#5th c

Painted plaque. ca 470 B.C., terracotta and pigment. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. (source)

Carved amber bow of a fibula. ca. 500 B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (x)

Mirror with engraving of Calchas. Vulci. Late 5th century B.C., bronze. Gregorian Etruscan Museum. 

“This famous mirror shows an elderly haruspex intent on examining the liver of a sacrificed animal for drawing auspices from it. The Etruscan inscription describes him as Kalkhas, that is the mythical Greek soothsayer Calchas represented here in the Etruscan iconographic version with the attribute of wings, a clear characteristic that underlines his function of go-between between earthly and transcendent reality. The foot placed on a rock is to be noted. This is a fundamental action in the divining process by the haruspex who in doing this establishes contact with the earth as the site of the natural sphere and of the underworld.” (x)

Mars of Todi. Todi, Monte Santo area. End of 5th century B.C., bronze. Gregorian Etruscan Museum.

“This extremely rare example of ancient bronze statuary depicts a warrior dressed in a breastplate and leaning against an iron lance, in the act of performing a propitiatory libation with a patera before battle (the patera and the remains of the lance are currently on display in a cabinet). It is made up of parts cast separately using the lost wax technique and then soldered together, with multi-material insertions to enhance its naturalistic effect. The dedicatory inscription, in the language of the ancient Umbrians but in the southern Etruscan alphabet (ahal trutitis dunum dede) recalls that the statue was given as a gift (dunum dede) by a certain Ahal Trutitis, possibly an individual of Celtic origin. Probably produced in a workshop in Orvieto (Volsinii), it displays references to Attican models from around the third quarter of the fifth century B.C., especially in the circle of Phidias, although with generic aspects of Polycletian form. It was discovered in Todi in 1835, buried between slabs of travertine, possibly after having been struck by lightning. It was acquired by the Papal Government in 1836.” (x)

Acroterion with winged horse. Cerveteri, 500 - 475 B.C., polychrome terracotta. Gregorian Etruscan Museum. 

“At the right end of the triangular pediment of a temple, against the background of the final slab covering the lateral beam of the tympanum, the animal emerges in clear relief, in the act of taking flight, with its front hooves worked in the round and silhouetted against the sky. A sober polychrome decoration, expertly alternated with unembellished areas, defines the details of the figure and qualifies the surface, decorated with scales. The horse would originally have been harnessed with a bit, possibly made of bronze.” (x)