I sarcofagi etruschi ellenistici del Klinentypus. Novità su un frammento da Tuscania già ritenuto proveniente da Tarquinia

The study concerns a fragment of a relief preserved in the National Archaeological Museum in Florence, donated by G. F. Gamurrini, which belongs to the short side of a nenfro sarcophagus chest hitherto thought to come from Tarquinia, but which Gamurrini himself states came instead from Tuscania. It be￾longs to the Klinentypus, which is very rare in general, even more so in Southern Etruria. The spread of the Klinentypus sarcophagus in Tuscania was not known until now and prompts one to reflect on a fact, namely whether the site played or not a role in the diffusion of the type from Tarquinia to Chiusi, or whether the type arose simultaneously in southern and northern Etruria independently. It seems clear that the choice of the kline-shaped sarcophagus case not only amplified the significance of the scene depicting the deceased feasting on the lid, but also highlighted his social status. Moreover, thanks to the analysis of archival photographic documentation and the direct viewing of the fragment, it has been possible to observe in the scene depicted on it certain elements hitherto unrecognized or incorrectly interpreted. It depicts, in our opinion, from the left, the cloaked deceased who, with the petasus in his hand, arrives in Hades (symbolized by the large door in the background) following Turms (who takes off his petasus and places it on the ground) who introduces him to the infernal judge Aeacus (rather than to Charon or Hades). Turms consults the judge for his verdict on the final fate of the deceased as if it were an haruspicy scene. This is an important testimony that gives us a further picture of how the gentry classes imagined the journey of the deceased into the Afterlife, whose final fate was based on the certification of the status achieved in life, documented by the rotulus, and the intermediation of Turms.