Human Sacrifice on an Etruscan Funerary Urn

Bibliographic Data

ID4887251
AuthorsLarissa Bonfante (corresponding author)
Year1984
Volume88
Issue4
Pages531-539
Publication date1984-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/504741
OpenAlexW2323019118
LanguageEN
Citations received16

An alabaster ash urn of a type made in Chiusi around 100 B. C. in the collection of the Classics Department of New York University shows, carved in relief on the front of the casket, the recognition scene from Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris. A peculiar feature of its iconography is the presence of two severed heads above the altar where Orestes sits; these occur only here and on another (lost) urn. These heads evidently refer to the practice of human sacrifice among the "barbarian" Taurians. The artist may have been inspired by the many severed heads on monuments of the Celts, the Etruscans' northern neighbors, who practiced human sacrifice down to a late date. The practice was also familiar to the Etruscans from their own recent history. A further reference to sacrifice is the presence of fillets on the two severed heads as well as on Orestes and Pylades. Such fillets appear on other urns, as well as on two Etruscan mirrors, where they also refer to the imminent death of those wearing them. The iconography of the urn thus can be seen as a translation into Etruscan artistic language of a theme from the Greek tragedy represented

Altar · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Barbarian · Human sacrifice · Iconography · Literature · Politics · Sacrifice · Theme (computing · Tragedy (event · Victory · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law

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