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.

This comprehensive survey of Etruscan civilization, from its origin in the Villanovan Iron Age in the ninth century B.C. to its absorption by Rome in the first century B.C., combines well-known aspects of the Etruscan world with new discoveries and fresh insights into the role of women in Etruscan society. In addition, the Etruscans are contrasted to the Greeks, whom they often emulated, and to the Romans, who at once admired and disdained them. The result is a compelling and complete picture of a people and a culture. This in-depth examination of Etruria examines how differing access to mineral wealth, trade routes, and agricultural land led to distinct regional variations. Heavily illustrated with ancient Etruscan art and cultural objects, the text is organized both chronologically and thematically, interweaving archaeological evidence, analysis of social structure, descriptions of trade and burial customs, and an examination of pottery and works of art.

Murlo and the Etruscans explores this and other mysteries in a collection of twenty essays by leading specialists of Etruscan and classical art, all of whom have been associated with the Murlo site. Numerous photographs and drawings accompany the essays. The first eleven chapters survey specific groups of Etruscan objects and challenge the view of Etruscan art as provincial or derivative. Interpretations of the magnificent series of decorated terra cotta frieze plaques and other architectural elements contribute to an understanding of Murlo and related Etruscan centers. Plaques depicting a lively Etruscan banquet offer a way to detect differences between Etruscan and ancient Greek society. The remaining nine chapters treat various aspects of Etruscan art, often moving beyond ancient Murlo, both geographically and temporally. They examine funerary symbolism, sculpted amber, and amber trade contacts along the ancient Adriatic Coast; depictions of domesticated cats; votive terra cottas of human anatomical parts and how they help in understanding Etruscan medicine; and the adaptation of Greek style, myth, and iconography in Etruscan art. "These essays will have a broad impact on the study of the ancient Mediterranean. They will certainly be required reading not only for Etruscologists but for anyone with an interest in the world of classical antiquity. The range of subjects, moving in wide arcs around the archaeological site at Murlo, brings the site into focus in a way that a series of standard archaeological site reports could not."--Kenneth Hamma, J. Paul Getty Museum "There is a fine and commendable interweaving and intertwining of thoughts and scholarly research throughout Murlo and the Etruscans. It will be a useful reference source for the art of Etruscan coroplast, wherein lies the forte of the Etruscan sculptor!"--Mario A. Del Chiaro, University of California

The lively ferment in Etruscan studies, generated in part by recent archaeological discoveries and fostered by new trends in interpretation, has produced a wealth of information about the people historians traditionally considered as inaccessible. Now, scholars are reconstructing a portrait of the wealthy, sophisticated Etruscans whose territory once extended from the Po River to the Bay of Naples. Unfortunately, the wider English-speaking public has had no single resource which synthesizes these new findings and interpretations about the Etruscans. In fact, some sources continue to propagate the traditional myth of the "enigmatic and isolated Etruscans." In response, the eminent Etruscan scholar Larissa Bonfante asked seven other internationally known classicists to join her in providing this "handbook" for the non-specialist as an authoritative and readable guide to the burgeoning Etruscan scholarship. As Bonfante explains in the introductory chapter, "The Etruscans provide an excellent opportunity of turning archaeology into history: this we tried to do, in our chapters, according to our individual directions. Nancy Thomson de Grummond traces the interest in and knowledge of the Etruscans from the earliest days. Mario Torelli provides an independent account of Etruscan history, based on monuments and sources. Jean MacIntosh Turfa belies the cliche of the Etruscans' traditional 'isolation' by surveying the material evidence for their trade with the Phoenicians, Greeks, and other neighbors in the Mediterranean. Marie-Fran'oise Briguet, Friedhelm Prayon, David Tripp, and I survey Etruscan art, architecture, coinage, and daily lives, respectively, Emeline Richardson contributes what she calls a 'primer' in the Etruscan language, a basic archaeological introduction to the Etruscan language, meant to help newcomers read the inscriptions on many of the monuments illustrated and to see these with the interdisciplinary approach so characteristic of, and necessary in, Etruscan studies." The book is profusely illustrated with over 300 photos and maps. Notes and bibliographic references lead to standard texts on the Etruscans and to the more specialized literature in the field. The result is a reliable and lively volume which brings readers into the mainstream of the latest Etruscan scholarship.