Masculin/féminin dans la culture étrusque : un cas limite

Abstract

This contribution sets up to question the function, or rather the functioning of ornaments in the Etruscan context. The system of ornaments is not only symbolic, but also an active dynamic system: not only does it signal a status, whatever it is, but it also legitimizes and sanctions it. Ornaments are worn during precise stages of the human destiny, related to its metamorphoses, in all the moments of transformation of the body, which correspond to changes of statuses (rites of passage): so many limits to be crossed… Moreover, if one assesses the modality of the uses of ornaments, revealing a true system in harmony with Etruscan cosmology, one observes a specific operation, of which one of the salient points would be an indeterminacy of gender: the majority of men and women share the same elements. Nevertheless, this specificity ignores one of the essential functions of the ornament in social terms, those of the differentiation of the sexes. Thus, we observe that the masculine and the feminine do not seem to function in a system of oppositions, but of asymmetric conjunction. We, therefore, argue for a revaluation of this hypothesis where the masculine/feminine limits obey specific norms.