Journeys to the Underworld. A comparative analysis of Etruscan tomb paintings and the "Orphic" gold tablets of Southern Italy in the fourth century BC

Abstract

This article discusses the hypothesis that Etruscan eschatology was influenced by Orphic ideas, which are thought to have flourished in southern Italy in the fifth and fourth century BC. This hypothesis is often used to explain changes in motifs in Etruscan tomb paintings from the fifth century, with its merry scenes of revellers, to the fourth century, when scenes depicting the soul’s journey to the underworld gained popularity. The hypothesis has been discussed at irregular intervals for more than a century, and today this explanation is often mentioned without thorough elaboration or critical examination. Through a critical, comparative analysis of Etruscan tomb paintings and Orphic texts from the fifth century and later, I argue that there is little evidence to support this hypothesis, and that the reasons for the change of motifs needs to be approached from a different perspective.