#National Etruscan Museum

[paiawon]

some pictures i took at the national etruscan museum of villa giulia in rome on nov 21st

[itsybitsy-arthistory]

National Etruscan Museum, Rome 21/07/23

[blueiscoool]

Bronze Statues and Coins Found at Ancient Sacred Bath in Tuscany

Archaeological excavations at the Bagno Grande sanctuary in San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany, Italy, have uncovered a wealth of artifacts that highlight the Etruscan-Roman heritage of this ancient thermal site.

Dating back to the 3rd century BCE, the sanctuary was originally constructed by the Etruscans and later developed by the Romans into the renowned spa complex, Balnea Clusinae. Revered for its therapeutic hot springs, the site attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire, including Caesar Augustus.

The recent excavation, spanning June to October 2024, focused on the sacred temenos, a walled enclosure surrounding the sanctuary, and revealed the remnants of a central temple built around a thermal water basin. Within this sacred space, archaeologists unearthed an array of votive offerings and artifacts remarkably preserved by thermal waters and clay.

Among the most notable finds are four bronze statues, votive limbs, and heads, inscribed with dedications. A striking bronze torso, bisected from neck to genitals, was dedicated by a man named Gaius Roscius to the “Hot Spring.” Researchers suggest this statue symbolizes the healing of specific ailments. Other discoveries include a child statue portraying an augur priest holding a pentagonal ball, likely used in divination rituals, and elegant votive heads inscribed in Latin.

Inscriptions in both Etruscan and Latin were uncovered, including dedications to the Nymphs and the thermal spring, referred to as “Flere Havens” in Etruscan, and oaths to Fortuna and the Genius of the Emperor.

The sacred basin contained a diverse range of offerings, including oil lamps, glass unguent jars, painted terracotta anatomical votives, and coins—more than 10,000 spanning the Roman Republic to the Empire. Precious metals, such as a gold crown and ring, Roman aurei, and fragments of amber and gemstones, were also uncovered. Notably, the presence of preserved eggs, some with intact yolks, suggests rites symbolizing rebirth and regeneration.

Decorative elements such as pinecones, branches, and bronze serpents—one nearly a meter long and thought to represent the Agathodaimon, a protective spirit—emphasize the connection between the rejuvenating waters and nature’s generative power.

Efforts are underway to preserve these extraordinary finds. The National Archaeological Museum of San Casciano dei Bagni is being established in the Archpriest’s Palace to house the artifacts, while a thermal archaeological park is planned around Bagno Grande to promote cultural tourism.

By Dario Radley.

[centuriespast]

Etruscan art from the temple dedicated to the goddess Uni in Pyrgi dated ca 500 BC. National Etruscan Museum in Rome, Italy.

[ancientcharm]

The Most EPIC Off-the-Beaten-Path Ancient Sculptures in Rome You Need to Discover

The Boxer, 1st century AD, Altemps Palace.

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, 530–510 BCE, National Etruscan Museum.

Portonaccio sarcophagus, late 2nd century AD, Palazzo Massimo.

Corsini Throne, 1st century AD, Corsini Gallery.

By: Learn Latin

[tsalmu]

Phoenician Bowl with encircling Serpent Bernardini Tomb (Palestrina, Italy) c. 700 BCE The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia Rome, Italy

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold swivel ring with carnelian intaglio depicting a warrior, Etruscan, 4th-3rd century BC

from The National Museums, Liverpool

[chaoticnutcase]

Etruscan head of a youth from Veii 430-420 BCE. National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia.

[joeinct]

Ivy Nicholson, National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Photo by Pasquale De Antonis, 1956

[salantami]

Winged Horses of Tarquinia - Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy.

490-480 BC

The high relief sculpture is of a pair of winged horses positioned side by side standing in profile, prancing and harnessed to a biga. They once decorated the most important temple of the ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinia, the Temple of the Queen Ara (Temple of Ara della Regina). The horses were sculpted on a 114 cm high and 124 cm wide terracotta panel. They are a masterpiece of Tarquinian coroplastic art, and now considered to be the symbol of the town. The Winged Horses was found shattered into more than 100 shards when archaeologist Pietro Romanelli excavated the temple in 1938. They have been painstaking restored to its original condition. (National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia)

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Jacques-Albert Senave - Copyist in a gallery of the Louvre -

oil on panel, height: 28.5 cm (11.2 in); width: 36.2 cm (14.2 in)

Louvre Museum

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is a national art museum in Paris, France. It is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement (district or ward) and home to some of the most canonical works of Western art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the Medieval Louvre fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis I converted it into the primary residence of the French kings.

The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed from 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon, but after Napoleon's abdication, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic. The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

The Musée du Louvre contains approximately 500,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 m2 (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. At any given point in time, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are being exhibited over an area of 72,735 m2 (782,910 sq ft), making it the largest museum in the world. It received 8.9 million visitors in 2023, 14 percent more than in 2022, but still below the 10.1 million visitors in 2018, making it the most-visited museum in the world.

Jacques-Albert Senave (1758–1823) was a Flemish painter mainly active in Paris during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is known for his genre scenes, history paintings, landscapes, city views, market scenes and portraits.

[inspofromancientworld]

Legendary Creatures: Harpy

By Written and illustrated by John Vinycomb (1833–1928 biography) - Fictitious & Symbolic Creatures in Art http://heraldicart.org/fictitious-and-symbolic-creatures-in-art/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114035415

Harpies (Greek: ἅρπυια hárpyia Latin: harpȳia) are Greek and Roman creatures that are half-human (chest and heads) and half-birds (wings, legs, tail) and personify storm winds. They are mostly found in Homeric poems.

Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanh1/4565921045

The human half of the harpy is a young woman who looks pale with hunger according to the Greeks and in pottery. The Romans considered them to be ugly. Ovid, who lived from 43 BCE to 17 or 18 CE, described them as a blend of humans and vultures. Hesiod described them as fair haired and winged maidens and able to fly as fast as the wind. Aeschylus, who lived from about 525 to 456 BCE, described them as ugly and seems to have influenced those who came after.

Boreads chasing Harpies, Laconian black-figure kylix C6th B.C., National Etruscan Museum

Harpies began as personifications of winds, especially those that are destructive. The word 'harpy' means 'snatcher' or 'swift robbers' so they are said to steal food and evildoers, taking the evildoers to the Eumenides, underworld goddesses of vengeance. They were also called 'the hounds of mighty Zeus', relating them to Zeus' thunder. They were also called guardians of the underworld, keeping out other creatures like the Chimera, Gorgons, and Centaurs.

The exact relationships and names of the harpies vary by writer. Hesiod stated that their parents were Thaumas, a sea god who was the son of Gaia and Pontus, a primordial sea god, and Electra, an Oceanid, an ocean nymph who is a daughter of the Titan Oceanus and Tethys, a Titan, and sisters to the river god Hydaspes. Hesiod lists their names as Aello, meaning 'storm swift', and Ocypete, meaning 'the swift wing'.

Museum Collection The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu Catalogue No. Malibu 85.AE.316 Beazley Archive No. 30369 Ware Attic Red Figure Shape Hydria, Kalpis Painter Attributed to the the Kleophrades Painter Date ca 480 B.C. Period Late Archaic

The most popular story involving harpies is when King Phineus of Thrace angered Zeus by using his gift of prophecy to reveal the plans of the gods, so Zeus blinded him and put him on an island with a banquet that the harpies at before he could eat any of it. This continued until Jason and the Argonauts arrived. Phineus bargained for his delivery from the harpies by using his gift of prophecy to guide them. The Boreads, sons of the North Wind, Boreas, drove off the harpies. There was a prophecy that the Boreads would destroy the harpies, but that the Boreads would die if they didn't defeat the harpies. The harpies fled and one fell into the Tigris, and the other reached the Echinades, a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, and collapsed with fatigue, along with the Boread that chased her. She promised to leave Phineus alone going forward and they were both allowed to live. Aeneas is then said to meet them during the Trojan war where they took away Trojans.

[cutulisci]

Etruscan Amphora; 6th Century BC. National Roman Museum, Italy

[sy666th]

And so, today is Mother's Day Perhaps I should be particularly struck by this anniversary, given that my work has a lot to do with motherhood: but in reality the idea of beatifying and respecting women only when they are mothers has always irritated me deeply: in fact I I have always preferred to focus on aspects of my profession that allow women to freely experience their sexuality and reproductive choices. I was born and raised in a country where the greatest representation of women is Holy Mary, the prototype of the one who has never been able to choose anything about her life. And if 2000 years ago it was a situation common to many women, I really hoped that in 2024, thanks also to medical advances that allow safe and available Contraception and Termination of Pregnancy, it was just the distant memory of a chauvinist and patriarchal world. Instead, unfortunately, I was able to see first-hand how this is still the daily reality of many women in the world, never in control of their own bodies and their own lives. And so, this morning, I wished my mother -who is still amazed to see me at home after all these months - for the Happy Day. And I won't publish even one of my photos of mothers I've assisted, I really wouldn't know which one to choose, each of them is a precious bitch that I will remember fondly and keep for myself. But there is a statue, which I saw as a very young student, which struck me for its calm naturalness and which I have always associated with motherhood: a woman from almost 3000 years ago, perhaps an ancestor of mine (very unlikely, but I have always felt a strong bond with the Etruscans), certainly not a virgin mother (let's leave those to Middle Eastern legends), just a young woman with her child, who continues to speak to me from the depths of time. Happy Mother's Day. One of the main masterpieces of Etruscan art preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence is a mother breastfeeding a child: she is the Mater Matuta, the Italian goddess of the morning and the dawn, and consequently protector of fertility, motherhood and birth. She was found in a necropolis near Chianciano Terme. The work strikes the observer with its monumentality which however does not affect the degree of realism that the sculptor managed to give it (observe the naturalness of the movement of the hands holding the child, but also the folds of the drapery). In ancient times, the cult of the mother goddess was deeply rooted in Italian territory, this also explains why some depictions of mothers with their children have reached us in Etruscan sculpture. The votive statues could also represent newborns, and had the aim of obtaining protection from the divinities for the little ones.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Nancy, I'm an art illiterate but I've just found about etruscan sarcophagus and it's the most beautiful and tender thing, despite being about, well, dead people from more than 2000y ago. Have you ever seen them?

Yes, I've seen several, but that slab form one I posted from the Boston MFA is probably the best one I've ever seen in person.

The one I would love to see, which is basically considered the "greatest" of them all, is in Rome at the Villa Giulia Museum:

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Etruscan, ca. 540-510 BCE, terracotta (National Etruscan Museum - Villa Giulia, Rome)

I love her little slippers and his bare feet, the striped bed cover. This is an alternate version in The Louvre. But, definitely same "studio" or "maker" as both are from Cerveteri.

[edwin--artifex]

(12-2024) Audioguide: National Archaeological Museum of Arcevia (Marche, Italy)

for:

recorded at:

audioguide narration by: Edwin Alexander Francis

The National Archaeological Museum of Arcevia is located inside the thirteenth century cloister of the San Francesco complex, a quadrangular space with porticos on all sides overlooked by the rooms of the Museum and the Municipal cultural centre.

Remains of frescos from the sixteenth century that tell the story of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi can still be seen on the walls. The State Archaeological Museum of Arcevia was founded in 1996 on the initiative of the Archaeological Superintendency of the Marche and the Municipality of Arcevia as a district museum that exhibits finds from the territory of Arcevia. Since 2004, it has housed the Monti Anselmi collection and grave goods from the necropolis of Montefortino di Arcevia. The museum and the archaeological collection were redesigned in an innovative refurbishment in 2023 with the aim of improving accessibility. The exhibition tour has also been enriched with new materials. The display cases have a space in the front for captions, texts in braille and fibreglass copies or experimental archaeology reproductions of a number of important finds.

POI #17: Montefortino di Arcevia: the weapons

Swords, spears, javelins, bronze and iron helmets accompany the male depositions of the Senones in the necropolis of Montefortino. The exceptionally numerous weapons identify the deceased as a warrior and, in particular, the sword marks the status of a free man. Among the defensive weapons, a typical example is the helmet with a pointed or hemispherical cap and a button on the top, a neck guard and two cheek-pieces, internally lined with leather or wickerwork. It is known as the “Montefortino type” and was widespread in the Etruscan-Italic world before also being adopted by the Roman army. The iron helmet exhibited here underwent a major restoration in 2018. You can touch the life-size reproduction in fibreglass. The copy is 20 cm high. The rounded cap ends in a point in the upper part with a 1.4 cm high button that has a diameter of 3 cm. The neck guard is separated from the cap by means of a rib and does not protrude very much. The cheek-pieces, also known as cheek guards, protected the sides of the face. They were removable, trefoil in shape and joined to the cap by a strap, replacing the original fastening system, since lost. The cheek-pieces are around 13 cm high and 12 cm wide. Both are made up of a metal sheet, iron in the original, decorated with three bronze disks forming a triangle, fitted with rivets with hemispherical heads adorned with a red enamelled rosette. Each disk is decorated with with ring and cross motifs.

POI #20 Mirror, mirror on the wall...

The bronze mirror reproduced in its original size comes from female tomb 39. This is an exquisite artefact of Etruscan production. Circular in shape, it has a diameter of 17.5 cm and a tongue-shaped shank with a rectangular cross-section but lacks the handle, which may have been bone or ivory. It bears a complex engraved decoration on one face, made up of a group of four figures. A naked young man at the centre is wearing only a cloak tied at the neck that falls down his back. His hair is the shape of a cap with a crown of curls. He grasps and raises up with both hands a naked female figure, who moves to the right looking behind her. Their gazes intertwine in the faces in profile. The woman has a diadem on her head and her hair is gathered at the neck. She is wearing a necklace of circular beads and stud earrings with triangular pendants. Her movements are sinuous: the right arm is held out towards the man, the left hangs at the side of the body. Her legs are crossed and she wears low footwear. Two figures at the sides watch the scene. On the right, a naked man with a cloak around his shoulders holds a sceptre that ends in a lotus flower. On the left, a naked woman with the same ornaments as the central figure is caught in the act of anakalypsis , that is, unveiling. In the exergue, there is a lattice motif and a lotus flower. The scene has strong erotic and sensual nature and has been interpreted as the abduction of Thetis by Peleus in the presence of a Nereid or sea nymph and a male figure.

Arcevia (Marche, Italy)

POI #7: Conelle: a fortified village

The long, deep artificial ditch, dug by the small community that lived here between 3500 and 2950 B.C., is better preserved and of greater importance for the information it provides. This trench, 120 metres long, 7 metres deep at the lowest point and 6 metres wide at the surface, had a funnel-shaped section and was designed to protect the settlement, already defended naturally on two sides by escarpments carved out by small watercourses. When the expansion of the settlement became necessary, probably due to an increase in population, the ditch became an obstacle and was filled in, becoming an enormous dumping ground of materials that is an invaluable source of information today. Tools of everyday life used in the subsistence economy can be seen in the first display case. One example is the stone axe hammer found in fragments. A life-size fibreglass copy, the missing parts of which have been reconstructed, is attached to the front stand of the display case. The axe, 20 cm long and 8.5 cm wide, is mounted on a haft, originally made of wood, with a diameter of around 1.8 cm. The toe is on the left and the heel on the right. This tool, made for domestic use, could also serve as a weapon. Animal remains found in the ditch are exhibited in the second display case. These are the bones of wild animals such as boars, fallow deer, roe deer, foxes, wolves and bears, and domestic animals, such as cattle, pigs and goats. On the right of the captions, there is a life-size reproduction of a fragment of deer antler, 19 cm long and 3.5 cm wide. Traces of the process of polishing the horn can be seen on the tip. A through hole in the thicker end indicates its probable use as a horse bit.