Volume 16, Issue 1

This study focuses on candelabra (candlesticks), thymiateria (incense burners) and kottaboi (stands used during the drinking game called kottabos ) at banquets and compares their roles in Greece and Etruria. These utensils continue to be misidentified, even by archaeologists. Knowledge of their structure is essential because this enables us to define their different functions and uses in these different cultures. For example, the Greeks did not use candlestick-holders, and objects that have been improperly identified as candelabra (i.e., as supports for illumination with candles) should more properly be classified as lamp/utensil stands. The Etruscans, on the other hand, preferred to use torchlight for illumination, and as a result, the candelabrum —an upright stand specifically designed to support candles made of resinous fibers that were saturated with flammable substances—was developed in order to avoid burns to the hands, prevent fires or problems with smoke, and collect ash or melting substances. But they also used utensil stands similar in shape and form to the Greek lamp holders, which were placed near the kylikeion at banquets. In addition, both the Greeks and the Etruscans used thymiateria during banquets and symposia in order to offer incense to the gods. Kottaboi were also important utensils used in the context of banquets and symposia: in Greece, however, they were interchangeable with lamp/utensil stands, and infrequently depicted in visual representations. In Etruria, kottaboi are rarely found in painted banquet scenes but numerous intact and fragmentary metal examples dating from the end of the sixth century BCE to the Hellenistic period have been found buried in tombs where they functioned as part of symposium sets. All in all, this analysis demonstrates that there are both formal and functional differences between Greek and Etruscan candelabra, thymiateria and kottaboi which can be traced to social and cultural differences. In addition, it shows once again, conclusively, that the Etruscans had a culture with many distinct characteristics, ones that can no longer be associated with those of the Greeks.

An Etruscan black-figure stamnos from Vulci, now in Berlin, has been overlooked since its brief description by A. Furtwängler in 1902. After establishing the vase’s affiliation with the workshop of the Group of Munich 883/Pittore dell’Ancile, which has been dated to the first quarter of the fifth century BCE and was active at Vulci, this study analyzes the iconography of the vase’s figural imagery. One side depicts a winged youth holding a fillet while the other contains a representation of a wingless figure holding a double axe and standing in front of a column. The article concludes by suggesting that these figures are early Etruscan representations of underworld demons. In addition, the axe holder may even be one of the earliest extant images of the death demon Charu(n) in Etruscan art, holding the forerunner of the hammer, his more well-known attribute.

Faunal remains recovered from the Etruscan site at Poggio Colla offer a new perspective on the use of animals in this rural sanctuary and suggest new ways of approaching the role of animals in Etruscan religious activity. Zooarchaeological analysis aims to contribute to the understanding of human–animal relationships on site through reconstruction of animal management strategies and interpretation of specific ritual contexts containing animal bones. Faunal remains recovered from Poggio Colla are comparable to those from other Etruscan sanctuaries and settlements and link the site with well-established trends in central Italian animal husbandry. As at similar sites, the faunal assemblage primarily contains the remains of cattle, sheep/goat and pig, although dog and wild species are also present. The relative importance of pigs increases through time, a trend that has been linked to an intensification of meat production and rising urban populations. The role and significance of animal remains associated with the site’s ritual deposits are more difficult to interpret. In particular, the placement and character of the bones in some ritual contexts suggest a degree of curation in the assembly of these features. This treatment of animal remains provokes consideration of the choices governing sacrificial animal selection, the post-mortem significance of animal bodies, and the disposal of both quotidian and ritual debris.

Pyrgi is an important and well-preserved, long-lasting site on the seashore north of Rome. It includes a medieval castle with its Borgo dating back to the tenth century CE which is superimposed on the maritime Roman colony, founded around 273 BCE when the Etruscan town of Caere was compelled to deliver a large part of its coastal territory into Roman hands. Both the castle and the Roman colony rest on the rocky promontory delimiting the wide bay which was chosen by Caere as its main harbor. The Etruscan settlement extends over ten hectares along the bay, from the rocky promontory to the sacred area, the widest and most articulated one ever discovered in Etruria, which includes two different sanctuaries. The strict link between Caere and Pyrgi is stressed by a large and monumental road, comparable to the road between Athens and Piraeus, which connected the main town to the sea. The road directly reached the sanctuary and then turned towards the port and the town, mirroring the fundamental role of the sanctuary not only in respect to commercial trade but also as the projection of the mother town on the sea and the expression of its international political role. In addition, the building phases of both sacred areas are strictly linked to the main periods of Caere’s political and social development. In the two sacred areas, the focal points for worship and the performance of ceremonial practices were carefully planned and featured by specific rites. Taking into account the topographical frame, this article illustrates the typology and main features of the altars and related traces of ritual activities.

This museum update presents the project of the Museo Archeologico-Virtuale di Narce (Narce Archaeological-Virtual Museum or MAVNA) in Mazzano Romano (RM) in the larger context of networks that linked the archaeological site of Narce with foreign scholars and institutions that have been working in, on or around the Faliscan site since its discovery in 1890. The museum was created in September, 2012, in order to display a collection of material from the site that had been stored in the city hall of Mazzano Romano and never before on public display, as well as to present the “virtual” return of the antiquities now preserved in museums outside of Italy. The museum will serve as a territorial and extra-territorial cultural center dedicated to the Faliscans, and will exhibit images of foreign collections virtually in order to demonstrate to the local visitors the importance of Narce’s archaeological finds and the significance accorded to Faliscan culture by foreign scholars and institutions.