Part VI - Shared Forms, Distinct Functions

DOI

10.1017/9781009151016.022

Abstract

In a 2001 article in Etruscan Studies, Jodi Magness used details of funeral bed design to suggest that “during the seventh century, small groups of Near Eastern immigrants … settled in southern Etruria and were assimilated with the local population” (Magness Reference Magness2001: 80). She argued that the curved headrests of some Etruscan rock tombs were so similar to those in Judaean tombs that there must have been direct connections between Etruscan and Near Eastern elites, beyond trade contacts or movements of craftspeople, that the Etruscan rock-cut beds were designed to fit the needs and tastes of Near Eastern immigrant elites, and that they reflect the transmission of ideology as well as the movement of people. A problem with this argument, however, is the lack of precise resemblance between the curved headrests of Etruscan tombs and those in the Judaean tombs. In fact, much closer parallels for the Etruscan design can be found in Anatolia – in Phrygian rock-cut tombs as well as on funeral couches built from stone slabs in Lydian tumulus chambers. This chapter explores those similarities and others between funerary beds in Etruria and Anatolia, but not with the purpose of establishing population movement or cultural dependence; rather, it argues that while the similarities do reflect shared furniture styles, the uses to which those furniture styles were put differed, and those differences suggest cultural distinction rather than assimilation.

Document Type

Book Chapter

ISBN

9781009151023

Publication Date

3-2-2023

Publisher Statement

© 2024 Cambridge University Press & Assessment

A copy of the bookman be purchased here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/archaeology/classical-archaeology/etruria-and-anatolia-material-connections-and-artistic-exchange

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