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The Etruscan Thalassocracy The Etruscan Thalassocracy: Exploring Maritime Motifs and Dionysian Imagery in Etruscan Tomb Painting and on Imported Greek Pottery Jesse B. Duncan Undergraduate Honors Thesis Department of Art History University of Colorado | Boulder Date of Defense April 1st, 2020 Thesis Advisor Dr. Diane Conlin | Classics Committee Members Dr. Robert Nauman | Honors Chair | Art History Dr. Fernando Loffredo | Art History Dr. Elspeth Dusinberre | Classics 1 Dedicated To Professor Elspeth Dusinberre with my deepest gratitude to push me to commence this academic journey without your compassion this thesis would have never came to fruition Professor Diane Conlin with my utmost admiration and gratitude for supporting me along this extensive and engaging project I thank you My sweetest sunflower Jezzlynn Rae may your light shine on continuing to spread happiness and joy especially during troubling times 2 Abstract The Etruscans were an ancient Mediterranean culture who were and still are remembered as a thalassocracy, a dominant maritime force. However, their visual identity as represented in their art did not emphasize their naval dominance through traditional nautical imagery. A survey of Etruscan art reveals that the only surviving depiction of ship is from an Etruscan tomb, the Tomb of the Ship, and leads to the central question of this thesis: why are there so few images of ships in the art of a culture known for its thalassocracy? After an analysis of the Homeric myth of the Etruscan pirates capturing Dionysus, as well as Greek-made pottery found in Etruria along with Etruscan tomb frescos, several motifs related to both marine life and activities occur alongside repetitive Dionysian imagery. In this thesis, I suggest that Dionysian imagery related to the Homeric myth of Dionysius and the Etruscan pirates may have served as a potential visual signifier of the infamous Etruscan thalassocracy. 3 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................... 4 THE ETRUSCAN THALASSOCRACY: AN INTRODUCTION ....................... 13 THE ETRUSCAN THALASSOCRACY: THE EVIDENCE .............................. 16 ANCIENT SOURCES ........................................................................................................... 16 ETRUSCAN NAVAL ART AND ARTIFACTS: TOMB OF THE SHIP ..............................................26 ETRUSCAN NAVAL ART AND ARTIFACTS: SHIPWRECKS .......................................................29 THE ETRUSCAN THALASSOCRACY: A DIONYSIAN RELATIONSHIP ...... 32 DIONYSUS ....................................................................................................................... 32 GREEK POTTERY .............................................................................................................. 35 ETRUSCAN TOMBS ............................................................................................................46 THE ETRUSCAN THALASSOCRACY: THE CONCLUSION ......................... 59 FIGURES .................................................................................................. 63 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 118 4 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Etruria with indication of expansion and cities (2001) Image Source: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Figure 2. Map of Europe with indication of the directions of the traffic of Etruscan and Greek products (2019) Image Source: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Figure 3. Tomb of the Ship, rear wall, with corners and ceiling (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 60-61 (fig. 25). Figure 4. Tomb of the Ship, rear wall, with pediment (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Stephan Steingräber, Etruscan Painting: Catalogue Raisonné of Etruscan Wall Paintings, trans. David Ridgway and Francesca R. Ridgway (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1986), Color Plate 118. Figure 5. Tomb of the Ship, left wall (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 42-43 (fig. 12). Figure 6. Tomb of the Ship, left wall, right detail (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Stephan Steingräber, Etruscan Painting: Catalogue Raisonné of Etruscan Wall Paintings, trans. David Ridgway and Francesca R. Ridgway (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1986), Color Plate 119. Figure 7. Tomb of the Ship left wall drawing (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 42-43, (fig. 13). Figure 8. Tomb of the Ship, left wall, detail of ship (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Stephan Steingräber, Etruscan Painting: Catalogue Raisonné of Etruscan Wall Paintings, trans. David Ridgway and Francesca R. Ridgway (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1986), Color Plate 120. Figure 9. Tomb of the Ship, left wall, ship overlay (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 50-51, (fig. 19). Figure 10. Tomb of the Ship, right wall drawing (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 48-49, (fig. 17). Figure 11. Tomb of the Ship, right wall (5th c. BCE/tomb/Tarquinia, Italy) Image Source: Moretti Mario, Tarquinia: La Tomba della Nave (Lerici, 1961), 48-49, (fig. 16). 5 Figure 12. Group of heavy bucchero pots (550-530 BCE/bucchero/Chiusi, Italy) Image Source: Archaeological Museum of Bologna, http://www.museibologna.it/archeologicoen/percorsi/66287/id/75358/oggetto/75372/ Figure 13. Underwater submersible machine in the process of preserving an Etruscan amphora at Grand Ribaud F site (2006/Photo/DRASSM) Image Source: Frédéric Bassemayousse/DRASSM Fund, https://archeologie.culture.fr/archeo-sous- marine/fr/grand-ribaud-f-hyeres-var Figure 14. Recreation of the Grand Ribaud F ship, loaded with Etruscan amphora (2006/Photo/DRASSM) Image Source: Luc Long/DRASSM, https://archeologie.culture.fr/archeo-sous-marine/fr/grand-ribaud-f-hyeres-var Figure 15. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, tondo (inside) detail (575-525 BCE/attic-ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 16. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, foot and signature detail (575-525 BCE/attic- ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 17. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, side eye detail (575-525 BCE/attic-ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 18. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, bottom view (575-525 BCE/attic-ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 19. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, under handle detail of Patroclus (575-525 BCE/attic-ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 20. Exekias/ Dionysus Cup, under handle detail of Achilles (575-525 BCE/attic-ceramic/ Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={90E58738-4638-4190-82C9-C5A0E3CB1A93} Figure 21. Vase 4824, bottom view (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} 6 Figure 22. Vase 4824, damaged side B (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 23. Vase 4824, side A (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 24. Vase 4824, detail of side A (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 25. Vase 4824, bottom view (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 26. Vase 4824, detail of tondo (reconstructed) (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 27. Vase 4824, detail of tondo (525-475 BCE /attic-ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr ue&id={080A4218-1969-4887-AF1B-29C62EA5F39D} Figure 28. Vase 9031520, side with Corinthian helmet warrior (550-500 BCE/attic- ceramic/Vulci, Italy) Image Source: Beazley Archive, https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?tableName=qryData&newwindow=tr
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