Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:24:01.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Approaching monumental architecture: mechanics and movement in Archaic Etruscan palaces*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2013

Gretchen E. Meyers
Get access

Abstract

This paper reassesses the architectural setting of a group of monumental buildings dating to the sixth century bc from the Etruscan area of central Italy, sometimes referred to as palaces, or palazzi. Although scholars traditionally have focused on classifying the buildings, the architectural form is here examined through close comparative analysis of spatial mechanics and movement. Focusing on case-studies from Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Acquarossa, the author reconstructs the architectural processes of movement, particularly between the exterior and interior spaces arranged around a characteristic courtyard, and concludes that the structures are indicative of a unique Etruscan experience rather than that of Mediterranean palaces more generally. The author calls for a shift away from attempts to categorize these monumental structures in favour of a close analysis of spatial experience in order to explore better their architectural impact and function.

Con questo articolo si riesamina l'assetto architettonico di un gruppo di edifici monumentali datati al VI secolo a.C. dislocati in un'area etrusca dell'Italia centrale, a cui a volte ci si riferisce con il termine di ‘palazzo’. Nonostante gli studiosi si siano spesso concentrati sulla classificazione degli edifici, si propone in questa sede un nuovo approccio in cui la forma architettonica è esaminata attraverso un'accurata analisi comparativa dei meccanismi degli spazi e del movimento. Focalizzando l'attenzione sui case-studies di Poggio Civitate (Murlo) e Acquarossa, l'Autore ricostruisce il processo architettonico del movimento, in particolare tra gli spazi esterni e interni organizzati intorno a una caratteristica corte aperta, e conclude che le strutture sono indicative di un'esperienza etrusca che sembra essere unica piuttosto che riferibile più generalmente a quella dei palazzi mediterranei. L'Autore si tiene lontano da qualunque tentativo di categorizzare queste strutture monumentali a favore di un'attenta analisi dell'esperienza spaziale al fine di esplorare meglio il loro impatto architettonico e la loro funzione.

Type
Articles
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 81 , October 2013 , pp. 39 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 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.)

Footnotes

*

I am grateful to the following individuals who contributed to the publication of this essay through inspiration, assistance or support: Morgan Burgess, Alexis Castor, Judith Chien, Matthew Coonan, Ingrid Edlund-Berry, Ann Steiner, Michael Thomas, Anthony Tuck, Carolyn Valone and Greg Warden. I would like to express my gratitude also to the anonymous reviewers for Papers of the British School at Rome for their helpful suggestions. Any errors herein are completely my own.

References

REFERENCES

Betancourt, P.P. (2002) Who was in charge of the palaces? In Driessen, J., Schoep, I. and Laffineur, R. (eds), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces: 207–11. Liège, Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Bonfante, L. and Karageorghis, V. (2001) (eds) Italy and Cyprus in Antiquity: 1500–450 bc. Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University. Nicosia, Costakis and Leto Severis Foundation.Google Scholar
Cherry, J. (1983) Evolution, revolution and the origins of complex society in Minoan Crete. In Krzyszkowska, O. and Nixon, L. (eds), Minoan Society: Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium 1981: 33–45. Bristol, Bristol Classical Press.Google Scholar
Cherry, J. (1986) Polities and palaces: some problems in Minoan state formation. In Renfrew, C. and Cherry, J. (eds), Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-political Change: 19–45. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Convegno Nazionale di Studi Etruschi e Italici (1974) Aspetti e problemi dell'Etruria interna. Atti dell'VIII convegno nazionale di studi etruschi e italici, Orvieto 1972. Florence, Olschki.Google Scholar
Corsini, M.G. (2004) Palazzi Romani. Luogo e linguaggio. Rome, Kappa.Google Scholar
Cristofani, M. (1975) Considerazioni su Poggio Civitate (Murlo, Siena). Prospettiva 1: 9–17.Google Scholar
de Grummond, N.T. (1997) Poggio Civitate: a turning point. Etruscan Studies 4: 23–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donati, L. (2000) Civil, religious and domestic architecture. In Torelli, M. (ed.), The Etruscans: 313–33. Milan, Bompiani.Google Scholar
Driessen, J. (1997 [1995]) Some observations on the access systems of Minoan palaces. Aegean Archaeology 2: 67–85.Google Scholar
Driessen, J. (2002) ‘The king must die.’ Some observations on the use of Minoan court compounds. In Driessen, J., Schoep, I. and Laffineur, R. (eds), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces: 1–13. Liège, Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Driessen, J., Schoep, I. and Laffineur, R. (2002) (eds) Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces. Liège, Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. (1992) The Seated and Standing Statue Akroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo) (Archeologica 96). Rome, ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Evans, S.T. (2004) Aztec palaces and other elite residential architecture. In Evans, S.T. and Pillsbury, J. (eds), Palaces of the Ancient New World: 5–58. Washington DC, Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Gjerstad, E. (1933) Further remarks on the palace of Vouni. American Journal of Archaeology 37: 589–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gjerstad, E. (1937) The Swedish Cyprus Expedition III. Stockholm, Swedish Cyprus Expedition.Google Scholar
Goggioli, S. (2011) Palaces and princes. In Lulof, P.S. and van Kampen, I. (eds), Etruscans. Eminent Women, Powerful Men: 78–81. Amsterdam, W Books.Google Scholar
Graham, M. (1962) The Palaces of Crete. Princeton, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. (1987) (eds) The Function of the Minoan Palaces (Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen 4°, 35). Stockholm, Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Halstead, P. (1981) From determinism to uncertainty: social storage and the rise of the Minoan palace. In Sheridan, A. and Bailey, G. (eds), Economic Archaeology. Towards an Integration of Ecological and Social Approaches (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 96): 187–213. Oxford, British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. (2000) Etruscan Civilization. A Cultural History. London, British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Hillier, B. and Hanson, J. (1984) The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitchcock, L. (1994) The Minoan hall system: writing the present out of the past. In Locock, M. (ed.), Meaningful Architecture: Social Interpretations of Buildings: 14–44. Aldershot, Avebury.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, L. (2000) Minoan Architecture: a Contextual Analysis. Jonserad, Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Izzet, V.E. (2001) Form and meaning in Etruscan ritual space. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11: 185–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izzet, V.E. (2008) The Archaeology of Etruscan Society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Maier, F.G. (1985) Factoids in ancient history: the case of fifth-century Cyprus. Journal of Hellenic Studies 105: 32–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maier, F.G. (1989) Palaces of Cypriot kings. In Tatton-Brown, V. (ed.), Cyprus and the East Mediterranean in the Iron Age: 16–19. London, British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
McEnroe, J.C. (2010) Architecture of Minoan Crete. Constructing Identity in the Aegean Bronze Age. Austin, University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
McKay, A.G. (1998) Houses, Villas and Palaces in the Roman World (reprint). Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menichetti, M. (1994) Archeologia del potere. Re, immagini e miti a Roma e in Etruria in età arcaica. Milan, Longanesi.Google Scholar
Meyers, G.E. (2003) Etrusco-Italic Monumental Architectural Space from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period: an Examination of Approach and Access. University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D. dissertation.Google Scholar
Meyers, G.E. (2005) Vitruvius and the origins of Roman spatial rhetoric. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 50: 66–86.Google Scholar
Meyers, G.E. (2012) The experience of monumentality in Etruscan and early Roman architecture. In Thomas, M.L. and Meyers, G.E. (eds), Monumentality in Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture: Ideology and Innovation: 1–20. Austin, University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Moore, J.D. (2003) Archaeology in search of architecture. In Papadopolous, J.K. and Leventhal, R.M. (eds), Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives: 235–46. Los Angeles, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, V. (1933) A reply (to E. Gjerstad). American Journal of Archaeology 39: 199–201.Google Scholar
Neils, J. (1976) The terracotta gorgoneia of Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Römische Mitteilungen 8: 1–29.Google Scholar
Nielsen, I. (1994) Hellenistic Palaces. Tradition and Renewal. Aarhus, Aarhus University Press.Google Scholar
O'Donoghue, E. (2013) The mute statues speak: the Archaic period acroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo). European Journal of Archaeology 16 (2): 268–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Östenberg, C.E. (1974) Centri minori dell'Etruria interna. In Aspetti e problemi dell'Etruria interna. Atti dell'VIII convegno nazionale di studi etruschi e italici, Orvieto 1972: 75–87. Florence, Olschki.Google Scholar
Östenberg, C.E. (1975) Case etrusche di Acquarossa. Rome, Multigraphica Editrice.Google Scholar
Palyvou, C. (1987) Circulatory patterns in Minoan architecture. In Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. (eds), The Function of the Minoan Palaces (Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen 4°, 35): 195–203. Stockholm, Paul Åström.Google Scholar
Palyvou, C. (2002) Central courts: the supremacy of the void. In Driessen, J., Schoep, I. and Laffineur, R. (eds), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces: 167–78. Liège, Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Palyvou, C. (2003) Architecture and archaeology: the Minoan palaces in the twenty-first century. In Papadopolous, J.K. and Leventhal, R.M. (eds), Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives: 205–33. Los Angeles, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, K.M. (1972) Bryn Mawr College excavations in Tuscany. American Journal of Archaeology 76: 249–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, K.M (1974) Poggio Civitate (Murlo, Siena), 1966–1972. In Aspetti e problemi dell'Etruria interna. Atti dell'VIII convegno nazionale di studi etruschi e italici, Orvieto 1972: 141–6. Florence, Olschki.Google Scholar
Phillips, K.M. (1985) Poggio Civitate (Murlo). In Stopponi, S. (ed.), Case e palazzi d'Eturia: 64–127. Milan, Electa.Google Scholar
Phillips, K.M. (1993) In the Hills of Tuscany: Recent Excavations at the Site of Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Pillsbury, J. and Leonard, B.L. (2004) Identifying Chimú palaces: elite residential architecture in the late intermediate period. In Evans, S.T. and Pillsbury, J. (eds), Palaces of the Ancient New World: 247–98. Washington DC, Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Poggiesi, G., Donati, L., Bocci, E., Millemaci, G., Pagnini, L. and Pallecchi, P. (2005) Prato-Gonfienti: un nuovo centro etrusco sulla via per Marzabotto. In Sassatelli, G. and Govi, E. (eds), Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca: 267–300. Bologna, Ante Quem.Google Scholar
Prayon, F. (2001) Near Eastern influence in early Etruscan architecture? In Bonfante, L. and Karageorghis, V. (eds), Italy and Cyprus in Antiquity: 1500–450 bc. Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University: 335–50. Nicosia, Costakis and Leto Severis Foundation.Google Scholar
Prayon, F. (2009) The atrium as Italo-Etruscan architectural concept and as societal form. In Perkins, P. and Swaddling, J. (eds), Etruscan by Definition: Papers in Honour of Sybille Haynes: 60–3. London, British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Preziosi, D. (1983) Minoan Architectural Design: Formation and Signification (Approaches to Semiotics 63). Berlin, Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, T. (2005) Urbanization in Etruria. In Osborne, R. and Cunliffe, B. (eds), Mediterranean Urbanization 800–600 bc (Proceedings of the British Academy 126): 71–90. Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rathje, A. (2007) Murlo, images and archaeology. Etruscan Studies 10: 175–84.Google Scholar
Rehak, P. and Younger, J. (1998) Review of Aegean prehistory VII: neopalatial, final palatial and postpalatial Crete. American Journal of Archaeology 102: 91–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyes, A.T. (1994) Archaic Cyprus: a Study of Textual and Archaeological Evidence. Oxford, Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riva, C. (2010) The Urbanisation of Etruria. Funerary Practices and Social Change 700–600 B.C.E. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rohner, D.D. (1996) Etruscan domestic architecture: an ethnoarchaeological model. In Hall, J. (ed.), Etruscan Italy: Etruscan Influences on the Civilizations of Italy from Antiquity to the Modern Era: 115–45. Provo (Utah), Brigham Young University Museum of Art.Google Scholar
Rowland, I.D. (2001) Etruscan secrets. New York Review of Books, 5 July.Google Scholar
Scheffer, C. (1990) Domus regiae — a Greek tradition? Opuscula Atheniensia 18: 185–91.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (2002) The state of the Minoan palaces or the Minoan palaces state? In Driessen, J., Schoep, I. and Laffineur, R. (eds), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces: 15–33. Liège, Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Staccioli, R. (1976) Considerazioni sui complessi monumentali di Murlo e di Acquarossa. In L'Italie préromaine et la Rome républicaine: mélanges offerts à Jacques Heurgon: 471–92. Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Steingräber, S. (2001) The process of urbanization of Etruscan settlements. Etruscan Studies 8: 7–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stopponi, S. (1985) (ed.) Case e palazzi d'Etruria. Milan, Electa.Google Scholar
Strandberg Olofsson, M. (1986) L'area monumentale di Acquarossa. In Pallottino, M. and Wikander, Ö. (eds), Architettura etrusca nel Viterbese: ricerche svedesi a San Giovenale e Acquarossa 1956–1986: 81–92. Rome, DeLuca.Google Scholar
Strandberg Olofsson, M. (1989) On the reconstruction of the monumental area at Acquarossa. Opuscula Romana 17: 163–83.Google Scholar
Strandberg Olofsson, M. (1994) Some interpretational aspects of the Acquarossa/Tuscania mould-made terracottas and their architectural context. Opus Mixtum: 135–47.Google Scholar
Stuardo, R.L. (2003) Access patterns in royal precincts. In Christie, J.J. (ed.), Maya Palaces and Elite Residences. An Interdisciplinary Approach: 184–203. Austin, University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle 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 (Collection de l'École Française de Rome 66): 471–92. Rome, École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. (1985) Introduzione. In Stopponi, S. (ed.), Case e palazzi d'Etruria: 21–32. Milan, Electa.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. (1990) Archaic Rome between Latium and Etruria. In Walbank, F.W. (ed.), The Cambridge Ancient History VII, part II: 30–51. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torelli, M. (1997) I fregi figurati delle ‘regiae’ latine ed etrusche. Immaginario del potere arcaico. In Torelli, M. (ed.), Il rango, il rito e l'immagine. Alle origini della rappresentazione storica romana: 87–121. Milan, Electa.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. (2001) Le regiae etrusche e laziali tra Orientalizzante e Arcaismo. In Bartoloni, G. (ed.), Principi etruschi: tra Mediterraneo ed Europa (1 ottobre 2000–1 aprile 2001, Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico): 67–78. Bologna, Marsilio.Google Scholar
Tuck, A. (2009) The Necropolis of Poggio Civitate (Murlo): Burials from Poggio Aguzzo. (Archeologica 153; Poggio Civitate Archeological Excavations 3). Rome, Giorgio Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Tuck, A. and Nielsen, E.O. (2001) An Orientalizing period complex at Poggio Civitate (Murlo): a preliminary view. Etruscan Studies 8: 35–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, A., Brunk, J., Huntsman, T. and Tallman, H. (2010) An Archaic period well from Poggio Civitate: evidence for broader final destruction. Etruscan Studies 13: 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turfa, J.M. and Steinmayer, A. (1996) The comparative structure of Greek and Etruscan monumental buildings. Papers of the British School at Rome 64: 1–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turfa, J.M. and Steinmayer, A. (2002) Interpreting early Etruscan structures: the question of Murlo. Papers of the British School at Rome 70: 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Falkenhausen, L. (2003) Architecture and archaeology: a view from China. In Papadopolous, J.K. and Leventhal, R.M. (eds), Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives: 247–66. Los Angeles, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waddy, P. (1990) Seventeenth-century Roman Palaces: Use and Art of the Plan. Cambridge (MA), MIT Press.Google Scholar
Wikander, C. and Wikander, Ö. (1990) The early monumental complex at Acquarossa: a preliminary report. Opuscula Romana 18: 189–205.Google Scholar
Winter, N.A. (2009) Symbols of Wealth and Power. Architectural Terracotta Decoration in Etruria & Central Italy, 640–510 B.C. (Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome Supplementary Volume 9). Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Wright, G.H.R. (1992) Ancient Building in Cyprus. Leiden, Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar