Image Details

O. Louis Mazzatenta/National Geographic Image Collection

With their tongues hanging out and paws raised, two spotted leopards stand guard over a joyous banqueting scene on the rear wall of the Tomb of the Leopards (c. 480 B.C.E.). Noted for its brilliant colors and remarkably well-preserved walls, the tomb marks a transition in funerary art at Tarquinia: For the next century and a half, banquet scenes like this became the most popular subject of Etruscan tomb paintings. Here, three couples wearing cloaks and myrtle wreaths recline on elaborate banqueting couches, known as triclinia, while young servants attend to the revelers.