Female Assembly on Archaic Etruscan and Anatolian Funerary Monuments

doi:10.1017/9781009151016.024

16 - Female Assembly on Archaic Etruscan and Anatolian Funerary Monuments

from Part VI - Shared Forms, Distinct Functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023

Gretchen Meyers

Edited by

Elizabeth P. Baughan and

Lisa C. Pieraccini

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Elizabeth P. Baughan: Affiliation:
University of Richmond, Virginia
Lisa C. Pieraccini: Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley

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Summary

This paper examines the relationship between images of women on funerary monuments in Etruria and Anatolia, with particular focus on the so-called “female assembly scenes” on Chiusine cippi of the Late Archaic period. In these reliefs, groups of seated women drape and exchange textiles among each other. Although scholarly opinion differs on the meanings of these scenes, the visual focus on cloth as a component of social or religious ritual is paramount. The importance of the textile within the specific Etruscan context of these scenes is further emphasized when considered alongside contemporaneous reliefs in Anatolia associated with females, most notably those on the Polyxena sarcophagus from a tomb in the northern Troad. Through both visual analysis and attention to broader issues of gendered representation and identity, this chapter examines the importance of cultural context for interpreting female-focused narratives in both ancient Etruria and Anatolia.

Keywords

gender cultural identity cippi Chiusi textiles gesture marriage gift exchange Polyxena Sarcophagus

Type: Chapter
Information: Etruria and Anatolia
Material Connections and Artistic Exchange
, pp. 290 - 302

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009151016.024 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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