Patrick Zeidler

Link zum Habelt-Verlag: https://www.habelt.de/bookshop?tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Baction%5D=suchErgebnisReihenTitelAnzeigen&tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Bcontroller%5D=Reihen&tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Bmodul%5D=3&tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Bnr%5D=300400&tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Breihe%5D=11520&tx_bookshop_mybookshop%5Btitel%5D=Schriften%20des%20Akademischen%20Kunstmuseums%20Bonn&cHash=cd0de535c39fc3aefa58a34c689d612e

Please feel free to download the full version of the paper via the following link: https://doi.org/10.25365/wbagon-2022-4-7

Social inequality as well as permanent and institutionalized forms of strong asymmetrical dependency, such as slavery and captivity, have to be considered as an integral part of Etruscan society. In the period from the 6th to the 1st century BCE, depictions of dependent and/or socially inferior persons were very common in Etruscan art and occurred in many different types of visual culture, like mural and vase paintings, urns, sarcophagi, mirrors, figurines and gems as well as in the architectural decoration of sacral buildings and aristocratic residences. Visual representations of captives, strangers and various types of dependent laborers, working in the households of the Etruscan nobility, such as nurses, pedagogues, cupbearers, kitchen staff, dancers and musicians, can be mentioned as examples for this. The main focus of my research is on the analysis of the iconographical elements, which have been used in these images in order to show social hierarchies and power imbalances between different actors. Thereby, it will be possible to draw conclusions about the Etruscan society in regard to the marginalization of dependent persons and the self-representation of the powerful elite. In order to broaden the perspective, Etruscan inscriptions, for example from craftsmen and manumitted slaves, and literary sources from Greek and Roman authors, dealing with different forms of dependency in Etruria, will be considered, too.

In the past, most iconographical studies on slavery and similar phenomena focused on specific regions, cultures and periods. The aim of this conference is to look at a broad range of dependent and marginalized social groups and 'others' and to compare the results of iconographical studies on different pre-modern societies (prior to 1800 CE) around the globe. Therefore, we invited scholars from a wide variety of disciplines (Near Eastern Archaeology, Egyptology, Classical Archaeology, European Art History, Asian Art History, Anthropology of the Americas) in order to gain new insights by using diachronic and cross-cultural comparisons.

In the past, most studies on pre-Roman societies in Italy (1 st millennium BCE) focused on the elites, their representation and cultural contacts. Recently, however, research on dependent and marginalized social groups has considerably increased. The aim of this conference is to look at these less visible social groups, which are often even difficult to define (slaves, servants, freedmen, peasants, mercenaries, captives, "foreigners", athletes, women, children etc.). The methodological challenges connected to the study of such heterogeneous and scattered sources will be addressed. Is the evidence representative enough for defining different forms of dependencies? Can we rely on written and pictorial sources or do they only reflect Greek and Roman views and iconographic conventions? Which social groups can't be traced in the literary and archaeological record? For the discussion of this topic, we will focus on the following sections: historical and epigraphical studies (Greek and Roman literary sources, local inscriptions), material culture studies (images, sanctuaries, settlements, necropoleis), anthropology and bioarchaeology (analysis of human skeletons using methods from the natural sciences).

Researchers at the BCDSS work with and on visual material in their research on slaveries and dependencies. In this roundtable, a curator, an artist, and several researchers from the BCDSS will talk about visuality and dependency.

The roundtable wants to explore the various ways in which visual cultures relate to ideas, institutions, and practices of bondage and their remembrance. Questions we would like to tackle are, for example:

1) Is it possible to identify recurring visual tropes of slavery and dependency across time and space and how are these tropes challenged by contemporary artists?
2) What are common problems of and debates around visual archives of slaveries and dependencies?
3) What should or could an ethical use of visual representations of slaveries and their violence look like?
4) How is slavery (still) represented in museum spaces and how have exhibition practices changed in recent years?

Due to the lack of literary and epigraphical evidence, reliable information about the social and legal status of Black people from sub-Saharan Africa in ancient Etruria (pre-Roman Central Italy) are missing. However, pictorial depictions of Black persons of African origin appear relatively numerous in Etruscan pictorial art in the period from the late 6th to the 3rd century BCE. These images can be found in different contexts (sanctuaries, graves, etc.) and in various kinds of media such as terracotta antefixes, bronze figurines, vase paintings, earrings and coins.
The aim of this contribution is, to identify the iconographic elements (e.g. physiognomic traits), which have been used in ancient Etruscan Art in order to depict black people from Africa and to characterize them as ‘Others’. Furthermore, it will be examined, which different meanings these images had depending on the type of medium, the function of the object and it’s find context. Only a small number of these depictions can be clearly associated with slavery. Other examples seem to be connected with an apotropaic and/or Dionysian significance, refer to (more or less concrete) historical events or are embedded in narratives from Greek mythology (e.g. Busiris).

Aktuelle Forschungen zur Archäologie des vorrömischen Italiens, 22. Treffen der AG Etrusker & Italiker (DArV), 8.-10. März 2024, Eichstätt

Der Vortrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, welche Formen von Abhängigkeitsverhältnissen und sozialen Ungleichheiten in der etruskischen Kunst vorkommen und anhand welcher ikonographischer Kriterien diese sich in den Bildwerken identifizieren lassen? Die Grundlage dafür bildet die Sammlung und Auswertung von mehr als sechshundert bildlichen Darstellungen, welche aus ganz unterschiedlichen Objektgattungen (Wand- und Vasenmalereien, Reliefs, Kleinplastik etc.) und Verwendungskontexten stammen und eine breite Zeitspanne vom späten 8. bis zum 1. Jh. v. Chr. umfassen. Dabei lassen sich im Rahmen von ikonographischen Fallstudien (u. a. zu Gefangenen, Mundschenken, Afrikanern, Kleinwüchsigen) verschiedene Kriterien (Größe, Bekleidung, Attribute etc.) ermitteln, die in Kombination mit dem Bildkontext auf Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse und soziale Hierarchien hinweisen können. Hierbei ist zu beachten, dass es sich um bewusst konstruierte, ideologisch verzerrte Darstellungen handelt, die von der gesellschaftlichen Elite in Auftrag gegeben wurden, um damit ihre Macht zu legitimieren und ihren hohen sozialen Status zu demonstrieren. Die Mehrzahl der Bilder ist zudem im Kontext der (griechischen) Mythologie angesiedelt und thematisiert gesellschaftliche Phänomene auf einer übergeordneten, abstrakten Ebene. Die Selektion spezifischer Mythen und die Adaption fremder Motive und ikonographischer Konventionen an die kulturellen Eigenheiten Etruriens erlauben wertvolle Einblicke in das Selbstverständnis und Repräsentationsbedürfnis der etruskischen Elite sowie die Marginalisierung der weniger privilegierten Bevölkerungsschichten.

Forum Antike, Universität Wien, 15. März 2023

Literarische oder epigraphische Zeugnisse über den sozialen Status und die Akzeptanz von Schwarzafrikanern in der etruskischen Gesellschaft sind nicht erhalten. Bildliche Darstellungen von Schwarzafrikanern kommen dagegen im Zeitraum vom späten 6. bis zum 3. Jh. v. Chr. relativ zahlreich in der etruskischen Kunst vor und sind in einem vielfältigen Spektrum von Objektgattungen (Vasen, Bronzestatuetten, Terrakottamasken, Antefixe, Ohrringe, Münzen) belegt. Das Ziel des Vortrags besteht darin, die ikonographischen Merkmale, mit denen Schwarzafrikaner in den etruskischen Bildwerken physiognomisch charakterisiert wurden, zu identifizieren. Ferner soll untersucht werden, welche unterschiedlichen Bedeutungen Darstellungen von Schwarzafrikanern je nach Bildträger, Fundkontext und Verwendungszusammenhang besaßen. Abschließend soll die Frage beantwortet werden, ob die ikonographischen Zeugnisse es erlauben, Aussagen zum sozialen und rechtlichen Status von Schwarzafrikanern/-innen in der etruskischen Gesellschaft zu treffen.

Pictorial representations of captivated persons appear in Etruscan art in high numbers and in many different types of material culture such as sarcophagi, urns, mural and vase paintings, mirrors and figurines. Many of these objects derive from funerary contexts. While scenes of ‘daily life’ with representations of captives are very scarce, most of the images are embedded in narratives from Greek mythology.
There are various iconographic conventions in Etruscan pictorial art for depicting captives. For example, the captured Trojans who are sacrificed by Achilles are depicted naked, wounded and helpless. But there are other examples like Andromeda and Orestes, who are fully clothed and sometimes adorned with jewelry or other status symbols and therefore are not depicted as humiliated, dependent prisoners, but as persons with a high social status, who only got temporarily into captivity due to unfortunate circumstances. In addition, it has to be considered, that there are also representations of prisoners, who are not depicted explicitly with chains, but can only be identified by the context. Sometimes, the shackle motif is not directly related to prisoners, but can be linked with a magical or religious meaning, for example in the case of curse figurines, as an allusion to someone’s imminent death or in connection to sexual potency.
Due to the mythological setting of most of the images and the influence of Greek iconography, it seems to be difficult to deduce historical information about the situation of captives in Etruria.