What Were Ancient Etruscan Statues Like?

The Etruscans of ancient Italy had an impressive civilisation that thrived from the seventh century to the fifth century BCE. In many senses, their culture was distinct from those of surrounding nations. One aspect of their culture was their use of statues. What were these statues like? How did the Etruscans use them? And what made them different from the statues of the Greeks?

A partial Egyptian origin

In part, the origin of Etruscan statues can be traced all the way back to ancient Egypt. How so? The answer lies in the strong ties that were created between the Egyptians and the Greeks in the early seventh century BCE.

At the start of the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik I, Greeks started settling in northern Egypt. They eventually established a colony which allowed for regular contact between the two nations. As a result, the Greeks began imitating many aspects of Egyptian art. One notable aspect which they copied was their sculpture.

This is why the earliest Greek statues look strikingly Egyptian in style, as exemplified by the kouros statues of the Archaic Period.

Greek culture heavily influenced the Etruscans in this period. This is because of the strong trading connections between the two nations from as early as the seventh century BCE. Furthermore, Demaratus of Corinth was a Greek who settled in Etruria in c. 600 BCE and was said to have introduced his native culture there. For these reasons, some of the earliest Etruscan statues likewise display similarities to Egyptian styles of sculpture.

A partial Anatolian origin

As well as to Egypt, Etruscan statues can also be traced back to Anatolia. At the start of the seventh century BCE, the Etruscans entered their Orientalising Phase. This was an era of profound influence from the Near East, particularly from Anatolia.

One of the ways in which this Anatolian influence on the Etruscans manifested itself was through artwork. In fact, it would appear that this Anatolian influence actually predates the Greek (and thus Egyptian) influences on Etruscan sculpture.

For example, the very earliest example of large-scale Etruscan sculpture, dating to c. 680 BCE, comes from the Tomb of the Statues, a site in Ceri, near Cerveteri. Here, archaeologists found an enthroned pair of figures, eventually identified as husband and wife. These figures display strong similarities to statues from the Near East, particularly from Neo-Hittite culture.

In view of the ancient records that claim that the Etruscans themselves actually came from Anatolia, this is not surprising.

Similarities to Greek statues

Apart from this general similarity in style, in what other ways were Etruscan statues similar to Greek ones?

One way is that both the Etruscans and the Greeks used statues to mark graves. For example, the famous Kroisos Kouros is a Greek example of this. It marked the grave of a fallen warrior named Kroisos in ancient Attica.

In like manner, the Etruscans marked graves with statues. The aforementioned pair of figures found in the Tomb of the Statues is one such example.

Another similarity with the Greeks is that the Etruscans depicted both humans and gods with statues. The previous example illustrates the use of statues to depict humans; it is thought that the pair of figures represents, perhaps, ancestors of the deceased. Others show the use of statues to depict gods, such as a famous example from the sixth century BCE which depicts the god Apollo (called ‘Aplu’ by the Etruscans).

Distinctive Etruscan features

Although Etruscan sculpture displays many similarities to that of the Greeks, it also had many distinctive characteristics. For example, as well as free-standing funerary statues, they also developed the practice of carving sarcophaguses.

This appears to have originated in the early seventh century BCE, just after c. 700 BCE. By then the Etruscans were already using funerary urns. However, from that time on, these urns began to evolve. They started taking on distinctly human features. The lid of the urn was carved to depict the head of the deceased, with body markings being placed onto the urn itself.

As we move further down the stream of time and into the sixth century BCE, we find that the Etruscans had started to produce impressive sarcophaguses with life-size depictions of the deceased on them. The most famous example of this is undoubtedly the Sarcophagus of the Spouses.

Another notable aspect of Etruscan funerary statues is that many of them have distinctive hand placement. One hand is placed diagonally on the chest, while the other is placed diagonally on the lower torso beneath it.

Finally, it is interesting to note that the Etruscans generally did not create statues out of stone, like the Greeks, and certainly not marble. They almost always used terracotta, though bronze was also common, and occasionally they would use soft stone such as limestone or tuff.