Ghost of a flea

Etruscan

Archaeological interpretation of a recently excavated Etruscan tomb ignores the obvious influence of the Mythos on latter-day Etruscans and their "puzzling, non-Indo-European language."

Vividly colored, the scenes in the tomb reflect a sinister change in the Etruscan concept of death. A fun loving and sensuous people, on the verge of decline they adopted the Greek vision of a demon-infested underworld. "The figure with red hair is surely a death demon of some kind. This is confirmed by the black figure at her side, used by the Etruscans to characterize demons," chief archaeologist Mario Iozzo, director of the Center for Conservation in Florence and Chiusi's Archaeological Museum, told Discovery News.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 7, 2003 10:11 AM