Essay - Etruscan Culture and Art Before the Notoriety of Ancient Rome...

Etruscan Culture and Art

Before the notoriety of ancient Rome, Italy was the home ***** a n*****tion called Etruria, whose inhabitants were known as Etruscans. This civilization flourished between 950 and 300 B.C. in North Western Italy. There is very little known about the Etruscans; ***** fact, almost all of the information relating to their history originates from indirect sources. Bitter Roman or ancient Greek historians have misconstrued the Etruscan legacy, in most c*****es ta*****ting their accounts with a blatant anti-Etruscan bias.

One documented fact is essentially indisputable; during their heyday, in the beginning centuries A.D., the Etruscans controlled a size*****ble part ***** the Mediterranean. The discrepancy between the availability of information about the ***** and ***** parameters of ***** influence is striking. Etruscans left a profound m*****rk politically, lingu*****tically, socially, ***** artistically, and yet there is little ***** available today about that mark. The following analysis will consider why there exists such a l*****ck of information about the *****, ***** will further illuminate the extent to which surviving artwork offers insights into their culture.

The Etruscans ***** largely responsible for building the city of *****. They transformed what had once been a collection of tribal shepherds into a true *****, which would eventually dominate large tracts of Europe, Asia and North Africa. From their beginnings in the area that is now Tuscany, Etruscans exerted a noteworthy influence, which survives even to this day. Etruscan art, in p*****icular, had a f*****r-reaching, long-term impact, and obvious influences on Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo are even apparent (Pallottino, 80).

Proportionate ***** this influence, however, there ***** relatively little information ***** the Etruscans. Documents ***** exist are mostly short funerary inscriptions or fragmentary ritual texts that provide limited insight ***** the people's social ***** political institutions and practices. Archaeological materials have been excavated mostly ***** graves ***** subsequently reveal more about death than life. These tombs ********** extremely elaborate sepulchral art.

Clay sarcophagi and urns were modeled ***** great detail and skill. The ornate lids of ***** often depict people reclining on a couch. Fresco p*****intings were also commonly discovered in the underground funerary vaults, ***** they depict banquets, celebrations, and festive scenes from daily life. *****se two-dimensional accounts are also typically decorated with foliage motifs. These depictions, however, are not altogether representative of Etruscan life, since the majority of the excavated tombs belonged to wealthy *****. The poor left virtually no remains, ***** subsequently, little to no ***** in***** ********** existence. (Haynes, 122).

The Etruscan language has also made it difficult to explore the impact of ***** vastly important people. To date, approximately three hundred words in ***** Etruscan language ***** been deciphered, making ***** extremely difficult to study their legacy with any measure ***** sophistication. The Etruscans documented ***** little in writ*****g. Unlike the Greeks, there are no written records, no romantic poems, few recorded his*****rical moments and ***** literature. The ***** only wrote *****, official or religious inscriptions (Sinnigen and Boake, 24). It is quite challenging to understand the Etruscan