The Etruscan city was quadrangular, divided into grids and surrounded by a wall that had main entrance doors that opened between two towers through a semicircular arch and that faced the two most important streets that intersected. The street that extended from north to south was called Cardo "Cardo (street)") and the one that cut perpendicular to it in the middle was called Decumano. Possibly this structure of the Etruscan city is heir to the plans of military camps.

The houses were very simple, similar to circular huts made of mud and covered with branches. This housing model varied in the century BC. C., the houses becoming quadrangular, a morphology that Rome later inherited. They were made of wood and adobe and later of tuff stones. They could have up to two floors. The wooden structures of the richest houses of Antiquity were protected from humidity by terracotta plates painted in bright colors. Initially, the aristocracy lived in three-room houses, sometimes preceded by a portico that opened onto a patio. Later they built large residences (domus) with a central courtyard, according to the Greek style. The rooms were built around the patio. The patio had an impluvium in the center and the roof had four slopes towards the interior. Another variety was the despluvium"), with the roof with four slopes towards the outside.

Since they were built with perishable materials, only a few testimonies of Etruscan religious architecture in general and the temples in particular have survived to modern times. The information we have about them comes from the texts of Vitruvius, who classified them under a new order, the Tuscan. Only through documents from Roman times, therefore, can we attempt to reconstruct the way in which they were made.

The Etruscan temples were located outside the cities, on high places.

The temples were large buildings, almost square. They stood on a stone plinth or podium "Podium (architecture)". They were intended to be seen only from the front, the only place through which they could be accessed, through a staircase, instead of through a perimeter crepidoma.

The surface of the temple was divided into two areas:

The structure was lintel. The double-sloped roof is unique for the three cellas, although the central one is wider, differing from the Greek by the lack of krepis, the absence of proportions, the triple cella and the lack of the rear portico.

Frequently, the temples were covered with terracotta plates. Both the roof and the pediment "Fronton (architecture)") were decorated with polychrome. An example of decoration is the head of Gorgon in the temple of Portonaccio in Veii, currently preserved in Villa Giulia (Rome). Sometimes large round statues, also painted, were placed on the roof.

Unlike the Greek and Egyptian temples, which changed with the evolution of the civilization that gave rise to them, the Etruscan temples always remained substantially the same throughout the centuries, perhaps due to the fact that in the Etruscan mentality they were not the earthly abode of divinity, but a place where they gathered to pray to the gods.

It was common to bring offerings to the temples, generally consisting of statuettes or animals for sacrifice.

Contenido

Las tumbas etruscas están bien conservadas, al haber sido construidas en piedra. Generalmente se ubicaban en las afueras de las murallas ciudadanas, pero con orientación paralela al cardo "Cardo (calle)") y al decumano. Existe una clasificación de la arquitectura funeraria etrusca distinguiendo de hecho tres tipos de necrópolis o catacumbas: hipogeos, edículos y túmulos que cubren una falsa cúpula o bóveda, que son los más conocidos. Son famosas las de Tarquinia y Cerveteri.

Para la religión etrusca, el hombre, ser débil e insignificante en vida, en el más allá necesita un ambiente familiar en el que transcurra la vida después de la muerte, junto con sus objetos personales. Esto explica el cuidado con el que se construían las necrópolis, el hecho de que la pintura de este pueblo sea casi exclusivamente funeraria y que en las tumbas se hayan encontrado ricos ajuares, algunos de ellos provenientes de las colonias griegas del sur de Italia. Las paredes de las necrópolis se pintaban con vivos colores que contrastaban con la oscuridad, símbolo de la muerte espiritual. Así, las necrópolis etruscas son una fuente muy significativa, históricamente hablando, que permite conocer muchos aspectos de la vida cotidiana"), de las creencias y de los ritos populares que hubiera sido imposible conocer analizando exclusivamente los textos escritos.

Hypogeums

They were dug entirely underground or built in pre-existing natural cavities, such as grottos or caverns. Of them, the most famous is the Hypogeum of the Volumnios, discovered in 1840. This type of catacomb was formed by an inclined access of steps, which led directly to the atrium. Here there were usually six tombs (or groups of tombs), linked by narrow corridors (in some cases they were real tunnels). It is believed that burial in hypogeums was reserved for people of a certain social rank, especially politicians, soldiers and priests.

Edicules

They were built entirely out of the ground, pretending to be miniature temples, but in practice they were very similar to the rooms of the first Etruscan settlements. In Etruscan symbology, the shape of a temple was very significant: it represented the intermediate point of the journey that the deceased had to make from life to death, a kind of last stage of earthly life. Among them, we must remember the Bronzetto dell'Offerente"), the best preserved, which is located in Populonia.

Tumuli

They owe their name to the fact that, once the grave was made, it was covered with a pile of earth, in order to create a kind of artificial hill. Each of these tombs is divided, like the hypogeums, into various sepulchral chambers of dimensions proportional to the wealth and notoriety of the deceased or his family. They were generally circular in plan. Among them we must remember the Tomb of the Reliefs, inside the Banditaccia necropolis, near Cerveteri.

The Etruscan city was quadrangular, divided into grids and surrounded by a wall that had main entrance doors that opened between two towers through a semicircular arch and that faced the two most important streets that intersected. The street that extended from north to south was called Cardo "Cardo (street)") and the one that cut perpendicular to it in the middle was called Decumano. Possibly this structure of the Etruscan city is heir to the plans of military camps.

The houses were very simple, similar to circular huts made of mud and covered with branches. This housing model varied in the century BC. C., the houses becoming quadrangular, a morphology that Rome later inherited. They were made of wood and adobe and later of tuff stones. They could have up to two floors. The wooden structures of the richest houses of Antiquity were protected from humidity by terracotta plates painted in bright colors. Initially, the aristocracy lived in three-room houses, sometimes preceded by a portico that opened onto a patio. Later they built large residences (domus) with a central courtyard, according to the Greek style. The rooms were built around the patio. The patio had an impluvium in the center and the roof had four slopes towards the interior. Another variety was the despluvium"), with the roof with four slopes towards the outside.

Since they were built with perishable materials, only a few testimonies of Etruscan religious architecture in general and the temples in particular have survived to modern times. The information we have about them comes from the texts of Vitruvius, who classified them under a new order, the Tuscan. Only through documents from Roman times, therefore, can we attempt to reconstruct the way in which they were made.

The Etruscan temples were located outside the cities, on high places.

The temples were large buildings, almost square. They stood on a stone plinth or podium "Podium (architecture)". They were intended to be seen only from the front, the only place through which they could be accessed, through a staircase, instead of through a perimeter crepidoma.

The surface of the temple was divided into two areas:

The structure was lintel. The double-sloped roof is unique for the three cellas, although the central one is wider, differing from the Greek by the lack of krepis, the absence of proportions, the triple cella and the lack of the rear portico.

Frequently, the temples were covered with terracotta plates. Both the roof and the pediment "Fronton (architecture)") were decorated with polychrome. An example of decoration is the head of Gorgon in the temple of Portonaccio in Veii, currently preserved in Villa Giulia (Rome). Sometimes large round statues, also painted, were placed on the roof.

Unlike the Greek and Egyptian temples, which changed with the evolution of the civilization that gave rise to them, the Etruscan temples always remained substantially the same throughout the centuries, perhaps due to the fact that in the Etruscan mentality they were not the earthly abode of divinity, but a place where they gathered to pray to the gods.

It was common to bring offerings to the temples, generally consisting of statuettes or animals for sacrifice.

Contenido

Las tumbas etruscas están bien conservadas, al haber sido construidas en piedra. Generalmente se ubicaban en las afueras de las murallas ciudadanas, pero con orientación paralela al cardo "Cardo (calle)") y al decumano. Existe una clasificación de la arquitectura funeraria etrusca distinguiendo de hecho tres tipos de necrópolis o catacumbas: hipogeos, edículos y túmulos que cubren una falsa cúpula o bóveda, que son los más conocidos. Son famosas las de Tarquinia y Cerveteri.

Para la religión etrusca, el hombre, ser débil e insignificante en vida, en el más allá necesita un ambiente familiar en el que transcurra la vida después de la muerte, junto con sus objetos personales. Esto explica el cuidado con el que se construían las necrópolis, el hecho de que la pintura de este pueblo sea casi exclusivamente funeraria y que en las tumbas se hayan encontrado ricos ajuares, algunos de ellos provenientes de las colonias griegas del sur de Italia. Las paredes de las necrópolis se pintaban con vivos colores que contrastaban con la oscuridad, símbolo de la muerte espiritual. Así, las necrópolis etruscas son una fuente muy significativa, históricamente hablando, que permite conocer muchos aspectos de la vida cotidiana"), de las creencias y de los ritos populares que hubiera sido imposible conocer analizando exclusivamente los textos escritos.

Hypogeums

They were dug entirely underground or built in pre-existing natural cavities, such as grottos or caverns. Of them, the most famous is the Hypogeum of the Volumnios, discovered in 1840. This type of catacomb was formed by an inclined access of steps, which led directly to the atrium. Here there were usually six tombs (or groups of tombs), linked by narrow corridors (in some cases they were real tunnels). It is believed that burial in hypogeums was reserved for people of a certain social rank, especially politicians, soldiers and priests.

Edicules

They were built entirely out of the ground, pretending to be miniature temples, but in practice they were very similar to the rooms of the first Etruscan settlements. In Etruscan symbology, the shape of a temple was very significant: it represented the intermediate point of the journey that the deceased had to make from life to death, a kind of last stage of earthly life. Among them, we must remember the Bronzetto dell'Offerente"), the best preserved, which is located in Populonia.

Tumuli

They owe their name to the fact that, once the grave was made, it was covered with a pile of earth, in order to create a kind of artificial hill. Each of these tombs is divided, like the hypogeums, into various sepulchral chambers of dimensions proportional to the wealth and notoriety of the deceased or his family. They were generally circular in plan. Among them we must remember the Tomb of the Reliefs, inside the Banditaccia necropolis, near Cerveteri.