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“Reading the Ritual”: Representation and Meaning on an Etruscan Funerary Monument in Perugia

  • Laurel Taylor EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 7, 2020
Etruscan Studies
From the journal Etruscan Studies Volume 23 Issue 1-2

Abstract

An unusual circular funerary monument in the National Archaeological Museum in Perugia (inv. no. 634) depicts a remarkable, multifigured narrative combining generic and unique scenes of Etruscan funerary ritual. Despite its singular character, this Archaic-period monument has never been the focus of an in-depth study. The monument features a frieze with two distinct scenes, each composed around a central focal point. On one side appears a prothesis scene in which a corpse occupies the central space with figures aligned on each side of the funerary bed. On the opposite side, figures are arranged on both sides of an altar featuring a burning fire, a scene without comparison in Etruscan funerary iconography. Though many of the figures have parallels within Etruscan imagery in both gesture and in attribute, much about this monument from its morphology to its pendant scenes is exceptional. Prothesis scenes, which appear almost exclusively in the Chiusi area and only during the Archaic period, are typically combined with images of funerary banqueting, dancing, and/or lamentation scenes. The pairing here with the altar/fire image raises interesting interpretive questions about the constitutive effect of these two events and how these may have been read and comprehended by the ancient viewer. Formally, the scenes invite connection and comparison, perhaps even to convey a symbolic and/or temporal relationship between these two events. The prothesis may have preceded and necessitated some sort of ritual purification by fire. Alternatively, the fire may reference a type of sacrifice part of funerary ritual. Neither, however, was part of the iconographic tradition. In attempting to these scenes, this paper uses a proxemics-based approach (a model used frequently in New World archaeology), to understand how the formal and physical characteristics of the monument reflect aspects of ancient visuality that is, the interplay between viewer, perception, and space. The figuration, composition, and morphology of this monument suggest that these scenes were intended less as narratives to be read and more as evocations of a ritual landscape whose broad contours could be perceived and understood with even a cursory engagement. These scenes are the visual evocation of ritual performance and environments. Though unusual in many aspects, the Perugia monument may have more far-reaching implications for ancient viewership.

Keywords: Perugia; Chiusi; relief sculpture; prothesis; funerary imagery; archaic Etruria; altar

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Online erschienen: 2020-07-07
Erschienen im Druck: 2020-11-04

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Frontmatter
  3. Editorial
  4. Letter from the Editor
  5. “Reading the Ritual”: Representation and Meaning on an Etruscan Funerary Monument in Perugia
  6. A Late Archaic Boxing-Dance in Etruria: Identification, Comparison, and Function
  7. Athenian Vases and Heroes out of Context: Discovering what Theseus is doing in Etruria
  8. A Blurring Frontier: The Territory of Caere in the Fourth and Third Centuries B. C. E.
  9. Book Review
  10. The Peoples of Ancient Italy
  11. Northern Italy in the Roman World. From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity
  12. Gli Etruschi. La scrittura, la lingua, la società
  13. An Etruscan Affair: The Impact of Early Etruscan Discoveries on European Culture
  14. L’Intrepido Larth: storia di un guerriero etrusco
  15. L’Etruria di Alessandro Morani: riproduzioni di pitture etrusche dalle collezioni dell’Istituto Svedese di Studi Classici a Roma
  16. Catalogue of Etruscan Objects in the World Museum, Liverpool
  17. The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars
  18. Cippi, stele, statue-stele e semata. Testimonianze in Etruria, nel mondo italico e in Magna Grecia dalla prima Età del Ferro fino all’Ellenismo: atti del convegno internazionale, Sutri, Villa Savorelli, 24–25 aprile 2015.
  19. Veii
  20. The Early Roman Expansion into Italy: Elite Negotiation and Family Agendas
  21. At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion. Papers in Memory of Carin M. C. Green
  22. Iconografia del leone in Etruria. Tra la fine dell’età arcaica e l’età ellenistica
  23. Collecting and Collectors from Antiquity to Modernity
  24. Roof-Tiles and Tile-Roofs at Poggio Civitate (Murlo): The Emergence of Central Italic Tile Industry
  25. The Fortifications of Pompeii and Ancient Italy
  26. Dai giardini dell’Etruria agli horti romani. La nascita del giardino nell’Italia anticaGiardino e sacro nell’Italia preromana. Vegetazione, paesaggio tra cultura e religione
  27. The Archaeology of Nuragic Sardinia
  28. 2020 Fellowship Award Recipients
https://doi.org/10.1515/etst-2019-0009
Keywords for this article
Perugia; Chiusi; relief sculpture; prothesis; funerary imagery; archaic Etruria; altar

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Frontmatter
  3. Editorial
  4. Letter from the Editor
  5. “Reading the Ritual”: Representation and Meaning on an Etruscan Funerary Monument in Perugia
  6. A Late Archaic Boxing-Dance in Etruria: Identification, Comparison, and Function
  7. Athenian Vases and Heroes out of Context: Discovering what Theseus is doing in Etruria
  8. A Blurring Frontier: The Territory of Caere in the Fourth and Third Centuries B. C. E.
  9. Book Review
  10. The Peoples of Ancient Italy
  11. Northern Italy in the Roman World. From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity
  12. Gli Etruschi. La scrittura, la lingua, la società
  13. An Etruscan Affair: The Impact of Early Etruscan Discoveries on European Culture
  14. L’Intrepido Larth: storia di un guerriero etrusco
  15. L’Etruria di Alessandro Morani: riproduzioni di pitture etrusche dalle collezioni dell’Istituto Svedese di Studi Classici a Roma
  16. Catalogue of Etruscan Objects in the World Museum, Liverpool
  17. The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars
  18. Cippi, stele, statue-stele e semata. Testimonianze in Etruria, nel mondo italico e in Magna Grecia dalla prima Età del Ferro fino all’Ellenismo: atti del convegno internazionale, Sutri, Villa Savorelli, 24–25 aprile 2015.
  19. Veii
  20. The Early Roman Expansion into Italy: Elite Negotiation and Family Agendas
  21. At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion. Papers in Memory of Carin M. C. Green
  22. Iconografia del leone in Etruria. Tra la fine dell’età arcaica e l’età ellenistica
  23. Collecting and Collectors from Antiquity to Modernity
  24. Roof-Tiles and Tile-Roofs at Poggio Civitate (Murlo): The Emergence of Central Italic Tile Industry
  25. The Fortifications of Pompeii and Ancient Italy
  26. Dai giardini dell’Etruria agli horti romani. La nascita del giardino nell’Italia anticaGiardino e sacro nell’Italia preromana. Vegetazione, paesaggio tra cultura e religione
  27. The Archaeology of Nuragic Sardinia
  28. 2020 Fellowship Award Recipients
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