CLAS242 - The Early Republic Period

Winter 2025

Identify and Analyze

Symposium scene, wall painting in the Tomb of the Diver, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509BE-211BCE

• Symposium

  • Greek elite male drinking party

  • drink wine, listen to entertainment, sing, or discuss philosophical, cultural, or political topics

  • homosexual couples of older man + younger man representation

    • one couple per couch

• Lyre

  • important component of music in symposium

  • associated with elite male status/identity

  • lyric poetry sung/lyrics accompanied by the lyre

• reinforces elite status of tomb occupant

• figures use Greek skin composition

  • red skin for men white skin for women

Identify and Analyze

Diver scene from the roof slab, wall painting in the Tomb of the Diver, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Greek proportions and skin tone

• Metaphorical

  • showing passage from life to death

• transference of Greek styles into Etruscan art, but changed to better fit Etruscan culture

Identify and Analyze

Banquet scene, wall painting in the Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• compositions relies heavily on Greek models

  • profile faces, blocks of colour, and skin tone

• archaic body proportions + garlands indicating a celebration

• red lines

  • forming registers

  • forming ground line of above panel

• Etruscan features:

  • banquet of male-female couples

  • hierarchy of scale

  • Horror vacui

• Centre female

  • possibly male

  • possibly example of transgender individual in antiquity

Identify and Analyze

Dancers, wall painting from the Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• influence of Greek archaic artistic style

• dancing as worship for Dionysus

  • part of his celebration

• No Dionysus iconography/symbolism representing him in this piece

• Etruscan showing of a Greek act

• Etruscan features

  • clothes

  • long fingers

  • trees + birds

• Greek features

  • coloured skin tone

  • profile faces/legs and front torsos

Identify and Analyze

Pediment relief sculpture from Temple A, Pyrgi

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Pedimental

  • relief within top triangle front piece at top of temple

  • usually never a historical event and purely mythological

  • historical event tends to date the temple and set it in one time period

  • Use of myth is allegorical

    • to send a message

  • painted terracotta

• Pyrgi

  • major battle between Greeks, Carthaginians, and Etruscans

  • Etruscans lost so to appease the Gods they built this temple in Pyrgi as a gift to them

  • Obviously had no favour from the gods because they lost so they needed to gain it back

• Greek myth of 7 princes

  • 7 princes of Thebes, a city-state, all banished from it

  • They come back for revenge

  • 7 gates for 7 princes

    • one prince per gate

• Top Row

  • Minerva on proper right

    • Aegis cloak + helmet

  • Jupiter second from proper right

    • arm raised to spear Keraunos with his lightning bolt

• Bottom Row

  • battle of Tydeus and Melanippus

  • Tydeus eating the brain of Melanippus

    • act revokes his promise of eventual Godhood

  • cannibalism NEVER shown in Greek art

  • Message to Greeks: don’t mess with us(?)

Identify and Analyze

Funerary games of boxers and gladiators, wall painting from Tomb 90a, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• funerary painting tradition carries on into 4th century BCE

• Boxing + Gladiator Fight

• Blood as a sacrifice to chthonic deities

  • spilt over deceased’s tomb to ease passage

  • blood being drawn not a primary thing in funerary games

  • only later in Roman times does it become more important

  • Not necessarily killing someone but rather just first blood

  • New Etruscan idea

• Turning death into a spectacle

  • joy of the spectacle warding off death

Identify and Analyze

Funerary games of charioteers, wall painting from Tomb X, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• chariot racing as a funerary game

  • Greek culture adopted by Lucanians

• Ritual

  • garland around column, garlands in space above the horses

    • taking it into realm of religion/mythology/not reality

  • pomegranate

    • associated with death and rebirth

    • the rape of Persephone

  • all lead to funeral ritual iconography

Identify and Analyze

Scenes of woman’s funeral and travel into the underworld, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Funerary Stella

  • big painted rock/tombstone

• Dado

  • painted in red at bottom register

  • the lower portion of the wall of a room, distinctly painted with panels/contrasting colours

• Below Panel

  • Aspects of Funeral

    • left woman - pulling her hair out in grief

    • middle women - tables of loaves of bread and food as a sacrifice on their heads

    • right man - priest

    • Cow sacrifice

      • man with a hammer to stun the cow before slitting it’s throat

• Above Panel

  • Little girl + older woman

    • mother bringing daughter to safe passage? both going together?

  • Vanth

    • winged, female Etruscan. chthonic figure

    • Psychopomp: deity/spirit that brought spirits across the river

    • resembles Gorgon with wings and big head

    • Apotropaic image

      • so scary in order to ward off evil

    • show of mixture of Greek and Etruscan imagery in Lucanian culture

Identify and Analyze

Historical battle, tomb painting from Tomb 114, Paestum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Lucanian Tomb Painting

• Greek arête, Latin virtus

  • men often celebrated through paintings of evidence of their masculine excellence

  • Lucanian word unknown

• Moment prior to battle

  • left - army lined up with shields in formation

  • middle - mountain with cows behind it

  • right - another army ready to fight

• Right figure

  • stands out against the rest

    • hierarchy of scale

    • facial features

    • helmet

• Figure in front of army

  • Naked except for Lucanian helmet

  • holding up spear

  • Mars leading them?

Identify and Analyze

Carved and painted reliefs, Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri,

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Change in subjects

  • from banquets and festivities

    • celebrating life

  • to darker themes

    • mourning death

    • Reliefs of Charun and Cerberus

      • emphasis on chthonic creatures

• Reliefs of Helmets and Shields

  • helmets, shields, greaves, and swords

  • high status of a male

  • military

• Painted terracotta columns

  • filled with images of household items

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Velia, tomb painting, Tomb of Orcus, Tarquinia

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Velia

  • name written backwards as if image was speaking straight to you

• Very Decorative

  • detailed + intricate necklace

    • egg and dart style

  • clothing with tassles

  • hair up in back with hair piece

  • laurel

  • intricate curls

  • lipstick and eyeliner

• sense of individual

  • very strong profile

• showing specifics - not idealized

• Profile Eye

  • no longer unrealistic front eye with profile face

Identify and Analyze

Banqueting couple, wall painting from the Tomb of the Shields, Tarquinia

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Hierarchy of Scale

  • people seated are bigger than musicians, showing importance

• Names written backwards

  • as if people in the painting are speaking to you

• ¾ Head Turn

• Profile Eye

• Intricately decorated couch

  • Etruscan style

• Woman’s breasts

  • covered by see through fabric

  • showing of shape and nipples

  • very rare until later Roman times to show naked women

Identify and Analyze

Processional scene, Tomb of the Typhon, Tarquinia

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• two reasons from line drawing version

  • painting is very deteriorated (reconstruction)

  • archaeologist who discovered it owns publishing rights

    • has yet to release actual image

• Processions

  • seen in later Roman art

  • all different kinds

• Tomb context - funeral procession

  • into afterlife or to the funeral itself

• Instead of Hierarchy of Scale

  • background figures raised above others

  • looks like they’re taller, but only to show everyone/so no one is covered

• Mixture of Real Life and Mythological Creatures

  • two possibilies

    • as part of funeral

      • people dressing up as chthonic deities/ancestors

    • actual demonic figures

      • ghosts physically present?

      • not demonic in a negative sense - only as “from the underworld”

• Leader of Procession

  • most likely the deceased in question

  • Magistrate clothing

    • torch and hair band

    • maybe was genuinely a magistrate

    • maybe put in these clothes to show importance or status

Identify and Analyze

Tomb of Q. Fabius, wall painting from a tomb on the Esquiline Hill, Rome

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Due to names on paintings, very inclined to believe this is the tomb of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus

• Two names in tomb paintings:

• Fabius

  • known Roman General who won against the Samnites

  • elected consul 5 times between 322 - 295 BCE

• Fannius

  • the Samnite

    • a people from Italy

  • Depicted in being defeated by Fabius during second war against the Samnites

• Episodic Narrative

  • various panels of story telling, like a comic strip

  • an advanced technique of story telling

  • key is to show same people in different scenes

    • through different times and places

    • this is what makes it “episodic”

  • later becomes Roman standard of representing stories

Identify and Analyze

Statue of Mars from Todi

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Bronze Statue

  • first Etruscan example of a bronze statue

    • thought to be more abundant, but were later pilgrimaged throughout the years to be melted down and used for other things

  • 90% copper, 10% tin

    • Copper could be found EVERYWHERE in Europe

      • Greek word for copper very close to “Cyprus”, which was filled with a bunch of copper and hence named for it

    • Tin - absolutely none

      • originally thought they were getting it from modern day Afghanistan where there’s lots

      • found in Cornwall, England

        • trade route between the two established far earlier than originally thought

• no evidence of it being Mars

  • rather just a warrior

• Patera

  • held in right hand

  • associated with sacrifice

    • filled with olive oil/wine/blood then poured as offering to the gods

  • in held in hand - religious context

    • as you’re actively giving it out as an offering

• Cuirass

  • Etrusco-Italic breastplate

  • very typically made of hardened bits of leather that were sewn together

  • metal plates at bottom as skirt to reinforce abdominal area

• Contrapposto

  • very Greek

  • “counterpose/counter posture”

  • weight put all on one foot with opposite leg bent, hips and shoulders tilted to adjust for weight distribution

  • meant to show natural movement of humans

• Bronze Casting

  • 1 - create a core

  • 2 - layer of wax to cover core

  • 3 - place mould of terracotta over wax

  • 4 - heat up

    • “Lost Wax Method”

    • wax melts away to leave a perfect negative in the mould

  • 5 - Bronze poured in

  • 6 - Bronze Statue

  • 7 - Finishing work

    • buffing

    • additions in copper

      • lips, eyebrows, nipples, pubic hair

    • additional inlays

      • shells/glass

        • could be painted

        • used as whites of eyes

      • ivory/copper teeth

• Segmented Casting

  • body parts made separately

    • weight + caution factors

  • People could then come in and pick/choose parts to add to the statue they wanted

  • richer men could commission from scratch since they could afford that

  • paintings of statue makers workshops as evidence

    • bronze heads + feet hanging on the walls in the background

Identify and Analyze

Bronze statuette of Hercules, probably from Cerveteri

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Votive

  • object of devotion

  • few inches tall

  • given to Gods as offering when going into the temple

  • usually cast images of the gods themselves

  • sold outside temples by vendors

• More permanent materials like bronze and terracotta

  • increasing wealth?

  • increasing devotion?

  • or desperation of Etruscans as Romans took over their lands

    • appealing to the gods for their favour

• Hercules

  • lion skin, club, and bow

  • nudism = heroism

• Contrapposto

  • Greek

• Patterning and Rib Detail

  • Etruscan

Identify and Analyze

Ficoroni Cista, Praeneste

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Cista

  • a specific kind of jar

  • meant for toiletries

    • comb, hair pins, mirrors, cosmetics, etc.

  • associated with marriage

• Cast segmently

  • Lid/Lions feet/Figures on top are all separate

• 3 Figures

  • Dionysus + Satyrs

    • Domestic Gods

    • associated with marriage processions

• Inscribed Sphinxes

  • near Eastern influence

• Jason + Argonauts Scene

  • Golden Fleece + Medea

  • all greats heroes on the same voyage

  • Amycus

    • ruler of the country of the Bebryces

    • Had to be beaten in boxing match in order for Argonauts to drink from his fountain

    • Pollux defeats him

  • Greek “Boxing”

    • more of a blood sport

      • fight until someone gives up/someone can’t fight anymore

    • “Gloves” - hardened straps of leather wrapped around hands

• Novius Plautios

  • artist signed his name on it

  • Famous Greek painting by Mikon of same scene, lost, 5th cent bce

    • came to Rome - possibly that Novius copied this painting?

    • simply shows influence of Greeks on Romans/Etruscans

• Dindia Macolnia

  • inscribed name “gave me to her daughter”

  • the woman who commissioned it for her daughter

  • Might represent a woman of elite status

  • Gives insight into what kinds of things women would commission

    • Plus sense of dowry, capabilities/wealth of women

Identify and Analyze

Bronze chimera from Arezzo

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Chimera

  • monstrous mixture of different animals into one

  • Antiquity definition - Snake as tail, lion’s head, ram’s body

  • Contemporary definition - used to describe a group of proteins because they're so warbled

• Example of metal-working skill of Etruscans

• Votive Offering

  • Inscription on side that meant "To the Gods"

  • Very expensive- came from someone wealthy

• Bellerophon

  • Rides Pegasus

  • One of his major fights was slaying the chimera

  • Idea that 3 heads are looking up at Bellerophon in the sky on Pegasus

• Snakes, Lions, and Rams/Goats common in Italy

  • Smaller lion in Italy but was hunted to extinction around 4th cent bce

  • So lion image probably from near east

Identify and Analyze

Terracotta statue of a man, Cales

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Illustrates connection between Greece and Rome

• Face and hair – could very easily be inspired by Greek statue 

  • Eastern mediterranean style 

  • Most famously in portraits in alexander the great 

    • Though happened before and after him 

• More expression than Apollo of Veii or other early/at the same time 

• Roman Toga 

  • Represents wealth, nobility, depending on colour painting – could've been a magistrate 

  • Not just a piece of clothing but what the cloth symbolizes 

  • Greek world - would’ve been nude

• Cultural coding of what a man should be 

  • Proud of Roman-ness 

  • Working 

• Generic ideal 

Identify and Analyze

Terracotta votive statue of a woman, Lavinium

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211BCE

• Cultural coding of what a woman should be  

  • Incredibly decorated 

    • Multiple necklaces, intricate breastplates, elaborate hairstyle, huge earrings, elaborate dress 

• Head covered – religious context 

  • Priestess? A woman engaging in ritual? 

• Representing the role of a woman in society 

  • Pious, decorus, show off wealth, adornments in lots of different ways 

 

Identify and Analyze

Bronze bust of a man “Brutus”

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Portraiture 

  • Etruscans and Roman inspired to present more realistic portraits 

    • More than Greeks/Eastern 

      • Showing of idealism 

• Finest example of Etruscan portraiture that we have 

• In depth idea of not only what they look like but who they are

  • A sense of personality

  • Conveyed through the physical

• No evidence of who this person truly is

  • Why people say it represents Brutus 

    • The one who kicked out the last Etruscan kings 

• Showing of age 

  • Wrinkles, prominent nasal labial lines (smile lines), beard (maybe), eye bags, crow's feet, slight jowls,  

• Neck + robe added later in 16^th century 

Identify and Analyze

“Servian Wall,” Rome

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• First major wall to be put up all around city of Rome 

  • Rome not biggest city in population or size, yet this was the biggest wall built in the mediterranean 

• Massive building project 

• Very old, gets replaced often 

• Only few places to see bits of the wall preserved 

• Purpose 

  • Marks extreme territory of Rome 

    • Build house outside of the walls? You're not roman anymore 

  • Defense 

  • Religious separation 

  • Pomerium 

    • Ditch around inside the wall 

    • Spiritual limits of the walls 

    • Most important 

      • Gods reside on the inside 

      • Outside Gods to come to Rome had to have temples on outside of Rome 

        • Isis, big cult following in Rome, but temples were outside 

Identify and Analyze

Limestone relief of sulcus primigenius for a Roman colony

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Cattle plowing the ditches

• Religious important ceremony of making of the pomerium

• Would do this for any major settlement

  • You have a villa? Dig a tiny pomerium

  • Roman Military Camps – pomerium

  • All to appease the Gods

  • Gods are with us – this is where the reign goes to

Identify and Analyze

Ostia, plan of Roman colony centered on forum

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Shows where pomerium was

• First example/attempt of city/urban planning?

• West coast of Italy

• Strategically important

  • Right next to a harbour

  • Also where the Tiber flows out into Mediterranean

  • Defensive position to guard the mouth of the Tiber

    • Eventual entry into Rome if enemies were to take it in

• Main roads, houses coming off of them, main areas deisgned to be non-domestic (Forum, Temples, Amphitheatre etc.)

• North South East West road – two roads entering each other

Identify and Analyze

Paestum, plan of Roman colony

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• Orthogonal plan

  • "straight"/grid plan

• Originally called Hippodamian plan

  • Hippodamius first to come up with this

    • Not true, 5^th century bce when he was alive but first example was Egyptian and long before him

    • Maybe he popularized it

• Very like New York

• Everything neat and tidy

• Decumanus – east-west street

• Decumanus Maximus – main east-west street

  • Where intersection with cardo maximus will be major happenings – town square/Forum

• Cardo – North-south street

• Cardo Maximus – main north-south street

  • Where intersection with decumanus maximus will be major happenings – town square/Forum

Identify and Analyze

Cosa, reconstruction drawing of arx dominated by their Capitolium

Early Republic Period

509 BCE - 211 BCE

• North/South/East/West gates will mark ends of the decumanus and cardo

• Old greek colony – becomes a Mini Rome

  • Many buildings look like Rome buildings

• Southern corner

  • Garnered lots of attention

  • Mini hill

    • Imitate one of seven hills of Rome

    • Placed a temple to Jupiter Capitallinus

      • Capitalinus – just means who is Optimus Maximus one

        • Also includescapitalline triade

    • Just foundation survives now