Tages - Representations of Tages

Representations of Tages

Labeled Etruscan representations of Tages are very rare, and scenes clearly tied to the Tages myth are almost as rare. Figures leaning on the lituus, the crooked staff of the augur, or examining entrails wearing the conical cap of the haruspex, are common, but are not necessarily Tages. Winged figures, representing divinity, are also common, especially on funerary urns from Tarquinia, but whether any depict Tages is questionable. Assuming that a certain percentage of these representations are in fact Tages, there appears to be no standard way to depict him. Art historians have inserted Tages freely among them but entirely in a speculative fashion.

In addition to the labelled scene on the bronze mirror described above, which must have been repeated many times without labels, a type of scene engraved on 4th century BC gemstones, once set in seal rings, appears to describe the Tages myth. A bearded figure (Tarchon?) bends over as though listening at the head or head and torso of another, beardless figure embedded in or arising from the ground. On a similar theme is a 3rd century BC bronze votive statuette, .327 m (1.07 ft) high, from Tarquinia, of a sitting infant peering upward with an adult's head and visage.