page_title: Confronted animals
section_title: Etruscan tomb mural
hierarchical_section_title: Confronted animals / Examples from archaeology / Etruscan tomb mural
caption_attribution_description: English: Wall painting in a burial chamber called Tomb of the Leopards at the etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia in Lazio, Italy. Deutsch: Wandgemälde im Leopardengrab, einer Grabkammer der etruskischen Nekropole von Tarquinia, Latien, Italien. Italiano: Tomba dei Leopardi, Monterozzi, Tarquinia Čeština: Nástěnná malba v pohřební komoře zvané Hrobka levhartů v etruské nekropoli Tarquinia v Laziu (Itálie)
context_page_description: Confronted animals, or confronted-animal as an adjective, where two animals face each other in a symmetrical pose, is an ancient bilateral motif in art and artifacts studied in archaeology and art history. The "anti-confronted animals" is the opposing motif, with the animals back to back.
  Bilateral symmetry is a dominant aspect of our world and strong representation of it with matching figures often creates a balance that is appealing in artwork.
  In ancient art, confronted-animal motifs often involve the Master of Animals, a central human figure between two confronted animals, often grasping them, and are probably part of a unified socio-cultural motif. A related motif in ancient art is known as the Mistress of Animals.
  It is thought that the iconography sometimes has ritual and religious associations; for example, the Lion Gate of Mycenae has a column between the protective, surmounted and confronted lionesses standing with two feet on the ground and two on the same base on which the column rests. The column is thought to represent a goddess, abstracted to avoid tabooed direct representation.
context_section_description: Confronted leopards appear in a tomb found in Tarchuna (Tarquinia), or Tarchna Tarchnal, the chief of the twelve cities of Etruria, a district in what is described as the Etruscan civilization that existed in Italy from 1200 BC through the 100 BC. It appears in the earliest history of Rome, which was dominated by it until early in the 330s BC. This mural features confronted leopards providing protection for a banquet in the afterlife. Frequently felines, lionesses and leopards such as these are confronted with a tree, shrub, or column between them in murals from this culture. The Etruscans are thought to have migrated from the area of Troy, through Greece where they absorbed many cultural elements, to Italy where they founded their culture in prehistoric times.
caption: Confronted leopards protect a banquet in the afterlife where Etruscan couples dine and are served wine from the ewers held by servers before the seating - mural in a Tomb of the Leopards burial chamber - necropolis of Tarquinia - Lazio, Italy
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