Recherche par auteur > Ortoleva Jacqueline

Bronze mirrors account for one of the largest corpora of burial objects in Etruria. Although generally believed to have been used for beautification purposes, no Etruscan mirror has been found intact in a secular or religious setting. However, mirrors have been found inside a variety of intact chambered tombs. The spatiality of mirrors inside the tomb space around the body of the deceased, as well as strategic areas of some intact burial chambers suggests that the mirror assumed a different purpose inside the funerary space that was not solely guided by beautification rites, marriage or even social customs. I argue that in order to fully contemplate the Etruscan mirror, we must look beyond their figurative nature to consider how mirrors were actually used inside the tomb space, particularly as guided by visual and sonic constructs. 

This paper draws on spatial, acoustic, and photometric data to investigate how light and sound uniquely transformed the bronze mirror into a divinatory tool to assist with funerary ritual as practiced inside the tomb space. Ultimately, the mirror is recontextualised as serving an important role in Etruscan funerary contexts, particularly as related to transfiguration and divination.