Etruscan and Roman Art and Architecture

Practice Labeling & Recall  

Attach to Themes 

  • Rome is stealing ideas and materials

  • Religious praise 

  • Politicians are rebuilding things to gain political influence 

    • Coins 

    • REX statue in the city covered by basalt but used as a shrine for the king 

  • Wealth & power 


Etruscan Chronology: 

  • Etruscan expansion 700-600 BCE 

  • Etruscan heyday 600-400 BCE 

  • Etruscan decline After 400 BCE 

  • Roman Chronology: 

  • Regal (Archaic) Period 753-509 BCE Republican Period 509-27 BCE 


Why Rome?

  • Mediterranean Sea = “sea highway” for trade and cultural exchange

  • “Mare Nostrum” = “our sea” (Roman term for the Mediterranean)

  • Enabled trade, communication of ideas/information, and transport of materials

  • Connectivity & complexity across regions

  • Diverse microenvironments: fertile plains, valleys, hills, mountains, the Tiber River, harbors

  • Geography allowed for Roman conflict, exploitation, and romanticization

  • Encouraged migration, interaction, and social complexity

Etruscans

  • Comprised of independent city-states

  • Rich in natural metal resources

  • Had a socio-political organization, elaborate religious practices

  • High status of women

  • Tombs provide the best archaeological evidence

Chronology:

  • Expansion/Development: 700–600 BCE

  • Heyday: 600–400 BCE

  • Decline & Roman Expansion: after 400 BCE


Tombs and Burial Practices

Banditaccia Necropolis at Cerveteri

  • Tumuli: burial mounds signifying:

    • Wealth accumulation via trade

    • Cross-cultural interaction

    • Emphasis on family lineage (used for generations)

    • Visible in landscapes, signs of conscious consumption

    • Made of tufa (volcanic rock)

    • Transitioned to cube tombs over time

Cube Tombs in Cerveteri

  • Carved into hillsides

  • Reflected economic advancement, social stratification

  • Indicated population growth and urban expansion

Regolini-Galassi Tomb (700–600 BCE)

  • Reflects early Etruscan expansion

  • Features: dromos, vaulted ceilings, house-like design

  • Inhumation and cremation

  • Rich grave goods: bronze beds, chariot (ekphora), silver bowls, gold fibula

  • Advanced metalworking: granulation, filigree, Egyptian & Eastern motifs (lions, birds, water symbols)

  • Women buried with jewelry, honored in death → status of women

  • Cross-cultural exchange evident in imported grave goods

  • Illustrates belief in afterlife and family reputation

Tomb of the Shields and Chairs

  • Represents transition from tumuli to house-like tombs

  • Roof beams carved to mimic homes

  • Terracotta statues show ancestor veneration, funerary dining

  • Merges living and dead, ritualized remembrance

Tomb of the Reliefs

  • Rich in decorated grave goods, tools, weapons, drinking vessels

  • Kylix indicates symposium culture

  • Everyday objects carved in relief → symbolic of eternal life

  • Large size = high status

  • Includes Greek pottery → link to mythology and trade

  • Beds roof 

Etruscan Art & Architecture

Painting from the Tomb of the Diver (Paestum)

  • Depicts a symposium → celebration of life/death

  • Visuals: drinking, music (double flute), male bonding, love scenes, kylix

Tomb of the Leopards

  • Also shows a symposium

  • Symbol of rebirth and fertility (egg)

  • Women shown with light skin tone; participating → high female status

Tomb of the Augurs

  • Funerary games, augury (bird-watching), and rituals

    • Signs from gods 

  • Lituus = staff used by augurs

  • Pherus = wrestler/performer in funerary games

  • Reflects belief in communication with gods through signs

Bronze Mirror – Haruspicy

  • Haruspex: diviner examining sheep liver

  • Reflects divination → communication with gods

Late Archaic Rome 6th Century 

  1. Forum 

  2. Temples of Jupiter Optimus Maximus 

  3. Harbor & Forum Boarium 

    1. Trading, ideal, Romulus found in cave with wolff 

  4. Bridge Profesit maximus 

    1. Connection, advancement in society and technology 

  5. Circus Maximus 

    1. games /events/ social entertainment 

Etruscan Temples:

  • Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, on Capitoline 550-500 BCE 

  • Triple cella - juno jupiter, minerva 

  • Estruscan style, stairs only in front 

  • And figures on ridgepole 

  • Aegean Style terracotta revêtement

  • Triple: Gods

  • Religious temple, sits higher than everwhere else 

  • The place to connect with gods  

In General Etruscan Style:

  • Differed from Greek: sculptures on rooftops, deep porches

    • Votive offerings to the gods 

    • Highest point 

    • Doric 

  • Romans inherited column types, layout, religious roles

  • Temple at Veii: terracotta statues on ridgepole, example of Etruscan religious design

  • Front openig different than greek culture opening, stairway is not all the way around

  • Columns greek, building not 

  • Vertivious

Greek Influence: Paestum Temples

  • Architectural orders:

    • Doric (plain)

    • Ionic (scrolls)

    • Corinthian (floral, elaborate)

Roman Chronology

  • Regal Period (753–509 BCE)

    • Romulus & Remus myth

    • Palatine Hill: first Roman settlement

    • Mundus = sacred pit for offerings

    • Pomerium = sacred boundary

  • Republic (509–27 BCE)

    • Shift from monarchy to elected officials (2 consuls)

Early Rome:

  • Development of Forum Romanum (public square)

  • Major buildings:

    • Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus: triple cella

    • Curia (senate hall), Comitium (assembly space)

    • Temple of Castor, Temple of Saturn (state treasury)

    • Regia: religious headquarters of Pontifex Maximus

Black Stone (Lapis Niger)

  • Rutus end to King of the time → Monachry ended 

  • Wrtten in stone

  • Monarchy to republic, important 

  • Broken / vandalized 

  • Didn’t like what it stood for 

    • Opposition  

  • Sacred monument, possibly marking a king’s grave or shrine

  • “REX” 

  • Symbolized end of monarchy

  • Paved over by basalt 

  • King shrine 


Roman Architecture & Infrastructure

  • City planning: grid-based, walls for defense

  • Concrete: made of lime, ash, rubble → waterproof, strong

    • Pozzolana = volcanic ash

    • Enabled arches, domes, and vaults

    • Strong in compression, not tension

  • Opus incertum: early Roman concrete technique

Forum Romanum, Republic Period 

  1. Curia/Curis 

    1. Covered meeting hall for senate 

  2. Comitium 

    1. Open air space for popular assembly 

  3. Temple of Saturn (497BC) 

    1. Father of jupiter 

    2. Also housed public treasury 

    3. Perfect please to put states money 

  4. Temple of Castor, 

    1. Twins sons of Jupiter 

    2. Associated with military and war 

  5. Temple of Vesta 

    1. House of vestal virgins - higher life - marriage 

  6. Regia 

    1. Meeting places for pontifex maximus and pontiffs 

    2. Archive of religious records 

    3. Preist - special documents 



Cosa Map:

City plan of Cosa 2 century 

  • City wall was built around the perimeter, used for defense

  • Made out of cement 

  • Makes dense stronger and waterproof material 

  • Arch evidence shows they are trying to copy rome 



Sanctuary of Fortuna ( Praeneste late 2nd century) 

  • Open courtyard surrounded by something 

  • Use of concrete, maximized the drame at the place 

  • Strength compression, archs, and domes 

    • Concrete, mixed - stronger, denser, water proof


Nile River Mosaic:

  • Roman Republic period 

  • Mediterranean intersctoon 

  • Roman italian representation 

  • River was chaotic with trade and mobility 

  • People of praeneste 

    • Effort and creativity in  the artwork 

    • Modern scene 

    • enslave d lavbor to make this work - poltictially 

  • Zoom in symposium scene 

  • Crocodiles in egypt, greek writing 

  • Temple on mosaic 

Housing Changes:

Typical house: Typical Roman House (3rd Century) 

  • Walk through 

  • Open to atrium, u should be able to stand in the door and see straight through the middle to see all the nice parts of the house 

  • Cubiculum → small room 

  • Atrrium in the middle used to colle

Vs other changes: 

Atrium, paratsyle in back, buisness - more, individualized approach to living 

Pompeii

  • Domus (elite homes): layout included:

    1. Fauces (entry)

    2. Atrium

    3. Impluvium

    4. Cubiculum (bedroom)

    5. Alae (side rooms)

    6. A - Curia (senate meeting house), Tablinum (office) - SULLA - B, RAISE THE FLOOR - C,

    7. Triclinium (dining room)

    8. Hortus (garden)

    9. Compluvium (ceiling opening)

  • House of Sallust: early example, shows evolution in home design

  • House of the Faun: large-scale, elite status, includes Alexander Mosaic (battle scene = heroism)

    1. Battle of AOG fighting King of Persia 

    2. King offers daughter in marriage as peace, AOG said fuck that capture them all 

    3. Took a lot to build and create this, each piece had to be colored and placed

    4. Show pride, heroism, and strength in Rome 

    5. Pompeii 1st Centruy 

    6. Exchange of peace → marraige, NOPE, captures his family, end entire family line

    7. Pride, colorful, pieces detailed, place them

  • Bought out the neighbors, half for showing half for family 

    1. See mosaic, garden, atrium, wealth, power, luxury 

  • Corithium walls, temples, wealth, luxury, parstyle

  • Exedria 

Art, Status, and Propaganda

  • Wall paintings: reflect shared luxury, Greek theatrical influence

  • Silver tableware, dining scenes show social rituals

Roman Temples & Monuments

  • Statues: older, wiser, wealthier, Connection to family, lineage, 

  • Pompeus the great, mimic alexandra the great 


  • Temple of Vesta: Greek marble, round temple, reflects Greek conquest and cultural appropriation, won victories in greece, has power over them, corthium style, like a “fuck you”, long distance traveled

  • Coins:

    • Used for political propaganda

    • Often showed military victories or gods

    • Minerva: war & military Success, animals 

    • Promote family lineage, advertise himself 

    • Silver denarius minted by P. Licinius Nerva, magistrate in charge of minting coins, Rome, 113-112 BCE

    • Silver denarius struck for Lucius Cornelius Sulla, c. 82 BCE, by military mint traveling with him on campaign in the Greek East Sulla = marches on Rome 88 BCE, bloody civil war; dictator of Rome 81-79 BCE

        • First time someone living was on a coin 

        • Nerva - poltically,miliatary sucess, and family and politiical figure 

        • Associate his name with the ballot 

        • See coin 

        • Lineage 

        • He got counselship after this 

        • Sulla - invaded latins 

          • From Rome

          • Left Rome, met with Army and invade Rome 

          • Send a message - embarrased Rome 

          • Hiearchy 

Theater of Pompey (Rome)

  • First permanent stone theater

  • Combines:

    • Theater in Pompeii

    • Temple of Venus Victrix

  • Contrast with Greek theater:

    • Greek theaters: built into hillsides

    • Roman theaters: freestanding, often multi-use complexes

      • Built the theater, Roman law, can’t build theaters 

      • King Pompi got around this → make it a temple, and connect the theater to it 

        • Venus, mother of Romulus and Remus, is dedicated to the mother 

        • Connected to the theater 

      • Important because it shows different column styles 

        • The Coliseum was built 

          • Doric, Ionic, Corinthian 

      • Forum 

        • Place to gather, open public area, commoners, politicians 

        • Hierarchy, meeting, town hall, not in closed doors 

      • Cruia: capital building

        • Only the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Senate meeting place 

      • Why did he do this?

        • Second one, to control the Senate, political gain 

        • Julius Caesar's death 

      • Honor temples that were previously standing, close it in, tradition, make it apart of the forum 

Roman Naming System

For men:

  • Praenomen = personal name (e.g., Gaius)

  • Nomen = gens/clan name (e.g., Julius)

  • Cognomen = family branch (e.g., Caesar)

  • Agnomen = honorary title (e.g., Macedonicus)

For women:

  • Nomen = father’s gens in feminine form (e.g., Julia)

  • Cognomen = sometimes husband’s or father’s

  • Ordinal names: if multiple daughters (e.g., Julia Secunda, Agrippina Maior)