Bronze mirror from Tuscania
The bronze mirror of Tuscania (also Tarchon mirror ) is an Etruscan artifact from the 4th century BC. BC and is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence . The mirror was found in Tuscania in the hinterland of Tarquinia ( Etruscan Tarchna ) and shows an Etruscan priest ( Haruspex ) watching the liver . The mirror seems to be related to Tarchon , the legendary founder of Tarquinia.
description
The young priest performing the liver examination wears a toga that falls over his outstretched arm. The conical priest's hat can be seen on his head. The left foot is raised on a rock. His gaze is focused on the liver, which he is holding in his left hand and feeling it with the right. Behind him, partially covered by a cloud, appears a jagged sun disk.
Next to the young priest stands a second priest, also recognizable by the priest's hat, which hangs down to the back. He has a beard and is apparently older than his colleague. In his left hand he holds a long staff ( lituus ) as a further priestly attribute , the right hand is raised to the chin. As with all other observers, his gaze is fixed on the liver. A woman can be seen between the two priests, slightly backwards. She points to the liver with her right hand.
On the left side of the picture, next to the older priest, stands a young man with neck-length hair. He is bare except for a cloak, which is held together at the neck by a fibula . In the hanging hand he holds a branch of laurel . A small rock with a bush can be seen between the two. At the right edge of the picture there is also an almost naked man, but he is bearded and carries a lance in his right hand. He has wrapped a cloak around his left arm.
The entire picture scene is bordered by horizontal lines at the top and bottom. The resulting circle segments are also filled with motifs. In the top field, four horse heads and a female face can be seen from the front. In the lower field a male winged creature appears with a naked torso, whose arms support the lower picture bar.
Inscriptions
At the upper edge of the picture, Etruscan characters are carved mirror-inverted from right to left in accordance with the writing habits of the Etruscans. The inscriptions denote the people depicted. From right to left it says:
- VELTUNE UCERNEI AVL TARCHUNUS RATHLTH
On the far right is Veltune (Latin Voltumna ), the highest god of the Etruscans and patron god of the Fanum Voltumnae sanctuary . The name Ucernei , otherwise not attested, refers to the woman in the middle. The bearded priest is Avle (Latin Aulus ), the son of Tarchun (Latin Tarchon ), the legendary founder of Tarquinia . It is rather unlikely that this person is Tarchun himself, since Avle refers to a name and Tarchunus to a genitive. The person on the far left is Rath , a youthful Apollo who was worshiped in the sanctuary of Pyrgi . It reads above the young priest:
- PAVA TARCHIES
Pava corresponds to the Roman Bacchus and in Etruscan is synonymous with the deity Fuflun . But Pava could also mean boy . Tarchies has not yet been recorded on any inscription. Occasionally a connection between Tarchies and Tages , the Etruscan god of wisdom, is supposed to have imparted the art of prophecy to Tarchun . Speaking against that day of Cicero is described as childlike beings that person but is on the mirror a man. In addition, not Tarchun , but his son Avle is among those present.
interpretation
Apparently the liver show shown takes place in the early morning at sunrise. This is indicated by the rising sun in the background and the team of four from Thesan , the goddess of the dawn in the upper field. The wing demon in the lower field could represent the ending night or the underworld. It is also conceivable that the mythical character of the scene should be emphasized through the supportive posture of the wing being. The liver inspection is apparently carried out in the open air. This is indicated by the plants and boulders shown. The heroic nudity of the two people on the edge symbolizes their divinity. Rath embodies the sacred place where the ritual is performed.
In an Apollo grove, a mythical liver show takes place in the presence of the gods Rath and Veltune . For the Etruscans, the two priests Avile , son of Tarchun, and Pava Tarchies are evidently historical figures of an important event that goes back to the early days and are represented here as mythical figures. In the names Tarchun and Tarchies , tarch hides the core of the Etruscan name of Tarquinia. Therefore, the scene could be a variant of the founding myth of Tarquinia that has not been handed down or some other significant event for the city. The liver show as the most important cult act to communicate with the gods is the focus of the Tarchon mirror.
It is occasionally speculated that the scene shows Tages teaching Tarchun and his wife Tanaquil the art of liver viewing. Tag was considered the son or grandson of Jupiter , to whom the present god Voltumna corresponds. In this context Pava as a child translated and Tarchies with day equated.
Ucernei does not have to be the name of a mythological figure, but could also be the name of the woman to whom this mirror belonged. Etruscan women usually received such bronze mirrors as gifts for weddings. After their death, this mirror was usually given to them in the grave. Perhaps the mirror will show how, on the occasion of the wedding, a haruspex, depicted in a mythological context, conducts a liver review and interprets the signs of their marriage to the bride.
literature
- Giuliano Bonfante , Larissa Bonfante : The Etruscan Language. An Introduction. 2nd Edition. Manchester University Press, Manchester / New York 2002, ISBN 0719055407 , pp. 208, 218.
- Larissa Bonfante: Etruscan mirrors and the grave. In: Marie-Laurence Haack (ed.): L'écriture et l'espace de la mort. Epigraphie et nécropoles à l'époque préromaine (= Collection de l'École française de Rome. 502). Publications de l'École française de Rome, Rome 2016, ISBN 9782728310951 , pp. 284–308, here p. 295, doi : 10.4000 / books.efr.2741 .
- Nancy Thomson de Grummond : Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 2006, ISBN 9781931707862 , pp. 26-27.
- Nancy Thomson de Grummond (Ed.): A Guide to Etruscan mirrors. Archaeological News, Tallahassee FL 1982, ISBN 0943254000 , p. 123.
- Friedhelm Prayon : The Etruscans. Concepts of the afterlife and ancestral cult. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3805336195 , pp. 7–9.
- Herbert Alexander Stützer : The Etruscans and their world (= DuMont pocket books. 293). Revised and expanded edition. DuMont, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3770131282 , pp. 156–157.