Warrior of Capestrano

Warrior of Capestrano
Material	Limestone
Height	approx. 2.1 m (6.9 ft)
Created	c. 550 BC
Discovered	September 1934 Capestrano, Abruzzo, Italy
Present location	Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy

The Warrior of Capestrano is a tall limestone statue of a Picene warrior, dated to around the 6th century BC. The statue was found in the territory of the Vestini, but depicts a man with a Picene helmet.[1][2]

It was discovered accidentally in 1934 by a labourer ploughing the field in the Italian town of Capestrano, along with a female statue in civilian attire, called the Lady of Capestrano.[3]

Description

The Warrior of Capestrano is made of limestone and stands at around 2.1 m (6.9 ft) on a base made of lithic. Two pillars were used to laterally frame the statue. It depicts a man wearing a brassard and carrying weapons and armour. He is wearing a wide-brimmed parade helmet with a crest of feathers. Between the kardiophylax lay a long sword and a knife.[3] He also wears a mitra, a short apron covering the back. It had a black plate with a broad hinged band. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic friezes decorated the handle of the sword.[4] The statue has other weapons such as spears, javelins with throwing loops, and axes. Most of the clothing and equipment of the statue is Etruscan and Italic clothing. However, the statue is wearing sandals with blades instead of shoes. It is possible that these added garments were designed to make the statue seem larger and more powerful.[5]

An epigraph names the statue as Nevio Pomp(uled)io. This possibly identifies him as an Italic king. Another possibility is that the individual it depicts was subject to a damnatio memoriae. Another inscription incised on the pillar to the right of the warrior reads in South Picene: "Makupri koram opsút aninis rakinevíi pomp[úne]í" ("Aninis had this statue made most excellently for Rakinewis, the Pomp[onian]").^[citation needed]

The statue has traces of pink paint.[6][7]

Archaeology

It was discovered in 1934 and led to a series of archaeological excavations in the area, resulting in other statues such as the Lady of Capestrano, two lithic bases, and 33 tombs being found.[8][9]

Investigation subsequent to the statue's discovery revealed that the vineyard where the statue was found was situated above an Iron Age cemetery.^[citation needed]

References

1. Cowan, Ross (2009-07-16). Roman Conquests: Italy. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84468-276-8.
2. Connolly, Peter (2012-06-19). Greece and Rome at War. Grub Street Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78346-971-0.
3. Joe Basile (1993). "The Capestrano Warrior and Related Monuments of the Seventh to Fifth Centuries B.C." Revue des archéologues et historiens d’art de Louvain. Academia.edu. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
4. Fields, Nic (2011-07-20). Early Roman Warrior 753–321 BC. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-500-7.
5. Bonfante, Larissa (2003-10-31). Etruscan Dress. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-7413-0.
6. Hendriks, Joep (2009-04-01). TRAC 2008: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Amsterdam 2008. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78297-325-6.
7. Deutscher, Lisa; Kaiser, Mirjam; Wetzler, Sixt (2019). The Sword: Form and Thought. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-78327-427-7.
8. "Il Guerriero di Capestrano". Polo Museale dell’Abruzzo (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-03-05.
9. Joe Basile (1993) . "The Capestrano Warrior and Related Monuments of the Seventh to Fifth Centuries B.C." Revue des archéologues et historiens d’art de Louvain.

See also