts associated with a knight of high rank. An ornate bronze flask, a menacing lance, a splendid crested helmet , an elaborate horse bit captivated the visitors’ eyes in the suggestively lit shadowy rooms. Then they found themselves in the solemn presence of cinerary urns whose lids said many things about the deceased person, from his features to his wealth, from his tastes to his social position. They belonged to the 3th-2th century BC and the fashionable Greek influence was already evident as well as a certain decadence of customs, different from the vigorous and bold male and female representations on archaic frescoes and urns. Especially for women, socially speaking, Greek and Roman influence was anathema. Etruscans were not inhibited and their women enjoyed a freedom which was greatly envied by those relegated to bedroom and kitchen by their Greek and Roman husbands under the motivation of a higher morality. Etruscan ladies not only actively participated in social events but attended political meetings as well and not only did they rejected modest attire and attitude but they liked to show off their beauty.

They didn’t wear veils but dressed in voile, they were fond of jewels and cosmetics and they ate, drank, danced with their men without restraint, therefore being accused by the Greeks of indecent behaviour. “Shameless” Etruscans are represented in friendly and affectionate reclining position next to their men, often both half naked, quite absorbed in making the most of the short days of life. They were the kind of women who looked you straight in the eye and had no fear of taking decisions in and out of their home. And they were well aware of their powers of seduction. Judging from the profusion of mirrors, combs, pins, unguentaria, precious small vases for perfumes and refined toilet sets we can be sure that a lot of time and money was spent on their look and, if they looked gorgeous on their funeral urns, we can imagine how they sparkled in person. By the way, here is a beauty-mask for the Etruscan ladies, according to Ovid: barley, eggs and lentils pounded to obtain a fine powder, then mixed with narcissus’ bulbs, resin, amid and honey.

They were a remarkable people, the Etruscans and their ladies, and we owe far more to them than we realize . After all, long before Rome, they founded in the heart of Italy, between prehistory and history, a great civilization which was the base for the ascent of future European civilization.

Author: Margherita Calderoni