As history records, the Etruscans, the ancient inhabitants of present-day Tuscany in northwestern Italy, were an extremely religious people who regularly offered votive gifts in bronze or clay to their gods. Such offerings often took the form of a statuette depicting the divinity besought or the dedicator himself. The warrior figure was a popular type of offering.
The Cincinnati statuette exhibits the stance characteristic of classically inspired warrior figures from the hill country of Umbria: striding forward and holding a spear (now lost) in the upraised right arm. An identifying feature of dress is the Athenian-style helmet with its upturned cheekpieces and large, sweeping crest. The Cincinnati figure’s slender, elongated proportions and abstract anatomy impart a sense of dignity and grace.
The precise identity of such warrior figures is still unknown. They may have been meant to represent mortal soldiers or a divinity such as the Etruscan war god Maris, the equivalent of the Roman deity Mars.
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