DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0060
THE BOXER VASE AND THE ETRUSCANS 35
vase as this and the remarkable group of bronze vessels
that come from North Italy and Lower Austria. Two
of their distinguishing features are, first, their scheme,
of depicting various scenes from daily life in two, three,
or four superimposed zones, and secondly, the prominent
part played in these scenes by groups of contending
boxers. It need scarcely be added that in the type of
human figure which he represents and in the skill with
which he depicts it the " Italo-Illyrian " artist is much
coarser than the Minoan.
The relation of this Italo-Illyrian art to Etruscan
is a question that deserves further attention.1 Not only
were the Etruscans famous for boxing,' but the paintings
on the walls of the tombs of Clusium,' and Tarquinii,'
show us boxers who in pose and type of figure remind
us so forcibly of the Bologna and Tyrol jars that there
can be no question of coincidence. They are repre-
sented, too, as fighting in the same way over a low
stick or stool on which rests a helmet or a piece of em-
broidery. Whether or no this represents the prize,* it
is clear that the stool itself serves to limit their advance,
like the barrier that ran down the lists in the Tournaments
of later mediaeval times. Our " ring " points to a different
set of rules, and so apparently does the column that
marks the scene of Minoan boxing.
The second of the steatite vases (Plate I. b and c),*
1 Dennis i. p. xxxvi. n. 8. Montclius, op. cit. One cannot
judge from the summary whether Evans considered this in his
Rhind Lecture. For the importance of the question, see below,
p. 125. 1 Livy, i. 35.
3 The Monkey Tomb. Dennis, iL p. 332.
4 The Tomb of the Inscriptions. Dennis, i. p. 364. Sec also
ibid. i. pp. 317, 378, 399 ; ii. pp. 324, 342.
' Dennis, ii. p. 332, thinks that what I have called embroidery
is the clothes they have just taken off.
" First published by Savignoni in Mon. Ant. xiii. 1003, Plates
I.—III. p. 85 seq. An excellent plaster copy of the vase can be
obtained from the authorities of the Candia Museum for six francs.
vase as this and the remarkable group of bronze vessels
that come from North Italy and Lower Austria. Two
of their distinguishing features are, first, their scheme,
of depicting various scenes from daily life in two, three,
or four superimposed zones, and secondly, the prominent
part played in these scenes by groups of contending
boxers. It need scarcely be added that in the type of
human figure which he represents and in the skill with
which he depicts it the " Italo-Illyrian " artist is much
coarser than the Minoan.
The relation of this Italo-Illyrian art to Etruscan
is a question that deserves further attention.1 Not only
were the Etruscans famous for boxing,' but the paintings
on the walls of the tombs of Clusium,' and Tarquinii,'
show us boxers who in pose and type of figure remind
us so forcibly of the Bologna and Tyrol jars that there
can be no question of coincidence. They are repre-
sented, too, as fighting in the same way over a low
stick or stool on which rests a helmet or a piece of em-
broidery. Whether or no this represents the prize,* it
is clear that the stool itself serves to limit their advance,
like the barrier that ran down the lists in the Tournaments
of later mediaeval times. Our " ring " points to a different
set of rules, and so apparently does the column that
marks the scene of Minoan boxing.
The second of the steatite vases (Plate I. b and c),*
1 Dennis i. p. xxxvi. n. 8. Montclius, op. cit. One cannot
judge from the summary whether Evans considered this in his
Rhind Lecture. For the importance of the question, see below,
p. 125. 1 Livy, i. 35.
3 The Monkey Tomb. Dennis, iL p. 332.
4 The Tomb of the Inscriptions. Dennis, i. p. 364. Sec also
ibid. i. pp. 317, 378, 399 ; ii. pp. 324, 342.
' Dennis, ii. p. 332, thinks that what I have called embroidery
is the clothes they have just taken off.
" First published by Savignoni in Mon. Ant. xiii. 1003, Plates
I.—III. p. 85 seq. An excellent plaster copy of the vase can be
obtained from the authorities of the Candia Museum for six francs.