The Greeks in South Italy and the Rise of the Etruscans
Administrative and Course Information
Audio Issues: The lecturer noted that audio and technical difficulties affected the recording of the previous week's lecture regarding "Ancient Greece in the Fourth Century." Students are encouraged to reach out via announcements if slide text is insufficient for understanding.
Weekly Subject Shift: The course is transitioning from the Greek world to the world of the Italians and the foundations of Rome, specifically focusing on the Italian Peninsula prior to Roman development in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.
Assessment and Examination: * Essay Submission: Essays were due recently; late submissions are subject to penalty rates unless supported by a Disability Access Plan (DAP). * Final Reading Quiz: The last quiz is scheduled for next week, covering the topic of "Ancient Glass." * Exam Structure: 1. Image-Based Questions: Students must identify and answer questions about specific images. 2. Map Questions: Students will mark or circle specific cities, regions (e.g., South Italy), or identify numbered locations (e.g., Rome). 3. Long Answer Questions: Approximately to questions requiring a paragraph or half-page response on general topics.
Review of Hellenistic Art and Architecture
The Parthenon: * Advanced Mathematics: Utilized principles to counteract optical illusions, ensuring the structure appears perfect from a distance. * Iconography: Featured rich sculptural programs and a decorative frieze. * The Erechtheion: An unusual temple design located near the Parthenon; characterized as a playful push of design boundaries that was ultimately never replicated due to contemporary distaste.
The Macedonian World: * Palaces over Temples: Power was demonstrated through large palaces rather than massive temples. * The Andron: Specialized drinking rooms located at the edges of palaces, indicative of large-scale royal banqueting. * Royal Tombs: Notable finds include the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, containing a golden wreath, a golden casket, and the Macedonian royal seal.
Hellenistic Theatrical Architecture: * Temple of Apollo at Didyma: A gigantic structure featuring a facade that masked a smaller temple interior and weird corridors meant to manipulate the religious experience. * Great Altar at Pergamon: Transformed the traditional stone block altar into a massive building with steps flanked by meter high sculptures of gods fighting giants.
Iconography of Alexander the Great: * Style: Featured the "Anastoli" hairstyle (a distinctive cowlick or swept-back look) and a clean-shaven face. * Beards: Associated with philosophers during this era. Most kings remained clean-shaven until Emperor Hadrian, who reintroduced the beard to signal his identity as a philosopher. * Propaganda: Busts and coins were used to emulate Alexander’s image and associate later kings with his legacy.
The Foundation of Rome as a Secondary Civilization
Definition: Rome is considered a "secondary civilization," meaning it did not develop organically from isolated villages (unlike Egypt or Mesopotamia). Instead, the Romans were highly impacted by the Greeks and Etruscans, adopting their technology, language, and culture.
Ex Oriente Luxe ("Light comes from the East"): A concept describing the flow of cultural learning from the Near East (Egypt and Mesopotamia) to the Greek world during the Archaic period, then to South Italy, and finally reaching Rome.
Greek Colonization Expansion: Following the Dark Age, population growth in Greece led to the establishment of colonies around the Black Sea, North Africa, France, Spain, and specifically South Italy and Sicily (Magna Graecia).
Pithecusae: The Earliest Greek Colony
Location: Situated on the northern tip of the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples near Mount Vesuvius. Founded approximately BCE.
Apoikia: Greek term for a colony, translated as a "home away from home."
Strategic Choice: Built on an island rather than the mainland for defensibility and easy seagoing routes, as the Greeks were uncertain of the reception they would receive from the indigenous Italians.
Material Culture and Trade: * Eretrians: The colony was founded by people from Eretria. * Multicultural Artifacts: Excavations at the necropolis revealed Corinthian pottery, Rhodian material, Etruscan Bucchero, and local indigenous South Italian ceramics. * Shipwreck Crater: Dated to roughly years after foundation; depicts a flipped ship and drowning sailors, including an image of a man being eaten by a shark. * The Neopoiesi Inscription: A pottery fragment inscribed with "made me" (the name ends in "…enos"), representing the first archaeological evidence of a Greek artist asserting their individual identity. * Scarabs: Egyptian and Phoenician scaraboids found in burials indicate diverse trading connections. * Fibulae: Bronze safety pins used to fasten clothing. South Italian types found in Pithecusae evidence two-way trade with indigenous populations.
Indigenous Interactions and Colonization Styles
Phoenician Presence: Evidence of Phoenicians living on Pithecusi includes red-slip plates with graffito (scratched names), Aramaic script, and symbols of the eastern god Tanet. Artifacts suggest a second generation of Phoenicians identifying with their origin culture within the Greek colony.
Greek Settlement Patterns: * Major centers included Taras/Taranto (Spartan), Metaponto, Sybaris, and Rhegium. * Taras (Taranto): Established by Spartans. According to legend, it was settled by the children of Spartan women and the perioche (non-pure Spartans) born while the men were at war.
Case Study: Lamma Stula (Aggressive Expansion): * Initial settlement by indigenous Italians in the century BCE. * In approximately BCE, the pottery sequence shifts abruptly from indigenous styles to Greek ceramics. * Archaeological evidence shows a small, one-room square Greek house built directly over the curved foundations of a destroyed indigenous house, signifying a hostile takeover and cultural erasure.
Case Study: Incoronada (Cooperative Settlement): * Located near Metaponto. * Features houses with subterranean pits/basements for storage and cooling. * Ceramic Distribution: Pits contained a mixture of Greek (Corinthian, Vaphio cups) and indigenous (Mat-painted) pottery. Unlike Lamma Stula, the coexistence of artifacts suggests a peaceful blended community or intermarriage between Greeks and indigenous Italians.
South Italian Greek Art: The Red Figure Tradition
Metaponto: A well-planned Greek city with a grid street system, an agora (marketplace), sanctuaries, and an ecclesiaterion (council building) later converted into a theater.
The Pisticci Painter: * Active approximately to BCE. * Considered the first South Italian vase painter; trained in the School of Polygnotus in Athens. * Itinerant vs. Resident: A kiln found in Metaponto containing work by the "School of the Pisticci Painter" suggests the artist lived there long-term to train students and capitalize on the local demand for Greek art.
Nesteris: A specific South Italian pottery shape (characterized by discs on the handles) that Greek painters began decorating with red-figure imagery to appeal to local tastes.
Iconography of Italians: Greek artists depicted indigenous Italians with distinctive belts, loincloths, and curly "mullet-style" hair.
Theater and Phlyax Scenes: South Italian Greeks were obsessed with theater, especially comedy. Red-figure vases frequently depict actors wearing grotesque masks and exaggerated genitalia.
Volute Crater: A massive wine-holding vessel, reaching up to meters in height, featuring complex mythical and dramatic scenes.
The Geography and Growth of the Etruscans
Physical Geography of Italy: * Bounded by the Alps to the North. * The Apennine Mountains form a central spine, separating eastern and western populations. * Surrounded by the Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, and Ionian Seas.
The Villanovans: A term used for the early Etruscans (ca. to BCE). Named after the Villa Nova cemetery excavated by Count Giovanni Gozzardini in the century.
Etruscan Language: A pre-Indo-European language that is unrelated to the common roots of Sanskrit, Greek, or Latin (the latter being Indo-European). It is currently a dead, largely undeciphered language.
Settlement Evolution: * Bronze Age: Small villages of fewer than people using wattle-and-daub architecture (wooden poles, thatched roofs). * Iron Age Transition: Large regional centers (ca. + inhabitants) began to coalesce, possibly moving from tribal groups to chiefdoms.
Etruscan Wealth and Elite Burials
Evolution of Tombs (8th Century BCE): * Initially simple burials with a razor, spear, and Impasto pottery. * By to BCE, tombs became "princely," containing gold, bronze banqueting sets, and even chariots.
Tomb AA1 (Veii): Contained a bronze scenery urn with a helmet-shaped lid, iron swords with ivory pommels, and horse bits (signaling wealth through horse ownership).
Tomb Z 15 A: Contained a Flabellum (a fan). This is a sign of royalty adopted from Near Eastern cultures (e.g., Assyrian kings), indicating that Etruscan rulers were being fanned by servants as a status symbol.
Economic Basis of Power: The Etruscan homeland was rich in mineral ores. * Colline Metallifere (Metal-bearing Hills): Contained Iron, Lead, Silver, Copper, Mercury, Manganese, and Tin. * Tolfa Mountains: Rich in Lead and Copper. * This mineral wealth made the Etruscans critical trading partners for the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Assyrians.
Cultural Heritage and the "Grand Tour"
The Renaissance: Families like the Medici (e.g., Cosimo the Great) styled themselves as descendants of the Etruscans.
The Grand Tour: During the and centuries, wealthy English individuals traveled Italy to buy antiquities. * Charles Nicholson: Collected Etruscan and Mediterranean artifacts that formed the foundation of the Nicholson Museum (now part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University). * Royal Etruria (1619): Written by Thomas Dempster, one of the earliest archaeological books focusing on the mystery and importance of the Etruscans.