Find Spot: Tomb of the Augurs (Italian Tomba degli Àuguri), located within the Necropolis of Monterozzi near Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy

Date of Illustration: 6th century BCE

Description: An Etruscan lituus shown in a wall painting in the Tomb of the Augurs (Italian Tomba degli Àuguri), an Etruscan burial chamber. The tomb is located within the Necropolis of Monterozzi near Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy, and dates to around 530-520 BCE. This tomb is one of the first tombs in Tarquinia to have figural decoration on all four walls of its main or only chamber. The wall decoration was frescoed between 530-520 BCE by an Ionian Greek painter, perhaps from Phocaea, whose style was associated with that of the Northern Ionic workers active in Elmali. This tomb is also the first time a theme not of mythology, but instead depictions of funerary rites and funerary games are seen.

The scene depicts a funerary games and to the left of the younger wrestler is the referee, who carries a lituus or augur’s crook in one hand. Although the object this person holds is normally interpreted here as the tool of an augur, it could be that it also serves as a sound tool.

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