Tomb Paintings

Although tomb paintings are the major source of information about life in ancient Egypt and the principal source of such information about ancient Etruria, the types of data they provide differ somewhat. For nearly 3,000 years Egyptian tombs were the resting places of the semi-divine pharaohs and members of their families and entourages. Depictions of life in the tomb paintings provide an enormous number of details of Egyptian life. Even though the activities depicted were the usually ritualistic behavior of divine beings rather than ordinary life, the position of the pharaohs as the guarantors of the continuity of the state, and of the very cycle of life itself, meant that everything fell within their sphere of influence. All manner of activities were, therefore, depicted in their tombs--whether they were part of the elaborate funerary processes or simply facets of the pharaohs' rule. In the much shorter-lived Etruscan civilization, the wealthy citizens of the various semi-independent cities were buried in tombs where their way of living--far closer to the ordinary behavior of common people--was depicted in wall paintings. But their activities were necessarily far more limited in scope than those taken in by the all-powerful heads of a centralized, hieratic, all-providing state. Egyptian paintings celebrated and perpetuated the powerful, centrally-organized state embodied in the pharaohs who were ultimately responsible for everything in the kingdom. The Etruscans, ho

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uffering after death to those who practiced their rituals, while other depictions of divinities and demons who carry scrolls indicate the possibility that there was "some idea of judgement after death" (Macnamara 65). In terms of the depiction of customs and daily life the Etruscan tombs are an especially rich source. Entertainments were particularly important features of Archaic tomb painting. A famous example from the Tomb of the Augurs (Tarquinia, circa 250 BC) shows funerary games in progress. Here naked wrestlers compete for the prize of bronze bowls while an umpire supervises. Other parts of the fresco, however, show games that are not fully understood, as with the masked man who "holds a fierce dog on a leash, which is attacking another masked man who has a club in his hand" (Macnamara 35). Other activities include scenes of hunting, chariot races, fishing, and diving. Other celebratory events include the depiction of musical performances and, in a fresco from the Tomb of Triclinium (fifth century), a dancing couple "abandon themselves to music" as a bird flutters into a tree to escape a nearby cat (Editors 40). Musical performance also accompanies many of the famous banqueting scenes in which elegantly dressed cou

Category: Arts - T