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A Latté in 600 BC. Starbucks and the Etruscan’s.
Posted by Sam Meers on Tuesday | May 25th, 2010
We visited an Etruscan tomb while we were in Italy earlier this month. The Etruscan’s lived in the Tuscany and Umbria regions of Italy, north of Rome, well before the Roman Empire came to be. The Etruscan civilization was at its peak at about 600 to 700 BC.
Our host for the tour of the tomb was the owner of the villa in which we were staying. Isabella Barlocher Moricciani, and her husband, Carlo, own the property in which the tomb can be found. It’s nestled into a hill near the town of Pienza, not far from their farm. I have to admit, it’s pretty cool to own an Etruscan tomb. It’s just not something you see every day — at least not in Missouri.
Archaeologists have yet to excavate the tomb because of lack of funding — and the fact that there are thousands of archaeological sites all over Italy that need to be excavated. This one is on the list, but no one knows how long it will be before it is fully explored.
Isabella explained many aspects of the tomb, including its more recent history as a hermitage for monks in the 15th century. And how locals used unexploded ordinance from WWII to blow parts of the tombs carvings apart after the war to sell as Italian artifacts.
But perhaps the most interesting carving in the tomb was this one. It’s a split tail siren — a mermaid, if you will. The split tail siren was a sign of fertility. But that’s not what makes it interesting. The interesting fact about this image is that it is the basis for the Starbucks logo.
The original Starbucks logo hangs in Pike Place Market in Seattle. You can see the strong resemblance of the two. According to Starbucks, their logo came from a Norse woodcarving from the 15th century. Obviously, this symbol is much older than the 15th century. And, you’ll note, the most recent iteration of the Starbucks logo is much more stylized than the original. And significantly more PG.
In any event, it was cool to see a yet undocumented and unexplored Etruscan tomb. And it was even cooler to find such a icon of pop culture has its roots in a society that disappeared from the face of the Earth in 200 BC.Leave a Reply
May 26, 2010 | 8:21 am
Hi Sam — that was really interesting, who would have thought it!! Your vacation/trip sounds so cool. I lived in Italy for a year in 1975, and have traveled back there several times since then. One of my favorite places!!
Best,
Sheree
May 26, 2010 | 8:28 am
Thanks Sheree. Yes, it is amazing. Perhaps the P&G logo has roots that go back that far, but there aren't many. We loved the two weeks in Italy. I would go back in a minute.