The Etruscan Liver of Piacenza

It was the year of 1877. The day was one of those pleasant days of late September, in the countryside of Piacenza, Italy, when the still warm sunrays dissipate, unwillingly, the sparse and lingering morning mist. The plough-man, at the farm of count Arcelli, was manoeuvring the plough with artful and assertive hands, assiduously keeping a watchful eye on the two powerful oxen vigorously pulling the implement with magnanimous patience. The fragrant odour emanating from the fresh and humid furrow-slices, torn by the shiny razor-sharp blade of the plough, was wafting through the still air blending , at once, with the pungent odour of the sweating oxen. All around, there were hungry tail-wagging birds gulping down the juicy and frantic worms. The laboured panting of the slobbering animals was synchronous with the heavy, but nonetheless rhythmic, steady plodding of their footsteps, and with the squeaking of the yoke and harness. Once in a while the voice of the plough-man could be heard when, with the aid of the goad, he had to warn or encourage one or the other ox. These sounds were coalescing with the faint sliding sound of the loamy clods rearing, stiffly, upward along the concave blade of the plough, and their inevitable crumbling on top of the previous furrow. The totality of this microcosm, in the bucolic silence of the farmlands of Piacenza of 130 years ago, was conformant to a magical pastoral symphony, following the ancestral agrarian liturgy of thousands of years, when man was still able to communicate with nature. Suddenly, this harmonious tableau was interrupted by a brief, dissonant sound, of metal against metal. Instantly the plough-man commanded the oxen to stop. Astonished, he examined the furrow, and something strange captured his attention, something protruding from the furrow freshly turned over. He grabbed it and brushed away the sticky soil. The convex side of the small object fitted nicely in the palm of his hand; on the opposite side, slightly concave, there were three protruding features of dissimilar form and size. The plough-man was unable to understand what this object could be used for or the reason why it was unearthed that particular day. He kept turning it over and over in his calloused hands, then, somewhat annoyed, flung it under one of the many Lombardy poplars aligned along the banks of the irrigation canal, and continued ploughing. At dusk, after having finished another long day of work, the man picked up the strange object, undid the oxen harness, and lead them towards home and a well deserved rest. This is the way, in all likelihood, that the "Iecur Placentinum", that is to say the "liver of Piacenza", was unexpectedly discovered. This object is one of the most singular artifact of antiquity and the only one of its kind ever found in the history of the Etruscan archaeology. It was indeed found by a humble man, during a simple rural activity, at a depth of about 25 cm., in an ordinary meadow not far from Settima of Ciavernasco, approximately a kilometre from the right bank of the Trebbia river. Similar to the discovery of the "liver" is the legend of the birth of Tages. He was the divinity with the body of a child and the intellect of an old and wise man born out of a furrow in the vicinity of Tarquinia, and, according to the Etruscan mythology, revealed their sacred scriptures. The precious bronze artifact from Piacenza was eventually bought by the Count Francesco Caracciolo, who subsequently donated it to the Civic Museum of the city on the first of August 1894. It weighs 635 grams and measures 126 x 76 x 60 cm., and represents, with evident fidelity, the "stylized" form of a liver of a sheep. On the top surface, slightly concave, there are three protuberances, one of which represents the gall bladder, as well as 40 Etruscan inscriptions divided in 16 sectors; two other inscriptions are found on the convex bottom side. In the 16 sectors are the names of 30 gods found in the Etruscan mythology, so that each name corresponds to a specific division of the heavens, in exactly the same way that the Etruscan themselves had divided the universe. In fact, in their religion, the liver was a representation of the cosmic order. For a few years after the discovery, nobody realized the connection to the "liver", the significance of the artifact, what it would be used for or were it came from. Only after more in depth studies from historians like W. Deecke (1880), G. Körte (1905), C. O. Thulin (1906), M. Pallottino (1956) and Maggiani (1982) [L. B. Van Der Meer, "The Bronze Liver of Piacenza"], its great importance was finally understood.
The archeologist Luigi Adriano Milani, director of the Archeological Royal Museum in Florence, was the first to identify it as a "liver" in the year 1900 ("Libertà", 1977), followed by Körte in 1905. The same Körte had noticed that in the Museum Guarnacci, in Volterra, there was a cover of an urn with a statue of an "haruspex", by the name of Aule Lecu, holding a “liver” in his hand, very similar to the one discovered near Piacenza ("Libertà", 1977). The Etruscan haruspex had the authority to interpret the will of the gods by observing special signs present in the liver of the newly immolated sheep; therefore the bronze model could be, as postulated by many experts, a practical guidebook or manual. The historian Werner Keller specifies, in his volume "The Etruscan", that the interpretation of the entrails of animals was a very complex endeavour. In order to be able to offer a sound and unequivocal prophecy, the haruspex had to be an expert not only in astronomy but also in anatomy and pathology. Nobody has yet been able to explain how come this Etruscan object was found in a field in the municipality of Gossolengo, since, until now at least, only a few sparse artifacts have come to light and no other archaeological indications of their presence in the area have been found. In 1987, the Dutch historian L. B. Van Der Meer proposes, in his volume "The Bronze Liver of Piacenza", the theory that perhaps an Etruscan haruspex, in the service of a Roman general, lost this object during a military expedition between the years 150 and 30 B. C. To be more specific, he outlines three events that would make his theory plausible: "the defeat of consul Papirius Carbo by Sulla's general, M. Aemilius Lucullus in 82 B. C., the expedition of Pompey against M. Aemilius Lepidus in 77 B. C. or the mutiny of Ceasar's legions in Piacenza in 49 B. C. Nonetheless he goes on to say that it is practically impossible to determine the date with certitude, since these kind of “manuals” “could be bequeathed by father to son". There have been many studies and publications on the topic of the “Etruscan Liver of Piacenza”, evidence of the importance of this artifact, but at the same time they underline the difficulties in reconciling the many, and often conflicting, opinions of the experts. The "Etruscan Liver of Piacenza", this exceptional and arcane object, can be admired by visiting the Civic Museum of Piacenza, housed in the grandiose Palazzo Farnese.

Origins

There have always been people on the move; people with an earnest desire to find the 'greener grass' which always lies in the reaches beyond. Now in the early centuries of expanding Europe, the Italian peninsula was one of those reaches beyond. Not only was the land fertile, but the Alpine range of mountains in the extreme north appeared to form a natural bulwark against some hostile, intruding army, and an effective barrier to the effects of any upheavals that could erupt in the lands beyond its northern border. However, families and small groups came over the Alps through mountain passes, or across the sea into the haven provided by natural harbors. They settled on hilltop vantages afforded by the Appenine range of mountains which traverse the landscape from the north west corner of the peninsula, across and down the eastern coastal region in a long ark, to end a little north of Campania in the south west.

One ethnic group that emerged out of the distant past to become an indigenous peoples in ancient Roman history was the Sabines. These people congregated in the eastern hills of the Appenines, but later became absorded into the general population to become Romans. Another group was the Latins who occupied the area around Rome including Latium - the region immediately to the south of Rome. The origins of the first iron users are found at Villanova, near to modern Bologna in Italy. And archaeology has established that the Villanovans were well-established across central Italy by the eighth century BC.

Then somewhere around 700 BC, groups of immigrants came from the East to land on the sandy beaches of Etruria. They called themselves the "Rasenna," but were subsequently known by the Romans as the "Trusci," or "Etrusci." Settling initially upon the hills close to the shoreline, these intrepid seafarers erected wooden fortifications, and established themselves on these sites which were to become Etruscan city states. As the number of these settlers grew, other cities sprang up elsewhere in the area. Etruria was that portion of the Italian peninsula which lay between the Arno river in the north, and the Tiber river in the south. Its border followed the two rivers to the Apennine Mountains in the east.

Tradition has it that twelve major city states grew out of these migrations to the area; but there is physical evidence of many more. Perhaps there were twelve such major states, surrounded by many minor townships. Now of the major cities, three are believed to have had a significant impact on history due to their interest in and influence upon an insignificant 'village' just across the Tiber - that village was called Rome. The three cities, all within a forty mile radius of Rome, were: Tarquinii, Caere, and Veii. Situated in the extreme south of Utruria and near the coast, these three cities were separated from their northern neighbors, who were tucked away beyond virgin forests further inland. Being clustered in the south, and near to the coast, the three sister cities were more readily available to outside influences - particularly Greek.

By this time, the Greeks had found Campania. The fertile soil, enriched by Vesuvius' volcanic ash deposits (the whole area is a volcanic hotbed), coupled with a warm but mild climate, made this land particularly attractive to would be settlers. These early Greek settlers chose Cumae on the west coast, about 120 miles south east of Rome known today as the Bay of Naples, as the center of their settlement. From here they were able to export grain, and expose their culture and language over a wide area. Consequently, this region covering southern Italy, Sicily, and the surrounding islands, became known as the Magna Graecia.

But the Etruscans also saw the potential for wealth and prosperity in Campania; and so they too began moving into the area. By 600 BC they had established a center of influence at Capua about seventeen miles north of Cumae. From here the invaders began taking control of the Campanian plain, though they were never able to rest control of Cumae itself from the Greeks. Now this movement put Rome between the southern border of Utruria and the newly acquired territory to the south. Besides, close by at the mouth of the Tiber river, were the salt pans upon which the Etruscans were dependent. It is only natural then, that this village should also come under Etruscan domination. The first Etruscan ruler was one Tarquinius Priscus - whom tradition would have us believe ruled between 616 and 579 BC. From this time, because of its proximity to Uritria and its strategic importance, Rome began to grow in size and in political influence.