The Etruscans can be shown to have made significant, and in some cases perhaps the first, technical advances in the central and northern Mediterranean. To the Etruscan people we can attribute such developments as the tie-beam truss in large wooden structures, surveying and engineering drainage and water tunnels, the development of the foresail for fast long-distance sailing vessels, fine techniques of metal production and other pyrotechnology, post-mortem C-sections in medicine, and more. In art, many technical and iconographic developments, although they certainly happened first in Greece or the Near East, are first seen in extant Etruscan works, preserved in the lavish tombs and goods of Etruscan aristocrats. These include early portraiture, the first full-length painted portrait, the first perspective view of a human figure in monumental art, specialized techniques of bronze-casting, and reduction-fired pottery (the bucchero phenomenon). Etruscan contacts, through trade, treaty and intermarriage, linked their culture with Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily, with the Italic tribes of the peninsula, and with the Near Eastern kingdoms, Greece and the Greek colonial world, Iberia, Gaul and the Punic network of North Africa, and influenced the cultures of northern Europe. In the past fifteen years striking advances have been made in scholarship and research techniques for Etruscan Studies. Archaeological and scientific discoveries have changed our picture of the Etruscans and furnished us with new, specialized information. Thanks to the work of dozens of international scholars, it is now possible to discuss topics of interest that could never before be researched, such as Etruscan mining and metallurgy, textile production, foods and agriculture. In this volume, over 60 experts provide insights into all these aspects of Etruscan culture, and more, with many contributions available in English for the first time to allow the reader access to research that may not otherwise be available to them. Lavishly illustrated, The Etruscan World brings to life the culture and material past of the Etruscans and highlights key points of development in research, making it essential reading for researchers, academics and students of this fascinating civilization.

This volume--the first serious book in English on Etruscan art--was hailed for its broad scope, thorough knowledge, and clear exposition when it was published almost twenty years ago. Now brought back into print with an updated bibliography and bibliographical essay by Francesca R. Serra Ridgway, it remains an essential introduction for anyone interested in ancient art, history, and civilization. Otto Brendel's exploration of the art, culture, and society of Etruria takes us through its four main periods of creativity: the Villanovan and Orientalizing era, the Archaic era, the Classical era, and the Hellenistic era, when Etruscan art became extinct. According to Brendel, the Etruscans were deeply influenced by Greek styles but used Greek forms and concepts to further their own purposes. Etruscan art is a private art, aristocratic and luxurious but centered in the life of the family and a continuing life in the tomb. Many of the art forms and objects discussed--ceramics, metalware, jewelry, sculpture, and wall painting--are known to us through the discovery of tombs. Most of these objects had a clearly defined function but were also designed, with a high degree of quality and craftsmanship, to be decorative. The beautiful art of the Etruscans, illustrated and explained in this book, sheds much light on a people about whom we know little.

Beginning in the eighth century B.C., an expanse of central Italy extending from the edges of the Po River plain to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea became the setting for the civilization of the Etruscans. Although this people's geographic and linguistic origins remain controversial, the Etruscans were deeply rooted in the region and wove a tightly knit fabric of commercial and artistic trade throughout the Mediterranean. This well-organized and richly illustrated book examines the discoveries and masterpieces of the Etruscan world. Unforgettable paintings, works in gold, and sculpture in terracotta and bronze were created by the Etruscans, while extraordinary painted vases were imported from Greece. Scattered throughout central Italy and marked by a variety of architectural forms, ancient cemeteries can be found at the seashore, carved into tufa, clinging to cliff walls, or buried beneath the fields. From these necropolises, dazzling evidence continues to emerge of a culture that was rich, multifaceted, open, and peaceful-a culture destined to merge with Rome after centuries of independence. The Etruscans tells the story of this culture in a clear narrative that will appeal equally to both scholarly and popular audiences.