§ 1. Etruscan Pottery
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Helbig, Die Italiker in der Poebene; Ann. dell’ Inst. 1884, p. 108 ff., 1885, p. 5 ff.; Karo, Cenni sulla cronologia preclassica, Parma, 1898; Von Duhn in Bonner Studien, p. 21 ff., and in J.H.S. xvi. p. 125 ff.; Martha, L’Art Étrusque, passim; Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, 2nd edn. (good for topography; archaeology out of date); J.H.S. xiv. p. 206 ff. (C. Smith on Polledrara ware); Gsell, Fouilles de Vulci; Pottier, Cat. des vases ant. du Louvre, ii. p. 285 ff. (the best general survey); Notizie degli Scavi, passim, for excavations; Brit. Mus. Cat. of Bronzes, p. xliv ff.
(1) EARLY ITALIAN CIVILISATION
As regards Etruria, it will be seen that the art of the people was largely imitative, being derived mainly from Greece, but in some measure also from the East. Few remains of their productions have reached the present day, with the exception of large numbers of vases, bronzes, and jewellery; these, however, afford a very clear notion of the characteristics of Etruscan art. It is hardly possible to treat the subject of working in clay in Etruria with such fulness as can be done in the case of Greece and Rome, owing to the greater dearth of literature; but in our previous chapter (III.) on this subject much has already been said with reference to what is known on this head. In regard to the pottery, careful scientific excavations, such as those undertaken by M. Gsell at Vulci (Vol. I. p. [77]), have done much to increase our knowledge of all periods, and to place chronological certainty within the reach of the inquirer.
In dealing with the history of art in Italy, we are naturally first met with two questions: (1) Who were the earliest inhabitants of the country, particularly in the region afterwards known as Etruria, in which the first signs of artistic development appear? (2) At what period and from what quarter did the Etruscans occupy this region, or are they aboriginal? It will therefore be necessary to devote a few preliminary paragraphs to these much-debated questions,[[2246]] in order to gain a better understanding of the subsequent history.
The question of the origin of the Etruscans, to take the second first, is as old as Herodotos.[[2247]] As is well known, the Father of History held to the view that they originally came from Lydia, a view which found general support in antiquity, and is referred to by Horace,[[2248]] and many other writers. His fellow-townsman Dionysios was, however, of the opinion that they were autochthonous.[[2249]] However much of truth there may be in either of these theories, the fact remains that with certain modifications each of the two alternatives has found supporters even down to the present day, though to Niebuhr first is due the suggestion that the immigration of the Etruscans was by land and not by sea, and that they came from Central Europe by way of the Rhaetian Alps. He has been followed by most writers since—above all by Mommsen, who was the first to point out the absurdity of identifying the Lydian Τυρρηνοί or Τυρρηβοί with the Italian Tusci or Etrusci. It follows from this that the whole of the civilisation of Northern and Central Italy is due to this race, which would obviously have left its impress on each district as it passed through it; and, secondly, that it was this same race that was afterwards known by the name of Etruscan.
The chief objection to the theory of an autochthonous origin is that, as we shall presently see, a break in the civilisation of Northern Italy which can be traced about the beginning of the ninth century B.C. is of such a marked and rapid character that it cannot be regarded as due to any cause but the irruption of a new race. Moreover, there is probably, as M. Pottier points out,[[2250]] more truth in the words of Herodotos than appears at first sight. It is true that there are no grounds for accepting the Lydian theory absolutely; but apart from this, it is to be noted that Herodotos nowhere states that the Tyrrhenians landed on the west coast of Italy—i.e. in Etruria. What he does say is that, “after having visited (or coasted along) many nations, they arrived at the Umbrians, where they founded cities and inhabit them to this day; and instead of Lydians, their name was changed to that of Tyrrhenians.” Additional evidence is given by Hellanikos,[[2251]] who explicitly states that they landed at the mouth of the Po; and as the Umbrians probably occupied a larger territory in prehistoric than in classical times,[[2252]] we may fairly place here the city of Tyrsenia or Tyrrhenia, which Herodotos gives as the name of their first new home. Thus the Umbrians will represent the early aborigines whose civilisation, known as the Terramare, we shall presently describe, and it was this civilisation, transformed and developed, which was carried by the invaders over the Apennines into the region now to be known as Etruria. It will be noted that this theory at least satisfactorily combines the land and sea migrations of the Etruscans into Etruria, though it does not profess to dogmatise as to the region whence they first started. The idea that they first landed on the west coast is entirely due to Roman ideas, fostered by poets like Virgil; and though it is in one passage accepted by Dionysios of Halicarnassos, he expressly contradicts himself in another.[[2253]]
The two chief characteristics of this new Etrusco-Umbrian civilisation are the development of geometrical decoration and the predominance of a metallurgic element, both of which are obviously derived from Eastern sources, whether Hellenic or Oriental. It will suffice here to point out that the “Tyrrhenians” during their previous voyages (see above) might well have come in contact with the other civilisations of the Eastern Mediterranean, such as Cyprus, Asia Minor, Mycenae, and the Greek islands, and that their natural acquisitiveness and capacity for imitation, which we shall find illustrated throughout their history, enabled them to pick up and use artistic ideas from all these quarters. Even their earliest art yields many points of comparison with that of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The earliest civilisation of which traces have survived in Italy is, as we have already seen, that of the Terramare, so called from the remains discovered in that district, covering the basin of the Eridanus or Po, but chiefly between Piacenza and Bologna. We have further seen that the aboriginal people to whom these remains belong are probably to be identified with the Umbrians, but it is perhaps safer to style them Italiotes. They were lake-dwellers, living in wooden houses built on piles in the water or in the marshy lagoons of the district which they inhabited, and their civilisation was of the rudest description.