6. etruscan

9/27 Warm-Up

Compare and Contrast the two works. Label and fully identify.

Etruscan Art

Etruscan: Etymology

Romans Called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci

Origins of the terms Tuscany and Etruria (the wider region)

Attic Greek called them Tyrsenoi.

Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, Rasna.

Etruscan: Culture

No known prehistory. No literature no texts

of religion or philosophy.

How do we know about them at all?

Expansion of influence into the Italian peninsula due to iron and copper mining

Etruscan: Roman Influence Etruscan

settlements were built on a hill. Why?

Romulus and Remus founded Rome using Etruscan rituals. What are they?

Etruscan: Society

State system, former chiefdoms and tribal forms.

Theocracy. Sound familiar?

Family tombs of the aristocratic family. Parallels the gens at Rome.

Etruscan Artistic Themes

The strengths and power of Family Strong women’s

rights in many areas as a divergence from earlier Greece, and later Italy

Bonfante and the nude embrace

Etruscan Artistic Themes

Dates back to Bronze Age and Iron Age Asia Minor

Pinnacle coincides with the Greek archaic period.

Etruscan Art: Timeline

800-650 BCE: Orientalising period

650-500 BCE – Archaic period

500-300-BCE – Classical period

300-100 BCE – Late phase; absorbed into Roman Culture

Etruscan Funerary Art

Excelled in portraying humans.

Cremation and inhumation at the same time.

Late 6th century is the start of sarcophagi sculptures in recline

9/29 Warm-Up

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.  Marcus Aurelius

How might this quote reflect an Etruscan ideal?

Civita di Bagnoregio

Etruscan Sculptural Art

The Veii Apulu was partof a statuary groupdepicting a Greek myth.Distinctly Etruscan,however, are the god’svigorous motion andgesticulating arms andthe placement of thestatue on a temple roof.

Apulu (Apollo),from the roof of thePortonaccio temple,Veii,Italy, ca. 510–500 bce.Painted terracotta, 5 11high.Museo Nazionaledi Villa Giulia, Rome.

Etruscan Funerary Art

Sarcophagus with recliningcouple, from Cerveteri, Italy,ca. 520 bce. Painted terracotta,3 91–2 6 7.Museo Nazionaledi Villa Giulia, Rome.

Sarcophagi in the form of ahusband and wife on a diningcouch have no parallels inGreece. The artist’s focus onthe upper half of the figuresand the emphatic gestures areEtruscan hallmarks.

Tumuli inthe Banditaccianecropolis, Cerveteri,Italy, seventh tosecond centuries bce.

In the Banditaccia necropolis (city of the dead) at Cerveteri, the Etruscans buried several generations of families in multi-chambered rock-cut underground tombs covered by great earthen mounds(tumuli).

Mural paintings adorn many of theunderground tombs at Tarquinia.In this tomb, banqueting couples,servants, and musicians celebratethe joys of the good life. The menhave dark skin, the women fair skin.

Interior of the Tomb ofthe Leopards, Tarquinia, Italy,ca. 480–470 bce.

Etruscan Sculptural Art

CHIMERA OF AREZZO Another masterpieceof Etruscan bronze-casting is the Chimera ofArezzo

The chimera was a composite monster slain by the Greek hero Bellerophon. In this Etruscan statue, the artist depicted the wounded beast poised to attack and growling ferociously.

Sarcophagus of LarsPulena, from Tarquinia, Italy,early second century bce. Tufa,6 6 long.Museo ArcheologicoNazionale, Tarquinia.