7/28/2019 Etruscan Death Daemon
2/2
Print record
Height: 11.000 inches
Hamilton Collection
GR 1772.3-2.15 (Bronze 1449)
Room 71: Etruscan world
Bronze statuette of Vanth
Etruscan, 425-400 BC
Found near Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy
An Etruscan death daemon
Vanth was the servant of Charun (Greek Cheiron), lord of the
Underworld. She begins to appear in Etruscan mythology from the
late fifth century
BC, and becomes the most frequently represented of the Etruscan
death daemons or spirits. She is often depicted on cinerary urns
(urns that holdthe ash of a cremated body), where she gazes sternly
at a representation of the deceased, holding a scroll with a text
that somehow relates to his or
her life. She is usually shown as an attractive young woman,
wearing a tunic, sometimes with high boots and carrying a torch.
She is usually
winged, and as here, often has bearded snakes entwined around
her arms.
It seems that Vanth is present at, but not actively involved in,
death. She attends from the moment of death until entry into the
Underworld. She is
occasionally represented at battles and at the slaughter of
prisoners, or leading souls on their way.
This bronze statuette was perhaps a votive dedication.
N.T. de Grummond,A guide to Etruscan mirrors (Tallahassee,
Florida, Archaeological News, Inc., 1982)
O. Brendel,Etruscan art, Pelican History of Art (Yale University
Press, 1995)
E. Macnamara, The Etruscans-1 (London, The British Museum Press,
1990)
S. Haynes,Etruscan bronzes (London, Sotheby's Publications,
1985)
http://window.print%28%29/http://window.print%28%29/http://window.print%28%29/
