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that the Etruscans may be supposed to have arrived in the eighth century B.C., bringing with them the art of Ionia. After the foundation of Rome they are best known in connexion with that state. Their territory lay close to that of Rome, and in Rome itself they had considerable political power, though most of the population were of the Latin stock. With the fall of the monarchy the power of the Etruscan element within the state was broken. This is expressed in legend by the story of the unsuccessful march of Lars Porsenna, of Clusium, to replace the banished Tarquin on the throne. After the beginning of the fifth century the power of the Etruscans in their own territory began to decline. Their sea strength was broken by the battle of Kymè or Cumae (474 B.C. ; cf. p. 169). The struggle on land ended in the conquest of Etruria, the last great acts of which were the battles at the Vadimonian Lake, B.C. 309 and 283. Although politically extinguished, the Etruscans maintained a separate national character and art until the beginning of the empire.

In religious belief and ritual the Etruscans exercised a deep influence upon Rome; but since their literature, such as it was, has perished, they are chiefly of interest to us in connexion with the remains of their art.

The basis of Etruscan art is the primitive form of culture which was defined above, under the name of Italic' (otherwise known as Villanova') culture, and which was one branch of the European Bronze Age civilization. This culture, assuming that the Etruscans reached Italy by sea, they must be supposed to have found estab lished. On it they must have superimposed their knowledge of the Ionian art of Asia Minor. Egyptian influence made itself felt by importations of smaller objects introduced by Phoenician or other traders.

During the period of archaic Etruscan art, represented by the Polledrara Tomb (p. 173), Egyptian influence is strong and importation is frequent. Greek influences are also felt, but faintly.

To this succeeds a period of active intercourse between Etruria and Greece. The Etruscans import the wares of the Athenian potters (p. 187), and a large proportion of the best Greek vases in the Second and Third Vase Rooms was found in Etruscan tombs. In pottery they never imitated the Greek wares with any success (p. 174), but they adopted Greek motives and mythological types with zeal, and used them on their engraved gems (p. 142), jewellery (p. 132), and bronzes. In the latter branch they were particularly skilled, and their bronzes appear to have been exported freely to Greece. Though bronzes certainly known to be Etruscan have so far been seldom found on Greek soil, the poets Critias and Pherecrates (in lines preserved to us by Athenaeus) testify that Etruria had the pre-eminence in all bronzes for domestic use. On the other hand, many bronzes, though found in Etruria, are either of Greek origin, or are so profoundly influenced by Greek art that they are hardly distinguishable from Greek products. The bronzes of this

class, which were formerly exhibited in the Etruscan Room, have now been transferred to the Bronze Room.

on the

It was formerly supposed that the Etruscans alone practised the characteristic engraved work on bronze, such as occurs mirrors and cistae, and though several examples of Greek work have now been found, they are still few in number compared with those of the Etruscans.

The art of Etruria and Greece proceeded on parallel lines, until Greek art reached its full ethical perfection in the fifth century B.C. Etruscan art had no such culminating point, and in the subsequent periods Etruscan art loses its interest, though it maintains an independent existence to the beginning of the empire. In the greater part of its products it adopts but vulgarises the character of later Greek art. Its outlines become loose, its execution careless, and its spirit gross. Some of the engraved work on metal can alone be excepted from this condemnation. It seems probable also that the Roman art of portraiture, with its strong individualising power, was acquired from the Etruscans.

Cases 8-12. Archaic paintings on panels of terracotta, which appear to have lined a part of the walls of a tomb. The subjects include two Sphinxes, which probably flanked the doorway, and a procession of figures busied with funeral ceremonies. They carry a standard, perhaps that of the deceased person, a wreath, and various vases. The figure on the right seems to be unfastening a long metal girdle. These panels were obtained from Cervetri (Caere), and are probably to be dated about 600 B.C.

Below is a series of small Etruscan sarcophagi in limestone and terracotta.

Case B. The principal group of antiquities of the early Etruscan period is that from the Polledrara Tomb (otherwise known as the Grotta d'Iside or Grotto of Isis), which was excavated at a place called La Polledrara, near Vulci, in 1840.

The date of this tomb can be determined as not earlier than the reign of the Egyptian King Psammetichos I. (666–612 B.C.), whose cartouche appears on one of the porcelain scarabs that were found. On the other hand, everything points to the high antiquity of the tomb, which may therefore be placed about the end of the reign of Psammetichos (612 B.C.). The contents of the tomb are partly imported and partly of local manufacture. Among the former are the carved ostrich eggs, the ivory spoon, the porcelain scarabs and flasks with hieroglyphic inscriptions of new-year greeting.

The intermediary agents between Egypt and Etruria might be Phoenicians, but the fact that Greek letters occur on some of the ostrich eggs suggests the Greek colonists settled at Naucratis, in the Nile Delta. A further confirmation of this fact has been sought in the character of the painted pottery, which has been attributed to Naucratis, but the suggestion has not been accepted without controversy.

The principal vase is a pitcher (hydria) in black ware, with designs in red, blue, and white. The colours, however, are now

so faint that the subject can only be made out by prolonged examination. In the upper tier the principal subject is Theseus slaying the Minotaur, and Ariadnè with the clue of thread. Centaurs, chariots, etc., are added to complete the band. In the lower tier Theseus and Ariadnè lead the dance of rescued Athenian youths and maidens.

The bronze work is probably of local manufacture. It is for the most part made of thin beaten plates riveted together, and it is plain that most of the utensils could never have been used except for show at funeral ceremonies and as furniture for the dead, so thin and slight is the bronze.

Among the bronze objects may be noticed a three-quarter length female bust (434), in which the metal is beaten up in plates, which are then riveted together in a manner characteristic of the oldest bronze works. About the lower part are two tiers of friezes of Oriental animals and chariots, perhaps in imitation of an embroidered skirt.

The exceedingly archaic female figure holding a bird is said to be carved in the limestone of the Polledrara district, and is also, therefore, a local work. Elaborate patterns are painted on the edges of the garments.

From this tomb, too, comes the diadem in thin gold leaf, ornamented with lions and winged monsters. The figures carved in alabaster, and the seated figures in terracotta, are consistent in style with the date assigned to the tomb.

Cases 13-24. Further examples of Etruscan art. The middle and (in part) the lower shelves contain examples of Etruscan painted vases, strictly so-called.

Cases 13, 14. Imitations of Greek black-figure vases (such as are seen in the Second Vase Room). The figures are rough and coarse, on a pale ground, and show no skill in the drawing or incised lines. The effect is almost that of a caricature.

Cases 15, 16. Imitations of the later class of Greek red-figure vases, such as are shown in the Third and Fourth Vase Rooms. On the crater F 480, with the subjects of Ajax falling on his sword and Actaeon attacked by his hounds, the names of the two heroes are inscribed in Etruscan.

Cases 13-17 (below). Etruscan terracotta chests and sarcophagi, of about the second century B.C. The smaller terracotta chests are cast from moulds and roughly coloured, the names of the deceased being occasionally added. Certain favourite subjects, such as the combat of Eteocles and Polyneikes before Thebes, and a group formerly interpreted as Echetlos fighting with his plough at Marathon, are repeated with great frequency.

Case 18. Etruscan sepulchral chair. A series of archaic bronze plates, with incised designs of geometric patterns and animals, has been reconstructed to form a chair for the support of a cinerary urn of human form. There is conclusive evidence for this practice (cf. Museo Italiano, I. pl. 9, figs. 7-10), but the urn now placed in the chair for illustration has no connexion with it.

Cases 13-17 (upper shelf) and Cases 18-23. Etruscan black pottery, of the kind known to archaeologists as 'Bucchero nero' (Italian, bucchero, a vessel of fine clay). Where patterns are present they are partly incised lines, partly moulded reliefs, and partly reliefs impressed upon the soft clay by rolling along it an engraved cylinder.

Case 24. A larger limestone sepulchral urn, in the form of a draped human figure with a movable head.

The two circular Cases C, D contain a part of the Etruscan bronzes, especially examples of the cistae, or caskets, with incised designs. Most of the examples of this class are shown in the Bronze Room (p. 180).

Case C. 640. Cista. On the body are: (1) Bellerophon leading Pegasus by a halter and conversing with Stheneboea (or, according to Homer, Anteia), the wife of Bellerophon's host, Proetos. The mission of Bellerophon to Lycia, and his quest of the Chimaera, were the result of the guilty passion of Stheneboea; (2) Paris (?) and Victory about to make a libation; (3) Menelaos and Helen (?). On the cover are Nereids riding on sea-monsters.

745. A cista, engraved with an obscure subject, of which no convincing interpretation has yet been proposed. It has been suggested that the scene is perhaps a travesty of the Judgment of Paris. The figures which readily fit in with this interpretation are those of the three goddesses and Eros. The nude figure with apples would be Hermes, the grotesque figure with Satyr's ears Paris, and the nude female figure with the sword Eris (Strife). The subject is also explained as the race of Atalanta and Meilanion, in which Meilanion won by means of the stratagem of throwing down the golden apple of Aphroditè.

741. An oval cista. Round the body is a battle scene. The frieze has at some time been cut down to half its proper height. The scene on the lid, which has been thought to represent the meeting of Aeneas, Latinus and Lavinia, after the death of Turnus, a supposed continuation of the narrative as told in the Aeneid, is probably modern.

In the lower part of the case is a brazier, with remains of charcoal, firetongs and rakes, from Canino.

Case D. 638. Cista. Round the body is engraved a frieze, representing the sacrifice of Trojan captives at the funeral pyre of Patroclus. On the cover are engraved three Nereids, riding on marine monsters, and carrying the armour of Achilles. The whole is surmounted by a group in the round of a Satyr and a Maenad. This cista is remarkable for the masterly drawing of the figures in the frieze and the interest of the subject, the grim character of which is well suited to Etruscan taste.

746. Cista engraved with designs: (1) Combat of Paris and Menelaos, Aphroditè intervening between them. (2) Combat of Greeks with Amazons, as allies of the Trojans. Achilles stands over the body of the Amazon Penthesilea, while Thersites advances

to insult the body, an outrage in return for which he was slain by Achilles.

The whole of the contents of the lower part of this case are said to have been found together at Praeneste in 1786 in a crypt near the Temple of Fortune. The cist (No. 743) has two subjects connected with Neoptolemos, son of Achilles. (1) Preparations for the sacrifice of Polyxena (?) A nude maiden is held by one of a group of three heroes. (2) Neoptolemos slain by Orestes at the altar at Delphi, in the presence of the three Delphic deities-Apollo, Artemis and Leto.

THE BRONZE ROOM.*

SUBJECT: GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN
BRONZES.

The bronzes exhibited in this room (and in the Italic Room and Room of Greek and Roman Life) are in part derived from tombs, in which, like the pottery and gold ornaments, they had been buried as appurtenances of the dead. In part they are relics of the religious and ordinary life of the Greeks and Romans, found wherever by chance it might happen that they had been hidden and preserved. Those that have been obtained from tombs are usually in the form of armour, weapons, vases, mirrors, with or without cases, cistae (caskets), and personal ornaments, such as fibulae (brooches) and armlets. It is noticeable that the bronze

of some of the vases is so thin that they can do little more than stand and support their own weight (cf. above, p. 174). They must have been produced expressly for purposes connected with the tomb.

The Greek temples were rich museums of bronze work, whether in the form of statues on a large scale or of small votive offerings and inscribed tablets. Large deposits of the kind were found, for example, at Olympia and on the Athenian Acropolis. For the most part we only have the record of the bronze dedications in the temples, since the metal was too valuable to be neglected, and the temple treasures were only spared if they were buried. Three votive helmets, however, originally dedicated in temples, are now in the Museum collection (pp. 153, 169), and some of the inscribed tablets were originally intended to form a part of a temple's archives.

The original statues made by the great Greek sculptors were

* Described in the Cataloque of Bronzes (1899), by H. B. Walters (30s.). A copy can be borrowed for use in the room. See also A. S. Murray's Greek Bronzes, London (Seeley), 1898.

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