Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:51:12.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Mute Statues Speak: The Archaic Period Acroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Eóin O'Donoghue
Eóin O'Donoghue*
Affiliation:
Classics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
*
[email: eoinmod@gmail.com]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Poggio Civitate has made an important contribution to the understanding of domestic architecture in pre-Roman central Italy since excavations commenced in 1966 uncovering two phases of monumental architecture. Interpretations of the site have been varied, with suggestions that it was the seat of a north Etruscan league or the base of a local élite family. This study argues that it was the latter, based upon an analysis of the famous ‘cowboy’ statue acroteria from the Archaic period complex. It is argued that the statues, as ancestral figures of the élite inhabitants, personified their wealth and power. The complex, and acroteria more generally, had a powerful psychological effect on those living within it, but more importantly those living in the surrounding territory. In addition the building is placed within its physical and socio-political landscape of north inland Etruria

Depuis que deux phases d'architecture monumentale ont été découvertes lors des fouilles qui ont débuté en 1966, Poggio Civitate a largement contribué à la compréhension de l'architecture domestique en Italie centrale préromaine. Les interprétations du site ont été diverses; on a proposé entre autres qu'il s'agissait du siège d'une ligue étrusque du nord, où de la base d'une famille appartenant à l'élite locale. Nous optons ici pour la dernière suggestion, suivant l'analyse de la fameuse statue-acrotère du ‘cowboy’ provenant du complexe de la période archaïque. On fait valoir que les statues, comme figures ancestrales des habitants appartenant à l'élite, personnifiaient leur richesse et leur pouvoir. Le complexe avec les acrotères en général avait un puissant effet psychologique sur ceux vivant dans son sein, mais plus encore sur ceux habitant les territoires environnants. De plus, l'édifice est placé dans son contexte physique et sociopolitique de l'Etrurie intérieure du nord. Translation by Isabelle Gerges.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Poggio Civitate hat seit dem Beginn der Grabungen im Jahr 1966, die zwei Phasen monumentaler Architektur erbrachten, einen bedeutenden Beitrag zum Verständnis der Wohnarchitektur im vorrömischen Italien geleistet. Interpretationen des Fundplatzes variierten u. a. zwischen der Ansprache als Sitz eines nordetruskischen Bundes oder als Basis einer Familie der lokalen Elite. Diese Studie unterstützt anhand der Analyse der berühmten sog. ‘Cowboy’-Figuralakrotere aus dem Baukomplex der archaischen Periode die zweite These. Es wird angenommen, dass die Statuen als Ahnenfiguren der dort ansässigen Eliten deren Reichtum und Macht personifizierten. Der Baukomplex und die Figuralaktrotere im Allgemeinen übten einen gewaltigen psychologischen Effekt auf die Bewohner und, was noch wichtiger war, auf diejenigen aus dem umliegenden Gebiet aus. Zudem ist das Gebäude innerhalb seiner physischen und soziopolitischen Landschaft im nördlichen etrurischen Inland verortet. Translation by Heiner Schwarzberg.

Keywords

architecturelandscapePoggio CivitateEtruriastatue acroteriaarchitecturepaysagePoggio CivitateEtruriestatue-acrotèreArchitekturLandschaftPoggio CivitateEtrurienFiguralaktrotere
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , 2013 , pp. 268 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amann, P. 2000. Die Etruskerin. Geschlechterverhältnis und Stellung der Frau im Frühen Etrurien (9.-5. Jh. v. Chr.). Vienna: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Bartoloni, G. 2003. Le Società Dell'Italia Primitiva: Lo Studio delle Necropoli e la Nascita delle Aristocrazie. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar
Berkin, J. 2003. The Orientalizing Bucchero from the Lower Building at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Bonfante, L. 2003. Etruscan Dress: Updated Edition. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Campana, S. 2001. Ricognizione Archeologica del Territorio di Murlo. Carta Archeologica della Provinvia di Siena (Murlo), Vol. 5. Siena: Nuova Immagine Editore.Google Scholar
Colonna, G. ed. 2001. Il Santuario di Portonaccio a Veio. Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Cristofani, M. 1975. Considerazione su Poggio Civitate. Prospettiva, 1: 9–17.Google Scholar
Cristofani, M. 1979. The Etruscans. London: Orbis.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, B. 1989. Image and Society in Archaic Etruria. Journal of Roman Studies, 79: 1–10.Google Scholar
Ducati, P. 1970. La Situla della Certosa. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Edlund, I.E.M. 1984. Sacred and Secular: Evidence of Rural Shrines and Industry Among Greeks and Etruscans. In: Hackens, T., Holloway, N.D., Holloway, R.R., eds. Crossroads of the Mediterranean, Archaeologia Transatlantica II: Papers Delivered at the International Conference Held at Brown University. Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut Supérieur d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art Collège Erasme, pp. 277–90.Google Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. 1992. The Seated and Standing Statue Akroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. 1993. The Murlo Cowboy: Problems of Reconstruction and Interpretation. In: Rystedt, E., Wickander, C., Wickander, Ö., eds. Deliciae Fictiles: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Central Italic Architectural Terracottas at the Swedish Institute in Rome (December 1990). Stockholm: Paul Åström, pp. 117–21.Google Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. 1994. Ritual Destruction of Cities and Sanctuaries: The ‘Un-founding’ of the Archaic Monumental Building at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). In: De Puma, R.D., Small, J.P., eds. Murlo and the Etruscans: Art and Society in Ancient Etruria. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 16–28.Google Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. 2011. Akroteria in Ancient Italy: Images and Architectural Traditions. In: Luluf, P., Rescigno, C., eds. Deliciae Fictiles IV: Architectural Terracottas in Ancient Italy, Images of Gods, Monsters and Heroes. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 16–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edlund-Gantz, I.E.M. 1972. The Seated Statue Akroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Dialoghi di Archeologia, 6: 167–235.Google Scholar
Frey, O.H. 1962. Die Situla von Kuffarn. Ein Figürlich Verzierter Bronzeblecheimer der Zeit um 400 vor Christus. Vienna: Naturhistoisches Museum.Google Scholar
Gantz, T.N. 1971. Divine Triads on an Archaic Etruscan Frieze Plaque from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Studi Etruschi, 39: 3–21.Google Scholar
Gell, A. 1992. The Enchantment of Technology and the Technology of Enchantment. In: Coote, J., Shelton, A., eds. Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 40–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, S., Nahoe, S., Torres, H.F., Richards, C. 2008. Quarried Away. Thinking About Landscapes of Megalithic Construction on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). In: Bruno, D., Thomas, J., eds. Handbook of Landscape Archaeology. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, pp. 176–86.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. 2000. Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History. London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Jannot, J.R. 1984. Les Reliefs Archaïques de Chiusi. Rome: École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Leighton, R. 2005. House Urns and Etruscan Tomb Painting: Tradition Versus Innovation in the Ninth-Seventh Centuries BC. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 24 (2): 363–80.Google Scholar
Lulof, P. 2000. Archaic Terracotta Acroteria Representing Athena and Herakles: Manifestations of Power in Central Italy. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 13: 207–19.Google Scholar
MacKendrick, P. 1960. The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J.T. 2005. What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E.O. 1994. Interpreting the Lateral Sima at Poggio Civitate. In: De Puma, R.D., Small, J.P., eds. Murlo and the Etruscans: Art and Society in Ancient Etruria. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 64–71.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E.O., Phillips, K.M. 1977. Bryn Mawr College Excavations in Tuscany, 1975. American Journal of Archaeology, 81 (1): 85–100.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E.O., Tuck, A.S. 2001. An Orientalizing Period Complex at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Etruscan Studies, 8: 35–64.Google Scholar
Patterson, H. ed. 2004. Bridging the Tiber. Approaches to Regional Archaeology in the Middle Tiber Valley. London: Archaeological Monograph of the British School at Rome, 13.Google Scholar
Phillips, K.M. 1993. In the Hills of Tuscany: Recent Excavations at the Etruscan Site of Poggio Civitate (Murlo, Siena). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Phillips, K.M., Tallochini, A. eds. 1970. Poggio Civitate (Murlo, Siena): The Archaic Sanctuary, Catalogue of the Exhibition, Florence-Siena, 1970. Florence: Leo S. Olschki.Google Scholar
Potter, T.W. 1979. The Changing Landscape of South Etruria. London: Paul Elek.Google Scholar
Prayon, F. 1975. Zur Datierung der Drei Friihetruskischen Sitzstatuetten aus Cerveteri. Rômiscke Mitteilungen, 82: 165–79.Google Scholar
Ramage, N.H., Ramage, A. 2005. Roman Art: Romulus to Constantine. New Jersey: Pearson-Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Ridgway, D. 2002. The World of the Early Etruscans. Jonsered: Paul Åströms Förlag.Google Scholar
Riva, C. 2010. The Urbanisation of Etruria: Funerary Practices and Social Change, 700-600 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roth, R.E. 2005. Myth and Female Identity in North Etruria During the Hellenistic Period. In: Attema, P., Nijboer, A., Zifferero, A., eds. Papers in Italian Archaeology VI: Communities and Settlements from the Neolithic to the Early Medieval Period, Volume I. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1452(i). Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 229–37.Google Scholar
Small, J.P. 1971. The Banquet Frieze from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Studi Etruschi, 39: 25–61.Google Scholar
Steingräber, S. 1986. Catalogue Raisonné of Etruscan Wall Paintings. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Stoddart, S.K.F. 1990. The Political Landscape of Etruria. Accordia Research Papers, 1: 39–52.Google Scholar
Talocchini, A. 1960. Forma Etruriae. Carta Archeologica d'Italia al 100.000. Studi Etruschi, 28: 445–47.Google Scholar
Tarlow, S. 2000. Emotion in Archaeology. Current Anthropology, 41 (5): 713–46.Google Scholar
Terrenato, N., Ammerman, A.J. 1996. Visibility and Site Recovery in the Cecina Valley Survey, Italy. Journal of Field Archaeology, 23: 91–109.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. 1983. Polis e Palazzo. Architettura, Ideologia, e Artigianato Greco in Etruria tra VII e VI sec. a.C. In: Architecture et société de l'archaïsme grec à la fin de la république romaine. Actes du colloque international organisé par le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et l'École Française de Rome (Rome 2–4 décembre 1980) CÉFR 66. Rome: École française de Rome, pp. 471–99.Google Scholar
Trigger, B.G. 1990. Monumental Architecture: A Thermodynamic Explanation of Symbolic Behaviour. World Archaeology, 22 (2): 119–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, A.S. 2006. The Social and Political Context of the 7th Century Architectural Terracottas at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). In: Edlund-Berry, I.E.M., Kentfield, J.F., Greco, G., eds. Deliciae Fictiles III: Architectural Terracottas in Ancient Italy. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 130–35.Google Scholar
Tuck, A.S. 2009. The Necropolis of Poggio Civitate (Murlo): Burials from Poggio Aguzzo. Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Tuck, A.S., Wallace, R. 2012. A ‘New’ Inscribed Plaque from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Etruscan Studies, 14: 1–18.Google Scholar
Tuck, A.S., Bauer, J., Huntsman, T., Kreindler, K., Pancaldo, S., Powell, C., Miller, S. 2009. Core and Periphery in Inland Etruria: Poggio Civitate and the Etruscan Settlement in Vescovado di Murlo. Etruscan Studies, 12: 215–40.Google Scholar
Veblen, T. 1899. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Macmillan. Google Scholar
Wilson, P.J. 1988. The Domestication of the Human Species. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar