00348 - Etruscology

Course contents

I. History and culture of the Etruscans Etruria: ancient Italy between Bronze Age and Iron Age. Transition from the protovillanovian to the villanovian period; transformations of the population, origin of the big proto-urban centres and “formation” of the Etruscan ethnos. Italy in the First Iron Age: cultures, languages and peoples of the pre-roman Italy. Etruscans and their relationships with the other italic peoples: commercial exchanges and cultural connections. Cultural and chronological periods. Villanovian period: material culture and geographical differentiations; from the hut to the house and from the village to the town; early forms of social and political organization. Orientalising period: rise and consolidation of the aristocracies; the culture of the princes; palaces and big funerary architecture; different expressions of the aristocratic ideology. Archaic period: end of the aristocracies and coming of the demos; big works of urban monumentalising; cities and their harbours; relations with the oriental Greek Culture. Classic period: leadership of the inner Etruria and crisis of the coastal Etruria; the artistic problem and the relationships with Greece. Hellenistic period: the big “crisis” of the Fourth Century and the “coming-back” aristocracies; relations with Macedonia and Magna Graecia and last great season of the Etruscan culture. Impact with Rome and ending of the Etruscans. Etruscan language and writing. Problem of classification and of study of the Etruscan language. Alphabets and writing typologies. Social and onomastic aspects. Reading, exegesis and interpretation of Etruscan inscriptions. III. Visits to Museums and archaeological sites Conducted tours to the main Museums of the region (Bologna, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Verucchio) and to the archaeological site of Marzabotto .

Readings/Bibliography

M.Pallottino, Etruscologia, Roma 1985; AA.VV., Gli Etruschi. Una nuova immagine (a cura di M.Cristofani), Firenze 1972 (or following reprints). Optional readings for in-depth analysis (students who don't attend the lessons must prepare at least one of these books): AA.VV., Rasenna. Storia e civiltà degli Etruschi(a cura di G.Pugliese Carratelli), Milano 1987; AA.VV., Gli Etruschi (Catalogo della mostra, Venezia 2000), Venezia 2000; M. Cristofani, Introduzione allo studio dell'etrusco, Firenze 1977 (or following editions); G.Camporeale, Gli Etruschi. Storia e civiltà, Torino 2000.

Teaching methods

Teaching method consists in lessons and visits to Museums and archaeological sites of the Region. All those students who may be concerned will have the chance to supplement the lectures of the course with practice in laboratory among the didactic proposals of the Department of Archaeology relatively in particular to the possibility of excavations in the Etruscan site of Marzabotto and the opportunity of studying, cataloguing and drawing archaeological items.

Teaching tools

During the lessons visual aids will be widely used, especially slides and projections from computer. Explanatory paper materials, concerning specific subjects of the course, will be handed out in classroom

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Govi