Talking Heads: protomi umane parlanti incise su vasi falisci ed etruschi con iscrizionI

The study analyzes some vases found in the Ager Faliscus (Falerii Veteres and Corchiano) and southern Etruria (Veii) which have human heads engraved, depicted in a stylized way and accompanied by inscriptions. The inscriptions show one or more personal names in a form that has been interpreted from time to time by scholars as genitive or nominative. One wonders if the intention of the artisan was to represent the owner of the vase or not. This uncertainty in the interpretation of the onomastic formula, however, makes it possible to hypothesize: 1) that the artisan wanted to depict a schematic "portrait" of the owner of the vase 2) that he wanted to emphasize that the vase is specifically "of" that person depicted. Another possibility that must be taken into account, in my opinion, is that the concept underlying this type of representation can be included in the motif "The Head as a Voice" identified by Nancy Thomson De Grummond. It could therefore be the representation of the voice expressed by the vase itself declaring, through the inscription, to belong to this or that person.