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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Entre vin étrusque et vin grec : les métamorphoses de Dionysos sur une hydrie du Peintre de Micali

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The purpose of this contribution is to re-examine the iconography of an Etruscan hydria by the Micali Painter, probably the most famous craftsman of the black-figure ceramics technique at the end of the 6th century B.C. In our opinion, this vase would present the Etruscan version of a Greek myth showing the ancient Tuscans as pirates attempting to kidnap Dionysus. This figuration, which also appears in Greek sources, could be interpreted as the rivalry between the two cultures for the control of the wine trade in the western part of the Mediterranean. However, we will ask ourselves whether the iconography of this vase should be interpreted in the sense of a negative image of the Etruscans, or whether it is possible to propose another reading of it, quite the reverse. This hydria would testify not so much to the Greco-Etruscan economic rivalries over wine, as to the adoption of a new form of religiosity centered around Dionysos-Fufluns, god of wine among the Etruscans.