Cerveteri

In Art History class, we just finished studying the Etruscans, their art and what it said about their society. Viterbo itself is in what was former Etruria, even though its current political boundaries place it in Lazio, the area just to the south of Tuscany. Remember some Fridays are field trip days and today was one to the significant Etruscan city of Cerveteri, most famous for it's Necropolis, or city of the dead.

We visited both the Necropolis and a museum that displayed some of the goods found in the tombs. Students who are in the Ancient History class had to do research for an assignment at the Cerveteri Necropolis and Art History students had a group assignment to do at the museum in town.

Some background for those unfamiliar with Etruscan history. This part of Italy is blessed with great soil, easy access to the sea and a long growing season. Combine this with the Etruscans mastery of metallurgy and a willingness to be open to outsiders and trade with the Near East (Greece and Egypt) allowed it to become a hugely productive and successful society from the 9th through 4th centuries B.C.E. As it seems with all great societies, in time, they start to decline. For the Etruscans their great time was the Archaic Period of 600-480 B.C.E. In 484 B.C.E. they lost the Battle of Cuma and thereby domination of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This lead to economic recession and eventually being incorporated into the Roman Empire.

Classical Etrurian landscape (It was a beautiful crisp fall day)

This grave in the Necropolis dates from the Villanovan time. It is essentially a ditch grave.

A map of the Necropolis. Notice the round circular tombs with the square rooms inside. Families or wealth would have these built to bury generations of their families.

Tumulos are the round circular tombs. These are the grandest tombs and were built during the time of Etruscan wealth.

Some tumulo were carved directly out of the tufa unlike the ones above which were built from the ground up.

A typical looking entrance into the burial chambers of a tumulo

A brave girl dropping herself into a tumulo.

This is the descent into one of the four chambers in the largest tumulo of the Cerveteri Necropolis.

Inside the chamber, this is where bodies were laid for eternity (supposedly)

Looking out from the inside of a chamber

These linear cube like tombs were most likely built in the 4th century which is the time of Etruscan decline. There was less overall wealth to be spent on funerary architecture.

This is the Tomb of the Reliefs, famous because it is mentioned in Gardner's History of Art text. You can see that the dead were buried with household items with which to take to have comfort in the afterlife. These grave items, when excavated told art historians a great deal about Etruscan life and society.

Some.....

....comic.....

...relief!

Another for the series. To address one readers desire to know why I look at and take pictures of old men and not good looking Italian men....because those are for my eyes only!!!

The Museum in Ceveteri which houses many of the goods found in the chambers in the Necropolis.

Art History groups were given 45 minutes to take a piece in the museum, describe it using the formal elements we have learned and then tie it into the times and put the piece into context.

A vase from the Villanovan period. Notice the simple geometric patterns and lack of adornment.

This large "smoker" allowed a fire to be burned at the bottom and smoke to rise. Notice the heads on the top. This indicates it is from the orientalizing period, the time when Etruscans were involved with trade with the Near East and incorporating some of the art of those areas in their art.

This reclining couple is important because it shows that the Etruscans viewed women as equals. Literary sources allow us to know that women could own land and attend celebrations with men.

My group chose this urn. A highlight of our presentation is below

This urn, made of local materials, is dated between 630-600 B.C.E, which is the transition from Orientalizing Period to the Archaic Period. It is not simply decorative because the the roof comes off to hold the ashes of a significant person in the community. We know the person is significant because the of the provenance of the piece; it was found along the central axis of the funerary chamber. In addition, if the sides of the urn depict scenes of fighting men, indicating the family of the deceased had enough money to sponsor funerary games. The palmettes on top are of Greek (orientalizing) influence because they are commonly seen on Greek vases. The presence of these palmettes imply that the agrarian, somewhat culturally backwards Etruscans (and they knew it) were looking elsewhere for some artistic and cultural growth and because they were trading heavily with the Greeks, adopted Greek influences in their works.

Many Greek vases were round in Etruscan chambers, further providing evidence of trade.

Statues that focus on anatomy and movement were indicative of Greek influence.

This necklace shows what is called granulation, see the little droplets of round gold. This is apparently NOT easy to do and requires great precision and control. Etruscans had mastered metallurgy early on.

A vase from the classical period with drawings and narrative.

Once Etruria declined and went into recession, it showed in the return to basic and almost simplistic work. It's almost as if all the skills they had learned simply disappeared.