Nonnative and Migrant Birds in Etruria: the Rooster, the Swallow, and Others (20 min)

Presenters

Cristiana Zaccagnino, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Many studies today focus on interactions between animals and human beings. Because of its periodic presence, and integration into, the ecosystem it inhabits, avifauna constitutes a particularly interesting case study. Some birds migrate marking with their arrival, or disappearance, the advent of a new season. Among Etruscans, birds certainly played an important religious role. Augurs interpreted the will of the gods observing their flight, songs, and feeding behaviors. According to Pliny the Elder (HN 10.17.37), moreover, several bird species were also treated (depicta) in Etruscan books on auspicia, but according to the Latin author no one at his time had ever seen them. This affirmation seems to confirm that Etruscans were used to detailed descriptions of birds, but also that some bird species had probably already disappeared before Pliny’s time.

In Etruscan art, the depictions of birds frequently show a high level of observation and attention to specific details that allow a precise identification and a better understanding of the settings in which they appear.

This paper, even though not overlooking religious and symbolic aspect of birds in Etruria, aims to expand on the study of birds as part of the daily ecological environment of Etruscans, with a special attention to species that were not native of the Italian peninsula and their reception, such as the rooster, and migratory birds, such as the swallow. Along with artistic representations and ancient literary sources, archaeozoological data, when available, will be taken into consideration.