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4 Daily Life in Etruria The Accouterments of War and Peace, Work and Home The condition or recorded contexts of most pieces show them to have been deposited in tombs, some after a lifetime of use and others probably obtained or made especially for funerary deposition (like terracotta jewelry). The exhibition of pieces from the Vatican collections that toured during the 1990s (“The Etruscans: Legacy of a Lost Civilization from the Vatican Museums”) provided a representative sampling of all aspects of Etruscan life, from the Villanovan through Hellenistic periods.1 The cities represented by these personal finds include Orientalizing and Archaic Bisenzio, Narce, Vulci, Orvieto, and Chiusi (described in chapters 1 and 2), and a few other famous members of the Etruscan League such as Tarquinia (often designated by its postantique name, “Corneto,” in old documentation). Like Caere/Cerveteri, Tarchna (Roman Tarquinii) was a major commercial city with a famous navy; today it is best known for its painted tombs. (See also chapters 7 and 8 for more finds from Tarquinia.) The bucchero production of 6th century Chiusi was especially prolific and imaginative; Orvieto is known for the quantities of fine Attic vases and Etruscan painted ceramics found in its tombs.2 The fine helmet of Picene type (108) is of unknown provenance, but a bronze finger ring and bulla amulet (162, 169) were said to have been found in tomb(s) at Ascoli Piceno, the home of the famous warrior tribes, the Italic-speaking Piceni, many of whose customs, like chariotry, banqueting, and fine metalwork, clearly derived from Etruscan influence and interaction. A simple but elegant hand-mirror (148) is said to have come from Praeneste (modern Palestrina), to the south of Rome. Another later piece, the Genucilia plate with a painted lady’s head (136), is said to have been found in a trench tomb at Ardea. Both towns were in Latin-speaking territory, with close ties to Rome, the Faliscan region, and southern Etruria. Real Life? Or Its Resemblance? One specifically funerary ritual involving prized personal possessions also is represented in the collection , the defacing of personal belongings, the mirror 256. In the ancient Mediterranean, there were many opportunities for lavish giving: religious dedication, tribute, guest gifts and funerary offerings. There were also many occasions on which giving or disposing of the actual object was either not possible or economically desirable. In place of live sacrifice, for example, one donated a figurine representing the appropriate animal; jewelry of gold foil might safely be used to adorn a body for burial; perfume vases might not have as great a capacity as their size implied. Objects made specifically for the grave are sometimes recognized by their materials, such as the gilded terracotta beads and medallion (104 and 105). Although such ornaments were sometimes worn in life, they are too flimsy to take much use and must represent cheap versions of valuables that were to remain with the living. The terracotta jewelry, carefully molded to duplicate fine metalwork and even covered after firing with a layer of gold or silver, was sometimes even worn by the living.3 After Classical antiquity, the next use of “costume jewelry” would not come until the time of the French bourgeoisie of the 19th century. Most finds of terracotta “jewels,” however, are from tombs. In the Classical world, including Etruria, the appearance of real life carried special significance. Some 4th–3rd century Etruscan tombs held imitation gold or silver vessels, made in clay to resemble family heirlooms for the one-time ritual of hand washing practiced at a sacrifice or funeral.4 A Man’s World: Warriors Become Citizens The accouterments of war that were so much in evidence in Iron Age funerals did not disappear immediately from ritual display when the warriors’ hut villages fused into the early Etruscan cities. Even though arms training and warfare may not have been part of a daily routine for the new citizens, they remained necessities and were still reflected in the symbolism of a life celebrated in the funeral. Much that was placed in the grave was, of course, real, and in Etruria, nearly all finds of arms and armor have come from tombs. Later family tombs, such as the Tomb of the Reliefs and Tomba Giglioli at Cerveteri (later 4th and early 3rd centuries BC) depict the family’s arms as if hanging on the walls, probably in imitation of the actual homes of aristocrats, who were proud of the historic past of their clan...

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