Imagine you are at a party. A sumptuous feast is set out with a table piled high of almost every kind of meat you could want to taste: beef, lamb, pork, deer, wild boar, hare, and all sorts of game birds. There is a great variety of seafood as well, especially tuna, accompanied by enormous rounds of sheep’s milk cheese, vegetables, fruit, olives, porridge, bread pancakes, eggs, raisins and nuts. To further enhance the flavors, condiments of herbs, mint, honey, vinegar, pepper, and other spices are added. The people you are among happen to belong to a society which is a great exporter of wine, so there is no shortage in that department either, and domestic servants keep it flowing by continuously bringing the intoxicating burgundy-hued liquid to you in delicate silver pitchers. To keep the mood of the gathering uplifted, you hear the lively and delicate tune of the flute accompanied perhaps by the lyre, a small stringed instrument.
As you make your way around the room, you observe the other dinner party attendees, all of whom are in groups, with no one being alone. They are not sitting upright in chairs at a long elegant table but, rather, they are reclining on one-armed sofas. Some are even on floor mats surrounded by plush luxuriantly designed pillows. The men wear Greek-style tunics with complicated braided hairstyles. The hairstyles of the women are similar but with the addition of elaborate gold adornments and sparkling bold jewelry which compliments their brightly colored attire.
Your eye is drawn to one corner of the room where there is a couple sitting on a sofa. A woman sips heartily from a goblet of wine, tosses her head back with a boisterous laugh as she settles languorously against the gentleman next to her, her left breast slightly exposed and just caressing the right side of his chest. As you become more engaged and conversational with your fellow guests, you realize that this couple is not married! In fact, the woman’s husband is very close by, appearing to be equally relaxed and enjoying himself with other guests. In this gathering, there is nothing that is unseemly or taboo about the scene here.
Who is this woman? And who are these people? As you have probably guessed, you are being entertained at the home of someone belonging to an ancient civilization. The civilization is that of the Etruscans.
Etruscan Women
Preceding the rise of Rome as a super power, the entirety of Italy was ruled by the Etruscans. The surrounding seas were dominated by their ships. Their reputation was fearsome enough, as word of them spread abroad to other nations, without the added uneasiness of hearing how Etruscan society accorded women with influence and power.
There is little to be known about the Etruscans. Once they were conquered by the Romans, much of what was left of their civilization was lost, with none of their literature surviving. Archaeologists and historians have pieced together what Etruscan life was like by interpreting the vivid art that was left on their pottery, which illustrated depictions of elite Etruscans dining on top of the sarcophagi of dead loved ones, and there were also scenes of women drinking and sharing repast with the men - something that was rarely seen in ancient Greek and later Roman society. Only courtesans and prostitutes would be at a party among Greeks and Romans, and proper women in those societies would not be drinking wine, at least not until Rome was an empire. Yet, not only were Etruscan women expert drinkers, they freely imbibed right alongside the men.
The gender parity that existed between Etruscan men and women is probably what stands out most about what is known of their civilization. Etruscan women “scandalously” went out publicly, were able to read and write, and likely passed these dire habits on to their offspring (which they raised themselves). It was not uncommon for Etruscan women to be seen naked - at parties, at athletic events (which they participated in) - and even to share sexual experiences with partners who were not their husbands. They freely engaged in wining and dining publicly with their husbands and were actually elevated to higher social status for doing so. There are sculptured sarcophagi that show couples reclining together, affectionate and relaxed, the woman speaking and gesturing while the man placidly looks on. Murals also show women reclining or dancing amidst the men. They show female camaraderie and intimacy, notably in one painting that shows women who lay together, faces close as if kissing.
To share wives was an established Etruscan custom. Etruscan women took particular care of their bodies and exercised often, sometimes along with the men, and sometimes by themselves. Pitch tar was used to remove excess hair from their bodies. It was not a disgrace for them to be seen naked but rather, it was common. They did not share their couches only with their husbands but also with the other men who happened to be present, and they proposed toasts to anyone whom they chose to.
As mentioned previously, Etruscan women raised their own children and other children, regardless of who the father might have been, but more than that, archaeology suggests that there may have been matronymic lines in that the ancestry could be traced back to the maternal lineage rather than the paternal, based on certain inscriptions. Sometimes the father’s surname was added to the mother’s, which indicated a bilateral system which recognized matrilineal connections.
Women’s roles in the Etruscan-Roman relationship
One of the key female figures in ancient early Roman history is that of Tanaquil, the daughter of a powerful Etruscan family in Etruria and wife to Lucius Tarquin, the first Etruscan king of Rome. She was rumored to have prophetic abilities (something that nowadays might be considered to be female intuition) that persuaded her husband to move to Rome and become established with the local aristocracy, despite being an immigrant. While traveling to Rome, an eagle flew from Tarquin’s head and then returned back, which Tanaquil interpreted to be a divine sign that he was meant to be king. Her prophecy was eventually realized when Tarquin became friends with King Ancus Marcius, who made Tarquin the guardian of his children. When the king died before his children were old enough to become successors, Tarquin gained enough popularity to be elected as the fifth king of Rome. Tanaquil later used her influence again to play a role in the rise of the sixth king, Servius Tullius, whom she raised as her own child.
Due to her legendary status in early Etruscan-Roman politics, Tanaquil was respected and remembered favorably by Romans who elevated her to mythological status and changed her name in the history books to Caia Caecilia. It even became Roman public decree that when a new bride entered into a royal palace, she would go by the name “Gaia” if asked. This was meant to be an omen of frugality and simple living for women of that time period.
What was lost?
Once the Romans grew dissatisfied with Etruscan rule, the Tarquins were expelled from the city, and Romans began to establish a Republic just as their Etruscan counterparts were doing throughout the rest of Italy. This overthrow marked the beginning of the end of Etruscan rule in southern Italy. First they lost the routes to the cities leading to fertile land in the region of Campania, which was tolerable, but once they lost their naval strongholds, it was all but over. Following the destruction of their navy along with hostilities from all sides and internal struggles, the Etruscan city-states were conquered one by one and eventually fell to Rome. The Romans assimilated parts of Etruscan culture and discarded the rest.
One of the cultural aspects that was lost in relation to Etruscan women when the transition of power was passed to Rome was the freedom and social status of women. While Etruscan women did not have especially significant roles in initiating political changes in their society (Tanaquil being one of the historical exceptions), the Etruscan women had a lot more freedom to interact with their husbands and other men in public, attending parties and such, whereas Greek and Roman women did not. One thing to keep in mind, based on what is read and one’s own personal perception, is that much of the art depicted on the ancient archaeological findings of Etruscan pottery is that of wealthy elite-class Etruscan women. It is unknown what life was like for more lower-class Etruscan women and how much freedom they might have had.
Contrasting current perceptions of female-assigned gender roles
One thing that is striking when reading about ancient Etruscan women is how they were perceived by ancient chroniclers who were accustomed to how much more subordinated Greek and Latin women were in contrast to their Etruscan counterparts. Having the freedom to participate actively at parties while dressed in colorful eye-catching clothes and elaborate adornments, they were looked upon as “licentious” for doing so, whereas in their own society they were respected. Earlier Greeks left personal testimony for later Greeks to base their own perceptions and when reading these subjective eyewitness accounts, one could almost detect a hint of envy mixed in with an air of judgment. When considering these ancient comparisons of how women could be labeled based on personal perception and cultural relevancy, it brings to mind that similar contrasts could be done today.
A good visual example to consider would be that of a photo capturing Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton being greeted by topless women when they visited the Solomon Islands in 2012. In their own local culture, nothing about these women addressing the British royal couple in this way would be perceived as inappropriate and yet, as a guest, it is interesting to note that Kate Middleton did not assimilate to the local culture and appear topless herself; she is fully covered in a blue dress. On the other hand, if one of these local women of the Solomon Islands appeared topless on a street in London, there would likely be more scrutiny and disapproval, if not outrage.
Another and more recent example to contrast, specifically regarding gender parity in politics and business, would be that of Hilary Clinton, the primary Democratic candidate for the 2016 Presidential election. In comparison to Donald Trump, who was captured on audio making inappropriate statements about women, which was ultimately dismissed by many of his supporters as something that was “in the past,” Clinton herself was not given such a pass for the discovery that she had used a private server for emails even though it was never proven that she committed anything treasonous. The burden of proof was shifted to her to prove her innocence to the public during this political witch hunt, rather than the other way around - burden of proof shifting to those accusing her of guilt - which is supposed to be the maxim upheld in American justice. It would seem that the public perception of her being “dishonest” and “manipulative” were assigned more to her as a woman than the same accusations that were applied to Donald Trump and yet, he was rewarded in this political narrative whereas she was punished.
A final example to look at is that of Wendi Deng, a Chinese-American actress, producer, and businesswoman. She was formerly married to media titan, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, and has more recently been rumored to be the girlfriend of Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation. She has a history of seducing older married men with the opinion that it was in order to increase her social strata, which has caused some to look at her as a “gold-digger” and social climber; even gaining her labels such as “glorified escort” and more. Yet, she has a professional résumé that would credit her as an executive who increased the presence and investments of NewsCorp in China, among other impressive professional ventures. Even still, for anyone who is vaguely familiar with who Wendi Deng is, it is suspected that they are more likely to associate her for her latent connections to high-profile men rather than on the merit of her own accomplishments without doing further digging.
Conclusion
In the current parlance of our times with feminism, sexuality, and women’s rights being dominant issues in the foreground of sociopolitical discourses, I believe that the Etruscan society, especially regarding the role of women, merits consideration. Aside from being a fascinating civilization, it provides a comparative lens for which to do analysis with our contemporary cultural relevancy. If not much else is known about the Etruscans, it is apparent that women were not only respected and encouraged to pursue social freedoms, they were considered equals. It is not only a feature, but a central narrative which dominates the illustrations of ancient Etruscan artifact.
No comments:
Post a Comment