The gate of the year

Figure on the left:

Bronze funerary urn (710 B.C.), discovered in the Tomb 22 of the Olmo Bello necropolis at Bisenzio, the ancient Etruscan city of Visentium, and now in the Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome.
On the lid there are several personages in an attitude of dance around a chained bear; lower down some ithyphallic men, holding shields, seem to go around the main scene. The capture of a bear is still nowadays a recurrent motif in the Carnival ceremonies all through Europe, and Medieval iconographic sources show scenes of bear hunting, as well as Wild Men and bear chained near ladies or trainers

Figure on the right:

Detail of the Etruscan urn lid.

[Images: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/villanovan/deck/3545696]




Animals

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Figure on the left: Bronze funerary urn (710 B.C.), discovered in the Tomb 22 of the Olmo Bello necropolis at Bisenzio, the ancient Etruscan city of Visentium, and now in the Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome. On the lid there are several personages in an attitude of dance around a chained bear; lower down some ithyphallic men, holding shields, seem to go around the main scene. The capture of a bear is still nowadays a recurrent motif in the Carnival ceremonies all through Europe, and Medieval iconographic sources show scenes of bear hunting, as well as Wild Men and bear chained near ladies or trainers Figure on the right: Detail of the Etruscan urn lid. [Images: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/villanovan/deck/3545696]