ART HISTORY 208 TERM SHEET
Etruscan/Roman
Etruscans:
origins unclear: indigenous to Italy or
migrants from Asia Minor
language largely undeciphered; does not
appear to be Indo-European
core area was Tuscany in Italy—rich in
metallic resources, especially iron
extensive commercial trade
practice of cremation, use of cremation urns;
elaborate tombs used for family burials
polytheistic; much influence from Greece
advanced in engineering: irrigation &
drainage; elaborate town planning
Augurs, “Disciplina etrusca”
Portonaccio Temple, Veii, ca. 500 BC
-not peripteral; Etruscan temples are frontal
-use of “Tuscan” columns
-greater use of structural wood, terracotta
decoration than contemporary Greek temples
-3 chambers: probably for Tinia, Uni,
Menrva—similar to Roman “Capitoline Triad” of
Jupiter (=Zeus), Juno (=Hera), and Minerva
(=Athena)
Human headed Funerary Urn, c. 675-650 BCE
-made of terracotta
-head & shoulders—Etruscans often
emphasize head & face
Etruscan Cemetery of La Banditaccia, 7th-4th
centuries BCE
Sarcophagus (coffin) from Cerveteri, 520 BCE,
terracotta (couples often shown together)
Tomb of the Lionesses, Musicians & 2 Dancers,
Tarquinia, c. 520
-tombs at Tarquinia are painted, don’t have
relief decoration
Apollo from Veii, 500 BCE
Burial Chamber, Tomb of Reliefs, Cerveteri, 3rd
c. BC
Cerberus, stucco, family dog
DETAILS: Tools
Pillar
Bust Portraits/Pillars
Capitoline She-Wolf, 500 BC (the kids are
Renaissance additions)
-According to Roman history, founders of
Rome, Romulus & Remus, were nursed by a wolf
after being abandoned in a basket in a river.
Bronze Chimera of Arezzo, c. 375 BC
-Bellerophon was the hero who killed the
chimaera with help of winged horse, Pegasus
Bronze Mirror, 350 BCE
-Calchas, animal
Orator (Aulus Metellus), e. 1st BC
-mix of Etruscan & Roman elements
By ca. 300 BC, nearly all Etruscans effectively
absorbed by growing Roman state. By 200 BC,
Etruscan language mostly replaced by Latin; by
ca. 50 AD, Etruscan was a dead language, known
only to a few antiquarians like the emperor
Claudius.