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| ETRUSCAN BRONZE ARM GUARD FOR THE RIGHT SHOULDER OF A LUDIO The Etruscan equivalent of the Roman gladiator. It also protected the upper arm with its strongly molded biceps. Extremely rare. Achilles conducted funeral games in honor of Patroclus. This scene take place in Book 23 of Homer's Iliad. These games were athletic contests including armed combat however, injury was limited to the first to draw blood. The Etruscans took it to a fight to the death between servants. First introduced to Rome in 264 BC, the sons of Junius Brutus honored their father at his funeral by matching three pairs of gladiators so called after the Latin word for sword, gladius. Originally this was part of a religious ceremony intended to insure that the dead would be accompanied to the "next world" by armed attendants and that the spirits of the dead would be appeased with this offering of blood. Ex collection (AG 182/H2302) of Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin, acquired in Krefeld 1988. 5th-4th Century BC L. 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) HMQ54 $20,000 Sales |
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