What Made the Etruscan Women Smile?

Sarcophagus lid in The Etruscans: From the Heart of Ancient Italy exhibit in SF

The Etruscans, who thrived in Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC before they were slowly conquered by the Romans, invented so-called "Roman" numerals and the famous "Roman" sewers, and pioneered winemaking in Italy. Wealthy traders, they were among the three main powers in the ancient Mediterranean, along with the Greeks and the Phoenicians. 

Nearly all of their written records were destroyed, but a current exhibit at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco tells their story in the form of over 200 amazing Etruscan artifacts from museums around the world, including finely crafted pottery, metal work, and statuary. Household objects like mirrors and vases depict parties or (s)heroic scenes, and both Etruscan women and men are depicted on funeral urns and sarcophagi. 

The Etruscans were people who loved to party, it seems. Banquets were very important to them and banquet scenes are found on the walls of their tombs, since they felt death was more a transition than a finality. There's such a thing as the "Etruscan smile," and many of the pieces in the exhibit recorded these, particularly on the women, whose eyes look pretty dreamy. 

Balsamarium (perfume jar) in the shape of a
female head, late 3rd‒-early 2nd century BC. 

According to the exhibit catalog (listenable here), adapted from the essay “Customs and Social Practices: Women in Etruria” by Lisa Pieraccini and Alexandra Carpino:

Etruscan women held a singular position in the ancient Western world, earning them a reputation for being among the most modern and independent of their time. Their material culture reveals they were respected and had more privileges than their Greek and Roman counterparts. They were among the most literate women; they could inherit family property and participate in public life, including banquets and religious rituals; they could play essential roles in family and social life.

Etruscan women were in charge of craft production in numerous media, and they held significant roles in religious and funerary activities. After death, many were honored with elaborate burials that celebrated their status and importance not only in relation to their families but also in relation to their own social and civic identities. 

Unlike other civilizations, where inscriptions identifying women featured the husband’s name, Etruscan women used a distinctive double-name system, which included their first name and family or maiden name. It was only in later inscriptions, from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, and possibly influenced by the Romans, that they added their husband’s to their own.

As the Etruscans were absorbed into the Roman world, Etruscan women became increasingly aligned with the more restrictive Roman laws and culture, and they lost the independence and empowerment that was unique to ancient Etruria. 

Etruscan incense burner depicting
the goddess Turan and Atunas (detail).

The Etruscans worshipped many gods and goddesses, some uniquely their own and others adapted from neighboring cultures, which were often assigned different meanings or roles. 

Turan, the Etruscan goddess of love, fertility and vitality, is identified with the Roman Venus and the Greek Aphrodite. The Etruscan goddess Uni is equated with the Greek goddess Hera, who is often painted as a jealous wife that persecuted Heracles, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. But on an elaborate bronze Etruscan mirror from 300 BC in the exhibit, Uni accepts Heracles as an adopted child by suckling him. "Here the goddess has the power, giving him strength and immortality," the audio guide states. Uni is also equated with the Phoenician goddess Astarte on the gold plates from Pyrgi (c. 500 BC) (Source: Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend by Nancy Thomson De Grummond).

Several Thymiaterion (meaning: smoke; an incense burner) are in the exhibit, one depicting Turan and Atunas (Adonis). What the Etruscans were burning in their Thymiateria does not seem to be known. The exhibit notes say the objects were used "to burn incense to the gods, especially during banquets and symposia." 

Statue of Vanth from the facade
of a tomb, ca. 310-300 BC

Vanth, a "benevolent Etruscan winged female god who accompanies the deceased to the underworld" makes "regular appearances in funerary art." Vegoia or Vecu is "a sibyl, prophet, or nymph within the Etruscan religious framework. She is identified as the author of parts of their large and complex set of sacred books, detailing the religiously correct methods of founding cities and shrines, draining fields, formulating laws and ordinances, measuring space and dividing time; she initiated the Etruscan people to the arts, as originating the rules and rituals of land marking, and as presiding over the observance, respect, and preservation of boundaries. She also is indicated as having established the laws relative to hydraulic works."

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley, CA houses over 800 artifacts collected from the Vignaccia Temple in the acient Etruscian city of Caere, most of which are female votive heads. "The abundance of female terracotta heads and figurines discovered at the Vignaccia demonstrates its importance as a female sanctuary. The temple’s female deity was honored by the offerings of votive heads." Recent excavations at Caere point to possible worship of a divine couple, a pattern observed at other Etruscan sites, notably Pyrgi, where vases frequently occur in pairs. 

Greek claims that the sons of the Greek warrior Odysseus had once ruled over the Etruscan people date to at least the mid-6th century BC. That sounds like a myth to me.