THE EARLY FUNERARY EQUIPMENT
The birds flying over their heads may represent good omens. The side in other communities. Again, evidence from panels, not shown here, depict two warriors fighting over tombs is central, since mourners deposited in the body of a third, and a warrior driving a chariot pulled the tombs objects that played a prominent by winged horses. The chariot was probably produced in role in an aristocratic self-image.
Thus, horses, chariots, rich armor and weapons, personal ornaments, and the equipment for feasting and drinking were all particu-larly important in this connection. In Italy, much of this new lifestyle remains obscure, but a comparison with the Greek world, which influenced Italy greatly, may help to clarify some of its fea-tures. Greek aristocrats proclaimed their position in the community through elaborate displays of family,wealth, and virtue. Skill and leadership in war also played a prominent place in this self-image. Male members saw themselves as heroes, which explains in part the popularity of epics such as Homer’s Iliad.
Warlike diSplay was certainly important among central Italian elites too. Their burials regularly contained arms and armor, often in large quantities, and the representations of combat to be found on a range of objects may well reflect claims to fighting skills and leadership in war.Weapons were not even limited to male tombs, and their presence in women’s tombs could indicate that skill in war was seen as a family attribute rather than just an individual one. Certain finds, such as the large bronze shields often embossed with elaborate designs, are too light and fragile for use in battle, although they are highly suitable for display on ceremonial occasions.
Ceremonial drinking and feasting occupied a prominent place in the aristocraTic lifestyle in many parts of the Mediterranean world. In Greece, male aristocrats held ceremonial drinking bouts or symposia (singular, symposium), in which poetry, song, displays of wit and invective, and conversation all had an important place.