ETRUSCANS - CHAPTER 9
-Arrived Italy c.1100-800 BCE
-settled north-central region= Tuscany
-Florence, north of Rome
-Etruria emerged west coast of Italy 8th cent BCE
-Emerged as a distinctive people
-fusion of indigenous and immigrant peoples
-City states, common lang & culture
-Herodotus said they immigrated "from Lydia in Asia Minor"
-Contempories of Romans
-called Tusci by Romans
-traded and competed with Romans
-Imported many Greek objects, espec painted vases
-admired Greek art but distinctive Etruscan style emerged
-no Greek equivalents to Etruscan tomb paintings nor sarcophagi
-Major sites= Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Bulci, & Veii
-prosperous cities engaged in internatinal commerce
-developed taste for luxury items, e.g. fig 9-1, Fibula
-remained independent, not a "nation"
-7th century= under Grk influence
-seafaring, farmers, metalworkers
-important iron, tin, copper & silver mines
-Rome overthrew Etruscan kings in 509 BCE
-Rome forms Roman Republic
-Art periods mimic those of Greece
-Valid?
Architecture
-Most cities destroyed by Romans
-many basements & fragments survive
-temple= raised platform, wood, painted terracotta roofs
-column somewhat like Doric, but wood, no flutes
-portico is almost half of temple
-Etruscan order called Tuscan by Romans
-SEE: 9-2, Model of temple
-incorporated Grk elements, BUT distinctly differed
-columned portico, 3-part cella for 3 main deities
-columns=plain shaft, with base
-terracotta sculpture on roof
-Etruscan Tinia, Uni, Minerva=Roman Zeus, Hera, Athena
-no friezes, metopes, trigylphs
QUESTION= Is the comparison to Greek valid?
Sculpture
-large terracotta figures (on temple roofs)
-great technical skill, clay firing
-frontal, "Archaic" smile
-SEE: Apulu, (Apollo) of Veii, fig 9-3
-skilled metal workers, jewelry made of gold, 9-1
-Eastern influences, "orientalizing"
Tombs & sarcophagi
-tomb chambers below ground
-resembled houses
-walls plastered, painted
-furnished, SEE: 9-7, & 9-8
SEE: Sarcophagus from Cerveteri, fig 9-4
-animated Etruscan couple
-speaks to intimacy between husband and wife
-SEE: article The Audacity of Etruscan Women, p237
Later Etruscan Art
-509 BCE= Etruscan kings expelled by Romans
-474 BCE= destruction of Etruscan navy
-number and quality of Etruscan tombs diminished
-still some artists flourished, bronze casting, SEE: Capitoline Wolf, 9-10
-emblem of Rome but from Etruscan workshop
-Veii fell to Romans in 396 BCE
-Etruscan or Roman? = Good Question
SEE: 9-15, Aule Metele
-lifesize bronze portrait, confident magistrate
-probably safe to say the Etruscan art morphed into Roman art