The words "mysterious" or "enigmatic" always seem linked to any mention of the Etruscans, a people who lived in the region of Tuscany in the first millennium B.C. With their writings completely untranslated, modern scholarship draws most of their knowledge of the Etruscans from their archaeological deposits found beneath and alongside cities like Florence and Pisa.
Although influenced in some ways by the Greeks and later integrated into the Roman state, the Etruscans have a style that is all their own and, according to art historian Renee Gondek, we can learn much about their daily practices from the artifacts and structures that have been recovered.
Gondek highlights Etruscan bronze and painted terracotta sculptures; frescoes, vases, and mirrors decorated with mythical and genre-related themes; and precious gold and ivory objects buried with the dead. She explores the funerary cities of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, the religious sanctuary of Portonaccio dedicated to the gods Minerva and Apollo, and evidence for domestic architecture from both small-scale models and the ancient site Marzabotto.
World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit
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See some stunning examples of Etruscan achievements in the arts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
