Ancient Life: Teitu v. Latithe
From the Etruscan Wrestling Federation
If the Greek historian Herodotus (484–425 B.C.) is to be believed, these wrestlers from the sixth-century B.C. Tomb of the Augurs in Tarquinia, Italy, are righting Etruscan wrongs.
In the seventh century B.C., the Etruscans fought the Phocaeans, a people from Anatolia who settled in Corsica. According to Herodotus, the Etruscans brutally stoned their Phocaean prisoners to death. Henceforth, anyone who passed by the spot where the Phocaeans were killed became lame. The Etruscans eventually sought advice on lifting the curse from the Delphic Oracle, who told them to hold funeral games—foot races, chariot races, boxing matches and wrestling bouts—in honor of the Phocaeans. The Etruscans adopted the games as a traditional funerary practice for their fallen warriors.
The wrestlers here—identified in an inscription as Teitu and Latithe—are battling for three cauldrons. Why cauldrons? Perhaps because in Book 23 of the Iliad, Achilles offers cauldrons as prizes for the winners in funeral games held for his fallen friend Patroklos. In our scene, the painter has caught Teitu and Latithe as their fight is about to begin; arms clasped, they wait for the referee at left to drop the lituus (a curved stick), signaling the start of the bout. (The tomb was named Tomb of the Augurs because of confusion over the lituus, which resembles a device used by Etruscan fortune-tellers.)
If Herodotus isn’t to be believed, the Etruscans may simply have been influenced by the Greek fondness for athletics. Like the English, the Greeks believed their wars were won on the playing fields. Whereas the Athenians only allowed aristocratic men to participate in their games, Etruscan bronzes show wrestling matches between men and women (no mud involved)—and Teitu and Latithe lack the typical Etruscan patronymic, indicating that they are slaves.
As Greeks inspired Etruscans, so Etruscans influenced the Romans in their love of sport. Roman gladiatorial contests are prefigured here by the figure at right, who provokes a dog to attack a man (neither dog nor man is visible in this detail). Etruscan sports apparently weren’t fun and games for everyone.