Women in Etruscan society
[6] The spindle whorl and spring scale discovered in the tombs of Etruscan women show that they also practiced manual work, such as spinning and weaving.
On funerary urns and on the lids of sarcophagi, they appear as they were in daily life, without retouching, their faces often marked by wrinkles and their bodies showing aging, testifying to a strong character.
[note 1] This type of representation is practically unique in the ancient world, where women were limited to their role as wives, mothers or concubines.
Etruscologist Jacques Heurgon quotes the anecdote reported by Livy of a woman who despises her sister because "she lacks muliebris audacia", that is to say, the energy and ambition that seem characteristic of Etruscan women.
It is nevertheless possible to highlight in general terms the main characteristics by examining the information and clues that have emerged during archaeological research, comparing them whenever possible with ancient texts.
The frescoes of the tombs of Tarquinia (6th – 5th century BC) confirm the presence of women in social spaces (banquets and sports), which among the Romans and the Greeks were reserved exclusively for men.
[13] Historian Alain Hus deduced from these accounts that Etrusca disciplina, the art of interpreting divine signs, was the prerogative of aristocratic families among the Etruscans, and that women could exercise it.
In the onomastic formula, the matronymic added to the patronymic became widespread from the 4th century BC onwards, proving the high regard in which the wives' family of origin was held by the Etruscan aristocratic class.
[16] During banquets women lay on the triclinium next to their husbands, who acknowledged their equal social position in the management of the family patrimony and the upbringing of their children.
[17] Women's proper names frequently engraved on crockery and funerary frescoes include: Ati, Culni, Fasti, Larthia, Ramtha, Tanaquille, Veilia, Velia and Velka.
They were often dressed in a tunic over which was placed the chiton, a kind of long coat with short sleeves, edged with small geometric motifs such as incised circles and herringbones.
Hair is worn under the tutulus, a round or conical headdress decorated with geometric motifs, or is gathered at the nape of the neck, with curls falling over the shoulders or in braids framing the face.
[18] Archaeological findings in burial trousseaux in necropolises, as well as fresco depictions, give a fairly accurate idea of the various accessories used by Etruscan women.
Theopompus, a Greek historian of the 4th century BC, whom another Roman author, Cornelius Nepos, finds very slanderous,[20] gives a contemptuous description:[19] "Women enjoy all men in complete freedom.
"There is no shame," according to Theopompus, "in committing a sexual act in public [...] when they gather with friends, this is what they do: first, when they have finished drinking and are ready for bed and while the torches are still lit, the servants sometimes bring courtesans, sometimes handsome boys and sometimes their own wives [...] Etruscan women make children not knowing who the father is".
