Etruscan

A Day in the Life

Ancient Beauty

During the 4th century BCE, a woman who held this mirror would have searched for a very specific standard of beauty in its reflection. The lady who first owned this mirror may have used it to arrange her Ionic chiton and himation. Perhaps she looked into it to groom her hair, ensuring that its loose waves were untangled or pulling it up into a knot, as was fashionable at the time. She likely admired her diadem, torque, and other jewelry, and used it to apply various cosmetics, lining her eyes with malachite and dabbing on fragrant perfumes. We think she would have been pleased if her reflection resembled this 4th-century Etruscan terracotta sculpture.

Etruscan, Terracotta Statue of a Young Woman, late 4th–early 3rd century BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1916, 16.141 (artwork in the public domain; photograph provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org).

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Shape Shifters

Hand mirrors found in the tombs of Praeneste often have Etruscan inscriptions, despite the fact that the city spoke a dialect of Latin. How then do we know that our mirror is Praenestine? Etruscan mirrors were circular in shape, while Praenestine mirrors were usually more pear-shaped. Can you determine which of the mirrors below are more likely Etruscan, and which are Praenestine?

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The Myths on the Mirrors

The artists of Praeneste adopted subjects from imported Greek vases to portray mythological figures. Although we are unsure what this exact image is meant to represent, as the creators of these mirrors often invented scenes that suited specific local events and their patron’s interests, we can tell that it contains the goddess of wisdom and war, Menrva (in Greek: Athena), and a Dionysiac couple, perhaps Fufluns (Greek: Dionysus) god of wine and prosperity, and his companion Areatha (Greek: Ariadne), who places a laurel crown on his head. Can you identify which figure is Menrva, which is Fufluns, and which is Areatha based on what they wear or the objects they carry?

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Funerals and Eternal Life

Although Praeneste was conquered by the Romans in the 4th century BCE, close contact between the independent city and Etruria connected Praeneste with Etruscan culture and led Praenestine artists to produce numerous bronze hand mirrors. The Etruscans popularized these objects throughout the Italian peninsula; not only were such mirrors used in daily life by the elite, but they were also featured in elaborate funerary practices.

Hand mirrors were typically buried with women and were usually placed near or on the deceased's lower legs, with the reflective side facing upwards. Scholars believe the ancient peoples of Western Italy may have thought of these objects, which had once reflected an exact image of the living, as receptacles for the soul, allowing a part of the deceased to remain immortal.

Further Reading: Alexandra A. Carpino, “Reflections from the Tomb: Mirrors as Grave Goods in Late Classical and Hellenistic Tarquinia,” Etruscan Studies Volume 11, Article 1 (2008), http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=etruscan_studies.

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