Sarcophagus of the Spouses

A married couple reclining together on a funerary couch in polychrome terracotta — both full of life and warmth, leaning toward each other in affectionate conversation. Carved in Caere around 520 BC, it has a spontaneous emotional vitality that feels shockingly modern. The Etruscan concept of death as continuation of life — husband and wife sharing the couch equally in the afterlife — is movingly different from any Greek or Roman funerary convention.