Trascrizione
In about 1732, the prominent Roman family, the Corsinis, funded excavations so they could build a chapel inside the basilica of Saint John Lateran.
This wonderful – and rather mysterious – throne emerged. Roman? Etruscan? On the base we see several figures, but what could they be discussing? There are scenes of sacrifices, battles and processions.
The Etruscans were fond of funerary thrones, but made them in bronze. This is a marble piece, however.
It must be a Late-Republican Roman copy of an Etruscan prince’s throne from the latter 5th century BC. A symbol that was intended as proof of a royal blood line. But for whom? Urgulània, an Etruscan noble who became the most important of the Plautii Silvani family women.