Alabaster Cinerary Urn

                  Alabaster cinerary Urn

 3rd century B.C., Artist Unknown, Etruscan Culture

Long before the village of Rome became famous, the centralized culture of Italy was that of Etruscan. They were never a unified state of civilization, so it is important to emphasize that the Etruscans were not a civilization despite meeting several criteria of being one. One of the important characteristics is the centralized government and cities, which to our knowledge, they did not have.  What we do know, is that the Etruscans flourished between 800-300 B.C.E., their rich mineral resources, and trading power making them able to focus on things such as art. Because there are not many remains in terms of writings, we do not know much about their day to day culture, what they did, their thoughts, their economics. What we do know, is that Etruscan art is very expressive and energetic. Unfortunately,  because of their conquering by the Romans, the Etruscan language and culture ceased to exist. Despite being absorbed with Roman culture, their greatest legacies are their funerary works of art and remains of burial rituals. This funeral based art includes tomb paintings and beautiful sculptures of mythology surrounding urns. 

This piece of art is known as the Alabaster Cinerary Urn. The woman on top of the lid is relaxed and elaborately dressed with a large necklace around her neck and a fan in her hand. The bottom of the urn is very intriguing compared to the lid of the urn. The bottom half depicts a battle, a pair of warriors fighting warlike women, called Amazons through Greek Mythology, and the Etruscan demon of death, Vanth. What is very intriguing to me is that Vanth is not a punisher of the dead, how demons are usually depicted in doing. But rather, she is depicted as a caring figure, taking the dead to care for them, with broad wings coming out of her back. The urn could be described as a final act of care for the deceased, with Vanth looking over their ashes allowing them to have a relaxed and leisure filled afterlife as depicted in the relaxed woman on the lid.

One of the main reasons why this not only an interesting piece of art but an important one as well, is the extensive nature that the Etruscans went through to ritualistically bury their dead. Not only were they buried in tombs, but they were also buried with goods. And not just some coins and a satchel of fruit, but things like their beds, their baby cradles, things you typically don't see with burial rituals. Because their funeral art is one of the only remaining indicators of their culture, it is important to try and understand the cause for the art to understand their rituals and practices because we do not the literary resources and evidence to study it outside of the realm of art.

Sources: 

Cartwright, Mark. “Amazon Women.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, September 19, 2020. https://www.ancient.eu/amazon/.

Cartwright, Mark. “Etruscan Art.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, Accessed September 9, 2020. https://www.ancient.eu/Etruscan_Art/.

Etruscan. “Alabaster Cinerary Urn: Etruscan: Hellenistic: The Met.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed 9 September 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/246269.

Hemingway, Colette. “Etruscan Art | Essay.” metmuseum.org, October 2004. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/etru/hd_etru.htm.