Architecture in Ancient Central Italy: Connections in Etruscan and Early Roman Building (British School at Rome Studies)

Architecture in Ancient Central Italy takes studies of individual elements and sites as a starting point to reconstruct a much larger picture of architecture in western central Italy as an industry, and to position the result in space (in the Mediterranean world and beyond) and time (from the second millennium BC to Late Antiquity). This volume demonstrates that buildings in pre-Roman Italy have close connections with Bronze Age and Roman architecture, with practices in local and distant societies, and with the natural world and the cosmos. It also argues that buildings serve as windows into the minds and lives of those who made and used them, revealing the concerns and character of communities in early Etruria, Rome, and Latium. Architecture consequently emerges as a valuable historical source, and moreover a part of life that shaped society as much as reflected it. "Exploring central Italic architecture as part of a connected world brings together one of the most prominent themes in the study of the ancient Mediterranean in recent decades, namely connectivity, and a body of evidence that has often been overlooked in many studies of ancient construction, technology, society, economy, and even the archaeology of early Italy, to wit architecture in Etruria and Latium. Such a partnership is an invitation to move beyond the study of individual elements of structures or sites, for example mouldings or terracottas, and instead use such studies to reconstruct a larger picture of architecture in this region as a discipline and to position it more broadly in space and time"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Series page 4 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 8 List of Maps 12 List of Charts and Tables 13 Notes on the Contributors 14 Acknowledgements 17 1 Introduction: Building Connections 23 2 The Silent Roofing Revolution 53 3 Architectural Terracottas of Central Italy within Their Wider Mediterranean Context 84 4 The Connective Evidence for Early Roman Urbanism: Terracottas and Architectural Accretion 117 5 Connecting Foundations and Roofs: The Satricum Sacellum and the Sant’Omobono Sanctuary 147 6 Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas: Tarquinia in Its Mediterranean Setting 170 7 Connections in Death: Etruscan Tomb Architecture, c. 800–400 bc 196 Index 222 The Silent Roofing Revolution: The Etruscan Tie-beam Truss / Jean MacIntosh Turfa -- Architectural Terracottas of Central Italy within their Wider Mediterranean Context / Nancy A. Winter -- The Connective Evidence for Early Roman Urbanism: Terracottas and Architectural Accretion / John Hopkins -- Connecting Foundations and Roofs: The Satricum Sacellum and the S. Omobono Sanctuary / Patricia S. Lulof and Loes Opgenhaffen -- Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas: Tarquinia in its Mediterranean Setting / Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni -- Connections in Death: Etruscan Tomb Architecture, c.800-400 BC / Stephan Steingräber Argues that buildings in early Italy serve as windows into the minds and lives of those who made and used them, and demonstrates that architecture was closely connected to communities, to the natural world, and to the cosmos, and had the power to shape society as much as reflect it. Reconnects ancient buildings with the people who made them, with their surroundings, and with practices in other times and cultures.