VOLUME: 6SUMMER, 2006 Moreon The Capitoline Museumand Dioscorides’ the Castellani Collection Etruscan by AntonellaMagagnini CuratoreArcheologo,Musei Capitolini Herbs OnDecember 23, 2005, theCapitoline Museums,after along effort coordinated by by JohnScarborough AnnaMuraSommella, Director of theMusei University of Wisconsin Capitolini,andagreat financialcommitment, wereenriched by anew wing,focused on a Inhis “AnEtruscanHerbal?” ( Etruscan largelight-filled, glassed-in hall in the spaces News,5[Winter, 2006]),KyleP. Johnson previously occupied by theRomanGardenof makes someinteresting points regarding the thePalazzodeiConservatori. Theoriginal manuscript traditions that include alternative bronzeequestrian statueof Marcus Aurelius names for theplants andherbs in Dioscorides’ has finally foundits worthy homein this piaz- Materiamedica. 1 It was beyond the scopeof za-like space, along with thelargebronzes Johnson’s briefintroductory note, however, donated by Sixtus IVto theRomanpeoplein andhence it is thegoalof this article, to sug- Pimpernel,from the ViennaDioscurides 1472. From this hall onecanmarvelat the gest how and why these synonyms,not (WikimediaCommons) enormous,imposing remains of thefounda- included by Dioscorides in his original work, 2 5 tions of theTempleof Jupiter Capitoline enter themanuscript history,andmoreimpor- inal work. revealed by recent archaeologicalexcava- tantly, why thesenames might indicateapar- Inestablishing his Greek text of the tions. ticularly Etruscanherbalism. Materiamedica,Max Wellmann pulled most In thegalleries next to the so-called The synonym-lists werecompiled separate- of thealternativenomenclatures from the “Giardino Romano” areexhibited the various ly by lexicographers,collectors of words in main text,andplaced themas part of his collections. The renewed Galleriadegli Horti what we wouldcall “dictionaries” on dis- apparatus criticus with thedesignation RV. It and thenearby galleries feature the sculptures parate subjects,including the vocabularies of is among these “alternativenames” that one that once adorned theluxurious Imperial resi- medicineand related disciplines.3 As scribes finds theEtruscan terms for someplants and dences and their parks andgardens; these copied and re-copied the Materiamedica, herbs. Theseare, indeed, remnants of what came tolight in thecourseof excavations of sometimes rearranging Dioscorides’ original couldbecalled an “Etruscanherbal:” bits sur- the secondhalf of the19thc. in theareas of format (called by Riddlea“drugaffinity sys- viving from lexicographers’ hungry searchfor theQuirinal,Viminal,andEsquilinehills. The tem”), 4 those scribes attached portions of the arcane words,aliterary genre that flourished 6 Castellani Collection,given to theCapitoline separate synonym-lists to the text itself,and throughout thecenturies, and whichis with Museums by AugustoCastellani,awell- over thecenturies thealternativenames fre- us today. knowngoldsmithandcollector in Romein quently wandered into thebody of the work Wellmann lists sixteenEtruscan words that Top:Aristonothos Crater with the blinding 7 themid- tolate19thc.,is now displayed in itself. With theadvent of printed editions in appear in the RV, but significantly the three galleries adjacent to thelargeglassed-in of the Cyclops Polyphemos,and the theRenaissance, anumber of theearliest Etruscan terms areonly oneof twenty-six lan- hall according tomaterial type, adivision that artist’s signature. From Cerveteri. 7th printed versions simply replicated thecom- guages recorded by Pamphilus andother lexi- Castellani himself established. century B.C.Rome,Capitoline Museum. positeGreek texts (or theLatin translations of cographers. Etruscan––by comparison with As is well known,AugustoCastellani put thosemanuscripts) so that medical students the “Roman,” “words of the[Egyptian] together over thecourseof severaldecades a Bottom:Aristonothos Crater withabattle andprofessors of pharmacology in the seers,” “Egyptian,” “Gallic,” “Dacian,” and between a war ship and amerchant ship. 8 richcollection of objects covering a wide Renaissance universities oftenlearned all of others –– is a tiny fraction of the terminolo- chronological range, from themost important 7thcentury B.C.Rome,Capitoline thenames as if they had beenpart of theorig- [See “ Herbs ” on page9] archaeological sites of Etruria, Latium,and Museum. MagnaGraecia. The 700 or soobjects given by Castellani to themuseumincluded alarge originalcontext; recent researchcarried out quantity of pottery,bothimported from on related objects,however,has made it pos- Greece andlocally made. In thefirst gallery a sible toidentify someof theproduction cen- number of these vases aredisplayed in ters. chronologicalorder,allowing the visitor to Other collections of the19thc. include that follow thedevelopment of Greekproduction of theMuseoArtisticoIndustriale, conceived from the 7th to the4thc. B.C. through impor- by AugustoCastellani andhis brother tant and well-preserved examples. TheAttic Alessandroalong withother important figures vases,in particular,areimportant for an of 19thc. culturein Rome, on themodelof understanding of thehistory and theartistic similar museums in London andParis. The production of thecraftsmen,not only of new display includes afew noteworthy exam- Greekculturebut alsoofcontemporary cul- ples of Attic vases from thearchaeological tures in theMediterranean. section of this richcollection, whichcame to The secondgallery exhibits locally pro- themuseumin the1950s. duced ceramics from thenecropoleis of the Alsoonexhibit is theoinochoefrom major Etruscancities as well as from the Tragliatella(Cerveteri),given to themuseum tombs of Latiumand theFaliscanTerritory, in 1964inmemory of TommasoTittoni,a e.g. CivitaCastellana. Unfortunately,even Roman statesmanandcollector of theendof more thanfor theGreek vases,Castellani the19thc. Theinterpretation of thefigures on avoided recording their exact provenance or [See “ Castellani” on page9] Letters to theEditors To theEditors: At the timeof writing my article “A PossibleSouthEtruscanTombGroup,” A r t i c l e s (EtruscanNews 5)I was unawareof two recent articles by Jennifer Neils whichdis- cussed thebirdaskos now in theCleveland TheStudy of Etruscan books,on theprophecies of VegoiaandTages. edgeof the subject from his ownexperiences Museum. Thefirst is entitled “Herclein Alsoin this category are themany shadowy as anaugur of state religion. Cleveland” ( ClevelandStudies in theHistory Religion figures who arementioned as being consulted This first-century Romandebateis of of Art,1998 pg. 6-21), the secondappears in Excerpt from theIntroduction to for advice by theRomans, the soothsaying course sophisticated andprobably shows the CVA (USA35,ClevelandMuseumofArt TheReligion of theEtruscans priests or haruspices ,as for example, some thought patterns well beyondany pres- 2, 2000). In these works,Neils refers to the Umbricius Melior,described as “most ent in Etruscan religious teaching. Quintus stylisticconnection between theCleveland by Nancy T.deGrummond skilled,” theEarly Imperial soothsayer of Cicero supports credence in divination from askos, theother pieces I mention in my article Galba. Sullahad his haruspex Postumius,and the standpoint of Stoicphilosophy,and Inantiquity the study of and theorizing and severalother ItalianGeometric vases. thefamous Spurinna tried to warnCaesar Marcus Cicero, while rejecting actualfaithin about Etruscan religion was already well These shouldbeincluded in any bibliography about theIdes of March. Theremust have divination,in theendadmits theimportance developed, with scholarship that wemay dis- for theitems. beenmany moreRomanized Etruscans of traditional rites andceremonies solely for tributeinto three main categories:canonical involved in thesepursuits (thereareafew politicalaims. Hehas great contempt for most texts,philosophical treatises,and AngelaMurockHussein more suchfigures whosenames alonehave divinatory practices andheaps scorn upon,for historical/antiquarian writings. comedown to us),for weknow that as agen- example, theimportant Etruscan revelation TheCanonicalTexts eralprinciple, theRomans thought the mythof thepropheticchildTages. What is There were studies of themany different Etruscan teachings tobe soimportant that most important in the treatisefor our purpos- Etruscan texts having todo with the Etrusca they had apractice of sending their sons to es is theabundant evidence about theprinci- disciplina , that body of originalEtruscan reli- Etruria to study this ancient lore. palEtruscanmethods of divining,by reading gious literaturedescribing PhilosophicalTexts of entrails andby interpretation of lightning. thecosmos and the Theforegoing individuals wehavemen- When wecan sort theseout from Roman Underworld, as well as tioned may be recognized as realpractitioners interpolation, wehave someof themost prescribing various rituals of Etruscanor Etruscan-style religion,andas meaningful reports from antiquity on and ways tointerpret andact such they had their ownbias. Our second Etruscanpractices. upon messages from thegods. The division is related, but it manifests adifferent The treatiseof Seneca, Quaestiones natu- names of the texts that have survived approach:intellectuals withaconcernfor phi- rales , written shortly beforehis deathin 65 include the Libri rituales , Librifatales , losophy. Thereis no more significant surviv- CE,alsopromotes philosophy but is fascinat- Libride fulguratura (“on lightning”) and ing text for the study of Etruscan religious ing for its sympatheticpresentation