ABSTRACT

Figural representations of the human form have been known in Etruscan art in greater numbers since the Archaic period. Whether divine or mortal, in statues in the round or gurines, gural representations always concern the portrayal of the whole gure from head to toe. The pictorial dissection of the human body into isolated body parts is a phenomenon that occurs in the Etruscan-Latin sphere, especially in the Hellenistic period, in the form of votive models of body parts. Produced and dedicated in large numbers, the anatomical votives far exceed all other kinds of votive offerings in volume in the sanctuaries.1 (As a phenomenon, this custom is related to the votives of isolated heads that begin around the end of the sixth century bc.)2 Comparable phenomena of dedication of model body parts are known in ancient Greece and Cyprus,3 although the practice is not nearly so widespread there. In the Gallo-Roman area also appropriate nds extend into the Imperial period.