Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T22:29:05.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

MOURNING DEATHS AND ENDANGERING LIVES: ETRUSCAN CHARIOT RACING BETWEEN SYMBOL AND REALITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2014

Get access

Abstract

This paper examines the iconographic and archaeological evidence for chariot racing in Etruria, its context and audience. We then focus on the representation of the chariot crash — a motif pervasive in Etruscan art on a variety of locally-produced artistic media. The incongruous depiction of the most exciting, dangerous and tragic occurrence in the race alongside scenes of banqueting and dancing complicates our understanding of Etruscan tomb painting and of funeral ritual. Images of chariot crashes reveal an Etruscan appreciation for Greek epic, while also reflecting real details of the burial rite and the nature of élite competition.

In questo articolo si esamina l'evidenza iconografica e archeologica delle corse di carri in Etruria, il suo contesto e il suo pubblico. Ci si concentra poi sulla rappresentazione dell'incidente durante la gara — un motivo ampiamente diffuso su di una vasta gamma di prodotti artistici di ambito etrusco. La contraddittoria rappresentazione della più emozionante, pericolosa e tragica circostanza nella gara, affiancata a scene di banchetto e di danza, rende difficile la nostra comprensione della pittura tombale etrusca e del rituale funerario. Le raffigurazioni di incidenti durante le corse di carri rivelano un apprezzamento per l'epica greca, riflettendo allo stesso tempo dettagli reali del rito funerario e la natura della competizione nell'ambito dell'élite.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Åkerstrom, Ä. (1970) The Tomba delle Olimpiadi in Tarquinia. Some problems in Etruscan tomb painting. In Cavagnaro Vanoni, L. and Ponzanelli, S. (eds), Scritti di archeologia ed arte in onore di Carlo Maurilio Lerici: 6772. Stockholm, Istituto Italiano di Cultura C.M. Lerici, Fondazione Lerici.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.K. (1975) Greek chariot-borne and mounted infantry. American Journal of Archaeology 79 (3): 175–87.Google Scholar
Andrén, A. (1940) Architectural Terracottas from Etrusco-Italic Temples (Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Rom 6). Lund, C.W.K. Gleerup.Google Scholar
Bartoccini, R. and Moretti, M. (1958) Tomba delle Olimpiadi. Studi Etruschi 26: 289–95.Google Scholar
Bartoloni, G. (1993) Documentazione figurata e deposizioni funerarie. Le tombe con carro. Archeologia Classica 45: 271–91.Google Scholar
Beazley, J.D. (1947) Etruscan Vase-painting. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (1991) The sixth-century potters and painters of Athens and their public. In Rasmussen, T. and Spivey, N.J. (eds), Looking at Greek Vases: 79102. New York, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bonamici, M. and Emiliozzi, A. (1997) Il carro di Monteleone di Spoleto (Rep. 87) dalla necropoli di Colle del Capitano. In Emiliozzi, A. (ed.), Carri da guerra e principi etruschi: 179–90. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Bonfante, L. (1981) Out of Etruria: Etruscan Influence North and South (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 103). Oxford, British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Bonfante Warren, L. (1970) Roman triumphs and Etruscan kings: the changing face of the triumph. Journal of Roman Studies 60: 4966.Google Scholar
Borghini, A. (1984) La scena del carro e la donna divina. Gordio e Tarquinio Prisco. Materiali e Discussioni per l'Analisi dei Testi Classici 12: 61115.Google Scholar
Briquel, D. (1993) Une opinion hétérodoxe sur l'origine des jeux equestres romains. In Spectacles sportifs et scéniques dans le monde étrusco-italique: 121–40. Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Bronson, R.C. (1965) Chariot racing in Etruria. In Bianchi Bandinelli, R. (ed.), Studi in onore di Luisa Banti: 89106. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Brown, A.C. (1974) Etrusco-italic architectural terra-cottas in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Archaeological Reports 20: 60–5.Google Scholar
Brunn, E. (1870) I rilievi delle urne etrusche. Rome, Reimer.Google Scholar
Cameron, A.D.E. (1976) Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Carpenter, T.H. (1984) The Tyrrhenian Group: problems of provenance. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 3 (1): 4556.Google Scholar
Colonna, G. (1997) L'Italia antica: Italia centrale. In Emiliozzi, A. (ed.), Carri da guerra e principi etruschi: 1523. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Crouwel, J.H. (1992) Chariots and Other Wheeled Vehicles in Iron Age Greece. Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum.Google Scholar
Crouwel, J.H. (2012) Chariots and other Wheeled Vehicles in Italy before the Roman Empire. Oxford, Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Crowther, N.B. (1983) Greek games in Republican Rome. L'Antiquité Classique 52: 268–73.Google Scholar
Crowther, N.B. (1994) Reflections on Greek equestrian events. Violence and spectator attitudes. Nikephoros 7: 121–33.Google Scholar
Crowther, N.B. (2007) Sport in Ancient Times. Westport (CT), Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, B. and Cerchiai, L. (1999) Il mare, la morte, l'amore: gli etruschi, i greci e l'immagine. Rome, Donzelli.Google Scholar
Decker, W. and Thuillier, J.-P. (2004) Le sport dans l'antiquité: Egypte, Grèce et Rome. Paris, Picard.Google Scholar
De Grummond, N.T. (2006) Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Echeverría, F. (2012) Hoplite and phalanx in Archaic and Classical Greece: a reassessment. Classical Philology 107 (4): 291318.Google Scholar
Emiliozzi, A. (1997) Carri da guerra e principi etruschi: catalogo della mostra. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Emiliozzi, A. (2011) The Etruscan chariot from Monteleone di Spoleto. Metropolitan Museum Journal 46 (1): 9132.Google Scholar
Endt, J. (1899) Beiträge zur Ionischen Vasenmalerei. Prague, Calve.Google Scholar
Furtwängler, A. (1900) Die Antiken Gemmen; Geschichte der Steinschneidekunst im Klassischen Altertum. Leipzig, Gesecke & Devrient.Google Scholar
Golden, M. (1997) Equestrian competition in ancient Greece: difference, dissent, democracy. Phoenix 51 (3/4): 327–44.Google Scholar
Golden, M. (1998) Sport and Society in Ancient Greece (Key Themes in Ancient History). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Green, C. (2009) The gods in the circus. In Bell, S. and Nagy, H. (eds), New Perspectives on Etruria and Early Rome: 6578. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, P.A.L. (1973) Early Greek Warfare: Horsemen and Chariots in the Homeric and Archaic Ages. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hampe, R. and Simon, E. (1964) Griechische Sagen in der Frühen Etruskischen Kunst. Mainz, P. von Zabern.Google Scholar
Harris, H.A. (1972) Sport in Greece and Rome. London, Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. (2000) Etruscan Civilization: a Cultural History. London, British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Hemelrijk, J.M. (1984) Caeretan Hydriae. Mainz am Rhein, P. von Zabern.Google Scholar
Henig, M. (1994) Classical Gems: Ancient and Modern Intaglios and Cameos in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. New York, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Humphrey, J.H. (1986) Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. London, B.T. Batsford.Google Scholar
Huskinson, J. (1996) Roman Children's Sarcophagi: their Decoration and its Social Significance (Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology). Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Izzet, V. (1996) Engraving the boundaries: exploring space and surface in Etruscan funerary architecture. In Wilkins, J.B. (ed.), Approaches to the Study of Ritual: Italy and the Ancient Mediterranean: 5572. London, Accordia Research Centre, University of London.Google Scholar
Jannot, J.-R. (1984) Les reliefs archaïques de Chiusi (Collection de l'École Française de Rome 71). Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Jannot, J.-R. (1993) Phersu, Phersuna, Persona. In Spectacles sportifs et scéniques dans le monde étrusco-italique: 281320. Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Jannot, J.-R. (1998) Devins, dieux et démons: regards sur la religion de l'Étrurie antique. Paris, Picard.Google Scholar
Jucker, I. (1991) Italy of the Etruscans. Mainz, Verlag P. von Zabern.Google Scholar
Khanoussi, M. (1994) Jeux athlétiques et pugilat en Afrique romaine. In Landes, C. (ed.), Le stade romain et ses spectacles: catalogue de l'exposition: 63–7. Lattes, Cedex.Google Scholar
Kluvier, J. (2003) The Tyrrhenian Group of Black-figure Vases. Amsterdam, Dutch Historical Society.Google Scholar
Kyle, D.G. (2007) Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. Malden (MA), John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Littauer, M. and Crouwel, J. (1983) Chariots in late bronze age Greece. Antiquity 57: 187–92.Google Scholar
Lowenstam, S. (2008) As Witnessed by Images: the Trojan War Tradition in Greek and Etruscan Art. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
MacClancy, J. (1996) Sport, identity and ethnicity. In MacClancy, J. (ed.), Sport, Identity and Ethnicity: 121. Oxford, Berg.Google Scholar
Marcatilli, F. (2009) Circo Massimo: architetture, funzioni, culti, ideologia. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
McGowan, E.P. (1995) Tomb marker and turning post: funerary columns in the Archaic period. American Journal of Archaeology 99 (4): 615–32.Google Scholar
Moretti, M. (1966) Nuovi monumenti della pittura etrusca (Collana di monografie archeologiche 1). Milan, Lerici.Google Scholar
Paribeni, E. (1938) I rilievi Chiusini Arcaici. Studi Etruschi 12: 57139.Google Scholar
Pérez, A. (2010) Agile status symbols. Ancient Warfare 4 (1): 36–8.Google Scholar
Pfuhl, E. (1923) Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen. Munich, F. Bruckmann.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. (1983) The Earliest Wheeled Transport: from the Atlantic Coast to the Caspian Sea. Ithaca, Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Pontrandolfo, A. and Rouveret, A. (1992) Le tombe dipinte di Paestum. Modena, F.C. Panini.Google Scholar
Richardson, N.J. (1993) The Iliad: a Commentary. Books 21–24. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Richter, G.M. (1968) Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. London, Phaidon.Google Scholar
Rodenwaldt, G. (1940) Römische Reliefs. Vorstufen zur Spätantike. Jahrbuch des Kaiserlichen Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 55: 1243.Google Scholar
Roisman, H. (1988) Nestor's advice and Antilochus' tactics. Phoenix 42 (2): 114–20.Google Scholar
Roller, L.E. (1981) Funeral games for historical persons. Stadion 7: 118.Google Scholar
Schultze, C.E. (2004) Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Greek origins and Roman games. In Bell, S. and Davies, G. (eds), Games and Festivals in Classical Antiquity: Proceedings of the Conference Held in Edinburgh 10–12 July 2000 (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1,220): 93105. Oxford, Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Schwartz, A. (2009) Reinstating the Hoplite: Arms, Armour and Phalanx Fighting in Archaic and Classical Greece. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag.Google Scholar
Sinos, R.H. (1994) Godlike men: a discussion of the Murlo procession frieze. In De Puma, R.D. and Small, J.P. (eds), Murlo and the Etruscans: Art and Society in Ancient Etruria: 100–17. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Small, J.P. (2003) The Parallel Worlds of Classical Art and Text. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, A.M. (1965) The hoplite reform and history. Journal of Hellenic Studies 85: 110–22.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, A.M. (1967) Arms and Armour of the Greeks (Aspects of Greek and Roman Life). London, Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Spivey, N.J. (1997) Etruscan Art. London, Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Spruttye, J. (1978) L'attelage sportif: le quadrige de course. Plaisirs Équestres 102: 418–24.Google Scholar
Stary, P.F. (1979) Foreign elements in Etruscan arms and armour: 8th to 3rd centuries bc. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45: 179206.Google Scholar
Steingräber, S. (1986) Etruscan Painting. New York, Johnson Reprint Corp.Google Scholar
Steingräber, S. (2006) Abundance of Life: Etruscan Wall Painting. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum.Google Scholar
Stopponi, S. (2011) Campo della Fiera at Orvieto. New discoveries. In De Grummond, N.T. and Edlund-Berry, I. (eds), The Archaeology of Sanctuaries and Ritual in Etruria (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 81): 1644. Portsmouth (RI), Journal of Roman Archaeology.Google Scholar
Swaddling, J. (1999) The Ancient Olympic Games. Austin, University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Tarabella, M.M. (2004) Prosopographia etrusca. Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Thuillier, J.-P. (1982) Le programmes ‘athlétique’ des Ludi Circenses dans la Rome républicaine. Revue des Études Latines 60: 105–22.Google Scholar
Thuillier, J.-P. (1985) Les jeux athlétiques dans la civilisation étrusque (Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 256). Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Thuillier, J.-P. (1993) Représentations sportive dans l'oeuvre du Peintre de Micali. In Spectacles sportifs et scéniques dans le monde étrusco-italique: 2144. Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Thuillier, J.-P. (1997a) La Tombe des Olympiades de Tarquinia ou les jeux étrusques ne sont pas les concours grecs. Nikephoros 10: 257–64.Google Scholar
Thuillier, J.-P. (1997b) Un relief archaïque inédit de Chiusi. Revue Archéologique 2: 243–60.Google Scholar
Timperi, A. (2010) Il fanum Voltumnae a Bolsena: dovuto a Voltumna. Viterbo, S.ED Editore.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. (1999) Funera Tusca: reality and representation in Archaic Tarquinian painting. In Bergmann, B.A. and Kondolean, C. (eds), The Art of Ancient Spectacle: 146–61. New Haven, Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Toynbee, J.M.C. (1971) Death and Burial in the Roman World. London, Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Turcan-Déléani, M. (1964) Contribution à l'étude des Amours dans l'art funéraire romain. Les sarcophages à courses de chars. Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome. Antiquité 76: 43–9.Google Scholar
Turfa, J.M. and Steinmayer, A.G. (1993) In defence of Patroclus: a plea to commonsense. Antichthon 27: 112.Google Scholar
Van der Meer, L.B. (1986) Greek and local elements in a sporting scene by the Micali Painter. In Swaddling, J. (ed.), Iron Age Artefacts in the British Museum: Papers of the Sixth British Museum Classical Colloquium: 439–45. London, British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Van der Meer, L.B. (2004) Myths and More on Etruscan Stone Sarcophagi (c. 350–c. 200 B.C.) (Monographs on Antiquity 3). Leuven, Peeters.Google Scholar
Veyne, P. (1990) Le pain et le cirque: sociologie historique d'un pluralisme politique. Paris, The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Weege, F. (1916) Etruskische Gräber mit Gemälden in Corneto. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 31: 105–68.Google Scholar
Willis, W.H. (1941) Athletic contests in the epic. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 72: 392417.Google Scholar
Woytowitsch, E. (1978) Die Wagen der Bronze- und Frühen Eisenzeit in Italien. Munich, C.H. Beck.Google Scholar