The iconography of the Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia is discussed, emphasizing the importance of elements intended to protect against the Evil Eye. Recognition is also made of the portrayal of sacrifice in the Troilos scene and of allusions to the voyage of the dead to the underworld in other elements of the decoration. The decoration of the Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia is more complex than readers of the standard treatments of Etruscan art may realize. The principal painting of the main wall of the outer chamber (placed directly opposite the entrance from the dromos, between the doorways to the two rear chambers) is the scene of Troilos approaching the fatal ambush set for him by Achilles (pl. 31, figs. 1-2). This painting is the earliest example of complex tomb decoration at Tarquinia.' Below the Troilos scene, and at both sides of the doorways to the inner chambers, there are painted small trees, two of them connected by a fillet. These trees are reminiscent of the foliage of other Tarquinian tombs. Above the Troilos scene there is a frieze running the length of the wall just above the two doorways. In the center is an inscription identifying one Arath Spuriana as the owner of the Tomb.2 At either side of the inscription there are two sets of figures, each composed of an obscene group and a bovine creature. The bovine of the left-hand set (pl. 31, fig. 1) is fully animal and is reclining with its head and horns in full frontal pose. To the right of the inscription there is a man-headed bull, an Acheloos, in a charging attitude (pl. 31, fig. 2). The obscene groups have been passed over in embarrassed silence by most commentators.3 At the top of the same wall, flanking the ridgepole support, a sphinx and the Chimaera, approaching from the left, meet a youth on horseback whose dress includes a Phrygian cap and who is followed by another bovine (ill. 1; pl. 31, figs. 1-2).4 Directly opposite the wall with the Troilos scene is the doorway from the dromos. Here too there are figured paintings in the "pediment" above the door (ill. 2a-b). There is little remaining of the right-hand section of this decoration. On the left, however, a youth is carried by a hippocamp toward shore while a dogheaded sea creature and bird follow. These "pedimental" groups of the main chamber are only two of six such compositions in the tomb found flanking the ridgepole support at the ends of each of the three chambers. The decorations of the inner chambers (ills. 3-6) are heraldic and are composed of a pair of bulls, a lion and "panther," a lion and goat, and a pair of hippocamps. These paintings, too, have attracted little attention. But before considering them and the problem of the obscene paintings and the "bulls," it would be well to take stock of what is known about the decoration of the tomb in general. First, heraldic animals are a normal element of the decoration of the implied architectural setting of the painted Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia. "Pedimental" groups of lions, "panthers," and hippocamps are found in tombs having no other figured painting.5 Whether one should consider these groups in the Tomb of the Bulls as mere decoration or attribute symbolic values to them depends on the interpretation of the Tomb's paintings as a whole and specifically on the interpretation of the obscene groups of the main wall and their associated bovine creatures. Second, the studies of Banti and Giuliano have established that the Troilos scene belongs to the repertoire of black-figure pottery made in Etruria (specifi1 Mid sixth-century B.C.; the tomb paintings are documented in detail by A. K6rte in AntDenk 2 (Berlin 1908) pls. 41-42, with accompanying text. Full illustration also by A. Giuliano, "Osservazioni sulle pitture della 'Tomba dei Tori' a Tarquinia," StEtr 37 (1969) 3-26 and E. Paschinger, "Die Gebelfresken in der Tomba dei Tori, Tarquinia," Antike Welt 14.2 (1983) 33-39 (color). 2 A.J. Pfiffig, Etruskische Bauinschriften (SB Wien 282, Bd. 4, 1972) 28-29, no. 11. IThey were described by K6rte and integrated into an interpretation of the Troilos scene by J.P. Oleson, "Greek Myth and Etruscan Imagery in the Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia," AJA 69 (1975) 184-200. 4 Because the Phrygian cap curves over onto the ceiling above the rider it is not visible in photographs but only in the watercolor reproduction by Kdrte (supra n. 1) pl. 41 from which our drawing is taken. 5 Tombs nos. 323 (dei Leoni di giada), 1646, 3698, 398 (dei Leoni rossi), 3098, 939, 2711 (dei Tritoni), and 905 (Bartoccini), all published in M. Moretti, Nuovi monumenti della pittura etrusca (Milan 1966).