Archeonaut - APT Basilicata

If, as we read in the writings ofQuintus Horatius Flaccus, “muchreaping is done in war, but always fora very meagre harvest”, what has beengathered from the art of war in thismuseum, however, gives the impressionof riches and power.The armour of the warrior leaders,who with both Daunians and Lucaniansstarted as hoplites (infantry soldiers)and then became horsemen, arethere to welcome visitors, proud andsplendid like those who must haveworn or commissioned them.elfiEven the horses had to follow theirowner’s tone of command andwere decorated with bronze masks(prometopidia) and ceremonialbreastplates. In order to reaffirm thedead warrior’s importance, he wasalso often buried with weapons thatwere part of the spoils of war as wellas his own. This can be clearly seen inthe museum, for example, in a tombthat was discovered in the locationof ancient Ferentum, the present-dayLavello, and has been reconstructedhere.“... After having laid them down and formed asymposium of the just, they see to it that theyspend all their time drunk and crowned withgarlands, considering perpetual drunkennessto be the highest reward for virtue”.(Plato, The Republic)MYTHICAL ABDUCTIONSIf you love someone, you will want tosave them at any cost, even from death.But this is not granted to humans,unless one is loved by a god, who wouldcertainly have some extra power.Italo-Chalcidianbronze helmet,Lavelloafter and beyond the tomb, also formedpart of the Greek world. The subjectof “salvific abduction” recurs oftenin the Greek world, as well as that ofthe indigenous peoples who came intocontact with it. This more than anythingelse is depicted on vessels and on somebronze ware, such as the Etruscanmaderitual candle stand in Ruvo delMonte, which features the scene of theimmortal Eos in the moment in whichshe abducts Kephalos on its cimasa(extremity).Eos, the goddess of the dawn, sister ofthe sun and the moon, who was in lovewith Kefalos, abducted him and took himaway in flight to remove him from theearthly world and transport him whereReconstruction of a wealthy tombhe could be nourished with immortality.with Daunian vases and weapons LavelloThe myth of salvation, the sense of a life34 35