{"id":78353,"date":"2026-07-20T08:41:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78353"},"modified":"2026-07-20T08:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:42:17","slug":"jacks-in-a-flash-alexandra-caprino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/jacks-in-a-flash-alexandra-caprino\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacks in a Flash: Alexandra Caprino"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexandra\u00a0A.\u00a0Carpino<\/span><\/b>, a\u00a0professor of comparative cultural studies and associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters, was one of four scholars invited to present at\u00a0an\u00a0opening day symposium\u00a0for\u00a0the first international exhibition of Etruscan art in the United States\u00a0since 2009.\u00a0She\u00a0answered a few quick Qs\u00a0about her presentation\u00a0at San Francisco\u2019s Legion of\u00a0Honor Museum, the two articles she co-wrote for the catalogue that\u00a0accompanies\u00a0the exhibition and\u00a0the\u00a0history of\u00a0some\u00a0Etruscan women\u00a0who\u00a0earned a reputation for being modern and\u00a0independent.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me about \u201cThe Etruscans: From the Heart of Ancient Italy\u201d exhibition.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

\u00a0Many\u00a0Americans are less familiar with the Etruscans compared to their contemporaries, the Greeks and the Romans, and one of the goals of the exhibition was to highlight the significance of their 1,000+-year history on the Italian peninsula, along with their contributions to both Rome and western civilization. Emphasis is placed not only on their technical mastery of terra cotta and metals such as gold and bronze but also on how their material culture reveals their unique social values, customs and beliefs\u2014when viewed together, the goal was to highlight one of Italy\u2019s richest and most innovative pre-Roman civilizations.\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several artifacts have never before been exhibited in the\u00a0U.S.,\u00a0including\u00a0the Piacenza Liver (a bronze model of a sheep\u2019s liver inscribed with the names of Etruscan deities and which was used by priests to interpret messages from their gods), the\u00a0<\/span>liber\u00a0linteus\u00a0zagrabiensis\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(a religious text written on linen which was preserved because it was later used as the\u00a0binding for an Egyptian mummy) and the\u00a0<\/span>Ombra\u00a0di San Gimignano\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(a bronze votive of a priest in a quintessentially Etruscan elongated and abstract style).\u00a0Lenders include\u00a0numerous\u00a0Italian museums and foundations, as well as the\u00a0Mus\u00e9e\u00a0du\u00a0Louvre, the British Museum,\u00a0the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What did your presentation cover?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

My presentation, \u201cMirrors, Myths & Matrons: Reflections on Etruscan Art and Society,\u201d focused on a quintessentially Etruscan artifact\u2014the bronze mirror\u2014\u00a0whose\u00a0sheer number and craftsmanship make it one of our most important sources of evidence for understanding their society.\u202fWhile mirrors have been found in the tombs of males and there is nothing to suggest that their use,\u00a0similar to\u00a0the wearing of jewelry, was limited by gender in Etruria, both archaeological and artistic data reveal a special association between mirrors and elite matrons.\u00a0Far more than grooming tools, these objects signaled a matron\u2019s wealth and social standing and were even used as instruments of divination, especially at weddings.\u00a0What also sets the Etruscans\u2019\u202fmirrors\u202fapart from other ancient Mediterranean examples is\u202ftheir engraved or relief decorations, especially on their non-reflecting sides, which include scenes of\u202fmyth, ritual\u00a0and\u00a0domesticity\u202fthat\u00a0reveal the interests,\u00a0values\u00a0and\u00a0visual literacy of their\u202fowners. My presentation focused on the six mirrors and one bone mirror handle that were on display in the exhibition, each of which revealed something unique about Etruscan art and society.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me about the two articles you wrote\u00a0for\u00a0the exhibition.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

For the catalogue\u00a0accompanying\u00a0the exhibition, I co-authored two essays.\u00a0For the section\u00a0\u201cArt and Iconography,\u201d I\u00a0co-wrote\u00a0\u201cEngraved Mirrors and\u00a0<\/span>Cistae<\/span><\/i>;\u201d and for the section\u00a0\u201cCultural Identity and Gender,\u201d I\u00a0co-wrote\u00a0\u201cCustoms and Social Practices: Women in Etruria.\u201d The first essay provided an overview of two important\u202fEtruscan object types associated with women: bronze mirrors, which were used both for grooming and divination and whose engraved imagery significantly augments our understanding of local beliefs, customs\u00a0and ideologies; and\u00a0<\/span>cistae<\/span><\/i>, cylindrical bronze toiletry boxes also enhanced with engraved imagery.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second essay considered the centrality of elite women within Etruscan society by outlining certain customs and social practices not found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean. These include the Etruscan onomastic system which had, as its fundamental unit, a family name which was inherited by freeborn offspring from their father at birth and which women\u00a0maintained\u00a0even after marriage.\u00a0Funerary\u00a0art and grave goods further\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0the wealth that some women amassed during their lifetimes, along with their status and taste for international wares, while art found in sanctuaries highlights their roles as priestesses and devotees.\u00a0All in all, elite Etruscan women enjoyed privileges that have earned them a reputation for being among the most \u201cmodern\u201d and \u201cindependent\u201d for their time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexandra\u00a0A.\u00a0Carpino, a\u00a0professor of comparative cultural studies and associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters, was one of four scholars invited to present at\u00a0an\u00a0opening day symposium\u00a0for\u00a0the first international exhibition of Etruscan art in the United States\u00a0since 2009.\u00a0She\u00a0answered a few quick Qs\u00a0about her presentation\u00a0at San Francisco\u2019s Legion of\u00a0Honor Museum, the two articles she co-wrote for…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1830],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jacks-in-a-flash"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78353"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78360,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78353\/revisions\/78360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}