3. 3
Etruscan History
• Etruscans occupied the Tuscany region between Florence and Rome
from 1000-100 bce.
• Know little of their writing, elaborate tombs have survived. What we do
know from Greek historian Herodotus.
• Believed by reading signs in natural world would know the will of gods:
entrails of sacrificed animals, lightening strikes, flight of birds.
• Individual city-states: warred among selves, didn’t unite and gradually
taken over.
• Under attack of Romans: promised gods richer and greater temples if
helped fight alongside: had to give up in terrible slaughter.
• Taught Romans city planning and grid system, to build bridges, drainage
systems, and aqueducts.
• Civilization coincides with Greek Archaic period.
4. 4
Human-headed cinerary urn and urns shaped as Etruscan
homes
• Tombs
complete with
objects needed
in the afterlife.
• Cinerary urns
used to hold
remains: at first
abstract, later
given facial
features and
appearance of
the deceased.
• Also often in
form of
Etruscan
houses with
thatched roofs
(house for the
dead).
5. 5
Metalworking, Women
• Known for great mineral wealth: iron, tin, copper, silver all
mined. Prosperity from export of metal ore. Etruscan artists
excelled at metalworking.
• Women played larger role in public life than Greece:
elaborate jewelry showed their rank.
• Women retained their own names, could legally own property,
attended sports events with men.
6. 6
Scene and diagram of back of mirror,
Etruscan
• Zeus deceiving Hera into nursing Herakles
(sign of acceptance and adoption, son of
mortal woman). Hera pulls away; milk
spurted into heavens, created the Milky Way.
• Here she willingly nurses, Herakles as an
adult: acceptance as a god and attainment of
immortality.
• Bronze mirrors
used only by
women, found
in graves and
show their
literacy with
writing on the
back.
• Often
mythological
scenes.
7. 7
*Figure 9-1 Fibula with Orientalizing lions, from the Regolini-Galassi Tomb,
Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 650–640 BCE. Gold, approx. 1’ 1/2” high. Vatican Museums,
Rome.
• Same time as Orientalizing
period of Greece.
• Fibula, fastens woman’s gown at
the shoulder, lions in relief above
and below, lower also winged
(oriental element) separated by
ducks in the round.
8. 8
Figure 9-2 Model of a typical Etruscan temple of the sixth century BCE, as described by Vitruvius.
Istituto di Etruscologia e di Antichità Italiche, Università di Roma, Rome.
• Only stone
foundations
survive, upper
areas wood
and fired brick.
• Differs from
Greek:
Terracotta
decoration,
entrance at
the front
through
narrow
stairway,
columns only
• on front, made of wood, deep porch, on high podium, tile roof (lighter,
more widely spaced columns), roof used for sculpture rather than
pediment, had 3 cellas (rooms for Jupiter/Zeus, Juno/Hera, and
Minerva/Athena), solid side walls: overall heavier quality (Doric).
9. 9
Figure 9-3 Apulu (Apollo), from the roof of the Portonaccio Temple, Veii,
Italy, ca. 510–500 BCE. Painted terracotta, approx. 5’ 11” high. Museo
Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.
• Originally
scene depicts
the labors of
Herakles,
Apollo strides
over to help
support.
• Etruscan
artists
preferred
terracotta
for
sculpture.
• Life size. Unlike Greek; shown clothed.
Stylized drapery and smile make Archaic.
Plunging motion, gesticulating arms,
animated face all Etruscan.
10. 10
*Figure 9-4 Sarcophagus with reclining couple, from Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 520 BCE. Painted terracotta, approx. 6’ 7” X 3’ 9
1/2”. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.
• Adopted Greek
symposium
(drinking party)
and banqueting
in reclining
position
(imported
hundreds of
vases).
• Husband and
wife on
banqueting
couch.
• Made to contain cremated remains: not bodies.
• Cast in four sections, no parallel in Greece: no monumental sarcophagi.
• Legs summarily modeled: transition to torso unnatural.
11. 11
• First time showing deceased alive and
enjoying selves.
• Once painted in bright colors.
• Covering shows marital status.
• Like Greek Archaic: smiles, stylized hair.
Cap for women and parted hair for men.
• Artists interest in upper half of figures:
especially the face and hands (areas
most used in expression, carriers of
grace).
• Public displays of affection unheard of in
Greece: men consorted openly with
prostitutes.
• Inscriptions often gave name of both
father and mother of deceased.
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*Figure 9-5 Aerial view of Banditaccia necropolis, Cerveteri, Italy, seventh to second centuries BCE.
• Tumulus
• Each covering one or more subterranean multi-chambered tombs cut out
of tufa which hardens after being exposed to air.
• Sometimes diameters in excess of 130 feet.
• Necropolis arranged along network of streets: effect of cities and
houses of living.
13. 13
Figure 9-6 Plan of the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, Cerveteri,
Italy, second half of the sixth century BCE.
14. 14
*Figure 9-7 Interior of the Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, Italy, third century BCE.
• Mirrors
room in
houses of
time.
• Cutting rock
into a series
of beds,
armchairs,
and rooms,
complete
with ceiling
beams,
framed
doorways
and
windows.
• Made to accommodate several generations of a single family.
• Stools, mirrors, cups, knives, pitchers, frescoes, small domestic animals
and busts of the deceased suggest domestic context.
15. 15
• Later funerary art starts to
contain demons of death:
human destiny in hands of
supernatural forces.
• Demons become more
fearful, battling for soul of
the deceased.
• Snake-legged demon and 3
-headed dog (probably
Cerberus: guards gates to
underworld) picture at the
back.
16. 16
Figure 9-8 Leopards, banqueters, and musicians, detail of mural paintings in the Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia, Italy, ca.
480–470 BCE.
• Underground
burial at Tarquinia
not covered in
tumuli or carved
like homes.
• Painted tombs
rare: privilege of
wealthiest
families.
• Leopards guard at
back pediment.
• Exaggerated
gestures and
hands.
• Many have been found since archaeologists started using periscopes to
see underground.
• Banqueting couples: men dark, women light bent at waist being
entertained by musicians (lyre and double flute). Man holding egg:
symbolizes regeneration.
17. 17
Figure 9-9 Diving and fishing, mural paintings in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 530–520 BCE.
• Interest in nature: on all four walls.
• Youth dives off rock, others fish from boat, aim slingshots at birds.
• Joyful and lighthearted scene.
18. 18
Later Etruscan
• In 509 the Romans (who had been ruled by the Etruscans) revolted and
expelled kings, 4th century began to take over territory. Veii fell,
Tarquinia annexed, Cerveteri also.
• Number of Etruscan tombs and quality of furnishings decreased.
• Early Roman History: Romulus and Remus the twin sons of Mars and
a mortal woman who was imprisoned. Both left to die by wicked uncle
and set out on the water crying. Heard by a wolf who came and
suckled them. Later a shepherd came and brought them to his home
for his wife to raise.
• When they reached adulthood, the twins decided to build a city near
the spot the wolf had rescued them, in 753 bce. Afterward, had a statue
of a wolf and sometimes even a life wolf standing on Capitoline hill.
According to tradition, original bronze struck by lightening and buried.
Romulus becomes the first king of Rome.
19. 19
*Figure 9-10
Capitoline Wolf,
from Rome, ca.
500–480 BCE.
Bronze, approx. 2’ 7
1/2” high. Palazzo
dei Conservatori,
Rome.
• From Etruscan workshop, except for babies (Renaissance additions).
• Tense, watchful body, spare flanks, gaunt ribs, powerful legs. Lowered
neck, alert eyes and muzzle capture protective beast when sensing
approaching danger.
• Stylized fur like Greek Archaic.
• Hollow
cast
bronze.
21. 21
Figure 9-11 Chimera of Arezzo,
from Arezzo, Italy, first half of
fourth century BCE. Bronze,
approx. 2’ 7 1/2” high. Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.
• 1 century after wolf;
originally had an
enemy about to be
attacked.
• Greek invented
monster: head and
body of lion, tail of
serpent, head of goat
growing from the left
side.
• Muscles taunt over rib
cage, ruff around neck
and spine still stylized.
• Glass paste eyes
added after.
22. 22
Figure 9-12 NOVIOS PLAUTIOS, Ficoroni Cista, from
Palestrina, Italy, late fourth century BCE. Bronze, approx. 2’
6” high. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.
• Container for women’s toiletries,
commissioned by a woman (shows
their importance) made by a Roman
artist (area gaining influence).
• Sheet bronze, cast handles and feet.
• Engraved bodies produced in large
numbers, popular as gifts for living
and dead.
• Frieze: Jason and the Argonauts in
the search of the golden fleece.
• Figures from Greek source: ¾ view,
placed on levels.
23. 23
Figure 9-13 Porta
Marzia (Gate of
Mars), Perugia, Italy,
second century
BCE.
• Perugia
formed
alliance
with
Rome:
spared
destruction.
Some walls
of city still
stand.
• Opening formed by voussoirs. First made by Etruscans, later Romans
use in architecture (triumphal arches etc.)
• Half figure of Jupiter flanked by sons and horses between fluted
pilasters.
24. 24
Figure 9-14 Sarcophagus of Lars Pulena, from Tarquinia, Italy, early second century BCE. Tufa, approx. 6’
6” long. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia.
• Sarcophagus
made of local
stone, not
terracotta.
• By himself,
not at banquet,
expression
somber.
• Frieze:
deceased in
underworld
attacked by
two charuns
swinging lethal
hammers.
• On lid holding unfurled scroll with record of life’s accomplishments:
lacks confidence in a happy afterlife, dwells on past instead.
25. 25
Figure 9-15 Aule Metele (Arringatore), from Cortona, near Lake
Trasimeno, Italy, early first century BCE. Bronze, approx. 5’ 7” high.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.
• Magistrate raising arm to address
assembly, modern nickname Orator.
• Roman officials name inscribed on
hem, laced together boots and folded
drapery toga also show Roman
official.
• Produced during Social War of 1st
century, conferring Roman citizenship
to all inhabitants of Italy.
