First, their faces are the same and in fact were most likely created from the same mold, a technique common in Etruscan terra cotta sculpture. Etruscan temples derive from Greek models but are distinguished by a high podium, deep porch, prostyle columns, and frontality. Etruscan temples were adapted from Greek- style temples to create a new Etruscan style, which, in turn would later influence Roman temple design.
The temple was only one part of the templum, the defined sacred space that includes the building, altar and other sacred ground , springs, and buildings. As in Greece and Rome , the altar used for sacrifice and ritual ceremonies was located outside the temple. Today only the foundations and terra cotta decorations of Etruscan temples remain, since the temples themselves were primarily built of wood and mud brick that eroded and degraded over time. The Etruscans used stone or tufa as the foundation of their temples.
Tufa is a local volcanic stone that is soft, easy to carve, and hardens when exposed to air. The superstructure of the temple was built from wood and mud brick. Stucco or plaster covered the walls and was either burnished to a shine or painted. Terra cotta roof tiles protected the organic material and increased the longevity and integrity of the building.
The foundation of an Etruscan temple at Orvieto : The central stairway highlights the frontality of the temple that once stood at this site. Archaeology and a written account by the Roman architect Vitruvius during the late first century BCE allow us to reconstruct a basic model of a typical Etruscan temple.
Etruscan temples were usually frontal, axial, and built on a high podium with a single central staircase that allowed access to the cella or cellas. The columns were of the Tuscan order, a derivative of the Doric order consisting of a simple shaft on a base with a simple capital.
A scale model of the Portonaccio Sanctuary of Minerva suggests that the bases and capitals of its columns were painted with alternating dark- and light-valued hues.
While most portico columns were made of wood, there is evidence that some were made of stone, as at Veii. They were tall and widely spaced across a deep porch, aligning with the walls of the cellas. A model of Portonaccio Sanctuary of Minerva : C. Etruscans often, although not always, worshiped multiple gods in a single temple.
In such cases, each god received its own cella that housed its cult statue. Often the three-cella temple would be dedicated to the principal gods of the Etruscan pantheon —Tinia, Uni, and Menrva comparable to the Roman gods Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
The wooden roof had a low pitch and was covered by a protective layer of terra cotta tiles. Eaves with wide overhangs helped to protect the organic material from rain. Ground plan of an Etruscan temple : Etruscan temples were usually frontal, axial, and built on a high podium with a single central staircase that allowed access to the cella or cellas.
However deviations did exist. It is clear that Etruscan temples could take a number of forms and also varied over the year period during which they were being made. Nevertheless, Vitruvius remains the inevitable starting point for a description and a contrast of Etruscan temples with their Greek and Roman equivalents. To further protect the roof beams from rain, insects, and birds, the end of each row of roof tiles was capped by an ornament known as an antefix. These flat ornaments were usually made of terra cotta from a mold, and were sometimes made of stone.
The antefixes were brightly painted and often depicted images female and male faces or simple geometric designs. The male faces were often representations of the Etruscan equivalent to Dionysus or his followers, including Silenus or fauns.
Although some antefixes depicted women, many of the female figures were representations of Gorgons, such as Medusa. The Gorgon-faced antefixes often showed a wide-eyed, circular face surrounded by either wings or snakes. The Gorgon and Dionysiac antefixes served apotropaic functions, intended to ward off evil and protect the temple site.
Antefix with the head of a Gorgon : The Gorgon and Dionysiac antefixes served apotropaic functions, intended to ward off evil and protect the temple site. This one is made of terra cotta, c. Antefix with a Silenus face : The male faces were often representations of the Etruscan equivalent to Dionysus or his followers, including Silenus or fauns.
For much of their history, the Etruscans did not decorate their temples in the Greek manner with friezes or pedimental sculptures. These akroteria figures were generally built slightly larger than life-sized and were connected thematically. The Apulu of Veii is one example of an akroteria and is part of a sculptural group that depicts the story of Herakles and the Ceryneaian Hind. Etruscan tombs, grave goods, and necropoleis provide invaluable evidence for the study of Etruscan society and culture.
Tombs and necropoleis are among the most excavated and studied parts of Etruscan culture. Scholars learn about Etruscan society and culture from the study of Etruscan funerary practice. Burial urns and sarcophagi, both large and small, were used to hold the cremated remains of the dead. Early forms of burial include the burial of ashes with grave goods in funerary urns and small ceramic huts.
Later, in the seventh century BCE, the Etruscans began burying their dead in subterranean family tombs. The necropoleis at Cerveteri and Tarquinia are the most well known for their tumuli and frescoed tombs. Hut urn : Etruscan cinerary hut urn with a door, made of impasto, 8th century BCE.
The grave goods found in these tombs point to the Etruscan belief in an afterlife that required the same types of goods and materials as in the world of the living. Many examples of Greek pottery have been recovered from Etruscan tombs. These vessels , along with other foreign goods, demonstrate the extent of the Etruscan trade network.
Painted scenes of frivolity, celebration, hunting, and religious practice tell the viewer about Etruscan daily life, rituals, their belief about the afterlife, and their social norms. The imagery and grave goods found in Etruscan tombs help inform the modern-day viewer about the nature of Etruscan society.
The tombs of the Banditaccia Necropolis outside Cerveteri were carved into large, circular mounds known as tumuli. Each tumulus was the burial site for a single family, and one to four underground tombs were cut into the round tumulus. Each tomb often represented a separate generation. The tombs were carved with a long, narrow entranceway known as a dromos that opened into a single or multi-room chamber.
Banditaccia Necropolis : This is current-day photo of the Banditaccia Necropolis, c. Most tombs assumed the shape and style of Etruscan homes.
The ceilings were often carved to represent wood roof beams. Thatching and decorative columns were often added to a room. The entrances and the individual rooms inside were often framed by doorways carved in a typical design.
Piers are topped with capitals carved in a stylized motif that resembles those from Corinthian columns. Each room contained beds or niches, sometimes with a carved tufa pillow, for the deposition of the body. The most recent tombs in Banditaccia date from the third century BCE. Some of are marked by external boundary posts called cippi singular cippus. Cylindrical cippi outside a tomb indicate that its occupants are male, while those in the form of small houses indicate female occupants.
Cippi outside a tomb in the Banditaccia necropolis : The phallic shape of these cippi indicates that men are interred in the tomb. The Tomb of the Reliefs is one of the most well known, largest, and richly decorated tombs from the Banditaccia Necropolis. This tomb is named for the numerous tufa reliefs of everyday objects inside. The walls and piers are covered in carved and painted reliefs of everyday objects including rope, drinking cups, pitches, mirrors, knives, helmets, and shields.
Not even companion animals were forgotten in the afterlife. A stretching cat adorns the base of the column on the left, while one in mid-motion stalking prey? Elsewhere in the tomb, mythological subject matter appears. In the center is a depiction of the three-headed dog, Cerberus, the guardian to the underworld. They emerged in what is now central Italy sometime around the 6th century BC. But there were hundreds of groups migrating around Europe at the same time, and the Etruscan language has been dead for more than a millennium.
So why should we care about these guys? They passed along elements of Greek civilization — like the invention of alphabetic writing — and essentially helped plant the seeds of Western culture. According to Herodotus, the story goes something like this : Around BC, there was a famine in Lydia in what is now western Turkey. But many of Herodotus' stories don't add up, says Gorbachov. So this Etruscan story tended to be dismissed too.
The Etruscan musical instruments seen in frescoes and bas-reliefs are different types of pipes, such as Pan pipes and double pipes, percussion instruments, and stringed instruments like the lyre. The only written records of Etruscan origin that remain are inscriptions, mainly funerary.
Otherwise, Etruscan literature is evidenced only in references by later Roman authors. The Architecture of the ancient Etruscans was derived from that of the Greeks, and went on to influence that of early Rome. Rome is located on the edge of what was the Etruscan homeland. Certain institutions and customs came directly from the Etruscans to Rome. In fact, the name of Rome itself has of Etruscan origin, as are the names of its legendary founders, Romulus and Remus.
There were strong Latin and Italic elements to Roman culture, and later Romans proudly celebrated these multiple origins. Before the Etruscan arrived undoubtedly as a ruling group , however, Rome was probably a collection of small farming settlements. The Etruscan elite provided it with its early political arrangements monarchy, army and urban infrastructure walls, forum, drainage system ; in short, it was probably they who turned Rome into a full-blown city-state.
The fasces symbolized magisterial power. Also, the word populus is of Etruscan derivation, and originally referred to the people assembled for war, as an army, rather than the general populace. In thus helping to shape Roman civilization, the Etruscans had an enduring influence on later Western culture.
The Greeks in Italy. Greek civilization. Early Rome. The Greek polytheistic approach was similar to the Etruscan religious and cultural base. As the Romans emerged from the legacy created by both of these groups, it shared in a belief system of many gods and deities.
Knowledge of the Etruscan language is still far from complete. It is believed that the Etruscans spoke a non-Indo-European language, probably related to what is called the Tyrsenian language family, which is itself an isolate family, or in other words, unrelated directly to other known language groups.
This was possibly based upon the Etruscan preference for building hill towns on high precipices that were enhanced by walls. The word may also be related to the city of Troy, which was also a city of towers, suggesting large numbers of migrants from that region into Etruria. Historians have no literature, or original Etruscan religious or philosophical texts, on which to base knowledge of their civilization. So much of what is known is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.
Historians have no literature or original Etruscan religious or philosophical texts on which to base knowledge of their civilization, so much of what is known is derived from grave goods and tomb findings. Princely tombs did not house individuals, but families who were interred over long periods. The decorations and objects included at these sites paint a picture of Etruscan social and political life.
For instance, wealth from trade seems to have supported the rise of aristocratic families who, in turn, were likely foundational to the Etruscan oligarchic system of governance. Indeed, at some Etruscan tombs, physical evidence of trade has been found in the form of grave goods, including fine faience ware cups, which was likely the result of trade with Egypt.
Additionally, the depiction of married couples on many sarcophagi provide insight into the respect and freedoms granted to women within Etruscan society, as well as the emphasis placed on romantic love as a basis for marriage pairings. Although many Etruscan cities were later assimilated by Italic, Celtic, or Roman ethnic groups, the Etruscan names and inscriptions that survive within the ruins provide historic evidence of the range of settlements constructed by the Etruscans.
Etruscan cities flourished over most of Italy during the Roman Iron Age. According to ancient sources, some cities were founded by the Etruscans in prehistoric times, and bore entirely Etruscan names.
Others were later colonized by the Etruscans from Italic groups. Nonetheless, relatively little is known about the architecture of the ancient Etruscans. What is known is that they adapted the native Italic styles with influence from the external appearance of Greek architecture.
Etruscan architecture is not generally considered part of the body of Greco-Roman classical architecture. Though the houses of the wealthy were evidently very large and comfortable, the burial chambers of tombs, and the grave-goods that filled them, survived in greater numbers.
In the southern Etruscan area, tombs contain large, rock-cut chambers under a tumulus in large necropoli. There is some debate among historians as to whether Rome was founded by Italic cultures and then invaded by the Etruscans, or whether Etruscan cultural objects were adopted subsequently by Roman peoples. In other words, it is unclear whether Etruscan cultural objects are influences upon Roman culture, or part of native Roman heritage. Among archaeologists, the main criteria for deciding whether or not an object originated in Rome, or descended to the Romans from the Etruscans, is the date of the object, which is often determined by process of carbon dating.
After this process, the opinion of ancient sources is consulted. Although Diodorus of Sicily wrote in the 1st century of the great achievements of the Etruscans, little survives or is known of it. Most Etruscan script that does survive are fragments of religious and funeral texts.
However, it is evident, from Etruscan visual art, that Greek myths were well known.
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