1.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
2.
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
3.
Confronted animals
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The anti-confronted animals is the opposing motif, with the animals back to back. Bilateral symmetry is a dominant aspect of our world and strong representation of it with matching figures often creates a balance that is appealing in artwork, a related motif in ancient art is known as the Mistress of Animals. The column is thought to represent a goddess, abstracted to avoid tabooed direct representation, the motif called the Tree of Life, where two confronted animals graze on a shrub or tree, is also very ancient. The reverse side of the Gebel el-Arak Knife handle, displayed at the top of the article, shows two powerful confronted lions, separated by a figure who is grasping them. Of note, the knob on the shows the top end of the hole for a cord or rope, on the suspension lug. Examples of confronted animals exist on Cylinder seals from Mesopotamia, deities, or heroes grasping lionesses, cattle, griffins, or other imaginary creatures are sometimes found. Many cylinder seals involving confronted goats surrounding a central Tree of life on a cone or mountain platform share one common theme, others may be thought of as deities holding the animals under their control. Because cylinder seals are numerous and also come from pre-historical periods, back to the fourth or fifth millenniums, confronted snakes are frequent images in many cultures from ancient times to historical periods. A chlorite vessel from the area of contemporary Baghdad, Iraq is displayed at this link and it depicts three pairs of confronted animals. Two confronted snakes are being held in the hands of the figure, below the snake-pair are a pair of anti-confronted-lionesses. The third similar pair of animals on this item are two anti-confronted bovines with a human or deity between also, two tumbling lions and other animals are depicted to the right. The Narmer Palette, used to mix cosmetics in the receptacle on one side, has two confronted felines, sometimes called serpopards forming the receptacle, close examination of the animals with the exaggerated, long necks supports identification as lionesses. The entire theme of the Narmer Palette, is about the pharaoh of the newly unified Ancient Egypt represented in two scenes, on one side the pharaoh wears the crown of Upper Egypt and on the other, the pharaoh wears the crown of Lower Egypt. Thus, it is thought that the lionesses with their necks are representing two kingdoms, once separate, but now unified under one pharaoh. The lioness Bast had been the deity of one kingdom. Respectively, they were the protectors of the pharaoh in each kingdom. Eventually their roles diverged, however, with one becoming less of the protector and warrior deity, typically, many similar deities in the two kingdoms soon were merged, so the retention of both is thought to be the result of the long and strong tradition of each. Examples of other confronted animals exist on many cosmetic palettes of Ancient Egypt that have been discovered, one palette has confronted-hippopotamuses, others include giraffes, geese, and other animals familiar to the Egyptians
4.
Leopard
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The leopard /ˈlɛpərd/ is one of the five big cats in the genus Panthera. It is a member of the family Felidae with a range in sub-Saharan Africa. Fossil records suggest that in the Late Pleistocene it occurred in Europe, compared to other members of Felidae, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but has a smaller, lighter physique. Its fur is marked with similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopards rosettes are smaller and more densely packed. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic are known as black panthers, the leopard is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. In Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia and most likely in Morocco, leopards are hunted illegally, and their body parts are smuggled in the wildlife trade for medicinal practices and decoration. The common name leopard /ˈlɛ. pərd/ is a Greek compound of λέων leōn, the name reflects the fact that in antiquity, a leopard was believed to be a hybrid of a lion and a panther. The Greek word is related to Sanskrit पृदाकु pṛdāku, and probably derives from a Mediterranean language, the name was first used in the 13th century. Other vernacular names for the leopard include graupanther, panther and several names such as tendwa in India. The term black panther refers to leopards with melanistic genes, the scientific name of the leopard is Panthera pardus. The generic name Panthera derives from Latin via Greek πάνθηρ, the term panther, whose first recorded use dates back to the 13th century AD, generally refers to the leopard, and less often to the cougar and the jaguar. Alternative origins suggested for Panthera include an Indo-Iranian word meaning white-yellow or pale, in Sanskrit, this could have been derived from पाण्डर pāṇḍara, which in turn comes from पुण्डरीक puṇḍárīka. The specific name pardus is derived from the Greek πάρδος, the leopard is one of the five extant species of the genus Panthera, which also includes the jaguar, the lion, the snow leopard and the tiger. This genus, along with the genus Neofelis - which consists of the clouded leopard, the leopard was first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Linnaeus named the leopard as Felis pardus, placing it in the genus Felis along with the cat, the jaguar, the Eurasian lynx, the lion, the ocelot. In the 18th and 19th centuries, most naturalists and taxonomists followed his example, in 1816, Lorenz Oken proposed a definition of the genus Panthera, with a subgenus Panthera using F. pardus as a type species. Okens classification, however, was not widely accepted, and until the early 20th century continued using Felis or Leopardus when describing leopard subspecies, in 1916, British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock accorded Panthera generic rank defining Panthera pardus as species
5.
Symposium
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In ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Symposia are depicted in Greek and Etruscan art that shows similar scenes, the equivalent in Roman society is the Latin convivium. In modern usage it has come to mean an academic conference or meeting such as a scientific conference, the Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for men of respected families to debate, plot, boast and they were frequently held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate special occasions. They were a source of pride for them, symposia were usually held in the andrōn, the mens quarters of the household. The participants, or symposiasts, would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door, due to space limitations the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven. If any young men took part they did not recline but sat up, however, in Macedonian symposia the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar. Entertainment was provided, and depending on the occasion could include games, songs, flute-girls or boys, slaves performing various acts, symposia often were held for specific occasions. The most famous symposium of all, described in Platos dialogue of that name was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theater contest of the 416 BC Dionysia. The men at the symposium would discuss a multitude of philosophical, such as love. A symposium would be overseen by a symposiarch who would decide how strong the wine for the evening would be, the Greeks and Romans customarily served their wine mixed with water, as the drinking of pure wine was considered a habit of uncivilized peoples. However, there were differences between the Roman and Greek symposiums. A Roman symposium served wine before, with and after food, in a Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women were not allowed to attend. The wine was drawn from a krater, a large jar designed to be carried by two men, and served from pitchers. Certain formalities were observed, most important among which were libations, in a fragment from his c. After the third one is drained, wise men go home, symposiums are often featured on Attic pottery and Richard Neer has argued that the chief function of Attic pottery was for use in the symposium. Poetry and music were central to the pleasures of the symposium, although free women of status did not attend symposia, high-class female prostitutes and entertainers were hired to perform, consort, and converse with the guests
6.
Monterozzi necropolis
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The Monterozzi necropolis is an Etruscan necropolis on a hill east of Tarquinia in Lazio, Italy. The necropolis has about 6,000 graves, the oldest of which dates to the 7th century BC, about 200 of the gravestones are decorated with frescos. The burial ground dates from the Iron Age, or Villanovan period, from the Villanovan period simple round tombs carved from rock for cremation burials can be seen at the site. Towards the end of the 8th c, BC, the first funerary chambers appeared as family tombs due to the rise to power of an aristocracy. These appeared on the surface as tumuli, sometimes assuming impressive proportions to enhance the power and prestige of the nobles, as can be seen especially in the so-called King, there were about 600 tumuli still visible in the 19th century, following which many were razed after excavation. The tumuli usually covered subterranean chambers carved into the rock, containing sarcophagi and personal possessions of the deceased, the earliest sarcophagi are carved with the image of the deceased supine on the lid. During the second half of the 4th century BC sculpted and painted sarcophagi of nenfro, marble and they were deposited on rock-carved benches or against the walls in the now very large underground chambers. Sarcophagi were also decorated with reliefs of symbolic or mythological content, sarcophagi of this type, which continue until the second century, are found in such numbers at Tarquinia that they must have been manufactured locally. It is one of the rare Etruscan tombs which have erotic frescoes the Tomb of the Whipping and it is also one of the rare Etruscan tombs which have erotic frescoes
7.
Tarquinia
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In 1922 it was renamed after the ancient city of Tarquinii or Tarchna. Although little is visible of the great wealth and extent of the ancient city. The Etruscan and Roman city is situated on the plateau of La Civita to the north of the current town. The ancient burial grounds, dating from the Iron Age to Roman times, were on the adjacent promontories including that of todays Tarquinia and it is said to have been already a flourishing city when Demaratus of Corinth brought in Greek workmen. Descendants of Demaratus, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, from Tarchuna many of the religious rites and ceremonies of Rome are said to have been derived, and even in imperial times a collegium of sixty haruspices continued to exist there. In 509 BC after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy the family of Tarquinius Superbus went into exile in Caere and he sought to regain the throne at first by the Tarquinian conspiracy and, when that failed, by force of arms. He convinced the cities of Tarchuna and Veii to support him, although the Roman army was victorious it is recorded by Livy that the forces of Tarchuna fought well on the right wing, initially pushing back the Roman left wing. After the battle the forces of Tarchuna returned home, the Spurinnas tomb, known as the Tomba dellOrco, is decorated with fine frescoes of a banquet uniting the famous members of the family who are identified by inscriptions. The Spurinna family was prominent in Tarquinii up to the 1st Century AD, recently two fragmented slabs were found known as the Elogia Tarquiniensis. During this period, Tarchuna overtook Caere and other Etruscan cities in terms of power and it was about this period that colossal walls were built around the city in response to threats from the Celts and from Rome. Tarchuna, not affected by Celtic invasions, finally colonised all its previously held territories in about 385 BC and this new flourishing state allowed a rapid recovery of all activities. However, during the fourth century BC when Tarchunas expansion was at its peak, a bitter struggle with Rome took place. In 358 BC, the citizens of Tarchuna captured and put to death 307 Roman soldiers, a bishop of Tarquinii is mentioned in 456AD. The last historic references to Tarquinii are from around 1250, while the name of Corneto was changed to Tarquinia in 1922, reversion to historical place names, was a frequent phenomenon under the Fascist Government of Italy as part of the nationalist campaign to evoke past glories. The painted scenes are of a quality virtually unrivalled elsewhere in the Etruscan world and they show banquets with dances and music, sporting events, occasional erotic and mythical scenes. Famous tombs include the Tomb of the Bulls, Tomb of the Augurs, during the second half of the 4th century sculpted and painted sarcophagi of nenfro, marble and alabaster came into use. They were deposited on rock-carved benches or against the walls in the by then very large underground chambers, sarcophagi continued until the second century and are found in such numbers at Tarquinia that they must have been manufactured locally. The city towered above the Marta valley and was about 6 km from the sea, La Civita is made up of two adjoining plateaux, the pian di Civita and the pian della Regina, joined by a narrow saddle
8.
Ancient Near East
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The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
9.
Art of ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization of ancient Egypt in the lower Nile Valley from about 3000 BC to 30 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a level in painting and sculpture. It was famously conservative, and Egyptian styles changed remarkably little over more than three thousand years, much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past. Ancient Egyptian art included paintings, sculpture in wood, stone and ceramics, drawings on papyrus, faience, jewelry, ivories and it displays an extraordinarily vivid representation of the ancient Egyptians socioeconomic status and belief systems. This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I, other conventions make statues of males darker than females ones. Egyptian art uses hierarchical proportion, where the size of figures indicates their relative importance, symbolism can be observed throughout Egyptian art and played an important role in establishing a sense of order. The pharaohs regalia, for example, represented his power to maintain order, animals were also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art. Not all Egyptian reliefs were painted, and less prestigious works in tombs, Stone surfaces were prepared by whitewash, or if rough, a layer of coarse mud plaster, with a smoother gesso layer above, some finer limestones could take paint directly. Pigments were mostly mineral, chosen to withstand sunlight without fading. The binding medium used in painting remains unclear, egg tempera and various gums and it is clear that true fresco, painted into a thin layer of wet plaster, was not used. Instead the paint was applied to dried plaster, in what is called fresco a secco in Italian, small objects including wooden statuettes were often painted using similar techniques. Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived in tombs, and sometimes temples, the paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. The themes included journey through the afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld, some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. In the New Kingdom and later, the Book of the Dead was buried with the entombed person and it was considered important for an introduction to the afterlife. Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a profile view, for example, the painting to the right shows the head from a profile view and the body from a frontal view. Their main colors were red, blue, green, gold, black, the monumental sculpture of ancient Egypts temples and tombs is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. The Egyptians used the technique of sunk relief, which is well suited to very bright sunlight. The distinctive pose of standing statues facing forward with one foot in front of the other was helpful for the balance and it was adopted very early and remained unchanged until the arrival of the Greeks
10.
Archaic Greece
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According to Anthony Snodgrass, the Archaic period in ancient Greece was bounded by two revolutions in the Greek world. The Archaic period saw developments in Greek politics, economics, international relations, warfare and it laid the groundwork for the Classical period, both politically and culturally. The word archaic derives from the Greek word archaios, which means old and it refers to the period in ancient Greek history before the classical. The Archaic period was considered to have been less important and historically interesting than the classical period. More recently, however, Archaic Greece has come to be studied for its own achievements, with this reassessment of the significance of the Archaic period, some scholars have objected to the term archaic, due to its connotations in English of being primitive and outdated. No term which has suggested to replace it has gained widespread currency, however. Much of our evidence about the period of ancient Greece comes from written histories. By contrast, we have no evidence from the Archaic period. We have written accounts of life in the period in the form of poetry, and epigraphical evidence, including parts of law codes, inscriptions on votive offerings, however, none of this evidence is in the quantity for which we have it in the classical period. What is lacking in evidence, however, is made up for in the rich archaeological evidence from the Archaic Greek world. Indeed, where much of our knowledge of classical Greek art comes from later Roman copies, other sources for the period are the traditions recorded by later Greek writers such as Herodotus. However, these traditions are not part of any form of history as we would recognise it today, indeed, Herodotus does not even record any dates before 480 BC. Politically, the Archaic period saw the development of the polis as the predominant unit of political organisation, many cities throughout Greece came under the rule of autocratic leaders, called tyrants. The period also saw the development of law and systems of communal decision-making, with the earliest evidence for law codes, by the end of the Archaic period, both the Athenian and Spartan constitutions seem to have developed into their classical forms. The Archaic period saw significant urbanisation, and the development of the concept of the polis as it was used in classical Greece. The urbanisation process in Archaic Greece known as synoecism – the amalgamation of small settlements into a single urban centre – took place in much of Greece in the eighth century BC. Both Athens and Argos, for instance, began to coalesce into single settlements around the end of that century and these two factors created a need for a new form of political organisation, as the political systems in place at the beginning of the Archaic period quickly became unworkable. Though in the part of the classical period the city of Athens was both culturally and politically dominant, it was not until the late sixth century that it became a leading power in Greece
11.
Triclinium
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A triclinium is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek τρικλίνιον, triklinion, from τρι-, tri-, the triclinium was characterized by three klinai on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position, the fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table. Usually the open side faced the entrance of the room, in Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, triclinia were common and the hosts and guest would recline on pillows while feasting. The Museum of Archeology in Arezzo, Italy, or the House of Caro in Pompeii offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of triclinia, the custom of using klinai while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among the Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From here it spread to their colonies in southern Italy and was adopted by the Etruscans. The Romans may have seen the first dining klinai as used by the Etruscans, dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, 9-20 guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status, as static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings. Dionysus, Venus, and still lifes of food were popular, middle class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two triclinia, its not unusual to find four or more. Here, the triclinium maius would be used for dinner parties. Smaller triclinia would be used for dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia, as in the larger triclinia, wine, food, and love were always popular themes. As in many houses in Pompeii, here the smaller dining room forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum, accubita Stibadium Triclinium Galleries and plans of Roman triclinia
12.
Culture of ancient Rome
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The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, its famed seven hills, and its monumental architecture such as the Flavian Amphitheatre, Trajans Forum, and the Pantheon. The city also had theaters, gymnasia, and many taverns, baths. The vast majority of the lived in the city center. The city of Rome was the largest megalopolis of that time, with a population that may well have exceeded one million people, with a high end estimate of 3.6 million and a low end estimate of 450,000. The most urbanized part of the Empire was Italy, which had a rate of urbanization of 32%. Most Roman towns and cities had a forum, temples and the type of buildings, on a smaller scale. Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat were luxuries, aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centers and wine and oil were imported from Hispania, Gaul and Africa. There was a large amount of commerce between the provinces of the Roman Empire, since its transportation technology was very efficient. The average costs of transport and the technology were comparable with 18th-century Europe, the later city of Rome did not fill the space within its ancient Aurelian walls until after 1870. The majority of the population under the jurisdiction of ancient Rome lived in the countryside in settlements with less than 10 thousand inhabitants, landlords generally resided in cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. The plight of slaves was generally worse than their counterparts working in urban aristocratic households. To stimulate a higher labor productivity most landlords freed a number of slaves and many received wages. Rural poverty stimulated the migration of population to urban centers until the early 2nd century when the urban population stopped growing and started to decline. By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the Roman young, chefs, decorators, secretaries, doctors, Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape gardening on the Palatine or in the villas, or were imitated in Roman sculpture yards by Greek slaves. The Roman cuisine preserved in the cookery books ascribed to Apicius is essentially Greek, Roman writers disdained Latin for a cultured Greek style. Only in law and governance was the Italic nature of Romes accretive culture supreme, against this human background, both the urban and rural setting, one of historys most influential civilizations took shape, leaving behind a cultural legacy that survives in part today. Slavery and slaves were part of the social order, the slaves were mostly prisoners of war
13.
Komos
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The Kōmos was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece, whose participants were known as komasts. Its precise nature has been difficult to reconstruct from the literary sources. The earliest reference to the komos is in Hesiods Shield of Herakles, and famously Alcibiades gate-crashes the Symposium while carousing in a komos. The komos must be distinguished from the pompe, or ritual procession, the komos lacked a chorus leader, script, or rehearsal. Nevertheless some komoi were expressly described as semnoí, which implies that standard komoi were anything, demosthenes upbraids the brother-in-law of Aeschines for not wearing a mask during the komos, as was the custom, suggesting costume or disguise may have been involved. The playing of music during the komos is also mentioned by Aristophanes, there are also depictions of torch-lit processions in vase painting, yet it is not always clear from the evidence of vases if they depict symposia, choruses or komoi. It is now thought that komos and κωμῳδία - komoidia comedy are etymologically related. However, in part III of the Poetics, Aristotle records the tradition that the word derives from the Megaran mime that took place in the villages of Sicily. Nevertheless, it unclear exactly how the revel-song developed into the Greek Old comedy of the Dionysian festival in the 6th century BCE. Corpus vasorum antiquorum Kenneth S. Rothwell Jr. ‘’Nature, Culture and the Origins of Greek Comedy, A Study of Animal Choruses’’
14.
Ancient Greek art
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The rate of stylistic development between about 750 and 300 BC was remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There were important innovations in painting, which have to be reconstructed due to the lack of original survivals of quality. The art of ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods, the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. The Geometric age is dated from about 1000 BC, although in reality little is known about art in Greece during the preceding 200 years. The 7th century BC witnessed the development of the Archaic style as exemplified by the black-figure style of vase painting. From some point in the 1st century BC onwards Greco-Roman is used, in reality, there was no sharp transition from one period to another. Forms of art developed at different speeds in different parts of the Greek world, strong local traditions, and the requirements of local cults, enable historians to locate the origins even of works of art found far from their place of origin. Greek art of various kinds was widely exported, the whole period saw a generally steady increase in prosperity and trading links within the Greek world and with neighbouring cultures. The survival rate of Greek art differs starkly between media and we have huge quantities of pottery and coins, much stone sculpture, though even more Roman copies, and a few large bronze sculptures. Almost entirely missing are painting, fine metal vessels, and anything in perishable materials including wood, the stone shell of a number of temples and theatres has survived, but little of their extensive decoration. By convention, finely painted vessels of all sorts are called vases, sculptural or architectural pottery, also very often painted, are referred to as terracottas, and also survive in large quantities. In much of the literature, pottery means only painted vessels, pottery was the main form of grave goods deposited in tombs, often as funerary urns containing the cremated ashes, and was widely exported. Other colours were limited, normally to small areas of white. Within the restrictions of these techniques and other conventions, vase-painters achieved remarkable results, combining refinement. White ground technique allowed more freedom in depiction, but did not wear well and was made for burial. Conventionally, the ancient Greeks are said to have made most pottery vessels for everyday use, not for display. Most surviving pottery consists of vessels for storing, serving or drinking liquids such as amphorae, kraters, hydria, libation bowls, oil and perfume bottles for the toilet, jugs, painted vessels for serving and eating food are much less common. Painted pottery was affordable even by people, and a piece decently decorated with about five or six figures cost about two or three days wages
15.
Severe style
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The severe style, or Early Classical style, was the dominant idiom of Greek sculpture in the period ca.490 to 450 BCE. It marks the breakdown of the forms of archaic art. It was a style found at many cities in the Hellenic world and in a variety of media including, bronze sculpture in the round, stelae. The style perhaps realized its greatest fulfillment in the metopes of the Temple of Zeus, another is the Kritian boy, c. S. Ridgway puts it, no longer a type but a subject. We can observe the characteristics of the period on its greatest masterpiece the Temple of Zeus, Olympia. Here we find a simplicity of forms, especially in dress and the absence of decoration, indeed this era sees a shift from the use of the Doric chiton to the Ionic peplos whose irregular groupings and folds better express the contours of the underlying body. There is further experimentation with the expression of emotion on the metopes of the depicting the labors of Herakles. More especially, in the face the eyelids acquire volume, often appearing as thick rims around the eyes. The Severe period owes its name to this most evident of all its traits, from this point of view the term Severe describes the style more accurately than the terms transitional or early classical, which stress continuity rather than difference. A change in drapery, readily apparent in two forms, a shift from Doric to Ionic fashions, a change in the treatment of the folds, so that the final effect resembles corrugated iron. One aspect of this phenomenon is an increase in characterization, the basic Kouros type now becomes sharply differentiated into either Apollo or a human being, and the difference no longer rests on the attributes held by the statue. Apollo is recognizable not only through a certain grandeur or ethos, the increase in characterization, with its potential for narrative, is obviously accompanied by an interest in the mechanics of expression. The range goes from quiet brooding to worried forethought to physical distress, emotions or physical distress are usually dependent upon strain or action. Thus traits 3 and 4 combine to produce a series of statues in motion, of the Severe artists whose names have come down to us there are in addition to Kritios and Nesiotes already mentioned also Pythagoras, Calamis and most notably Myron. Why this naturalizing trend should emerge in early 5th Century Greek art has been a matter of scholarly speculation. Renate Thomas summarizes the contending views thus, The significance of the Late Archaic period remains unclear, did the “Discovery of the Mind” in the sixth century produce two different effect, one of which produces new sets of laws through reflection upon traditional norms. Vagn Häger Poulsen, Der strenge Stil, studien zur Geschichte der griechischen Plastik 480-450, Kopenhagen 1937 V. Knigge, Bewegte Figuren. München 1965 F. Schachermeyr, Die frühe Klassik der Griechen, rome 1981 R. R. Holloway, The Severe Style, New Evidence and Old Problems, in, Numismatica e antichità classiche, Quaderni Ticinesi 17,1988
16.
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
17.
D. H. Lawrence
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David Herbert Richards D. H. Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His collected works represent, among other things, a reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity. Some of the issues Lawrence explores are sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, at the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in a notice, challenged this widely held view. Later, Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his seriousness, placing much of Lawrences fiction within the canonical great tradition of the English novel. The house in which he was born, in Eastwood, 8a Victoria Street, is now the D. H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum and his working-class background and the tensions between his parents provided the raw material for a number of his early works. The young Lawrence attended Beauvale Board School from 1891 until 1898 and he left in 1901, working for three months as a junior clerk at Haywoods surgical appliances factory, but a severe bout of pneumonia ended this career. During his convalescence he often visited Haggs Farm, the home of the Chambers family, an important aspect of this relationship with Chambers and other adolescent acquaintances was a shared love of books, an interest that lasted throughout Lawrences life. In the years 1902 to 1906 Lawrence served as a teacher at the British School. He went on to become a student and received a teaching certificate from University College, Nottingham. During these early years he was working on his first poems, some stories, and a draft of a novel, Laetitia. At the end of 1907 he won a short story competition in the Nottingham Guardian, in the autumn of 1908 the newly qualified Lawrence left his childhood home for London. While teaching in Davidson Road School, Croydon, he continued writing, Jessie Chambers submitted some of Lawrences early poetry to Ford Madox Ford, editor of the influential The English Review. Hueffer then commissioned the story Odour of Chrysanthemums which, when published in magazine, encouraged Heinemann. His career as an author now began in earnest, although he taught for another year. Shortly after the final proofs of his first published novel, The White Peacock, appeared in 1910, the young man was devastated, and he was to describe the next few months as his sick year. The hurt caused to Jessie by this and finally by her portrayal in the novel caused the end of their friendship and after it was published they never spoke to each other again. In 1911 Lawrence was introduced to Edward Garnett, a reader, who acted as a mentor, provided further encouragement
18.
Tomb of the Triclinium
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The Tomb of the Triclinium is an Etruscan tomb in the Necropolis of Monterozzi near Tarquinia, Italy. Stefan Steingraber dates the tomb to approximately 470 BC and calls it one of the most famous of all Etruscan tombs and he considers the artistic quality of the tombs frescoes to be superior to those of most other Etruscan tombs. The tomb is named after the triclinium, the dining room which appears in the frescoes of the tomb. Since its discovery the tombs frescoes have deteriorated and lost some of their color, in 1949 they were moved to the Tarquinia National Museum to conserve them. Thanks to the copies made by Carlo Ruspi shortly after the discovery of the tomb it is still possible to see the frescoes in their former state. The tomb consists of a single room, the fresco on the back wall shows a banquet scene, borrowed from depictions of drinking scenes on Attic red-figure pottery from the early fifth century. The banqueteers recline on three couches called klinai, on the floor under the klinai a cat prowls towards a rooster and a partridge. On the left wall three female dancers, one dancer and a male musician with a barbiton appear. They are placed between small trees filled with birds, on the right wall a similar scene is shown. On the entry wall two youths jump down from their horses and they may be apobates or a reference to the Dioscuri as intermediaries between the earthly life and the afterlife. The similarities between the frescoes in the Tomb of the Triclinium and Tomb 5513 led Steingräber to conclude that they were the products of the same workshop, the strong influence of red-figure Attic vase painting has convinced some experts that the artist who decorated the tomb was a Greek metic. Images of the tomb at The Mysterious Etruscans
19.
Etruscan language
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The Etruscan language was the spoken and written language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Campania, Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Etruscan influenced Latin, but was eventually superseded by it. Grammatically, the language is agglutinating, with nouns and verbs showing suffixed inflectional endings, nouns show four cases, singular and plural numbers, and masculine and feminine genders. Phonologically, Etruscan appears uncomplicated, with a system and an apparent contrast between aspirated and unaspirated stops. The language shows phonetic change over time, with the loss, Etruscan religion influenced that of the Romans and many of the few surviving Etruscan language artifacts are of votive or religious significance. Etruscan was written in a derived from the Greek alphabet. The Etruscan language is believed to be the source of certain important cultural words of Western Europe such as military and people. Etruscan literacy was widespread over the Mediterranean shores, as evidenced by about 13,000 inscriptions, most fairly short and they date from about 700 BC. The Etruscans had a rich literature, as noted by Latin authors, however, only one book, the Liber Linteus has survived. By AD100, Etruscan had been replaced by Latin, around 180, the Latin author Aulus Gellius mentions Etruscan alongside the Gaulish language in an anecdote. Only a few educated Romans with antiquarian interests, such as Marcus Terentius Varro, plautia Urgulanilla, the emperors first wife, was Etruscan. Livy and Cicero were both aware that highly specialized Etruscan religious rites were codified in several sets of written in Etruscan under the generic Latin title Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from the entrails of the sacrificed animal, a third set, the Libri Rituales, might have provided a key to Etruscan civilization, its wider scope embraced Etruscan standards of social and political life, as well as ritual practices. The single extant Etruscan book, Liber Linteus, which was written on linen and this range may indicate a maximum Italian homeland where the language was at one time spoken. Outside of mainland Italy inscriptions have been found in North Africa, Corsica, Elba, Gallia Narbonensis, Greece, the Balkans, by far the greatest concentration is in Italy. An inscription found on Lemnos in 1886 is in a similar to that used to write the Etruscan language. A few concepts of word formation have been formulated, modern knowledge of the language is incomplete. Etruscan was traditionally considered to be a language isolate, in the first century BC, the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus stated that the Etruscan language was unlike any other
20.
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
21.
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
22.
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
23.
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
24.
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
25.
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
26.
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
27.
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
