Base of an Etruscan funerary monument

In the 6th century BC Chiusi was one of the largest Etruscan artistic centers, and its stone carving workshops had their own special way of preparing tombs. The urns, sarcophagi, and the characteristic multipart funerary columns (called cippuses) were carved from the local limestone (which has a rather offensive smell, hence its name: "fetid stone") and were decorated with scenes related to burial ceremonies. This cippus base is carved on all four sides with excellently preserved reliefs showing scenes from funeral games. The sports are clearly recognisable: competitors in chariot and running races, wrestling, boxing, and athletes throw- ing the discus and javelin. Each competition is watched over by umpires holding the sign of their office, the fasces, consisting of a long rod and three branches; clerks write up the results. The games are accompanied by music, and to complete the show is a troupe of acrobats and masked Phersu figures (beings between the worlds of men and gods, who often appear in Etruscan feasts). Competitions held in honour of the dead were also customary in ancient Greece: in the 23rd canto of the Iliad, Achilles holds the games and offers the prizes himself in memory of his deceased friend Patroclus. The scenes depicted on this base appear in almost exactly the same form in artworks from other large Etruscan centres of the 6th and 5th centuries (tomb frescoes, vase decorations), so this may have been the customary programme for funeral games in Etruria. Szilvia Lakatos