Timeline Etruscans: Archaic & Classical Period

Etruscans: Archaic & Classical Period 24

• 580 BC – 500 BC The Archaic city -- urban planning and architecture Etruscan cities of the Archaic period (c.580-480 BC) develop sophisticated urban planning: regular street grids, planned housing blocks, dedicated religious and civic spaces. Marzabotto, the best-preserved Etruscan city plan known, reveals a grid of streets oriented to the cardinal points, with a major north-south axis (cardo) and east-west axis (decumanus) -- the urban planning formula that Rome subsequently adopts for its colonies across the Empire. Etruscan houses of the Archaic period are built around a central atrium -- an open courtyard with a central pool (impluvium) to collect rainwater -- the plan that becomes the standard Roman house.
• 580 BC – 480 BC The Archaic temple -- terracotta decoration Etruscan temples of the Archaic period are built of wood and mud brick with terracotta roofing tiles and elaborate terracotta decorative programmes -- antefixes (ornamental tile ends), revetment plaques, and sculptural groups on the roof ridge. The terracotta decoration serves both protective and religious functions: the gorgon heads on antefixes ward off evil; the narrative scenes on revetment plaques tell mythological stories. The terracotta workshop at Veii (associated with the sculptor Vulca) produces the finest Archaic terracotta sculpture in Italy, including the famous Apollo of Veii -- a life-size striding deity of extraordinary vigour.
• 540 BC Battle of Alalia -- Etruscans and Carthaginians vs Greeks The Battle of Alalia (c.540 BC) is a naval engagement off the coast of Corsica between a combined Etruscan-Carthaginian fleet and the Greek Phocaean colonists of Alalia (on Corsica). The Greeks win the battle tactically but suffer such heavy losses that they abandon Corsica. Strategically, the Etruscans and Carthaginians win: the western Mediterranean is divided between them, with Corsica and Sardinia going to the Etruscans and Carthaginians respectively, and the Greeks effectively confined to their existing colonies. The Pyrgi tablets (c.500 BC) document the continued alliance between Caere and Carthage that this naval victory establishes.
• 530 BC – 400 BC Etruscan tomb painting -- the evidence of the afterlife The painted chamber tombs of Tarquinia are the most important body of painting surviving from the ancient world before the Roman period, and the only extensive evidence for ancient Italian wall painting. Cut into the tufa rock beneath tumuli (burial mounds), the tomb chambers are painted with vivid scenes of the banquet (the fundamental Etruscan afterlife activity), athletic games, music, dance, hunting, fishing and, later, mythological scenes and demonic figures. The colours -- red, black, yellow, blue, green, white -- are applied to a thin plaster layer over the tufa. Over 200 painted tombs survive at Tarquinia; the earliest date to c.670 BC, the latest to the 2nd century BC.
• 530 BC – 520 BC The Sarcophagus of the Spouses -- tenderness in terracotta The Sarcophagus of the Spouses from Caere (c.530-520 BC), now in the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome, is the most immediately moving work of Etruscan art: a large terracotta sarcophagus lid on which a married couple reclines together on a dining couch, the husband's arm around his wife's shoulder, both smiling with the animated expression of the Archaic period. They are not dead -- they are feasting together in the afterlife, as the Etruscans believed the dead continued to do. The piece captures both the Etruscan belief in a pleasurable afterlife and the status of women as partners in social life -- reclining alongside their husbands at the eternal banquet.
• 520 BC – 480 BC Tomb of the Diver -- Greek or Etruscan? The Tomb of the Diver at Paestum (c.480 BC), often discussed alongside Etruscan tomb painting, is technically from a Greek colony in southern Italy -- but it demonstrates the close cultural exchange between Greek and Etruscan elite funerary culture. Its famous diver plunging into a pool symbolising the passage from life to death is the only example of figurative painting from the Greek world of this period. The Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia and Paestum's Tomb of the Diver together represent the peak of pre-Roman wall painting in Italy.
• 520 BC – 480 BC Tomb of the Leopards -- the eternal banquet The Tomb of the Leopards at Tarquinia (c.480-450 BC) is one of the finest Archaic period tomb paintings, named for the two leopards facing each other above the main banquet scene. Three couches bear three pairs of reclining diners -- men and women together, wreathed and holding drinking vessels. Musicians play the double-flute (aulos) and the lyre. Servants carry wine. The scene radiates pleasure and abundance: this is the afterlife as the Etruscans imagined it -- a perpetual symposium in a flower-filled paradise. The painting's palette -- brilliant red, black, yellow and white against a cream ground -- and its fluid, confident line have been compared favourably to contemporary Attic red-figure painting.
• 510 BC The Apollo of Veii -- the masterpiece of Etruscan sculpture The Apollo of Veii, discovered in 1916 at the sanctuary of Portonaccio at Veii and dated to c.510-500 BC, is the most celebrated work of Etruscan sculpture and one of the finest works of Archaic art anywhere in the Mediterranean. The life-size terracotta figure -- part of a sculptural group depicting the myth of the Cerynean Hind -- shows Apollo striding forward with one arm extended, wearing the archaic smile of late 6th-century Greek sculpture but with a dynamism and vitality that distinguishes it from its Greek contemporaries. It is attributed by ancient sources to the sculptor Vulca of Veii -- the only Etruscan artist whose name is preserved in the literary record.
• 509 BC Expulsion of Tarquins from Rome -- the republic begins According to Roman tradition, the Etruscan king Tarquinius Superbus is expelled from Rome in 509 BC following the rape of Lucretia by his son, and the Roman Republic is established. The historical reality is more complex -- the transition from monarchy to republic in Rome was probably gradual -- but the tradition accurately reflects the end of overt Etruscan political dominance at Rome. The expelled Tarquin seeks military assistance from Lars Porsena, king of the Etruscan city of Clusium, who besieges Rome (c.507 BC) but ultimately does not restore Tarquin. The Etruscan period of Roman kingship ends, though Etruscan cultural influence on Rome remains profound for centuries.
• 507 BC Lars Porsena besieges Rome -- Horatio at the bridge Lars Porsena, king of the Etruscan city of Clusium (modern Chiusi), besieges Rome c.507 BC -- an episode that generates some of Rome's most celebrated foundation legends. Horatio Cocles single-handedly holds the Pons Sublicius (the bridge over the Tiber) against the entire Etruscan army while the Romans destroy it behind him; Mucius Scaevola penetrates the Etruscan camp to assassinate Lars Porsena, is captured, holds his right hand in a sacrificial fire to demonstrate Roman fortitude, and is released in admiration. Whatever the historical reality behind these legends, Lars Porsena's campaign reflects the continued power of Etruscan city-states even after the expulsion of the Tarquins.
• 500 BC – 400 BC Attic pottery in Etruria -- the Greek artistic influence Etruscan elites of the 6th-4th centuries BC are the most voracious consumers of Attic Greek pottery outside Greece. The workshops of Athens produce red-figure pottery for export to Etruria as one of their primary markets: the great Athenian painters Exekias, the Andokides Painter, the Berlin Painter and the Kleophrades Painter all have significant quantities of their work found in Etruscan tombs. Etruscan demand for Attic pottery is so great that it shapes the Athenian pottery industry -- some shapes (the stamnos, certain forms of kylix) appear to be made primarily for the Etruscan market. The Etruscans appreciate and collect Greek art with a passion unmatched anywhere in the ancient world.
• 500 BC – 400 BC Etruscan bronze mirrors -- art for everyday life Etruscan bronze hand mirrors of the 5th-3rd centuries BC are among the most charming objects in ancient material culture -- polished bronze discs with elaborately engraved backs depicting mythological scenes. The engraved scenes -- Hercle (Hercules) and Mlacuch, Peleu and Thetis, the Judgement of Paris, scenes from the Trojan War -- are drawn from Greek mythology but interpreted through an Etruscan lens, with Etruscan names and occasional Etruscan inventions. Over 3,000 Etruscan bronze mirrors survive, making them the single largest category of Etruscan engraved art. They were personal possessions, placed in women's tombs.
• 500 BC – 400 BC Etruscan bronze sculpture -- the Chimera of Arezzo Etruscan bronzecasters of the Classical period produce masterworks of ancient sculpture. The Chimera of Arezzo (c.400 BC), discovered in 1553 and immediately acquired by Cosimo I de' Medici, is a life-size bronze depicting the fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology -- lion's body, goat's head on the back, serpent's tail. The casting quality, the tense muscularity and the expressive wounded posture (the left rear leg is bent as if injured) make it one of the greatest bronzes of antiquity. Benvenuto Cellini restored the figure for Cosimo I. The Chimera is also a votive object -- an inscription on the right foreleg reads 'tinscvil,' meaning 'gift to Tinia' (the Etruscan Jupiter).
• 500 BC – 400 BC The Capitoline Wolf -- Romes symbol was Etruscan The Capitoline Wolf -- the bronze she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, symbol of Rome itself -- was long believed to be an Etruscan work of c.500 BC. Recent thermoluminescence testing suggests the wolf may actually date to the medieval period (11th-13th century AD), but the debate continues among scholars. Regardless of its dating, the Capitoline Wolf represents the deep entanglement of Etruscan and Roman cultural identity: the suckling twins were added by Antonio del Pollaiolo in the 15th century, but the wolf's style is consistent with Etruscan Archaic bronzework. Rome's most potent symbol has always been suspected of Etruscan parentage.
• 500 BC – 480 BC The Pyrgi tablets -- the closest thing to an Etruscan Rosetta Stone Three gold tablets discovered in 1964 at the port sanctuary of Pyrgi (modern Santa Severa), the coastal port of Caere, and dated to c.500 BC, are the most important documentary finds in Etruscan archaeology. Two tablets are inscribed in Etruscan and one in Phoenician; the Phoenician text records a dedication to the goddess Astarte by Thefarie Velianas, king of Caere. The Etruscan texts are not direct translations of the Phoenician but parallel dedications -- together they provide the closest thing to a bilingual Etruscan inscription and have significantly advanced the understanding of Etruscan vocabulary and religious practice.
• 474 BC Battle of Cumae -- the turning point The Battle of Cumae (474 BC) is the decisive naval engagement that ends Etruscan expansion in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Hiero I of Syracuse, responding to a request from Cumae (a Greek city on the Bay of Naples under Etruscan pressure), sends a Syracusan fleet that defeats the Etruscan navy off Cumae. The victory is celebrated by the poet Pindar in his first Pythian Ode (470 BC): 'I pray that he [Hiero] may keep the Etruscans quiet -- he has seen their insolence.' The Etruscan naval helmet deposited at Olympia by Hiero as a victory offering (found in 1817 and now in the British Museum) is inscribed: 'Hiero son of Deinomenes and the Syracusans to Zeus, Etruscan [spoils] from Cumae.'
• 450 BC – 400 BC Classical period tomb painting -- from joy to darkness The transition from Archaic to Classical period (c.480-400 BC) in Etruscan tomb painting is a shift from joyful scenes of banquet, music and games to more sombre imagery. Earlier tombs show the deceased feasting in a paradise of flowers and music; later tombs increasingly include images of the journey to the underworld -- the deceased riding horses or in chariots, escorted by demons. The Classical period introduces Charun (the Etruscan death demon, related to but distinct from the Greek Charon) -- a blue-skinned figure with a hooked nose and a large mallet, who escorts or drives the dead. This darkening of funerary imagery reflects the pressures of the 5th century.
• 450 BC – 350 BC Etruscan music and spectacle -- the games and the arena The Etruscans are credited by ancient sources with the invention of several forms of public entertainment that Rome later adopts: gladiatorial combat, chariot racing and theatrical performances with music. Etruscan tomb paintings frequently depict athletic games -- wrestling, boxing, discus throwing, horse and chariot racing -- performed in honour of the dead. The Etruscans introduce the double-pipe (aulos, called tibia in Latin) and the trumpet (tuba) to Italy; Roman ritual music uses Etruscan-derived instruments throughout the Republic. The Roman games (ludi), gladiatorial combat and the circus all have Etruscan antecedents.
• 450 BC – 350 BC The democratic transition -- from kings to magistrates The Etruscan city-states transition from monarchy to republican forms of government in the 5th century BC -- probably influenced by the Roman example (the Tarquins had been expelled in 509 BC) and by internal social pressures. Kings are replaced by elected magistrates: the zilath (the chief magistrate, equivalent to the Roman praetor), the purth (a high religious official) and other annual officers. The transition to elected magistracies reflects the growing power of the aristocratic class as a whole, which no longer accepts the concentration of power in a single royal family. The new magistrates wear the same royal insignia -- the curule chair, the toga, the lictors with fasces -- that the Etruscan kings had originated.
• 400 BC – 300 BC Classical period art -- the Ficoroni Cista The Ficoroni Cista (c.320-310 BC), a bronze cylindrical cosmetics container from Palestrina (ancient Praeneste), is signed by its maker: 'Novios Plautios med Romai fecid' -- 'Novios Plautios made me in Rome.' Its engraved decoration depicts the myth of the Argonauts with exceptional skill and detail. The Ficoroni Cista demonstrates the sophisticated cultural interchange between Rome, Praeneste and Etruria in the 4th century: its maker is a Latin craftsman working in Rome in an Etruscan artistic tradition for a Praenestine patron. It is the finest example of late Etruscan engraving and a testament to the tradition's continuing vitality even as Etruscan political power declines.
• 400 BC – 300 BC Etruscan medicine and haruspicy -- the sacred science Etruscan medicine and the related science of haruspicy (divination from entrails) are sufficiently respected in the ancient world that Roman aristocrats send their sons to Etruria specifically to learn these arts. The haruspices (diviners) form a professional guild, the ordo haruspicum, that advises Roman magistrates on the meaning of prodigies (unusual natural phenomena) throughout the Republic and Empire. The Etruscan discipline distinguishes between different types of lightning, each with different divine authors and different meanings; between different regions of the sacrificial liver, each corresponding to different cosmic zones; and between different types of birds and their flight patterns. This elaborate divinatory science is one of the most lasting Etruscan contributions to Roman culture.
• 400 BC – 300 BC The Etruscan afterlife -- Charun, Vanth and the underworld The Etruscan conception of the afterlife evolves significantly through the Classical and Hellenistic periods. The joyful paradise-banquet of the Archaic period tomb paintings is increasingly replaced by imagery of a populated underworld -- the realm of Ade and Phersipnai (Hades and Persephone) -- populated by demons. Charun (blue-skinned, hook-nosed, mallet-bearing) and Vanth (a winged female demon with a torch and scroll) escort the dead on their journey. The scroll Vanth carries records the fate of the deceased -- a notion of predetermined destiny that is central to Etruscan theology and that distinguishes Etruscan afterlife belief from the simpler Greek model.
• 400 BC – 396 BC Veii falls to Rome -- the first great Etruscan city conquered After a ten-year siege (conventionally 406-396 BC, though the dates are disputed), the Roman general Marcus Furius Camillus captures and destroys Veii -- the powerful Etruscan city only 16km north of Rome. Veii had been Rome's most persistent enemy for two centuries, fighting a series of wars with Rome while developing simultaneously as a major artistic centre (the Apollo of Veii is from Veii's sanctuary). The sack of Veii is Rome's first major expansion beyond its immediate territory. The population is sold into slavery; the gods are ritually transferred to Rome (evocatio). The Etruscan League fails to come to Veii's aid -- a fatal failure of solidarity.
• 390 BC The Gauls sack Rome -- and Etruscan northern territories In 390 BC (Roman dating; modern scholars prefer 387 BC), a Gallic army under the chieftain Brennus defeats the Romans at the Battle of the Allia and sacks Rome -- an event of profound trauma in Roman memory. The Gauls had entered Italy through the Alpine passes and established themselves in the Po Valley, displacing the Etruscan cities there over the course of the 4th century. The Etruscan cities of the Po Valley -- Felsina, Marzabotto, Spina -- are overwhelmed by the Gallic invasions. The simultaneous Roman pressure from the south and Gallic pressure from the north places the Etruscan heartland in a strategic vice from which it does not escape.