Etruscan Urns
Funerary and Cinerary Urns: Practices & Beliefs
Etruscans practiced both inhumation and cremation, much like we do today. When
buried, bodies were placed in a life-size sarcophagus and housed in a family tomb. If cremated,
remains were housed in a smaller box or urn, usually made of terracotta so they could be carved
or cast in molds. The use of molds, and the natural tendency for terracotta to shrink, often made
for blurry images or figures that were not so pronounced. Some museums have found evidence
in their collections that these molds were also altered, added to, or carved to make changes fromo bject to object. The Getty Museum has an urn lid that has evidence of changing the figure from
a male to a female after molding.
Mythology
Etruscan art, as well as their funerary objects, share subject matter with Greek
mythologies, “the subject matter may have been adapted from Greek mythology, but the
treatment, both iconographically and stylistically, is almost always distinctly Etruscan.”
Something else they share, is the imagery of sacrifice on their funerary objects and around their
tombs and graves. In the 1990s, archeologists discovered a tomb in Cortana with statues of
warriors being stabbed and eaten by lions with daggers. Instead of the typical showcase of man
versus beast, these scenes share that individuals were left with beasts without the protection of
weapons, knowingly being sacrificed. Etruscans believed that “blood could give life to the dead,
transforming them into dii animales, or living souls,” or ghosts. Through ritual sacrifice, the
blood from these victims' wounds would be provided to their dead ancestors. It is also believed
that they held banquets as well as funerals for their dead, as a celebration that some believe also
involved human sacrifice for their feasts. These sacrifices, as with many known cultures that
partook in human sacrifices, were done to appease gods and avert disaster. Though, other
scholars believe that some of these depicted scenes of sacrifice were exaggerated artworks as a
funerary rite, maybe used in place of actual blood sacrifices.
Iconography
The most common iconography on Etruscan funerary objects is one of three things.
Either the reunion of family members as they pass into the afterlife, and the journey through the
underworld (which often shared imagery of Hades and Persephone from Greek mythology) to reach their family. Another is a scene directly from Greek mythology through well-known plays
or literature, such as Euripides Iphigenia in Tauris or Sophocles Odyssey or Oedipus the King.
Finally, they could also depict general scenes of warriors in battle.