DENTAL ART AMONG THE ETRUSCANS.
Much earlier than the foundation of Rome (B.C. 753) there flourished
in that part of Middle Italy today called Tuscany the highly civilized
people known by the name of Etruscans or Toschi. Their political
organization had the form of a confederation of twelve principal
cities,[103] the federal capital being Tarquinii. The Etruscan people
were industrious, intelligent, and artistic in the highest degree,
possessing special skill in the decorative arts, splendid monuments,
some of which still remain to us; they were fond of luxury in all its
manifestations, and took great care of their persons; at the same time,
however, they were a laborious and courageous race, not only most
active and enterprising in agriculture, in art and commerce, but also
brave warriors and hardy navigators.
In their long sea voyages the Etruscans frequently visited Egypt and
Phœnicia, trading especially in the more flourishing cities, which
were at that time Memphis in Egypt, and Tyre and Sidon in Phœnicia.
On the other hand, the Phœnicians, who were also active merchants and
navigators, not only visited Etruria and other regions of Italy very
frequently, but also established numerous colonies in many islands of
the Mediterranean, and especially in those nearer to Italy.
This continual intercourse between Etruscans, on the one side, and
Egyptians and Phœnicians, on the other, accounts for the great
influence exercised by the Egyptian and Phœnician civilization upon
the later developed Etruscan culture—an influence manifesting itself
very distinctly in the works of art of the latter, which often have an
altogether Oriental character, and not seldom represent scenes drawn
from the domestic life of the Egyptians and Phœnicians.[104]
[Illustration: FIG. 10, FIG. 11, FIG. 12
Dentures in terra-cotta, such as the Etruscans used to present to their
divinities as votive offerings in order to be cured, or after having
been cured of dental maladies.]
As to what concerns dental art, everything leads up to the belief that
it was practised by the Egyptians and Phœnicians earlier than by the
Etruscans, whose civilization, as already hinted, is certainly less
ancient. Nevertheless, in comparing the dental appliances found in the
Etruscan tombs with the sole authentic dental appliance of Phœnician
workmanship known at the present day,[105] we cannot but be struck
with the great superiority of the Etruscan appliances. It is therefore
probable that the Etruscans, although they had learned the dental art
from the Egyptians and Phœnicians, had subsequently carried it to a
much higher degree of perfection than it had arrived at in Egypt or in
Phœnicia. An analogous fact has come to pass in our own times. Dental
art in America, which emanated from the French and English schools,
soon took on so vigorous a development as indisputably to acquire first
rank.
Before describing in detail the dental appliances found up to now in
Etruscan tombs, we will consider a question touching very closely upon
the argument which we are treating and which has already been discussed
in Professor Deneffe’s book, already cited.
How is it that the dental appliances of the Phœnicians, Greeks,
Etruscans, and Romans should have come down to us, notwithstanding
cremation?
In the first place, if one reflects that the teeth offer an altogether
special resistance to the action of fire, and if one also remembers
that gold was the substance employed for the construction of the
appliances in question, and that this metal does not melt save at a
very high temperature, it no longer appears marvellous if, in many
cases at least, the dental appliances should have been able to resist
the cremating process.
In the second place, the cremation may possibly sometimes have been
incomplete—that is to say, the skeleton may not have been altogether
reduced to ashes; therefore, among the residuum of this incomplete
combustion, a piece of a jaw may easily have remained, and incidentally
also its prosthetic appliance.
But besides all this, it must be considered that the custom of burning
corpses was not at all general among ancient people. Indeed, cremation
was not in use either among the Egyptians, the Phœnicians, the Hebrews,
or the Chinese; the Greeks only resorted to it in exceptional cases.
The most ancient tombs of the Etruscans show that at the epoch of their
settling in Italy, cremation was in general use among them. But little
by little, as they entered into commercial relations with the Egyptian,
the Phœnician, and the Greek peoples, who did not burn their dead, the
custom of burial substituted that of cremation. Toward the end of the
sixth century before Christ there were to be found in southern Etruria,
one beside the other, tombs for the burial of corpses and others for
cremation.
One sometimes finds in one and the same tomb a cinerarium (urn for
conserving ashes) and skeletons enclosed in sarcophagi or resting on
mortuary couches.
At Tarquinii and Orvieto burial generally prevails.
In the fifth century B.C., the epoch in which the Law of the Twelve
Tables was promulgated, burial and cremation were equally in use among
the Romans. In the second century of the Christian era burial was
already prevalent, and through the influence of Christianity became
general during the third and fourth centuries.[106]
[Illustration: FIG. 13
Tooth crowns found in an Etruscan tomb of the ancient
Vitulonia (Archæological Museum of Florence). The
enamel-capsules of these teeth (four molars and one
canine) are perfectly well preserved, whilst the ivory
has entirely disappeared.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14
The same tooth crowns of the preceding figure, seen from
the side of the concavity of the enamel capsules.]
Notwithstanding cremation, which certainly must have destroyed a great
number of the dental appliances of that time, and in spite of the many
different destructive agents which successively did their work on those
human remains during so many centuries, not a few prosthetic pieces of
Etruscan workmanship have come down to us; from which we may argue that
dental prosthesis was not an exceptional fact among this people, as
some may perhaps suppose, but, on the contrary, must have been a very
usual practice.
The dental appliances discovered up to now among Etruscan remains are
preserved in different Italian museums, with the exception of some few
existing in private collections or of others that have passed out of
Italy into other countries.
In the museum of Pope Julius in Rome there is a dental appliance found
at Valsiarosa in one of the many Etruscan tombs excavated in that
locality near Civita Castellana, the ancient Falerii (Fig. 15). This
appliance is formed by a series of four gold rings meant to encircle
four teeth (canine, bicuspids, and first molar). The third ring is
traversed by a pivot riveted at the two extremities, which was meant to
hold fast an artificial tooth (the second bicuspid); this is wanting,
however. One naturally puts the question. How is the disappearance of
this tooth to be accounted for, it having been traversed by the pivot,
which is still found in its place? The suppositions are two: Either the
artificial tooth was made of some not very durable material, which, in
the course of time, became reduced to powder or fell to pieces, or may
have been destroyed in some other way; or else the artificial tooth,
instead of being simply perforated to allow the pivot to pass through,
was cleft longitudinally at its base and, being introduced into the
ring sat, so to speak, astride the pivot. In the second case, which,
however, seems to me the less probable of the two, the tooth may merely
have come off the pivot and gotten lost.
In the Civic Museum of Corneto, the ancient Tarquinii, there are two
dental appliances, one of which (Figs. 16 and 17) is of the greatest
interest. It was found in one of the most ancient tombs in the
necropolis of Tarquinii. This specimen of prosthesis is formed of three
teeth; the two upper central incisors and the second bicuspid on the
left, which is no longer in existence.
[Illustration: FIG. 15
Etruscan appliance found at Valsiarosa, destined to support an
artificial bicuspid, now disappeared.]
To afford support and maintain the three artificial teeth in position,
the Etruscan dentist of about three thousand years ago, ingeniously
made use of the canine and the lateral incisor on the right, the
canine, the first bicuspid, and the first molar on the left, connecting
them by a continuous series of pure gold rings soldered together. The
dentist had not employed human teeth to replace the incisors which
the individual had lost; according to the religious laws of the time,
the dead were held sacred, and it would probably have been considered
sacrilege to use their teeth; or it may also be that the patient had
declared his aversion to the idea of substituting his own teeth by
those of a dead man. However this may be, the Etruscan dentist thought
well to replace the missing incisors with a somewhat large ox tooth;
upon this he had made a groove, so as to give it the appearance of two
teeth. In reality this ox tooth occupies the place not only of the two
middle incisors, but also of the lateral incisor on the left. Perhaps
by a natural anomaly the individual may never have had this tooth; or,
more probably still, some length of time may have elapsed between the
loss of one of the three and the other two, so that when he made up his
mind to have recourse to a prosthetic appliance, the space normally
occupied by the three incisors was already notably diminished, and
the void could therefore be filled by an ox tooth so adjusted as to
represent only two teeth.
[Illustration: FIG. 16
Etruscan appliance for supporting three artificial teeth, two of which
were made of one ox tooth. (Civic Museum of Corneto.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 17
The same appliance reversed.]
When I was intrusted with the reproduction of all the ancient
prosthetic pieces existing in the Italian museums, I met with special
difficulty in the reproduction of the above-mentioned piece; and this
because I could not succeed in procuring an ox tooth that was not
worn away by the effects of mastication. The idea then occurred to me
of sectioning the upper jaw of a calf at about the age of the second
dentition, and taking out the teeth, which were already strong and well
formed, but not yet deteriorated by mastication. I fancy my Etruscan
colleague must have done the same three thousand years ago, when he
carried out the prosthesis in question, for the large tooth employed by
him does not show any signs of being worn by mastication.
This large tooth is solidly fixed by means of two pivots to the gold
band that encircles it. Another pivot served to fix the second
bicuspid, also artificial. This tooth, as already stated, has now
disappeared, but the pivot that fixed it to its ring is still in its
place. In carrying out this prosthesis the dentist has contrived the
series of rings that support the teeth in such a manner that they
remained above the gum, and thus the harmful effects of contact and of
the pressure of an extraneous body was avoided. At the same time, this
arrangement, by distancing the rings from the dental neck that narrows
off conically, added to the firmness of the prosthesis.
[Illustration: FIG. 18
Etruscan appliance for supporting two inserted human teeth, one of
which is now wanting. (Civic Museum of Corneto.)]
Another dental appliance (Fig. 18) which is in the custody of the Civic
Museum of Corneto, was also found in a very old Etruscan tomb. It is
formed by two bands of rolled gold; one of these is labial, the other
lingual, and they are soldered together at their extremities, forming
by the help of four partitions, also of gold, five square spaces. Three
of these served for the reception of the natural teeth supporting
the prosthesis; the other two maintained, by means of pivots, two
inserted human teeth; one of these is lost; the other is still in
its place, solidly fixed by its pivot. These inserted human teeth,
by the religious laws we have before mentioned, could not have been
taken from corpses; probably they belonged to the person himself, and
having fallen out through alveolitis, had been reapplied in the manner
described above.
[Illustration: FIG. 19
Etruscan appliance supporting one inserted tooth (upper middle incisor
on the right) which is now disappeared. (Museum of the Conte Bruschi at
Corneto.)]
Two Etruscan dental appliances are to be found in the Museum of the
Conte Bruschi at Corneto: one is similar to those already described,
and the other, instead, is of a special kind. The first (Fig. 19) is
formed by a series of four rings, embracing the upper canine on the
right and the three neighboring incisors. It was destined to support
a single inserted tooth, the middle incisor on the right; this has
disappeared, while the pivot by which it was fixed to the ring is still
there, as well as the three natural teeth that afforded support to the
appliance.
[Illustration: FIG. 20
Etruscan appliance intended to avoid the bad effects of convergence,
or, perhaps, to support a purely ornamental artificial substitute.
(Museum of Conte Bruschi at Corneto.)]
The other appliance (Fig. 20) is formed by two rings; the one surrounds
the left upper canine, the other the left middle incisor. Between these
two rings there is not the usual ring crossed by a pivot, but simply
a small horizontal bar of gold soldered to the two rings. I suppose
that the person not liking to wear false teeth (one meets with this
repugnance also at the present day), the dentist has limited himself to
putting a horizontal bar of gold between the two teeth on either side
of the missing one, in order to maintain them in their normal position
and so avoid the bad effects of convergence.
[Illustration: FIG. 21
Dental appliance still adhering to the jaw, discovered in an Etruscan
necropolis near Orvieto, and now in the possession of the Ghent
University.]
Another ancient dental appliance discovered in an Etruscan necropolis
near Orvieto is now in the possession of the Ghent University, to
which it was sold.[107] It still adheres to a piece of upper jaw (Fig.
21), in which there are four teeth on each side, that is, on the right,
the canine, the two bicuspids, and the first molar; on the left, the
canine, the second bicuspid, and the two first molars. The alveoli of
the four incisors are of normal width and depth, this signifying that
these teeth remained in their places until the end of life. The dental
appliance, still supported by this fragment of a jaw, is made of the
purest gold. It is composed of a small band curved back upon itself,
the ends being soldered together, and, by the aid of two partitions,
also of pure gold, it forms three compartments, two small lateral
ones, and one centre one of double the size. The lateral compartment
on the right contains the canine of the same side; that on the left
must have contained the left central incisor, that has now disappeared,
while the large central compartment must evidently have contained the
two incisors on the right side. As there is no pivot in the whole
appliance, and as the alveoli are not obliterated, there can be no
doubt that the appliance was simply destined to prevent the loss of the
two right incisors by keeping them steady.
[Illustration: FIG. 22
The same piece as in the preceding figure, seen from the palatal side.]
It is to be noted, with regard to the Etruscan dental appliances above
described, that the gold bands of which they were constructed covered
a considerable part of the dental crown, so that these prosthetic
appliances certainly could not have had the pretension of escaping
the notice of others, they being, on the contrary, most visible. It
is in consequence to be surmised that in those times the wearing of
false teeth and other kinds of dental appliance was not a thing to be
ashamed of; indeed, that it rather constituted a luxury, a sort of
refinement only accessible to persons of means. Besides this, as the
gold in which these works were carried out was of the purest quality
and in consequence very soft, the appliances would not have possessed
sufficient solidity if the softness of the pure gold had not been
counteracted by the width and thickness of the bands or strips.
[Illustration: FIG. 23
Etruscan appliance (found in 1865 in a tomb by Cervetri), destined
perhaps to support a purely ornamental artificial substitute.
(Belonging to Castellani’s collection, Rome.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 24
A reproduction of the gold piece forming the appliance seen in Fig. 23.]
In those of the Etruscan appliances destined for the application of
inserted teeth, the gum was not made to support the prosthesis, and did
not, therefore, suffer any compression from the extraneous body, this
resting entirely, like a bridge, upon the neighboring teeth. From which
it may be seen that twenty-five centuries and more before our time the
Etruscans dentists already practised a system of bridge work, and,
relatively to the age, carried it out with sufficient ability.