The Role of Ceramics in understanding Place in the Hellenistic World: the Fish-Plates in Etruria

In Caeretan red-figured pottery, fish plates produced during the last third of the 4th century B. C. can be found. They are Etruscan imitations of the better-known fish plates of southern Italian red-figured vase painters who were active during the second half of the 4th century B. C. It is a type of plate found in Attica, but also in Sicily, Apulia and Campania. The adoption of this shape in Etruria was influenced by the pottery from Magna Graecia. In Etruscan pottery, this type is rare: so far, only five Etruscan specimens have been discovered, four made by the Caeretan Fish Plate Painter and one by the Hoffmann-Erbrecht Caeretan Painter (similar to Campanian Torpedo and Bremen Painters). Later, a fragment of a red-figured fish plate from Tarquinia was attributed by Susanna Businaro to the Caeretan Fish Plate Painter. A torpedo, a cuttlefish, and a pair of identical fish (sea perch or wrasse) are depicted around the central de-pression (which contained fish juices, sauce, or both); a pair of breams is depicted only on one fish plate, the one created by the Hoffmann-Erbrecht Caeretan Painter. The adoption of the fish plate (accompanied by typical food traditions) in the pottery production of Caere is impor-tant. Thisisprobablythe reason whymarinethemes also appear on the Genucilia plates pro-duced in nearby Ager Faliscus. However, it could also be due to the fact that Caere possessed at least three ports. The marine life represented on Etruscan fish plates reflects the variety of sealifefoundintheTyrrhenianSea off the Etruscan coast.