On a series of eight cinerary urns a wolf – or a strange figure represented either by a wolf-head or with headgear in the shape of a wolf’s head – emerges from a well and tries to grasp a man. Around it, there is a group of armed men trying to prevent it from coming out of the well by holding it back with a chain around its neck. On five of these urns, a winged female demon appears behind the feral figure, holding a torch. These urns date back to the Hellenistic period and probably preserve the memory of an original Etruscan myth that ancient Greek and Latin sources have not handed down.

Wolves and death

Common in all representations is the theme of death, as confirmed by the presence of the female winged demon. In many representations, such as the tomb paintings of Tarquinia, the function of this figure is to accompany the deceased on his journey to the afterlife.

In the paintings of two