1.
Altes Museum
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The Altes Museum is a museum building on Museum Island in Berlin, Germany. Since restoration work in 2010-11, it houses the Antikensammlung of the Berlin State Museums, the museum building was built between 1823 and 1830 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the neoclassical style to house the Prussian royal familys art collection. The historic, protected building counts among the most distinguished in neoclassicism and is a point of Schinkels career. Until 1845, it was called the Königliches Museum, along with the other museums and historic buildings on Museum Island, the Altes Museum was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. In the early century, Germanys bourgeoisie had become increasingly self-aware. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia was a proponent of this humboldtian ideal for education. The crown prince even sent Schinkel a pencil sketch of a large hall adorned with a classical portico, Schinkels plans incorporated the Königliches Museum into an ensemble of buildings, which surround the Berliner Lustgarten. The Stadtschloss in the south was a symbol of power, the Zeughaus in the west represented military might. The museum to the north of the garden, which was to provide for the education of the people, stood as a symbol for science and art—and not least for their torchbearer, the self-aware bourgeoisie. Schinkel had developed plans for the Königliches Museum as early as 1822/23, construction was completed in 1828 and the museum was inaugurated on 3 August 1830. In 1841, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV announced in a royal decree, in 1845, the Königliches Museum was renamed the Altes Museum, the name it holds to this day. The royally appointed commission, which was responsible for the conception of the museum and this precluded the incorporation of ethnography, prehistory and the excavated treasures of the Near East, instead, these artifacts were primarily housed in Schloss Monbijou. With the completion of the Neues Museum by Friedrich August Stüler in 1855 and this was followed by the Nationalgalerie by Johann Heinrich Strack, the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum by Ernst von Ihne after plans by Stüler, and the Pergamonmuseum by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann. Thus Museum Island evolved into the institution it is today, during National Socialism, the Altes Museum was used as the backdrop for propaganda, both in the museum itself and upon the parade grounds of the redesigned Lustgarten. Following Schinkels designs, the murals of the rotunda were restored in 1982, however, neither the ornate ceilings of the ground floor exhibition rooms nor the pairs of columns under the girders were reconstructed. The Altes Museum was originally constructed to house all of the collections of fine arts. However, since 1904, the museum has housed the Antikensammlung, since 1998, the Collection of Classical Antiquities has displayed its Greek collection, including the treasury, on the ground floor of the Altes Museum. Special exhibitions are displayed on the floor of the museum
2.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
3.
Etruscan civilization
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The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
4.
Liber Linteus
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The Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis is the longest Etruscan text and the only extant linen book, dated to the 3rd century BCE. It remains mostly untranslated because of the lack of knowledge about the Etruscan language, the fabric of the book was preserved when it was used for mummy wrappings in Ptolemaic Egypt. The mummy was bought in Alexandria in 1848 and since 1867 both the mummy and the manuscript have been kept in Zagreb, Croatia, now in a room at the Archaeological Museum. In 1848, Mihajlo Barić, a low ranking Croatian official in the Hungarian Royal Chancellery, resigned his post and embarked upon a tour of several countries, while in Alexandria, he purchased a sarcophagus containing a female mummy, as a souvenir of his travels. Barić displayed the mummy at his home in Vienna, standing it upright in the corner of his sitting room. At some point he removed the linen wrappings and put them on display in a glass case. The mummy remained on display at his home until his death in 1859, when it passed into possession of his brother Ilija, as he took no interest in the mummy, he donated it in 1867 to the State Institute of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia in Zagreb. Their catalogue described it as follows, Mummy of a woman standing in a glass case. The mummy and its wrappings were examined the same year by the German Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch, who noticed the text, but believed them to be Egyptian hieroglyphs. He did not undertake any further research on the text, until 1877 and they realised the text was potentially important, but wrongly concluded that it was a transliteration of the Egyptian Book of the Dead in the Arabic script. Krall was the first to identify the language as Etruscan and reassemble the strips and it was his work that established that the linen wrappings constituted a manuscript written in Etruscan. At first, the provenance and identity of the mummy were unknown, due to the nature of its excavation. This led to speculation that the mummy may have had connection to either the Liber Linteus or the Etruscans. But a papyrus buried with her proves that she was Egyptian and gives her identity as Nesi-hensu, the wife of Paher-hensu, on paleographic grounds, the manuscript is dated to approximately 250 BC. The book is out in twelve columns from right to left. Much of the first three columns are missing, and it is not known where the book begins, closer to the end of the book the text is almost complete. By the end of the last page the cloth is blank, there are 230 lines of text, with 1200 legible words. Black ink has been used for the text, and red ink for lines
5.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
6.
Mummy
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Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least 1615 CE. Mummies of humans and other animals have found on every continent. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats, in addition to the well-known mummies of ancient Egypt, deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada in North America were accurately dated at more than 9,400 years old. Before this discovery, the oldest known deliberate mummy was a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley, Chile, which dates around 5050 BCE. The oldest known naturally mummified corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old. These substances were defined as mummia, the OED defines a mummy as the body of a human being or animal embalmed as a preparation for burial, citing sources from 1615 CE onward. However, Chambers Cyclopædia and the Victorian zoologist Francis Trevelyan Buckland define a mummy as follows, also applied to the frozen carcase of an animal imbedded in prehistoric snow. Wasps of the genus Aleiodes are known as mummy wasps because they wrap their prey as mummies. While interest in the study of mummies dates as far back as Ptolemaic Greece, prior to this, many rediscovered mummies were sold as curiosities or for use in pseudoscientific novelties such as mummia. The first modern scientific examinations of mummies began in 1901, conducted by professors at the English-language Government School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt. The first X-ray of a mummy came in 1903, when professors Grafton Elliot Smith, British chemist Alfred Lucas applied chemical analyses to Egyptian mummies during this same period, which returned many results about the types of substances used in embalming. Lucas also made significant contributions to the analysis of Tutankhamun in 1922, pathological study of mummies saw varying levels of popularity throughout the 20th century. In 1992, the First World Congress on Mummy Studies was held in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, more than 300 scientists attended the Congress to share nearly 100 years of collected data on mummies. This was not possible prior to the Congress due to the unique, in more recent years, CT scanning has become an invaluable tool in the study of mummification by allowing researchers to digitally unwrap mummies without risking damage to the body. The level of detail in such scans is so intricate that small linens used in areas such as the nostrils can be digitally reconstructed in 3-D. Such modelling has been utilized to perform autopsies on mummies to determine cause of death and lifestyle. Mummies are typically divided into one of two categories, anthropogenic or spontaneous
7.
Zagreb
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Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m above sea level. In the last official census of 2011 the population of the City of Zagreb was 792,875, the wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,237,887. It is the biggest metropolitan area in Croatia, and the one with a population of over one million. Zagreb is a city with a history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement located in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, the name Zagreb is recorded in 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a royal town in 1242. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom, the city extends over 30 kilometres east-west and around 20 kilometres north-south. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific, and research institutions, Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and almost all government ministries. Almost all of the largest Croatian companies, media, and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city and it is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting, and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are high-tech industries and the service sector, the etymology of the name Zagreb is unclear. It was used of the city only from 1852, but it had been in use as the name of the Zagreb dioecese since the 12th century. The name is first recorded in a charter by Ostrogon archbishop Felician, dated 1134, the older form of the name is Zagrab, the modern Croatian form Zagreb is first recorded in a 1689 map by Nicolas Sanson. An even older form is reflected in Hungarian Zabrag, for this, Desy proposes the etymology of Chabrag, a well-attested hypocorism of the name Cyprian. The same form is reflected in a number of Hungarian toponyms, the name Agram was used in German in the Habsburg period, this name has been classified as probably of Roman origin but according to Desy it could be an Austrian German reanalysis of *Zugram. In Middle Latin and Modern Latin, Zagreb is known as Agranum, in Croatian folk etymology, the name of the city has been derived from either the verb za-grab-, meaning to scoop or to dig. One folk legend illustrating this derivation ties the name to a drought of the early 14th century, in another legend, a city governor is thirsty and orders a girl named Manda to scoop water from Manduševac well, using the imperative, zagrabi, Mando. The oldest settlement located near todays Zagreb was a Roman town of Andautonia, now Šćitarjevo, Gradec and Kaptol were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, who was credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour
8.
Cortona
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Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, during the 7th century BC, it joined the Etruscan League. Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito, the origin-legends and ancient names of Cortona are described by George Dennis. In the final stages of the Gothic War, Cortona was sacked and destroyed by a warrior named Michael Pasquale, whose mother was Macedonian royalty, Cortona became a Ghibellinian city state in the 13th century, with its own currency. From 1325 to 1409, the Ranieri-Casali family successfully ruled the town, after being conquered by Ladislaus of Naples in 1409, Cortona was sold to the Medici in 1411. In 1737, the branch of the Medici line became extinct. Following the Italian Wars of Independence, Tuscany—Cortona included—became part of the Kingdom of Italy, the foundation of Cortona remains mixed in legends dating to classical times. These were later reworked especially in the late Renaissance period under Cosimo I de Medici, the 17th-century Guide of Giacomo Lauro, reworked from writings of Annio da Viterbo, states that 108 years after the Great Flood, Noah entered the Valdichiana via the Tiber and Paglia rivers. He preferred this place better than anywhere else in Italy, because it was so fertile, in 2000 Cortona established Cortona DOC. The goal is controlling and protecting the wines of D. O. C, currently Cortona DOC has 29 members and produce and control 14 different types of wines. The prevailing character of Cortona’s architecture is medieval with steep narrow streets situated on a hillside at an elevation of 600 metres that embraces a view of the whole of the Valdichiana. From the Piazza Garibaldi is a prospect of Lake Trasimeno. Parts of the Etruscan city wall can still be today as the basis of the present wall. The main street, via Nazionale, is the street in the town with no gradient. Inside the Palazzo Casali is the Museo dellAccademia Etrusca, displaying items from Etruscan, Roman, the distinguished Etruscan Academy Museum had its foundation in 1727 with the collections and library of Onofrio Baldelli. Its iconography includes alternating figures of Silenus playing panpipes or double flutes, within zones representing waves, dolphins and fiercer sea-creatures is a gorgon-like face with protruding tongue. Between each burner is a horned head of Achelous
9.
Tabula Cortonensis
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The Tabula Cortonensis is a 2200-year-old, inscribed bronze tablet of Etruscan origin, discovered in Cortona, Italy. It may record for posterity the details of an ancient legal transaction which took place in the ancient Tuscan city of Cortona and its 40-line, two-sided inscription is the third longest inscription found in the Etruscan language, and the longest discovered in the 20th century. While the discovery was made in October 1992, the contents were not published until seven years later, the delay was due to the tablets having been brought to the police by someone who claimed to have found it at a construction site. When provided to the police, the tablet had been broken into seven fragments, the tablet is thought by some scholars, notably Larissa Bonfante and Nancy de Grummond, to be a notarized record of the division of an inheritance or sale of real estate. Reference is made on the tablet to a vineyard, cultivated land, the lake lies east of Cortona in modern-day Western Umbria. In addition to the references to land, the tablet includes several references relating to table furnishings, the tablet includes words that appear to refer to plates and salt. Additionally, several words that appear on the tablet have been inscribed on Etruscan plates, drinking cups. The tablet measures 50 centimetres by 30 centimetres, and is about between 2 millimetres and 3 millimetres thick, when discovered, the tablet had been broken into multiple pieces, of which only seven have been found. The missing portion is believed by Etruscanists to contain only names, the text contains thirty-four known Etruscan words and an equal number of previously unattested Etruscan words. Moreover, a new alphabetic sign Ǝ is present on the tablet and this implies that, at least in the Etruscan dialect spoken in Cortona where this letter exclusively appears, the letter Ǝ marks a different sound from that of the letter E. The inscription dates ca.200 B. C, the following transcribes the special reversed epsilon as ɜ, On the front 01, et. pɜtruiś. θui. span θi. ml 05, ɜśieθic, pav 06, ac. trau lac. tiur. tɜnurs. Lart pɜtr 09, uni. arnt. pini. lart. ipi. lusce, larz 14, a lartle vɜlaveś arnt. pɜtru. Ra ufe \\ ɜpru 15, ś. ame. vɜlχe, clenia rc. laris 16, cusu. larisalisa larizac clan. Ame. tal suθive 20, naś. rat-m, pesś. tarχ ian 23, eś \\ cnl. nuθe. mal ec. lart. cucrina. Cɜl atina lau 25, sa clanc, a 27, pnal. clenia rc. vɜlχe 28, śerc. vɜlχe. Cusu. uslna On the back 33, aule. salini. cusual 34, celti nɜitis 36, ś. tar sminaśś. 40, cɜl atina ś. pitlnal Luciano Agostiniani, Francesco Nicosia, scarano Ussani & Torelli, La Tabula Cortonensis
10.
Terracotta
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Terracotta, terra cotta or terra-cotta, a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic, where the fired body is porous. The term is used to refer to the natural, brownish orange color, of most terracotta. This article covers the senses of terracotta as a medium in sculpture, as in the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines, asian and European sculpture in porcelain is not covered. Glazed architectural terracotta and its version as exterior surfaces for buildings were used in Asia for some centuries before becoming popular in the West in the 19th century. In archaeology and art history, terracotta is used to describe objects such as figurines not made on a potters wheel. An appropriate refined clay is formed to the desired shape, after drying it is placed in a kiln or atop combustible material in a pit, and then fired. The typical firing temperature is around 1,000 °C, though it may be as low as 600 °C in historic and archaeological examples. In some contexts, such as Roman figurines, white-colored terracotta is known as pipeclay, as such clays were later preferred for tobacco pipes, fired terracotta is not watertight, but surface-burnishing the body before firing can decrease its porousness and a layer of glaze can make it watertight. It is suitable for use below ground to carry pressurized water, for garden pots or building decoration in many environments, most other uses, such as for tableware, sanitary piping, or building decoration in freezing environments, require the material to be glazed. Terracotta, if uncracked, will ring if lightly struck, painted terracotta is typically first covered with a thin coat of gesso, then painted. It has been widely used but the paint is only suitable for indoor positions and is much less durable than fired colors in or under a ceramic glaze. Terracotta sculpture was rarely left in its raw fired state in the West until the 18th century. Terracotta/earthenware was the known type of ceramic produced by Western and pre-Columbian people until the 14th century. Terracotta has been used throughout history for sculpture and pottery as well as for bricks, in ancient times, the first clay sculptures were dried in the sun after being formed. They were later placed in the ashes of open hearths to harden, however, only after firing to high temperature would it be classed as a ceramic material. Terracotta female figurines were uncovered by archaeologists in excavations of Mohenjo-daro, along with phallus-shaped stones, these suggest some sort of fertility cult and a belief in a mother goddess. The Burney Relief is a terracotta plaque from Ancient Mesopotamia of about 1950 BC. In Mesoamerica, the majority of Olmec figurines were in terracotta
11.
Clay tablet
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In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed, once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these clay tablets could be soaked in water. Other tablets, once written, were fired in hot kilns making them hard, collections of these clay documents made up the very first archives. They were at the root of first libraries, tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East. In the Minoan/Mycenaean civilizations, writing has not been observed for any use other than accounting, tablets serving as labels, with the impression of the side of a wicker basket on the back, and tablets showing yearly summaries, suggest a sophisticated accounting system. In this cultural region the tablets were never fired deliberately, as the clay was recycled on an annual basis, however, some of the tablets were fired as a result of uncontrolled fires in the buildings where they were stored. The rest are still tablets of unfired clay, and extremely fragile, some scholars are investigating the possibility of firing them now. Writing was not as we see it today, in that way, recorded accounts of amounts of goods involved in a transaction could be made. The clay tablet was thus being used by scribes to take down the events of what was happening during his time, Sumerians used what are known as pictograms. Pictograms are symbols that express a concept, a logogram. Early writing also began in Ancient Egypt using hieroglyphs, early hieroglyphs and some of the modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographs. The Sumerians later shifted their writing to Cuneiform, defined as Wedge writing in Latin, clay tablets took the forms of myths, fables, essays, hymns, proverbs, epic poetry, laws, plants, and animals. What these clay tablets allowed was for individuals to record who, an example of these great stories was The Story of Gilgamesh. This story would tell of the flood that destroyed Sumer. Remedies and recipes that would have been unknown were then possible because of the clay tablet, some of the recipes were stew, which was made with goat, garlic, onions and sour milk. Communication grew faster as now there was a way to get messages across just like mail, important and private clay tablets were coated with an extra layer of clay, that no one else would read it. This means of communicating was used for over 3000 years in fifteen different languages, Sumerians, Babylonians and Eblaites all had their own clay tablet libraries
12.
Calendar
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A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, a date is the designation of a single, specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a record of such a system. A calendar can also mean a list of planned events, such as a calendar or a partly or fully chronological list of documents. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not necessarily, synchronized with the cycle of the sun or the moon. The most common type of calendar was the lunisolar calendar. Latin calendarium meant account book, register, the Latin term was adopted in Old French as calendier and from there in Middle English as calender by the 13th century. The course of the Sun and the Moon are the most evident forms of timekeeping, nevertheless, the Roman calendar contained very ancient remnants of a pre-Etruscan 10-month solar year. The first recorded calendars date to the Bronze Age, dependent on the development of writing in the Ancient Near East, a larger number of calendar systems of the Ancient Near East becomes accessible in the Iron Age, based on the Babylonian calendar. This includes the calendar of the Persian Empire, which in turn gave rise to the Zoroastrian calendar as well as the Hebrew calendar, calendars in antiquity were lunisolar, depending on the introduction of intercalary months to align the solar and the lunar years. This was mostly based on observation, but there may have been attempts to model the pattern of intercalation algorithmically. The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, the Julian calendar was no longer dependent on the observation of the new moon but simply followed an algorithm of introducing a leap day every four years. This created a dissociation of the month from the lunation. The Islamic calendar is based on the prohibition of intercalation by Muhammad and this resulted in an observationally based lunar calendar that shifts relative to the seasons of the solar year. The first calendar reform of the modern era was the Gregorian calendar. Such ideas are mooted from time to time but have failed to gain traction because of the loss of continuity, massive upheaval in implementation, a full calendar system has a different calendar date for every day. Thus the week cycle is by not a full calendar system. The simplest calendar system just counts time periods from a reference date and this applies for the Julian day or Unix Time
13.
Register (art)
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It is thus comparable to a row, or a line in modern texts. Common examples are from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs as decoration scenes on objects, luwian language hieroglyphs were also represented in stone art, in registers. Another example, in Mesopotamian art, would be the stones called Kudurru, or boundary stones, libyan Palette, Former link 1, had 3 registers of Marching animals. Louvre block statue of Wahibre- Louvre statue, enlarge in Window--, accessed 1 June 2007. See also, Block statue Aramaic inscription-, Article
14.
Campania
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Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
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Santa Maria Capua Vetere
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Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a town and comune in the province of Caserta, part of the region of Campania. For the history of ancient Capua, see History of Ancient Capua, in the area several settlements of the Villanovan culture were present in pre-historical times, and these were probably enlarged by the Oscans and Etruscans. In the 4th century BCE Capuae was the largest city in Italy after Rome, the city was damaged by Vandal ravages but later recovered and became the seat of an independent Lombard principate. However, during the struggle of the succession to the Duchy of Benevento, the survivors mostly fled and founded the modern Capua in the site of the ancient River port of Casilinum. King Robert of Anjou made Santa Maria Maggiore one of his summer residences, the town was known as Santa Maria Maggiore until 1861. For information about main ancient landmarks in the comune of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, the main other landmark of Santa Maria Capua Vetere is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, founded, according to the tradition, by Pope Symmachus in the 5th century. The church had originally a nave, but was enlarged by Lombard Prince Arechis II of Benevento in 787. Marcello Trotta, footballer, was born here, errico Malatesta, was an Italian anarchist, social and political activist, writer and revolutionary. Murcia, Spain Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli Bishopric of Capua Media related to Santa Maria Capua Vetere at Wikimedia Commons Santa Maria Capua Vetere
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Etruscan history
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Etruscan history is the written record of Etruscan civilization compiled mainly by Greek and Roman authors. Remnants of Etruscan writings are almost exclusively concerned with religion, helmut Rixs classification of the Etruscan language in a proposed Tyrsenian language family reflects this ambiguity. The Etruscan language was of a different family from that of neighbouring Italic and Celtic peoples, modern archaeologists have come to suggest that the history of the Etruscans can be traced relatively accurately, based on the examination of burial sites, artifacts, and writing. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennines and south into Campania, some small towns in the 6th century BC have disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbors. However, there no doubt that the political structure of the Etruscan culture was similar, albeit more aristocratic. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean sea. Here their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the 6th century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with the Carthaginians, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean Sea, though the battle had no clear winner, Carthage managed to expand its sphere of influence at the expense of both the Etruscans and the Greeks. Etruria saw itself relegated to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, from the first half of the 5th century BC Campanian Etruria lost its Etruscan character, and the new international political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline. In 480 BC, Etrurias ally Carthage was defeated by a coalition of Magna Graecia cities led by Syracuse, a few years later, in 474, Syracuses tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscans at the Battle of Cumae. Etrurias influence over the cities of Latium and Campania weakened, and it was taken over by Romans, in the 4th century BC Padanian Etruria saw a Gallic invasion end its influence over the Po valley and the Adriatic coast. BC Rome had started annexing Etruscan cities and by the beginning of the 1st century BC, the institution of kingship was general. When the last king was appointed, at Veii, the other Etruscan cities were alienated and it is presumed that Etruscan kings were military and religious leaders. In times of no emergency, the position of praetor Etruriae, as Roman inscriptions express it, was no doubt largely ceremonial, BC Tyrsenos Velsu fl. 8th century BC T. W. Potter, Roman Italy
18.
Etruscan origins
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An autochthonous population that diverged genetically was suggested as a possibility by Cavalli-Sforza. Helmut Rixs classification of the Etruscan language in a proposed Tyrsenian language family reflects this ambiguity, the Etruscan language was of a different family from that of neighbouring Italic and Celtic peoples, who spoke Indo-European languages. The latest mtDNA study suggests that the Etruscans appear to very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe. This coincides with the Rhaetic language which was north of the Alps in the area of the Urnfield culture of Central Europe. The Villanovan culture branched from the Urnfield culture around 1100 BC and they are therefore the owners of the Villanovan culture. Picking up this theme, Bonfante states. the history of the Etruscan people extends, from c.1200 to c.100 BC. Many sites of the chief Etruscan cities of historical times were continuously occupied from the Iron Age Villanovan period on, much confusion would have been avoided if archaeologists had used the name Proto-Etruscan. Nor did they start to speak Etruscan. An additional elaboration conjectures that the Etruscans were. an ethnic island of ancient peoples isolated by the flood of Indo-European speakers. In 1942 the Italian historian Massimo Pallottino published a book entitled The Etruscans, Pallottino presented various hypotheses which gained wide acceptance in the archeological community. He said no one would dream of asking where Italians or Frenchmen came from originally, it is the formation of the Italian and he meant that the formation process for Etruscan civilization took place in the Etruria or nearby. Formulating a different point of view on the evidence, Pallottino says. we must consider the concept Etruscan as. A nation that flourished in Etruria between the eighth and first centuries BC and we may discuss the provenance of each of these elements but a more appropriate concept. The formative process of the nation can only have taken place on the territories of the Etruscans proper, certain Greek and Roman authors saw the presence of the Etruscans in Italy as a historical problem, since they differed from the other civilizations in the area. In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of prince Anchises and his father was also the second cousin of King Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy, which led to the founding of the city of Rome, is recounted in Virgils Aeneid and they came to the Ombrici, where they founded cities and have lived ever since. They no longer called themselves Lydians, but Tyrrhenians, after the name of the son who had led them there. The classic scholar Michael Grant commented on this story, writing that it is based on erroneous etymologies, however, the Greek Historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus objected that the Tyrrhenian culture and language shared nothing with the Lydian
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Padanian Etruria
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Moving from the northern city-states of the Tuscanian Dodecapolis they swept into the Po valley through the Apennine passes. The Greek and Latin ancient writers tell us that an Etruscan expansion into Southern Italy, present day Campania region, the founder of these cities and of their League had been Ocnus, brother or son of Aulestes, according some authors, Tarchon according others. A First etruscan colonization, referred to the legendary Tarchon, can be traced to the early Iron Age and it was aimed to find new lands for agricultural uses, a Second colonization, dated to the mid-6th century BC, can be attributed to the as much legendary Ocnus. The latter colonization involved the reorganization of the entire Padanian region in order to increase its utility for the businesses and trades. During the 6th century BC Etruria experienced significant social, political, the protagonists of this process were people of the northern cities of Tuscany. The area around Bologna has been inhabited since the 9th century BC and this period, and up to the 6th century, is in fact generally referred to as villanovian, and had various nuclei of people spread out around this area. In the 7-6th centuries BC, Etruria began to have an influence on area. Traces of a 12th-9th century BC settlement, supposed of Villanovan origin, have found in Verucchio. Later it was an Etruscan possession, the current town derives its name from Vero Occhio, referring to its privileged position offering a wide panorama of the surrounding countryside and the Romagna coast. A settlement existed as early as around 2000 BC on the banks of the Mincio, in the 6th century BC it was an Etruscan village which, in Etruscan tradition, was re-founded by Ocnus. The name derives from the Etruscan god Mantus, of Hades, after being conquered by the Cenomani, a Gallic tribe, the city was conquered between the first and second Punic wars by the Romans, who attributed its name to Manto, a daughter of Tiresias. The new territory was populated by soldiers of Augustus. Mantuas most famous ancient citizen is the poet Publius Vergilius Maro, Virgil, the first settlements built on the area are of Venetic origin, during the 12-9th century BC. At that time the stream of the Po, the Adria channel. The Villanovan culture, named for a site at the village of Villanova, near Bologna. The foundations of classical Atria are dated from 530 to 520 BC, the Etruscans built the port and settlement of Adria after the channel was not the main stream anymore. During the later period of the 6th century BC the port continued to flourish, the Etruscan-controlled area of the Po Valley was generally known as Padanian Etruria, as opposed to their main concentration along the Tyrrhenian coast south of the Arno. Greeks from Aegina and later from Syracuse by Dionysius I colonised the city making it into an emporion, Greeks had been trading with the Eneti from the sixth century BC
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Founding of Rome
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The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. The national epic of mythical Rome, the Aeneid of Virgil, the Aeneid was written under Augustus, who claimed ancestry through Julius Caesar from the hero and his mother Venus. This started a series of armed conflicts with Turnus over the marriage of Lavinia, before the arrival of Aeneas, Turnus was betrothed to Lavinia, who then married Aeneas, starting the war. Aeneas won the war and killed Turnus, the Trojans won the right to stay and to assimilate with the local peoples. Toward the end of line, King Procas was the father of Numitor. At Procas death, Numitor became king of Alba Longa, but Amulius captured him and sent him to prison, for many years, Amulius was the king. The tortuous nature of the chronology is indicated by Rhea Silvias ordination among the Vestals, the myth of Aeneas was of Greek origin and had to be reconciled with the Italian myth of Romulus and Remus, who would have been born around 771 BC if taken as historical figures. They were purported to be sons of Rhea Silvia and either Mars and they were abandoned at birth, in the manner of many mythological heroes, because of a prophecy that they would overthrow their great-uncle Amulius, who had overthrown Silvias father Numitor. They were abandoned on the Tiber River by servants who took pity on the infants, the twins were nurtured by a she-wolf until a shepherd named Faustulus found the boys and took them as his sons. Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia raised the children, when Remus and Romulus became adults, they killed Amulius and restored Numitor. They decided to establish a city, however, they quarreled, thus, Rome began with a fratricide, a story that was later taken to represent the citys history of internecine political strife and bloodshed. The ancient Romans were certain of the day Rome was founded, April 21, even the official Fasti Capitolini offers its own date,752 BC. Recent discoveries by Andrea Carandini on Romes Palatine Hill have also yielded evidence of a series of walls on the north slope that can be dated to the middle of the 8th century BC. According to the legend, Romulus plowed a furrow around the hill in order to mark the boundary of his new city, there is no consensus on the etymology of the citys name. Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested Greek ῥώμη, meaning strength, vigor, a modern theory of etymology holds that the name of the city is of Etruscan origin, derived from rumon, river. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from about 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attests to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron age, in any case, the location that became the city of Rome was inhabited by Latin settlers from various regions, farmers and pastoralists, as evidenced by differences in pottery and burial techniques
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Tyrrhenians
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The Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians is an exonym used by Greek authors to refer to a non-Greek people. The origin of the name is uncertain and it is only known to be used by Greek authors, but apparently not of Greek origin. It has been connected to tursis, also a Mediterranean loan into Greek, direct connections with Tusci, the Latin exonym for the Etruscans, from Turs-ci have also been attempted. The earliest instances in literature are in Hesiod and the Homeric hymn to Dionysus, Hesiod has And they ruled over the famous Tyrsenians, very far off in a recess of the holy islands. The Homeric hymn to Dionysus has Tyrsenian pirates seizing Dionysus, Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian pirates on a well-decked ship — a miserable doom led them on. Later, in the 6th to 5th centuries BC, the name referred specifically to the Etruscans, for whom the Tyrrhenian Sea is named, the name is also attested in a fragment by Sophocles. The name becomes increasingly associated with the generic Pelasgians, herodotus places them in Crestonia in Thrace, as neighbours of the Pelasgians. Similarly, Thucydides mentions them together with the Pelasgians and associates them with Lemnian pirates, Lemnos remained relatively free of Greek influence up to Hellenistic times, and the Lemnos stele of the 6th century BC is inscribed with a language very similar to Etruscan. This has led to the postulation of a Tyrrhenian language group comprising Etruscan, Lemnian, there is thus evidence that there was indeed at least a linguistic relationship between the Lemnians and the Etruscans. Spard or Sard, another closely connected to the name Tyrrhenian, was the capital city of the land of Lydia. The name preserved by Greek and Egyptian renderings is Sard, for the Greeks call it Sardis and the name appears in the Egyptian inscriptions as Srdn
22.
Tarchon
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In Etruscan mythology, Tarchon and his brother, Tyrrhenus, were culture heroes who founded the Etruscan League of twelve cities, the Dodecapoli. One author, Joannes Laurentius Lydus, distinguishes two legendary persons named Tarchon, the Younger and his father, the Elder and it was the Elder who received the Etrusca Disciplina from Tages, whom he identifies as a parable. The Younger fought with Aeneas after his arrival in Italy, the elder was a haruspex, who learned his art from Tyrrhenus, and was probably the founder of Tarquinia and the Etruscan League. Lydus does not state that, but the connection was being made at least as long ago as George Dennis, in Virgils Aeneid, Tarchon, king of the Tyrrhenians, leads the Etruscans in their alliance with Aeneas against Turnus and the other Latian tribes. The legend fits well with Lydus, as this Tarchon must been the younger, the legends indicate that Aeneas was not an Etruscan, that he arrived in an already existing Etruria, and that it is to be dated to before the Trojan War. Tarchon is the transliteration of the Greek Τάρχων, or Τάρκων in Strabos Geography. The same name is thought to be related to the Latin Tarquinius, the name of a Roman gens, hittite expert Oliver Gurney thought that it might be related to the name of the Luwian storm god Tarhund
23.
Caelius Vibenna
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Caelius Vibenna, (Etruscan Caile Vipina, was a noble Etruscan who lived c.750 BCE and brother of Aulus Vibenna. Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius and he and his brother Aulus are also recorded as having aided King Tarquinius Superbus, although Tarquinius Superbus lived some five generations after Romulus. Tacitus relates that a hill in Rome, previously named Querquetulanus was renamed the Caelian Hill after Caelius Vibenna. A burial urn inscribed Arnth Caule Vipina can be found at Deposito de Dei at Chiusi and it is likely that the ashes within belong to a different Etruscan of the same name. Caelius and Aulus Vibenna seem to have been well-known figures in Etruscan legend, Claudius, in a speech to the Senate referred to the adventures of Caelius Vibenna and his companion Mastarna, whom Claudius equates with Servius Tullius. Claudius claimed that Mastarna left Etruria with the remnants of Caelius army and occupied the Caelian Hill, the François Tomb at Vulci contains a scene showing Caelius and Aulus Vibenna taking part in one of these adventures. The scene appears to show Caelius and Aulus Vibenna and Mastarna with companions named Larth Ulthes and these figures are shown slaughtering foes named as Laris Papathnas Velznach, Pesna Aremsnas Sveamach, Venthicalplsachs and Cneve Tarchunies Rumach. The erstwhile prisoners are shown killing their former captors, Mastarna is shown freeing Caelius Vibenna
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Lucius Tarquinius Priscus
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Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome from 616 to 579 BC. According to Livy, Tarquin came from Etruria, after inheriting his fathers entire fortune, Lucius attempted to gain a political office. Disgruntled with his opportunities in Etruria, he migrated to Rome with his wife Tanaquil, legend has it that on his arrival in Rome in a chariot, an eagle took his cap, flew away and then returned it back upon his head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in prophecy, interpreted this as an omen of his future greatness, in Rome, he attained respect through his courtesy. The king himself noticed Tarquinius and, by his will, appointed Tarquinius guardian of his own sons, upon the death of Marcius, Tarquin addressed the Comitia Curiata and convinced them that he should be elected king over Marcius natural sons, who were still only youths. In one tradition, the sons were away on an expedition at the time of their fathers death. According to Livy, Tarquin increased the number of the Senate by adding one hundred men from the leading minor families, among these was the family of the Octavii, from whom the first emperor, Augustus, was descended. Tarquins first war was waged against the Latins, Tarquinius took the Latin town of Apiolae by storm and took great booty from there back to Rome. According to the Fasti Triumphales, this war must have occurred prior to 588 BC and his military ability was then tested by an attack from the Sabines, who received auxiliaries from five Etruscan cities. Tarquin doubled the numbers of equites to help the war effort, the Sabines were defeated after difficult street fighting in the city of Rome. In the peace negotiations followed, Tarquin received the town of Collatia. Tarquin returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph on September 13,585 BC, subsequently, the Latin cities of Corniculum, old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia and Nomentum were subdued and became Roman. Since Tarquin had kept the captured Etruscan auxiliaries prisoners for meddling in the war with the Sabines, seven other Etruscan cities joined forces with them. The Etruscans soon captured the Roman colony at Fidenae, which became the focal point of the war. After several bloody battles, Tarquin was once again victorious, at the successful conclusion of each of his wars, Rome was enriched by Tarquins plunder. Tarquin is said to have built the Circus Maximus, the first and largest stadium at Rome, raised seating was erected privately by the senators and equites, and other areas were marked out for private citizens. There the king established a series of games, according to Livy. After a great flood, Tarquin drained the damp lowlands of Rome by constructing the Cloaca Maxima and he also constructed a stone wall around the city, and began the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill
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Tanaquil
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Tanaquil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome. She had four children, two daughters and two sons, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, seventh and last king of Rome, and Arruns Tarquinius, one of the daughters became the wife to Servius Tullius, when he became the successor of Tarquinius Priscus. Knowing this, Tanaquil encouraged him to move to Rome, which was not at the time dominated by a local aristocracy. Her strong prophetic abilities helped her to install Tarquin as king, while on the road to Rome, an eagle flew off with Tarquins hat and then returned it to his head. Tanaquil interpreted this as a sign that the gods wanted him to become a king, tanaquils prophecy was eventually realized for Tarquin - he eventually became friends with King Ancus Marcius, who made Tarquin guardian of his children. When the king died before his children were old enough to become successors to the throne and he ruled from 616 to 579 BCE. Tanaquil also played a role in the rise of Servius Tullius, raising him as her own child, Tanaquil believed Servius would be the next successor to the throne. Her dreams would be realized when, one day Servius was sleeping, the fires danced around his head without hurting him and when Servius awoke, the fire disappeared. Taking this as an omen, Tanaquil knew Servius would one day be king, when Tarquin was murdered, Tanaquil hid his death from her subjects, instead telling them that Tarquin appointed Servius as a temporary king until he got better. After gaining the respect and commanding the kingship, Servius. Tanaquil had a daughter, who married Servius Tullius, and two sons, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and Arruns Tarquinius, who would marry Tullia, the daughter of Servius Tullius. According to Festus, she changed her name to Gaia Cirillo when she arrived at Rome, under this name she is the mythical source of various Roman wedding customs. She was remembered as an artisan in the art of working with wool. Queen Gaia was so admired by the Romans of her day that it was a public decree that any new bride entering their royal palace would announce their name as Gaia when asked. This was said to be an omen of future frugality for these women, Pliny says that a statue was dedicated to her as Gaia Caecilia in the temple of Semo Sancus. Stemma Tarquiniorum Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories VIII.74.194 Livy, Ab urbe condita I.34,39,41 Cassius Dio, Roman History, retrieved May 9,2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Raia, Ann R. and Sebesta, Judith Lynn, Roman History, vol.1 Loeb Classical Library edition,1914. Who was who in the Roman World, biographical dictionary of ancient Greek and Roman women, notable women from Sappho to Helena
26.
Servius Tullius
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Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 575–535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Romes first Etruscan king. Several traditions describe Servius father as divine, Livy depicts Servius mother as a captured Latin princess enslaved by the Romans, her child is chosen as Romes future king after a ring of fire is seen around his head. The Emperor Claudius discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary, named Mastarna, Servius was a popular king, and one of Romes most significant benefactors. He had military successes against Veii and the Etruscans, and expanded the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills. He is traditionally credited with the institution of the Compitalia festivals, the building of temples to Fortuna and Diana and, less plausibly, despite the opposition of Romes patricians, he expanded the Roman franchise and improved the lot and fortune of Romes lowest classes of citizens and non-citizens. According to Livy, he reigned for 44 years, until murdered by his daughter Tullia, in consequence of this tragic crime and his hubristic arrogance as king, Tarquinius was eventually removed. This cleared the way for the abolition of Romes monarchy and the founding of the Roman Republic, before its establishment as a Republic, Rome was ruled by kings. In Roman tradition, Romes founder Romulus was the first, Servius Tullius was the sixth, and his successor Tarquinius Superbus was the last. The nature of Roman kingship is unclear, most Roman kings were elected by the senate, as to a lifetime magistracy, some were native Romans, others were foreign. Later Romans had a complex relationship with this distant past. In Republican mores and institutions kingship was abhorrent, and remained so, in name at least, Servius Tullius has been described as Romes second founder, the most complex and enigmatic of all its kings, and a kind of proto-Republican magistrate. The oldest surviving source for the political developments of the Roman kingdom and Republic is Ciceros De republica. Livys sources probably included at least some official state records, he excluded what seemed implausible or contradictory traditions, and arranged his material within an overarching chronology. Dionysius and Plutarch offer various alternatives not found in Livy, and Livys own pupil and she was given to Tanaquil, wife of king Tarquinius, and though slave, was treated with the respect due her former status. In one variant, she became wife to a client of Tarquinius. According to Tanaquil, this was a manifestation, either of the household Lar or Vulcan himself. Thus Servius was divinely fathered and already destined for greatness, despite his mothers status, for the time being, Tanaquil
27.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
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Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final king of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus, ancient accounts of the Regal period mingle history and legend. His reign is described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of the monarchy, Tarquin was the son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and Tanaquil. According to an Etruscan tradition, the hero Macstarna, usually equated with Servius Tullius, defeated and killed a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius and this may recollect an otherwise forgotten attempt by the sons of Tarquin the elder to reclaim the throne. To forestall further dynastic strife, Tullius married his daughters, known to history as Tullia Major and Tullia Minor, to Lucius Tarquinius, the future king and their sister, Tarquinia, married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus. The elder Tullia was of mild disposition, yet married the ambitious Lucius Tarquinius, after the murder of their siblings, Lucius and Tullia were married. Together, they had three sons, Titus, Arruns, and Sextus, and a daughter, Tarquinia, who married Octavius Mamilius, Tullia encouraged her husband to advance his own position, ultimately persuading him to usurp the throne. Tarquin solicited the support of the senators, especially those from families who had received their senatorial rank under Tarquin the Elder. He bestowed presents upon them, and spread criticism of Servius the king, in time, Tarquin felt ready to seize the throne. He went to the senate-house with a group of armed men, sat himself on the throne, and summoned the senators to attend upon King Tarquin. The kings retainers fled, and as he made his way, dazed and unattended, toward the palace, Tullia, meanwhile, drove in her chariot to the senate-house, where she was the first to hail her husband as king. But Tarquin bade her return home, concerned that the crowd might do her violence, as she drove toward the Urbian Hill, her driver stopped suddenly, horrified at the sight of the kings body, lying in the street. But in a frenzy, Tullia herself seized the reins, the kings blood spattered against the chariot and stained Tullias clothes, so that she brought a gruesome relic of the murder back to her house. The street where Tullia disgraced the dead king afterward became known as the Vicus Sceleratus, Tarquin commenced his reign by refusing to bury the dead Servius, and then putting to death a number of leading senators, whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the senate on matters of government, in another break with tradition, Tarquin judged capital crimes without the advice of counselors, causing fear amongst those who might think to oppose him. He made an ally when he betrothed his daughter to Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum. Early in his reign, Tarquin called a meeting of the Latin leaders to discuss the bonds between Rome and the Latin towns, the meeting was held at a grove sacred to the goddess Ferentina. At the meeting, Turnus Herdonius inveighed against the Tarquins arrogance, Tarquin then bribed Turnus servant to store a large number of swords in his masters lodging
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Aruns (son of Tarquinius Superbus)
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Arruns Tarquinius L. f. L. n. was the second son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome. During his fathers reign, he accompanied his brother, Titus. While Titus and Arruns assumed that this meant their actual mother, Brutus correctly intuited that mother earth was intended, following the overthrow of the monarchy in 509 BC, Titus and Arruns went with their father to Caere, while Brutus was elected one of the first consuls. After the first unsuccessful attempt by the Tarquins to regain the throne in 509, having spied from afar the lictors, and thereby recognising the presence of a consul, Arruns soon saw that his cousin Brutus was in command of the Roman cavalry. The two men charged each other, and were each speared to death, the battle ended in a Roman victory, and the Tarquins remained in exile. In Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Arruns appears in the 4th Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell, together with sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets. Iii,46 William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol.1 p.378, #1
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Lars Porsena
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Lars Porsena was an Etruscan king known for his war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium, there are no established dates for his rule, but Roman sources often place the war at around 508 BC. Lars Porsena came into conflict with Rome after the revolution that overthrew the monarchy there in 509 BC, resulting in the exile of the semi-legendary last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The deposed monarch, whose family was of Etruscan origin, tried and failed to retake the throne a number of times before appealing to Porsena for assistance, at that time Clusium was said to be a very powerful Etruscan city. At this point, however, the histories diverge, other accounts, however, suggest that Lars Porsena actually succeeded in subduing the city, and that the Etruscans were only driven out some time afterwards. None of the accounts, however, suggests that Tarquinius Superbus was returned to the throne, thus, if Lars Porsena did indeed capture Rome, he may have done so with the intent of controlling it himself, not restoring the former dynasty. Accounts of the war include a number of matters directly concerning Porsena, one story tells that, during his siege of Rome, a Roman youth named Gaius Mucius sneaked into the Etruscan camp with the approval of the Senate, intent on assassinating Porsena. However, when Mucius came into the presence, he could not distinguish Porsena from his secretary. Through misrecognition Mucius stabbed the secretary and then tried to flee and he was immediately captured by the Etruscans and brought before Porsena, whereupon Mucius bluntly declared his identity and his intent. He advised Porsena that he was merely the first of 300 Roman youths who would attempt such a deed, to prove his valour, Mucius thrust his right hand into a sacrificial fire, thereby earning for himself and his descendants the cognomen Scaevola. Astonished and impressed by the mans courage, Porsena gave Mucius his freedom. According to Livy, Porsena sought peace by treaty immediately afterward, another tale of the war concerns the Roman hostages taken by Porsena as part of the treaty. One of the hostages, a woman named Cloelia, fled the Etruscan camp. Porsena demanded that she be returned, and the Romans consented, on her return, however, Porsena was so impressed by her bravery that he asked her to choose half the remaining hostages to be freed. She selected all the youngest Roman boys, afterwards the Romans gave Cloelia the unusual honour of a statue at the top of the Via Sacra, showing Cloelia mounted on a horse—that is, as an eques. Livy concludes most likely it is because, when Porsena departed Rome, in 507 BC, Porsena once again sent ambassadors to the Roman senate, requesting the restoration of Tarquinius to the throne. Legates were sent back to Porsena, to him that the Romans would never re-admit Tarquinius. Porsena agreed, telling Tarquinius to continue his exile elsewhere than Clusium, Porsena also restored to the Romans their hostages, and also the lands of Veii that had been taken from Rome by treaty
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Lars Tolumnius
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Very little is known of Tolumnius outside of his involvement in Roman legend. His family was part of the Veientine aristocracy, and its nomen is found on a number of inscriptions from votive offerings. Tolumius enters history when the Roman colony of Fidenae revolted against the Republic in 438 BC, the Romans sent four envoys to Fidenae to demand an explanation, but they were murdered by the Fidenates, apparently on the kings orders. Which the Fidenates interpreted as an order to put the Romans to death, Livy is skeptical of this tradition, disbelieving that Tolumnius would have allowed himself to become so easily distracted on an occasion of such importance. Rather, he suggests, Tolumnius intended the execution of the emissaries to involve the Fidenates in a deed that would make it impossible for them to repair the breach with Rome. Marshaling his troops, the dictator fortified a position at the confluence of the Anio and the Tiber and he sent a contingent of Veientes through the hills to attack the Romans from the rear, and the battle commenced. The fighting was fierce, and made especially noteworthy by the actions of the Roman and Etruscan cavalry, the outcome of the battle was in doubt until Aulus Cornelius Cossus, one of the military tribunes serving in the cavalry, charged at the king and unhorsed him. Before Tolumnius could rise, Cossus dismounted and forced the king to the ground with his shield, with the kings death, the Etruscan cavalry abandoned the field, and the battle was decided. Meanwhile, four statues were erected on the rostra in the forum, bernard Mineo, A Companion to Livy, Wiley, ISBN 978-1-118-33897-1, pp.322 ff, accessed 15 Sept.2014. Gabriël C. L. M. Bakkum, The Latin Dialect of the Ager Faliscus,150 Years of Scholarship, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 978-90-5629-562-2, pp.38 ff. mainlesson. com search. eb. com
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Etruscan society
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For the fruit tree Pouteria lucuma, see Lúcuma. Etruscan society is known through the memorial and achievemental inscriptions on monuments of Etruscan civilization. Some contractual information is available from various sources. The Roman and Greek historians had more to say of Etruscan government, the population described by the inscriptions owned the tombs in which their relatives interred them and were interred in turn. These were the work of craftsmen who must have gone to considerable expense, the interment chambers also were stocked with furniture, luxury items and jewelry, which are unlikely to have been available to the ordinary citizen. The sarcophagi were ornate, each one a work of art, the society of the tombs therefore was that of the aristocrats. While alive they occupied magistracies recorded in the inscriptions and their magisterial functions are obscure now, but they were chief men in society. The Etruscans did not always own sufficient wealth to support necropolises for their men and stock them with expensive items to be smashed. People of the Villanovan culture lived in poor huts concomitant with subsistence agriculture and owned plain and their simple ware is known as bucchero, plain black undecorated pots. In the 8th century BC, the period began, a time of influx of luxuriously living Greeks. They brought their elegant pottery styles and architectural methods with them, yet the rise of Etruscan civilization cannot entirely be explained by immigrants from Greece. The Etruscans became a maritime power, by the 7th century they had imported methods and materials from the eastern Mediterranean and were leaving written inscriptions. Groups of Villanovan villages were now consolidated into Etruscan cities, elaborate tomb cities began to appear. The princely tombs were not of individuals and it is not an Etruscan original, as there is no sign of it in the Villanovan. The Etruscans could have used any model of the eastern Mediterranean and that the growth of this class is related to the new acquisition of wealth through trade is unquestioned. The wealthiest cities were located near the coast, the Etruscan name of the family was lautn. At the center of the lautn was the couple, tusurthir. The Etruscans were a society that emphasized pairing
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Apollo of Veii
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The Apollo of Veii is an over-life-size painted terracotta Etruscan statue of Apollo, designed to be placed at the highest part of a temple. The statue was discovered in the Portonaccio sanctuary of ancient Veii and it was created in the so-called international Ionic or late-archaic Etruscan style. It was discovered in 1916, and is now on display in the National Etruscan Museum in Rome, the statue was probably made by Vulca, the only Etruscan artist whose name is known. The statue is dressed in a tunic and short cloak, advancing towards the left with the right arm outstretched, together with other statues, it decorated the roof beams of the Portonaccio temple, a sanctuary dedicated to Minerva. Placed on high plinths, this series of statues were acroterial and they stood some twelve metres above the ground level and even though they were created separately, they narrated events from Greek mythology that were at least in part tied to the god Apollo. This statue, together with the statue of Heracles, formed a group representing one of the labours of the hero before his apotheosis made him one of the divinities of Olympus. The myth narrates the contention between the god and the hero for the possession of the doe with the golden horns, there was probably also a statue of Mercury united to this group, of which only the head and a part of the body remain. With these accomplishments, the creator of the statues can be identified as the “Artist from Veio. Antefix Etruscan civilization Ornament List of classical architecture terms Spivey, Nigel
33.
Etruscan architecture
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Etruscan architecture was created between about 700 BC and 200 BC, when the expanding civilization of ancient Rome finally absorbed Etruscan civilization. The Etruscans were considerable builders in stone, wood and other materials of temples, houses, tombs and city walls, as well as bridges, from about 630 BC, Etruscan architecture was heavily influenced by Greek architecture, which was itself developing through the same period. In turn it influenced Roman architecture, which in its early centuries can be considered as just a variation of Etruscan architecture. But increasingly, from about 200 BC, the Romans looked directly to Greece for their styling, apart from the podia of temples and some house foundations, only the walls and rock-cut tombs were mainly in stone, and have therefore often largely survived. Usually, only the podium or base platform used stone, with the parts of wood and mud-brick. However, there is evidence for the portico columns sometimes using stone and this has left much about Etruscan temples uncertain. The only written account of significance on their architecture is by Vitruvius, many aspects of his description fit what archaeologists can demonstrate, but others do not. It is in any case clear that Etruscan temples could take a number of forms, nonetheless Vitruvius remains the inevitable starting point for a description, and a contrast of Etruscan temples with their Greek and Roman equivalents. There are also a few temples in pottery, and depictions on tombs or vases. Vitruvius specifies three doors and three cellae, one for each of the main Etruscan deities, but archaeological remains do not suggest this was normal, though it is found. Roman sources were in the habit of ascribing to the Etruscans a taste for triads in things such as city planning, the orientation of the temple is not consistent, and may have been determined by a priest watching the flight of birds at the time of foundation. The exteriors of both Greek and Roman temples were highly decorated and colourful, especially in the entablature and roofs. When wood was used for columns, the bases and capitals were often encased in painted terracotta, the Apollo of Veii was part of an acroterion group. The groups from Luni and Talamone are among the most impressive, the podia are also usually higher, and can only be entered at a section of the front, just presenting a blank platform wall elsewhere. There may only be columns at the front portico, in Etruscan temples, more than Roman ones, the portico is deep, often representing, as Vitruvius recommends, half of the area under the roof, with multiple rows of columns. Fluted Tuscan/Doric columns can also be found, against Greek and later Roman conventions, Etruscan architecture shared with Ancient Egyptian architecture the use of large cavetto mouldings as a cornice, though not on the same massive scale. The cavetto took the place of the Greek cymatium in many temples, often painted with vertical tongue patterns and its first version was traditionally dedicated in 509 BC, but in 83 BC it was destroyed by fire, and the rebuilt Greek-style temple completed in 69 BC. But for the building they were summoned from Greece
34.
Etruscan art
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Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. From around 600 BC it was influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze, jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced. Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, the great majority of survivals come from tombs, which were typically crammed with sarcophagi and grave goods, and terracotta fragments of architectural sculpture, mostly around temples. Tombs have produced all the fresco wall-paintings, which show scenes of feasting, Bucchero wares in black were the early and native styles of fine Etruscan pottery. There was also a tradition of elaborate Etruscan vase painting, which sprung from its Greek equivalent, Etruscan temples were heavily decorated with colourfully painted terracotta antefixes and other fittings, which survive in large numbers where the wooden superstructure has vanished. Etruscan art was connected to religion, the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art. The Etruscans emerged from the preceding Villanovan culture, due to the proximity and/or commercial contact to Etruria, other ancient cultures influenced Etruscan art, such as Greece, Phoenicia, Egypt, Assyria and the Middle East. The apparent simple character in the Hellenistic era conceals an innovative, the Romans would later come to absorb the Etruscan culture into theirs but would also be greatly influenced by them and their art. Etruscan art is divided into a number of periods,900 to 675 BC – Early Villanovan period. Already the emphasis on art is evident. Impasto pottery with decoration, or shaped as hut urns. Bronze objects, mostly small except for vessels, were decorated by moulding or by incised lines, small statuettes were mostly handles or other fittings for vessels. 675–575 BC – Oriental or Orientalising period, decoration adopted a Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern vocabulary with palmettes and other motifs, and the foreign lion was a popular animal to depict. The Etruscan upper class grew wealthy and began to fill their large tombs with grave goods, a native Bucchero pottery, now using the potters wheel, went alongside the start of a Greek-influenced tradition of painted vases, which until 600 drew more from Corinth than Athens. The period saw the emergence of the Etruscan temple, with its elaborate and brightly-painted terracotta decorations, figurative art, including human figures and narrative scenes, grew more prominent. The Etruscans adopted stories from Greek mythology enthusiastically, paintings in fresco begin to be found in tombs, and were perhaps made for some other buildings. The Persian conquest of Ionia in 546 saw a significant influx of Greek artist refugees, other earlier developments continued, and the period produced much of the finest and most distinctive Etruscan art
35.
Chimera of Arezzo
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The bronze Chimera of Arezzo is one of the best known examples of the art of the Etruscans. It is approximately 80 cm in height, in Greek mythology the monstrous Chimera ravaged its homeland, Lycia, until it was slain by Bellerophon. The goat head of the Chimera has a wound inflicted by this Greek hero, based on the cowering, representation of fear, and the wound inflicted, this sculpture may have been part of a set that would have included a bronze sculpture of Bellerophon. This bronze was at first identified as a lion by its discoverers in Arezzo, for its tail, the present bronze tail is an 18th-century restoration. The Chimera was one of a hoard of bronzes that had been buried for safety some time in antiquity. They were discovered by accident, when trenches were being dug just outside the Porta San Laurentino in the city walls, a bronze replica now stands near the spot. The original statue is estimated to have created around 400 BC. In 2009 and 2010 the statue traveled to the United States where it was displayed at the Getty Villa in Malibu, capitoline Wolf, a bronze long thought to be Etruscan of the 4th century but possibly medieval Ugo Bardi,1997
36.
Etruscan coins
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The coins are of Greek style, but with an Etruscan flavour and have a predilection for ‘apotropaic’ images of exotic animals and monsters that drive away evil demons. The wheels with curved struts of Vulci are also reminiscent of some 5th century Macedonian tribal coins and these early issues are rare and seem not to have been exported, they have no mark of value and must have had a limited circulation. They correspond to a silver unit of about 2.25 grams, probably representing the silver equivalent of a bronze as or libra. These male heads were probably followed by a more finely produced octopus/amphora silver series, also struck on the ‘Chalcidian’ standard, but with exactly double the unit of value of the former. The marks of value 20,10 and 5, give a silver unit or as of about 1.13 grams, approximately one Roman scruple, and probably represent a devaluation of the bronze unit in relation to silver. Find evidence from the Ponte Gini di Orentino excavation suggests a dating for this phase in the first half of the 3rd century. Last, but by no means least, is a spectacular series of high artistic merit probably from Volsini. The reverse running dog 5-unit coin is reminiscent of the Chiana Valley male head/dog running struck bronze of uncertain date in the 3rd century. By circa 280 BC, the Roman libra or pound weighed about 325 g and this cast coinage seems to mirror the extensive Roman series. Two large struck bronze series with Populonia and Vetulonia are close to the Roman post-semi-libral as standard that is dated by Crawford to about 215-211 BC, convegni del Centro Internazionale di Studi Numismatici di Napoli, Contributi introduttivi allo studio della monetazione etrusca. Atti del V Convegno, Napoli 1975, Istituto italiano di numismatica, Roma,1977 Catalli, alberto Campana, CNIA published in review Panorama Numismatico Head, Barclay Vincent. Greek coinages of Southern Italy and Sicily, ISBN 0-907605-82-6 Rutter, N. K. Historia Nummorum - Italy. Sear, David R. Greek Coins and Their Values, Vol.1, sara Sorda, I ripostigli di bronzo protostorici dellItalia centrale, in AA. VV. Thompson M. Mørkholm O. Kray C. M, an Inventory of Greek Coins Hoards, New York,1973 Italo Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage. A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, hard bound in quarto format,84 pages,92 plates. ISBN 978-0-9575784-0-1 James Millingen, Considérations sur la Numismatique de lancienne Italie, francesco Carelli, Numorum Italiae veteris Tabulae CCII, ed. Cavedoni,1850. Luigi Sambon, Recherches sur les monnaies de la presquíle italique depuis leur origine jusqu´ a la bataille dActium, wilhelm Deecke, Etruskische Forschungen, Heft II. Raffaele Garrucci, Le monete dellItalia antica, theodor Mommsen, Die Geschichte des römische Münzwesen - Berlin 1860
37.
Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum
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Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum is an international project with the goal to publish all existing Etruscan bronze mirrors. The first three volumes were published in 1981, a total of thirty-four fascicles has been produced. The first major study of Etruscan mirror was Eduard Gerhards Etruskische Spiegel. The work consists of five volumes published between 1843 and 1897, in 1973 a decision was made to make a new publication that could replace Gerhards outdated work. Morlanwelz, Musee Royal de Mariemont, Collections privees, copenhagen, the Danish National Museum, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek. Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Skulpturensammlung, Leipzig, Museum des Kusthandwerks, Gotha, Schlossmuseum, Jena, bad Schwalbach, Bochum, Bonn, Darmstadt, Essen, Frankfurt, Kassel, Köln, Mainz, Mannheim, Schloss Fasanerie bei Fulda. Braunschweig, Göttingen, Hamburg, Hannover, Kiel, Münster, Steinhort, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Privatsammlungen Esslingen, Stuttgart, Munich. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, The Fitzwilliam Museum, The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Claydon House, Pitt Rivers Museum. CSE Italia 1. Bologna, Museo Civico 1, maria Stella Pacetti, with collaboration of Lorenzo Galeotti. Rome, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia 1, maria Paola Baglione and Fernando Gilotta, with collaboration of Lorenzo Galeotti. Rome, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia 2, Rome, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia-Antiquarium 3. Museo delle Antichità etrusche e italiche, Spaienza- Università di Roma, utrecht, Archaeological Institute - State University, Private collection Meer. Boston and Cambridge, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Cambridge, new York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CSE Stato della Città del Vaticano 1, Città del Vaticano, Museo Profano della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome, Collezione di antichità dellAbbazia di San Paolo fuori le mura. Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum Corpus of Etruscan Mirrors at the British Museum
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Haruspex
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The reading of omens specifically from the liver is also known by the Greek term hepatoscopy. The Roman concept is derived from Etruscan religion, as one of the three branches of the disciplina Etrusca. Such methods continued to be used into the Middle Ages, with Thomas Becket apparently consulting both an aruspex and a prior to a royal expedition against Brittany. The Latin terms haruspex, haruspicina are from an archaic word haru entrails, intestines and from the root spec- to watch, the Greek ἡπατοσκοπία hēpatoskōpia is from hēpar liver and skop- to examine. The Babylonians were famous for hepatoscopy, the Nineveh library texts name more than a dozen liver-related terms. The liver was considered the source of the blood and hence the basis of life itself, from this belief, the Babylonians thought they could discover the will of the gods by examining the livers of carefully selected sheep. A priest known as a bārû was specially trained to interpret the signs of the liver, the liver was divided into sections, with each section representing a particular deity. One Babylonian clay model of a liver, dated between 1900 and 1600 BC, is conserved in the British Museum. The model was used for divination, which was important to Mesopotamian medicine and this practice was conducted by priests and seers who looked for signs in the stars, or in the organs of sacrificed animals, to tell them things about a patient’s illness. Wooden pegs were placed in the holes of the tablet to record features found in a sacrificed animals liver. The seer then used these features to predict the course of a patients illness, haruspicy was part of a larger study of organs for the sake of divination, called extispicy, paying particular attention to the positioning of the organs and their shape. There are many records of different peoples using the liver and spleen of various domestic, the Assyro-Babylonian tradition was also adopted in Hittite religion. At least thirty-six liver-models have been excavated at Hattusa, the Etruscans were also well known for the practice of divining by the entrails of sheep. A bronze sculpture of a known as the Liver of Piacenza. It is marked with the name of regions assigned to various deities of Etruscan religion, from as early as 1900, Ludwig Stieda sought to compare the Etruscan with the Babylonian artefacts. Further evidence has found of haruspices in Bath, England where the base of a statue dedicated by a haruspex named Memor. Anthropomancy Augur Auspice Haruspices, article in Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Figurine of Haruspex, vatican Museums Online, Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Room III l. Chapters 1 and 2 of the bārûtu
39.
Fanum Voltumnae
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The Fanum Voltumnae was the chief sanctuary of the Etruscans, fanum means a sacred place, a much broader notion than a single temple. Numerous sources refer to a league of the “Twelve Peoples” of Etruria, formed for religious purposes, the Etruscan league of twelve city-states met annually at the Fanum, located in a place chosen as omphalos, the geographical and spiritual centre of the whole Etruscan nation. Each spring political and religious leaders from the cities would meet to discuss military campaigns and civic affairs, chief amongst these was Voltumna, possibly state god of the Etruria. Roman historian Titus Livius mentioned the Fanum Voltumnae five times in his works, livy describes the meetings that took place at the Fanum between Etruscan leaders. Livy refers in particular to a meeting in two groups applied to assist the city of Veii in a war it was waging. The councils answer was no, because Veii had declared war without first notifying it, livy also says that Roman merchants who travelled to a huge fair attached to the meeting acted as spies, reporting back on Etruscan affairs to authorities in the city-state of Rome. He was alone in mentioning the god Voltumna, whereas Marcus Terentius Varro indicated a god-prince of Etruria, the Latin elegiac poet Propertius writes of an Etruscan god taken to Rome from Velzna. A mostly credited hypothesis places the shrine in Orvieto, the Urbs Vetus of the Middle Ages is identified with the Etruscan Velzna by scholars, the Latin Volsinii, conquered by the Romans in 264 BC. Livy, Pliny, Florus, Horace, Metrodorus of Scepsis, all belonging to the 2nd century BC, clearly speak of ancient Volsinii and it has all the characteristics of a very important shrine, and of that shrine in particular she said. Listing some of those characteristics, she mentioned the scale of the construction, its structure and layout, the presence of wells and fountains. Also supporting the claim that this is the Fanum Voltumnae is the fact that the area was used continuously for religious purposes right from the 6th century BC up to the 15th century. Roman temples were built on it in later centuries and the last church was erected there in the 12th century, in November 2014, Simonetta Stopponi announced to have found the head of the god of the Etruscans in the area of Orvieto. It is a polychrome terracotta male head, the head is very nice and well kept - said Professor Stopponi - An important discovery as well as that of the temple which measures 12 feet by 18. In the light are also the temple and the sacred way. Some modern scholars have hypothesized the location of Fanum Voltumnae at Bagnoregio, past possession of Orvieto and this area was central to the sacred wood, protected by four guardian towns which prevented it from being disclosed to the profane. The four towns were, Ferente, Axia, Vrcle, Luserna, viterbos heraldic badges are surrounded by the letters FAVL, which appear like a ciphered globe. It is unclear what they refer to, but some claim that they are the initials of the guardian towns and some others that they are in reference to the initial syllables of Fanum Voltumnae. The latter was affirmed in the century by Francesco Orioli
40.
Etruscan jewelry
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This article refers to the jewelry of the Etruscan civilization and its differences in various eras. Very little jewelry from the Villanovan Era, an Early Iron Age culture dating c.1100 BC –700 BC, has discovered in modern times. The Villanovan Etruscans seem to have few items of luxury. Yet extant Villanovan jewelry confirms that in Etruria great effort was placed in the production of decorative arts, jewelry was a status symbol and indicated, as in present times, wealth and prosperity. Both pottery and jewelry from the Villanovan Era are decorated with swastikas, zigzags, gold jewelry started spreading rapidly during the Orientalizing era. It allowed a deal more stylization and showed splendid workmanship. Geometric design was such a motif that archaeologists refer to this motif as the “Orientalizing geometric”. Etruscan gold jewelry especially flourished during the Orientalizing period due to the very affluent trading system which had evolved during this time, the Etruscans did not invent their decorative techniques. Indeed, the Mediterranean influences had brought such techniques as granulation, syro-Phoenician jewelers settled in southern Etruria and taught local apprentices the art of granulation and filigree. These techniques first developed in the South of Etruria and it consisted of working designs onto a surface with tiny granules of gold. Care had to be not to melt the little granules onto the surface but instead. The various omissions and imperfections, made on purpose, gave the piece of jewelry the artistic character, soldering was done using arseniates and reducing the solder to an impalpable dust. The Syro-Phoenicians brought in other techniques of workmanship, many jewelers were influenced by their recurrent themes and symbols. Sacred emblems like the disc and the half moon were incorporated in the Etruscans’ fast-growing repertoire. Later Etruscans loosened up their very stern geometric standards and added in their designs floral, the finest jewelry was still mainly centered and focused in the southern city-states such as, Cerveteri, Tarquinia and Vetulonia. Gorgons, pomegranates, acorns, lotus flowers and palms were an indicator of Greek influence in Etruscan jewelry. The modelling of heads, which was a practice from the Greek severe period, was a technique that spread throughout the Etruscan territory. An even clearer evidence of new influences is the shape introduced in the Orientalizing era, a pear shaped vessel used to hold perfume
41.
Liver of Piacenza
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The liver is subdivided into sections for the purposes of performing haruspicy, the sections are inscribed with names of individual Etruscan deities. A Babylonian clay model of a sheeps liver dated to the Middle Bronze Age is preserved in the British Museum, the Piacenza liver parallels the Babylonian artefact by representing the major anatomical features the gall bladder, caudate lobe and posterior vena cava, of the liver as sculpted protrusions. Each of the 16 houses was the place of an individual deity. Seers would e. g. draw conclusions from the direction in which lightning was seen, lightning in the east was auspicious, lightning in the west inauspicious. The theonyms are abbreviated and in cases, the reading even of the abbreviation is disputed. As a result, there is a consensus for the interpretation of individual names only in a number of cases. The reading given below is that of Morandi unless otherwise indicated, tlusc Two words are on the bottom side of the artefact,1. Usils Etruscan religion Van der Meer, L. B, alessandro Morandi, Nuovi lineamenti di lingua etrusca, Massari,1991. Stevens, A New Reconstruction of the Etruscan Heaven American Journal of Archaeology 113.22, 153-164
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Mezentius
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In Roman mythology, Mezentius was an Etruscan king, and father of Lausus. Sent into exile because of his cruelty, he moved to Latium and he reveled in bloodshed and was overwhelmingly savage on the battlefield, but more significantly to a Roman audience he was a contemptor divum, a despiser of the gods. He appears in Virgils Aeneid, primarily book ten, where he aids Turnus in a war against Aeneas, while in battle with Aeneas, he is critically injured by a spear blow, but his son Lausus bravely blocks Aeneass final blow. Lausus is then killed by Aeneas, and Mezentius is able to escape death for a short while, once he hears of Lausus death, he feels ashamed that his son died in his place and returns to battle on his horse Rhaebus in order to avenge him. He is able to keep Aeneas on the defensive for some time by riding around Aeneas, eventually, Aeneas kills the horse with a spear and pins Mezentius underneath. He is overcome by Aeneas, but remains defiant and fearless unto his death, not begging for mercy as Turnus later does, but simply asking that he be buried with his son. In the traditional myth that predates the Aeneid, Mezentius actually outlived Aeneas, thus he created something of a scapegoat of Mezentius and portrayed the Etruscan people as a good race who fight alongside Aeneas. Appears in Aeneid, Book VII, line 648, also VIII.482, X. 786-907
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Etruscan mythology
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Etruscan religion and mythology were partly incorporated into classical Roman culture, including the Roman pantheon. However, in the last years of the Roman Republic the religion began to fall out of favor and was satirized by such public figures as Marcus Tullius Cicero. The Julio-Claudians, especially Claudius, who claimed a remote Etruscan descent, maintained a knowledge of the language and religion for a time longer. A number of works in the Etruscan language survived until the middle of the first millennium AD, but were destroyed by the ravages of time, decree of the Roman Senate. Around the mun or muni, or tombs, were the man or mani, in iconography after the 5th century BC, the deceased are shown traveling to the underworld. In several instances of Etruscan art, such as in the François Tomb in Vulci, a god was called an ais, which in the plural is aisar. The abode of a god was a fanu or luth, a place, such as a favi. There, one would need to make a fler, or offering, three layers of deities are portrayed in Etruscan art. Ruling over them were higher deities that seem to reflect the Indo-European system, Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife, and Cel, as a third layer, the Greek gods were adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan Orientalizing Period of 750/700-600 BC. Examples are Aritimi, Menrva, and Pacha, and over time the primary trinity became Tinia, Uni, the Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them and these practices were taken over in total by the Romans. The Etruscan scriptures were a corpus of texts termed the Etrusca Disciplina and this name appears in Valerius Maximus, and Marcus Tullius Cicero refers to a disciplina in his writings on the subject. These works did not present prophecies or scriptures in the ordinary sense, the Etruscans appear to have had no systematic ethics or religion and no great visions. The Etruscans accepted the inscrutability of their gods wills and they did not attempt to rationalize or explain divine actions or formulate any doctrines of the gods intentions. These revelations may not be understandable and may not be pleasant or easy. He then quipped, regarding divination from the singing of frogs, and yet they do have by nature some faculty of premonition, clear enough of itself, but too dark for human comprehension. Divinatory inquiries according to discipline were conducted by priests whom the Romans called haruspices or sacerdotes, the Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions, used several words, capen, maru, eisnev, hatrencu. They called the art of haruspicy zich nethsrac, a special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha or rath, sacred things
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