"Lavishly illustrated with 117 color images, 2 maps, and 15 black and white photographs, and including list of readings and an index, the Guide will be of interest to both general Museum visitors and scholars."--BOOK JACKET.
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Etruscans, then keep reading... The importance of the Etruscans can be traced back to Rome. The Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, was an unusual conqueror because it would absorb and assimilate elements of the cultures it dominated. A standing practice was to allow the defeated to continue practicing their culture and religion so long as they paid their taxes on time. Such a procedure was part of why Christianity would seep into the Roman Empire around the 1st century CE, for example. For the Etruscans, this meant they influenced aspects of Roman civilization, one of the most powerful cultures in the history of the Western world. The word "Rome" is Etruscan in origin as are the names of its mythological founders "Remus" and "Romulus." Several of the Roman creation myths centered on branches of the Etruscans breaking off to found Rome, and Rome itself used to be a part of Etruscan civilization before it broke away and started to develop its own society. When the Etruscans were absorbed, elements of their culture, language, and religion would seep into Roman practice. Before their assimilation, the Etruscans gifted Rome with much of its political science and technology. Through the Etruscans, the Romans developed monarchy, walls, drainage systems, and the powerful forum. The Etruscans shouldn't only be studied as the influencer of Rome, but it is the connection through which most individuals have heard of their illustrious civilization. Other interesting developments of the Etruscans were their flamboyant fashion, complex political structure, urban planning, and fatalistic religion. As the reader of this volume, check and see where the Etruscans sound similar to the Romans but also interpret what made the Etruscans unique, what rings of assimilation of other cultures like the Greeks, and determine whether it was possible for the Etruscans to avoid their fate against the Romans during the 1st century BCE. In The Etruscans: A Captivating Guide to the Etruscan Civilization of Ancient Italy That Preceded the Roman Republic, you will discover topics such as Politics, Government, and Social Structure How an Individual Lived The Origin of the Etruscans The Etruscan Orientation, c. 600-400 BCE The Roman Conquest, c. 400-20 BCE Mythology and Religion Art and Music The Etruscan Language and Writing Architecture Surviving Text and Literature And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about the Etruscans, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!
You’re no idiot, of course. The battle scenes in Gladiator had you on the edge of your seat and wondering where you could find more information on the rise and fall of ancient Rome. But so far, your search has left you feeling like a blundering barbarian. Pick yourself up off the coliseum floor! Consult The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to the Roman Empire—a fun-to-read introduction to the fascinating history, people, and culture of ancient Rome. In this Complete Idiot’s Guide®, you get: --The history of the Roman Empire’s rise and fall. --An idiot-proof introduction to the great epic literature of the Roman Republic. --A survey of the Romans in arts and popular culture. --Fascinating details of some of history’s most nefarious emperors, including Nero, Caligula, and Commodus.
The Etruscans can be shown to have made significant, and in some cases perhaps the first, technical advances in the central and northern Mediterranean. To the Etruscan people we can attribute such developments as the tie-beam truss in large wooden structures, surveying and engineering drainage and water tunnels, the development of the foresail for fast long-distance sailing vessels, fine techniques of metal production and other pyrotechnology, post-mortem C-sections in medicine, and more. In art, many technical and iconographic developments, although they certainly happened first in Greece or the Near East, are first seen in extant Etruscan works, preserved in the lavish tombs and goods of Etruscan aristocrats. These include early portraiture, the first full-length painted portrait, the first perspective view of a human figure in monumental art, specialized techniques of bronze-casting, and reduction-fired pottery (the bucchero phenomenon). Etruscan contacts, through trade, treaty and intermarriage, linked their culture with Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily, with the Italic tribes of the peninsula, and with the Near Eastern kingdoms, Greece and the Greek colonial world, Iberia, Gaul and the Punic network of North Africa, and influenced the cultures of northern Europe. In the past fifteen years striking advances have been made in scholarship and research techniques for Etruscan Studies. Archaeological and scientific discoveries have changed our picture of the Etruscans and furnished us with new, specialized information. Thanks to the work of dozens of international scholars, it is now possible to discuss topics of interest that could never before be researched, such as Etruscan mining and metallurgy, textile production, foods and agriculture. In this volume, over 60 experts provide insights into all these aspects of Etruscan culture, and more, with many contributions available in English for the first time to allow the reader access to research that may not otherwise be available to them. Lavishly illustrated, The Etruscan World brings to life the culture and material past of the Etruscans and highlights key points of development in research, making it essential reading for researchers, academics and students of this fascinating civilization.
Ancient Rome had deep roots in the 'Villanovan' culture that we call today the Etruscans. Their long-lived civilization can be traced to 900–750 BC in north-west Italy. They were a sea-faring people trading with and competing against Greek and Phoenician peoples, including the Carthaginians. They were also a great land-based power, especially in the 'Classical' period, where they expanded their power north into the Po Valley and south to Latium. In the 6th century BC an Etruscan dynasty ruled Rome, and their power extended southwards to the Amalfi coast. In 509 BC the Romans rose up to expel their kings, which began the long 'Etruscan twilight' when their power was squeezed by the Samnites and, most especially, the Romans. Drawing on archaeological evidence including warrior tombs, paintings, sculptures, and fully illustrated throughout, this study examines one of the early rivals to Ancient Rome.
Now in paperback, a brief introduction to the mysteries of the enigmatic, ancient civilization in the area of modern Italy. The Etruscans were a powerful people, marked by an influential civilization in ancient Italy. But despite their prominence, the Etruscans are often portrayed as mysterious—a strange and unknowable people whose language and culture have largely vanished. Lucy Shipley’s The Etruscans presents a different picture. Shipley writes of a people who traded with Greece and shaped the development of Rome, who inspired Renaissance artists and Romantic firebrands, and whose influence is still felt strongly in the modern world. Covering colonialism and conquest, misogyny and mystique, she weaves Etruscan history with new archaeological evidence to give us a revived picture of the Etruscan people. The book traces trade routes and trains of thought, describing the journey of Etruscan objects from creation to use, loss, rediscovery, and reinvention. From the wrappings of an Egyptian mummy displayed in a fashionable salon to the extra-curricular activities of Bonaparte, from a mass looting craze to a bombed museum in a town marked by massacre, the book is an extraordinary voyage through Etruscan archaeology, which ultimately leads to surprising and intriguing places. In this sharp and groundbreaking book, Shipley gives readers a unique perspective on an enigmatic people, revealing just how much we know about the Etruscans—and just how much still remains undiscovered.
This new collection presents a rich selection of innovative scholarship on the Etruscans, a vibrant, independent people whose distinct civilization flourished in central Italy for most of the first millennium BCE and whose artistic, social and cultural traditions helped shape the ancient Mediterranean, European, and Classical worlds. Includes contributions from an international cast of both established and emerging scholars Offers fresh perspectives on Etruscan art and culture, including analysis of the most up-to-date research and archaeological discoveries Reassesses and evaluates traditional topics like architecture, wall painting, ceramics, and sculpture as well as new ones such as textile archaeology, while also addressing themes that have yet to be thoroughly investigated in the scholarship, such as the obesus etruscus, the function and use of jewelry at different life stages, Greek and Roman topoi about the Etruscans, the Etruscans’ reception of ponderation, and more Counters the claim that the Etruscans were culturally inferior to the Greeks and Romans by emphasizing fields where the Etruscans were either technological or artistic pioneers and by reframing similarities in style and iconography as examples of Etruscan agency and reception rather than as a deficit of local creativity
This comprehensive survey of Etruscan civilization, from its origin in the Villanovan Iron Age in the ninth century B.C. to its absorption by Rome in the first century B.C., combines well-known aspects of the Etruscan world with new discoveries and fresh insights into the role of women in Etruscan society. In addition, the Etruscans are contrasted to the Greeks, whom they often emulated, and to the Romans, who at once admired and disdained them. The result is a compelling and complete picture of a people and a culture. This in-depth examination of Etruria examines how differing access to mineral wealth, trade routes, and agricultural land led to distinct regional variations. Heavily illustrated with ancient Etruscan art and cultural objects, the text is organized both chronologically and thematically, interweaving archaeological evidence, analysis of social structure, descriptions of trade and burial customs, and an examination of pottery and works of art.
The lively ferment in Etruscan studies, generated in part by recent archaeological discoveries and fostered by new trends in interpretation, has produced a wealth of information about the people historians traditionally considered as inaccessible. Now, scholars are reconstructing a portrait of the wealthy, sophisticated Etruscans whose territory once extended from the Po River to the Bay of Naples. Unfortunately, the wider English-speaking public has had no single resource which synthesizes these new findings and interpretations about the Etruscans. In fact, some sources continue to propagate the traditional myth of the "enigmatic and isolated Etruscans." In response, the eminent Etruscan scholar Larissa Bonfante asked seven other internationally known classicists to join her in providing this "handbook" for the non-specialist as an authoritative and readable guide to the burgeoning Etruscan scholarship. As Bonfante explains in the introductory chapter, "The Etruscans provide an excellent opportunity of turning archaeology into history: this we tried to do, in our chapters, according to our individual directions. Nancy Thomson de Grummond traces the interest in and knowledge of the Etruscans from the earliest days. Mario Torelli provides an independent account of Etruscan history, based on monuments and sources. Jean MacIntosh Turfa belies the cliche of the Etruscans' traditional 'isolation' by surveying the material evidence for their trade with the Phoenicians, Greeks, and other neighbors in the Mediterranean. Marie-Fran'oise Briguet, Friedhelm Prayon, David Tripp, and I survey Etruscan art, architecture, coinage, and daily lives, respectively, Emeline Richardson contributes what she calls a 'primer' in the Etruscan language, a basic archaeological introduction to the Etruscan language, meant to help newcomers read the inscriptions on many of the monuments illustrated and to see these with the interdisciplinary approach so characteristic of, and necessary in, Etruscan studies." The book is profusely illustrated with over 300 photos and maps. Notes and bibliographic references lead to standard texts on the Etruscans and to the more specialized literature in the field. The result is a reliable and lively volume which brings readers into the mainstream of the latest Etruscan scholarship.
