DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0061
introduction.] ARTS OF THE ETRUSCANS. ki
sex, even in the days of Pericles, was what would now be called
oriental. But in Etruria, woman was honoured and respected;
she took her place at the board by her husband's side, which
she was never permitted to do in Athens;3 she was educated
and accomplished, and sometimes even instructed in the mys-
teries of divination;" her children assumed her name as well as
their father's;5 and her grave was honoured with even more
splendour than that of her lord. It is not easy to say to what
Etruria owed this superiority. But whatever its cause, it was
a fact which tended greatly to humanise her, and, through her,
to civilise Italy—a fact of which Rome especially reaped the
benefit by imitating her example.
We have now to consider the arts of the Etruscans, from the
remains of which we gather our chief knowledge of this people.
That which is most peculiarly their own, and has partaken least
of foreign influence, is their
Architecture.
From history we learn very little of this art among them.
We know that they were the chief architects of early Rome,
that they built the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, and
constructed the Cloaca Maxima,6 and that Rome, whenever she
would raise any public building, sent to Etruria for artificers.
But of the peculiarities of Etruscan architecture we know from
history little more than Vitruvius tell us of the plan and pro-
portions of a temple in the Tuscan style/ We know too that
3 See Vol. I. p. 287. 5 See Vol. I. p. 133.
4 Two illustrious examples of this are 6 Liv. I. 56.
Tanaquil, the wife of Tarqumius Priscus, 7 Vitruv. IV. 7. Miiller (IV. 2, 3)
and the nymph Begoe. See Vol. I. thinks Vitruvius took his rules of an
p. 447 ; cf. II. pp. 170—1. Tanaquil Etruscan temple from that of Ceres in
is also said to hare been deeply versed the Circus Maximus, dedicated in the
in mathematics and medicine (Schol. year of Rome 261. It is still disputed
ad Juven. Sat. VI. 565 ; Fest. v. whether the so-called Tuscan order is
Prsedia). Yet she was an industrious an invention of the Etruscans, or a mere
house-wife, a great spinner of wool variety of the Doric. For notices of the
<Plin. VIII. 74 ; Fest. v. Gaia CEecilia), Etruscan temple, see Miiller, Etrusk.
and an excellent helpmate to her III. 6; IV. 2, 3—5; Inghirami, Mod.
husband. Polyb. VI. 2, ap. Suid. v. Etrus. IV. pp. 1—51; Abeken, Mitteli-
Aeiicios. talien, pp. 202—233.
sex, even in the days of Pericles, was what would now be called
oriental. But in Etruria, woman was honoured and respected;
she took her place at the board by her husband's side, which
she was never permitted to do in Athens;3 she was educated
and accomplished, and sometimes even instructed in the mys-
teries of divination;" her children assumed her name as well as
their father's;5 and her grave was honoured with even more
splendour than that of her lord. It is not easy to say to what
Etruria owed this superiority. But whatever its cause, it was
a fact which tended greatly to humanise her, and, through her,
to civilise Italy—a fact of which Rome especially reaped the
benefit by imitating her example.
We have now to consider the arts of the Etruscans, from the
remains of which we gather our chief knowledge of this people.
That which is most peculiarly their own, and has partaken least
of foreign influence, is their
Architecture.
From history we learn very little of this art among them.
We know that they were the chief architects of early Rome,
that they built the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, and
constructed the Cloaca Maxima,6 and that Rome, whenever she
would raise any public building, sent to Etruria for artificers.
But of the peculiarities of Etruscan architecture we know from
history little more than Vitruvius tell us of the plan and pro-
portions of a temple in the Tuscan style/ We know too that
3 See Vol. I. p. 287. 5 See Vol. I. p. 133.
4 Two illustrious examples of this are 6 Liv. I. 56.
Tanaquil, the wife of Tarqumius Priscus, 7 Vitruv. IV. 7. Miiller (IV. 2, 3)
and the nymph Begoe. See Vol. I. thinks Vitruvius took his rules of an
p. 447 ; cf. II. pp. 170—1. Tanaquil Etruscan temple from that of Ceres in
is also said to hare been deeply versed the Circus Maximus, dedicated in the
in mathematics and medicine (Schol. year of Rome 261. It is still disputed
ad Juven. Sat. VI. 565 ; Fest. v. whether the so-called Tuscan order is
Prsedia). Yet she was an industrious an invention of the Etruscans, or a mere
house-wife, a great spinner of wool variety of the Doric. For notices of the
<Plin. VIII. 74 ; Fest. v. Gaia CEecilia), Etruscan temple, see Miiller, Etrusk.
and an excellent helpmate to her III. 6; IV. 2, 3—5; Inghirami, Mod.
husband. Polyb. VI. 2, ap. Suid. v. Etrus. IV. pp. 1—51; Abeken, Mitteli-
Aeiicios. talien, pp. 202—233.