Il leone in Etruria nel V secolo a.C. : problemi iconografici

The book The Etruscan Lion (1960) by Llewellyn Brown is the first and the only attempt to summarize the matter about the iconography of the lion in Etruria. Brown thinks that V century B.C. is the less interesting period in Etruscan art because the pattern of the lion is used only for ornamental purposes. The conclusions suggested need to be verified, firstly through the revision of documentation that the scholar ascribed to the century. As matter of fact most of material goes back to VI century B.C. The research has been widened to productions that Brown didn’t study, including that of Po valley and Campania. The typological analysis allowed to identify different sources of inspiration. Beside the pattern of Archaic tradition, a new iconography was introduced: the lion to move in attack. Leonine pattern is an instrument to investigate the complex trends of one of the more troublesome centuries of Etruscan civilitation.