The Stele of Avile Tite is a monumental
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things:
**Etruscan language
** Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
**Etruscan coins
**Etruscan history
**Etruscan myt ...
limestone stele, 1.7 m high, which is kept in the
Museo Guarnacci in
Volterra
Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.
History
...
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History and description
The stele is a notable artefact, datable to c.550 BC and discovered in two fragments. It shows a warrior in relief within a border with an inscription (which says "I belong to Avile Tites, ...uchsie donated me" TLE
2 386), typical of central northern Etruria, with Greco-oriental influences.
The warrior, to whom the stele was dedicated as a tombstone, is represented in profile in full armour, facing left, with his legs split as if he was in motion. He wears a short tunica, a cuirass (
lorica), shoulder armour, and
greave
A greave (from the Old French ''greve'' "shin, shin armor") or jambeau is a piece of armor that protects the human leg, leg.
Description
The primary purpose of greaves is to protect the tibia from attack. The tibia, or shinbone, is very close to ...
s on his shins and is armed with a lance and a dagger with a curved hilt. His body is depicted in profile, like his face, which has a pointy beard, layered hair, elongated eyes and lips bent in a smile.
The style of the stela is influenced by a taste for full, monumental forms, typical of the late Ionic style. The hairstyle, of the"Daedalic" type, demonstrates the provincial scope of the warrior, on account of a use which must now be dated to the period.
Bibliography
*
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli (19 February 1900 – 17 January 1975) was an Italian Archaeology, archaeologist and Art history, art historian.
Biography
Bianchi Bandinelli was born in Siena to Mario Bianchi Bandinelli (1859–1930) and Margheri ...
& Mario Torelli, ''L'arte dell'antichità classica, Etruria-Roma'', Utet, Torino 1976.
550 BC
Etruscan artefacts
Volterra
1st-millennium BC steles