Art History: Etruscans & Rising Rome

Biconial impasto ware urn with inverted lid, 8th century BCE (Early Iron)

Biconical - flares wide as it goes up

Geometric decor (lines and dots)

Many uses—>fancy=cremation

Hut urns, Latium and Etruria, 9th century BCE (Early Iron)

Only found in Etruria/Latium (first Latium, spread N)

Looks like simple waddle-daub hut w/ round roof

Ovular or square, may replicate specific homes (never identical)

Ridge poles, spirits/birds, openable door

Usually buried w/ men (possibly paterfamilias—>power)

Forum necropolis, Rome, 10th–9th centuries BCE (Early Iron)

Early settlement on Palatine Hill, bury dead between hills (marshy)

Cremation + inhumation

Orange

Etruria

Pinkish, Near Rome

Latium

Impasto Ware

Unrefined clay, brownish color, simple patterns, handmade

Necropolis

City for the dead

Cremation

Burning the dead and saving their ashes

Kin Groups

Familial groups headed by paterfamilias

Paterfamilias

Head of family group

Holds power over family

Early Iron - Villanovans (Early Etruscans)

1000-750 BCE

Distinctive burials, Etruria + Latium, Wealth/Status differentiation

Handmade pottery (no wheel, impasto ware), metalwork (bronze, iron)

Villanovan Cemeteries

Outside village (on hilltops)

Cremation urns, Grave goods

Arranged by family groups

Villanovan Settlements

On volcanic tuffa hilltops

Wattle+daub oval huts, thatch roofs, small porch, hearth

Organic growth

Bucchero krater, 6th century BCE (Archaic)

Large vessel, pointed foot, flares w/ wide mouth, handles

Greek body, Etruscan style/decor

Used to mix wine at parties (elite)

Stamps for decor, no stories (just creatures)

Regolini-Galassi Tomb or Tomb of Lartha Velthurus, Sorbo necropolis, Caisra (modern: Cerveteri, Latin: Caere), c. 670 BCE (Archaic)

Early attempt at monumental tomb, man+woman (woman laid on floor)

Unknown relationship

Extremely rich, tons of elite objects (masterwork gold fibula)

Small window looks into burial chamber, corbelled vault (arching walls)

Bronze bed, 33 figurines, incense burner, Bucchero ink pot (writing)

Banditaccia necropolis, Caisra: Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, 600 BCE (Archaic)

Tomb looks like a home, tumulus has multigenerational chambers

5 burial chambers, dead/urn laid on beds/klinai (elite)

Stone shield carvings, rafters, chairs

Banditaccia necropolis, Caisra: Villa Giulia Sarcophagus, 520 BCE (Archaic)

Man and woman on klinai, life-sized, teracotta (4 pieces)

Less expensive than metal, but teracotta art in prime

Reclining/banqueting, Etruscan dress, Greek hair/face (stylized)

Likely both inside (intimate, equality)

Monterozzi Necropolis, Tarquinia: Tomb of the Bulls (or Tomb of Arnath Spuriana), c. 530 BCE (Archaic)

Multiple burials, covered by tumulus (two burials chambers)

Most of painting in antechamber/burial chamber wall

Pediment: deer chased by lions

Bulls by people having sex (protecting passage to Underworld)

Sex might be apotropeic (to lead the eye away from true importance)

Trojan War (prince Troilus killed by Achilles—>unholy sacrifice)

Name: Arnath Spuriana

Monterozzi Necropolis, Tarquinia: Tomb of the Augurs, c. 520 BCE (Archaic)

Wall separations, thick ceiling line, lifesize figures, painted ‘door’

Figures by door likely monsters, augurs, or relatives

Funerary games, augur or referee, Phersu scene (Underworld deity)

Monterozzi Necropolis, Tarquinia: Tomb of the Leopards, c. 480 BCE (Archaic)

Dead have endless party (male+female)

Colorful ceiling (like funeral canopy)

Two leopards on pediment, nude slaves/servers, entertainers

Marzabotto, early 5th century BCE (Archaic)

Orthogonal (grid) planning (from Greeks?)

Large main streets (N-S and E-W)

Cemeteries just outside city

Zone for temples in N

Walled city (warfare present)

Portonaccio Temple (Temple of Minerva), Veii, c. 500: Temple model, Terracotta Roof Statue of Apulu, Terracotta Roof Statue of a Goddess Carrying a Child (Archaic)

Close to Rome, similar to Greek temple, painted Tuscan Order

Portico (covered entry), 3 cellas (rooms), tiled pitched roof

Teracotta, wood (columns), brock (walls), stone (podium)

Elevated, frontal emphasis

Apollo sculpture-Drapery, long trussed hair, almond eyes, archaic smile (Greek); also not nude, not static, supporting object (Etruscan)

Bucchero

Developed from impasto

Shiny, black surface fired to dark grey

Wheel-made, fine, thin-walled

Symposium

Eat/drink/entertain

Reclining banquet, status display

Spirit of conquest/competition

Etruscan: association w/ afterlife, men+women

Tumulus

Mound-like structure containing tombs

Repousse

Metalworking using sheets that are hammered into shape (on reverse)

Granulation

Decor using dots of metal added on

Kline

Elite, reclining couch

Divination, Augur, Augury

Finding the will of the gods through ritual, etc

Official that practices augury

Interpreting omens

Phersu

Masked deity in wall painting (Underworld)

Funerary Games

Contests held at funerals for prizes

Orthogonal Planning

Grid planning

Tuscan Order

Simple round columns

Sarchophagus

Stone coffin inside tomb

Magna Graecia

Western Greek colony (near Cumae—>upper ankle of boot)

Cinerary Urn with Banqueting Man and Vanth, Chiusi, c. 400 BCE (Classical)

Teracotta; man reclining, woman upright (w/ wings—>Vanth)

Man holding something (wine, pomegranite?)

Short, simple hair (Greek), idealized/naturalistic faces (Greek)

Mars of Todi, c. 400 (Classical)

Bronze (metal-rich), life-size, Etruscan workshop

Struck by lightning and buried—>preserved

Lost hollow-cast tech.

Inscription in Etruscan alphabet, Umbrian language, Celtic name (merceneries—>mix of cultures)

Bronze Chimaera, Arezzo, early 4th century BCE (Classical)

Lion head, goat on back, snake tail biting goat

Inscription: belongs to sky god (votive dedication)

Lots of motion, goat bleeding

Lost sculpture group? (Bellerophon)

Ficoroni Cista, late 4th century BCE (Classical)

Women’s box for toiletries, 3 pedestals (lion paw on frog), given as dowry

Greek myth: Jason+Argonauts (status symbol)

Deity statues

Roman workshop

Mirror, Vulci, 4th century BCE (Classical)

One side polished, other etched

Mirrors are reflective/magical—>cross boundaries (often inside graves)

Related to divination

Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, 4th–3rd centuries BCE (Classical)

Tombs less common now, underground w/ tumulus

Painted and reliefs, stone pillars, stucco reliefs (domestic)

Niches even in antechamber for people

Central niches w/ special reliefs (tomb founder?): Cerberus (guards Und.), Chairon? (ferryman)

Inghirami Tomb, Volterra, 2nd century BCE (Classical)

Conquered by Rome, extremely wealthy family

Plain tomb, intricate sarcophagi

Fat, reclining dead (opulent)

Aule Metele, Cortona, c. 90–70 BCE (Classical)

Etruscan man, look like Roman senator

Lost wax tech., Etruscan workshop

Wide hem on toga—>Senator/important person

Aristocratic ring, Senatorial bots

(Assimilation)

Vanth

Guide to Underworld

Lost Wax Technique

Make a wax copy, make cast using wax, melt wax, replace with molten metal

Votive

Object dedicated to something/someone

Palatine Hill settlement (and "Hut of Romulus"), Rome, 9th–8th centuries BCE (Regal)

Loosely spaced huts (no planning), waddle+daub, pitch/thatch roof, reed/wood frame

Hut visible into Imperial Period on Palatine

Rulers tried to preserve (link to tradition)

Forum Romanum (civic buildings), Rome, early 6th century BCE: Cloaca Maxima (great sewer), Rome, begun 6th century BCE (Regal)

Attributed to Tarquin (Etruscan) kings

Open-air canal, drained marsh and cleared waste from forum to Tiber R.

Later a barrel vault

Forum Romanum (civic buildings), Rome, early 6th century BCE: Lapis Niger (Black Stone), Sanctuary of Vulcan, Rome, 6th century BCE (Regal)

Archaic Latin inscription in boustrophedon (as ox plows), earliest monumental Latin inscription

Says it’s a sacred area, do not defile

Presence of foot road, judicial system, slavery, kingship

Tuffa pillar, white stone base

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Capitoline Hill, Rome, dedicated 509 BCE (Regal)

Capitoline vowed to be built by Tarq. Priscus, actually built by Tarq. Superbus

Etruscan architects (local workers), largest building in Rome

Found decapitated, bleeding head while digging (omen, shall be head of world)

Dedicated for Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva) (by first consuls of Rome)

Set precedent of generals offering spoils to gods/state

State temple, bridge monarchy+republic

Stone foundation, mudbrick/wood siding, tile roof, Tuscan Order (later marble)

Central stairs, large porch w/ columns, 3 cellas, pitched roof+pediment (Etruscan)

Free-standing columns on sides (Greeek)

Teracotta statues on roof, storage rooms in back

Lots of labor (many people, military, wealthy), on level of Superpowers

Tiber River

River from Appenines to Tyrrhenian Sea

Connects Rome to Sea, protects from pirates

Pomerium

Sacred boundary of the city

Arch, Barrel Vault

Hall/entrance w/ arched ceiling

Forum

Political/religious center of Rome

Symbolic center of Rome

Boustrophedon

Written as the ox plows

Triumphal Procession

Parade in which victorious general is celebrated throughout Rome

Servian Wall, Rome, mid-4th century BCE (Republic)

Not fully uncovered (people live in Rome)

Built by King Servius (according to tradition)

Large ashlar blocks (tuffa) from Veii (must have already been conquered), 4th C. masonry (at earliest)

Surrounds ‘7’ hills of Rome (likely rxn to Gaul’s atack)

Flamininus gold stater, 196 BCE (Republic)

Greek influence (live face on coin is outlawed in Rome)

Flaminius portrait w/ Victory and his name

Nike gives crown to him on other side (copying Alexander and Hellenistic kings)

Monument of Aemilius Paullus, Delphi, Greece, 167 BCE (Republic)

Paullus acts Greek (visits sanctuary), offers thanks for victory

Famous oracle (esp. for politics/war)

Monument was built by Perseus, he steals it and puts it outside sanctuary

Inscription said he took it from Perseus (gloating)

Equestrian general atop, relief frieze shows Battle of Pydna (accurate, Greek style→local artists, Roman dress, rearing horse according to oracle/history)

Marble, proportionate, naturalistic (but not nude)

Temple of Hercules Victor, Rome, c. 150 BCE (Republic)

In Forum Boarium, Corinthian Order (very fancy, Greek), first to use imported pentelic marble

Dedicated to (unknown) military victory, top is missing

Sanctuary of Fortuna, Palestrina (ancient Praeneste), late 2nd century BCE (Republic)

First non-utilitarian concrete usage (covered by brick/stone/plaster—>looks too cheap)

Cut into hillside, many terraces/levels, actual temple is small in back

Round arch, barrel vault, groin vault

Use coffers to relieve weight and add design

Lucius Junius Brutus, Alexander the Great

‘The Dullard’, nephew of Tarq. Superbus, led revolt over Lucretia, founded Republic, first consul, minted coins

Ruled Macedon (overthrew Persia), created massive empire, dies and generals split his land (not amiably)

Ager, Fossa

Wall with ditch behind and dirt in front, extra barier and defender ramp, labor intensive (political power)

Punic Wars, Macedonian Wars

Cathage v Rome (Sicily—>Province), Africanus v Hannibal, N. Africa—>Province

Flaminius defeats Philip of Macedon (‘liberates’ Greeks from Macedonian control), mints gold staters (like Greek kings), celebrates triumph

Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Flaminius, Aemilius Paulus

‘Sword of Rome’, captures Syracuse (Sicily), brought back loot (Greek art), started craze

Macedonian War, does not make it a province (returns), emanates Greek-ness and Alexander

3-4 day long procession (too many statues/art)

Hellenistic Kingdoms

Seleucid Empire-largest

Ptolemaic (Egypt)-Ptolemy, wealthy, stable

Antigonid

Landscape Architecture

Uses location to make most of building

Generals want building on parade path to get ephemeral victory