ABSTRACT

When the Assyrian artists decorated the royal palaces of Kalhu (Nimrud), of Khorsabad or of Nineveh with the scenes of the conquests, ceremonies or hunts of their sovereigns (from Tiglathpileser III to Ashurbanipal, between 745 and 627 bc), the figurative arts of the Etruscans included only the timid beginnings of narrative episodes of mythological character, denying us the possibility of observing the regal lifestyle of the leaders of these people even through their artistic representations. Thus, while we are in a position to be able to observe the form and to understand the use of Middle Eastern chariots between the eighth and seventh centuries bc, although we do not have the original (vehicles) we do have the odd representation to insert directly into the ancient reality of the remains of the numerous vehicles found in the Etruscan tombs of the same period. A good example of the oldest is a vase by the Caeretan Painter of the Heptachord (circa 670 bc), on which the arrival of a warrior on the field of battle echoes that of a mythical hero: armed with a sword, he descends from the biga (two-horse chariot) driven by a charioteer, as an attendant rushes up behind the chariot to bring him the rest of the arms he needs to fight on foot, that is, the spear and the round shield (Figs 41.1–41.3).1 Other scenes with personages in chariots appear during the seventh century bc, but it will be necessary to wait for the development of the arts in the next century in order to see more complex scenes of military processions, of parades and of chariot races, carved, modeled, painted, beaten or incised on monuments of various types.