We are at the Etruscan Museum of the Vatican Museums, which was opened by the pope Gregory XVI in the mid of the XIX century. Keep in mind that the Vatican Museums are made of several collections and sections, and this one dedicated to the etruscans is very appreciated by me. Why? Because it is a little bit off the beaten path, with the possibility for you to visit in a quiet way. Even for a local tour guide like me, who spends days and days at the Vatican Museums, is always a pleasure to walk through these rooms, with the visitors who want to know deeper the mysterious Etruscan civilization.

This incomplete bronze statue represents, even if it doesn't seem, an important historical document that opens a gash on the mysterious world of the etruscans. It is the so called Mars of Todi (a small italian city), that was sculpted, imagine, at the V century b.C. So more than two thousand of years ago. It represents the ancient God of War, and nothing strange if the name is the same one that you can hear about the greek and roman world, because several gods were simply the same between the different civilizations. We have to thank mainly the merchants and the trades if culture, gods, religion, goods and innovation were exchange in the ancient world (and another example of it is here). It is the reason why it is not a case if the style of this bronze statue is similar to that one of the ancient Greek. It is 141 cm tall and it looks like a greek hoplite that in the past was represented several time as a statue, sometimes in a polichrome way.

This statue was donated by Trahal Trutitis, an etruscan citizen that maybe for his social status or probably to simply thank Mars decided to erect a statue for the local temple. It is incredible to thank about how the original inscription is so well preserved and visible, since the V century b.C. It is written: "Ahal Trutitis dunum dede", which means "Ahal Trutitis has offered as gift [the statue]". An important epigraph that is able to be read but, moreover, is able to show us a mix of two and mysterious ancient languages: the etruscan and the umbra ones (the last is related to the region where Todi is located). A real historical document! Anyway we are simply lucky to have the possibility to see the Mars of Todi after thousand of years, even if some original elements are missed (like the helmet and the podium, where the statue stood, which were not found). But what is  really important to understand is how a simple bronze work of art, host at the Vatican Museums, is able to tell us a lot about the culture and the civilization that produced it.