Source: "Etruscan Tomb Murals: From Noble Life to Feasting and Carnival" - The Paper December 18, 2022
Veii and Tuscan temples
Vie was the Etruscan city closest to Rome and was important and powerful until the Roman conquest of it in 396 BC.
Perched on a hill, Veii's residential area shows an irregular layout with occasional gridded sections.
But investigations in this area have been sporadic, and we are more interested in the temples of the Sanctuary of Portonaccio outside the city walls.
Although the reserve is poorly preserved and the details of the reconstruction are disputed, this temple is a prime example of a Tuscan temple.
It was an Etruscan form that brought it to the forefront of Roman religious architecture.
The Roman architect Vitruvius, in his writings as an architect, discusses the Tuscan temple at length.
It should be almost square, six parts long and five parts wide, and further, it is divided into two equal parts.
The front is a deep porch, and the back half is a unit (or unit).
Only enter from the front, where there is a special flight of steps leading to the porch.
There are smooth shafts on the columns, but all against the base.
The capital of this so-called "Tuscan order", similar to the Doric language in Greek.
In general, Tuscan temples offer a very different aesthetic impression from that of the Greeks:
Sitting on a high podium, contrasting with the visual unity of the Greek temple offered by the surrounding steps and colonnades.
The temple of Veii, consisting of a columned roof (portico) and a three-unit unit.
The main divinity worshipped here is Melva, later Roman Minerva.
The reconstruction revealed a wide eaves, designed to protect the mud brick walls from the elements.
This gives the building a unique top-heavy appearance, and the temple dates back to 500 years before the park.
Decorated with terracotta on the foundation of 500 BC, these terraces consist of plaques covered with wooden structures of roofs;
along the decoration at the base of the roof tiles, some with spouts for draining rainwater;
There is also the roof, where a group of statues stand in rows on the ridge.
The portico consisted of stone and terracotta, often decorated with the roof lines of Greek temples.
The Etruscans developed this Greek habit and therefore were especially fond of them.
The most famous Etruscan pinnacle comes from Veii, the life-size "Apollo".
It is a terracotta work with a style reminiscent of ancient Greek sculpture.
The statue and its companion of the Temple of Podonaccio are hollow, fired in a kiln;
Their base is specially shaped and suitable for the curved tiles that protect the ridge poles.
The example of Veii was found broken, but carefully buried, a symbol of their reverence!
Etruscan tombs
The most striking monument to the Etruscans is their tombs.
Etruscan tombs were of permanent material and often contained vivid frescoes, carved decorated sarcophagi, and rich funerary objects.
It is reminiscent of Egyptian burials and shows that they had a similar devotion to the preparation of the afterlife.
A large number have survived, and these tombs and their contents are the main source of information about Etruscan culture.
In addition, these tombs have been important repositories of Greek vases.
The Etruscans loved attic pottery, imported it and kept it in their graves.
Like the tombs of the Egyptians, the tombs of the Etruscans have attracted travelers since the Renaissance.
The British traveler George Dennis, in 1848 published a famous account of his expedition, which is still consulted today:
Etruscan cities and necropolises, which, in addition to travelers, attracted marauders from antiquity to the present day.
As unscrupulous collectors were prepared to spend large sums of money on ancient objects, the supply of tomb robbers was constantly steady.
As a result of these undocumented illegal excavations, valuable information about the Etruscans has been lost forever......
The Etruscans buried their dead in a variety of ways, and cremation was the norm in the early centuries.
In northern Etruscan, cremation remained popular until the end of the Etruscan civilization.
By the 5th and 4th centuries, burial had become a popular ritual in the south.
During the excavation, the body was wrapped in linen and placed on a funeral couch or similar stone carving.
Or in a sarcophagus made of wood or terracotta, or in a stone that imitates a wooden box.
After cremation, the ashes were placed in an urn, metal or ceramic, and the urn itself was placed in a tomb, a sarcophagus of terracotta.
The tombs themselves were either carved out of tuff or built into the ground with blocks of tuff.
Sometimes a group of graves is covered with an ancient tomb, and in other cases the graves do not have a signal on the ground.
The interior of the tomb is like the interior of a house, with rooms with pitched roofs.
Thus, the knowledge gathered about the house from the surviving foundations and fragments found in the place of residence is supplemented.
In Taquinia, the huge necropolis extends to the hill that surrounds the city.
530 BC, is a fine early burial chamber tomb with well-preserved frescoes.
Tomb
The burial chamber itself was small with only one room, and the ornamental display of paintings became popular from the sixth century.
In early tombs, paintings focus on a real or false doorway;
Depictions of animals or monsters, guardians of the gates are frequent.
In the tomb, the entire wall space of the room is covered.
On the back wall is painted a false door, one with a sturdy lintel, placed on a pillar that slopes inward.
Male mourners stand on either side. Their costume was the forerunner of the Roman robe.
The rest of the room showcases events commemorating the deceased, funeral games, and the accompanying celebrations.
The Romans loved the violent scenes of gladiator fights, and these also started as funeral games.
So, it's easy to look for practices that originated in Etruscans.
On the long side, two naked men with their signatures on it wrestle on a pile of metal basins, which are the prize of victory.
Their game, reminiscent of the practice of the Greeks.
But the other figures painted on the walls of the tomb, unlike in the Greek world.
To the left of the wrestler, a man in a robe holds a bent cane.
Other popular scenes in tomb decoration include everyday life, such as the scene of fishermen on a boat surrounded by birds.
After 480 BC, paintings of poets stretched out on sofas and dancers entertaining them became popular.
More than 20 years ago, in the face of difficulties, we broke our teeth and swallowed in our stomachs, and today we hold our heads high, and it is our turn to become our lookers.
This is the power of rejuvenating the country through science and technology, and the rise of the country is never just talk.
It is the history of the blood and sweat of countless scientists who have struggled all their lives, and the history of countless technicians who have overcome difficulties!
We will not stop walking on the broad road of national rejuvenation.