Architectural Terra-cottas from Two Temples at Falerii Veteres

Mary Taylor; H. C. Bradshaw

doi:10.1017/S0068246200005407

Architectural Terra-cottas from Two Temples at Falerii Veteres

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013

Mary Taylor and

H. C. Bradshaw

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The following paper is based on notes and studies made in the session 1914–15 during my tenure of the Gilchrist Studentship at the British School at Rome. It is a first, though necessarily incomplete, attempt to reconstruct out of the fragments preserved at the Museo di Villa Giulia the picture of one at least of the temples that were once the glory of Falerii.

I have to thank Dr. Ashby, Director of the British School in Rome, for his guidance in questions of the topography of Falerii, and Mrs. Arthur Strong, Assistant Director, for drawing my attention in the first instance to the subject of terra-cottas, and for the help and encouragement she has all along given to this paper.

Type: Research Article
Information: Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 8 , 1916 , pp. 1 - 34

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068246200005407 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © British School at Rome 1916

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^{page 1 note 1} The Committee of the Faculty of Archaeology, etc., have to thank the Faculty of Architecture and its Chairman, Mr. Reginald Blomfield, for permission to reproduce Mr. H. C. Bradshaw's drawings in Plates I. and II.

^{page 1 note 2} See her article in Journal of Roman Studies, vol. iv. 1914, p. 157 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 2 note 1} La Glyptothèque Ny-Carlsberg, ed. Arndt., , vol. ii. p. 1 ffGoogle Scholar. text.

^{page 2 note 2} Rizzo, Bull. Com. 1910, 1911: ‘Di un tempietto fittile di Nemi’—an excellent discussion of the construction and decoration of Etruscan temples, which will be frequently referred to in this article.

^{page 3 note 1} Dennis, , Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, Rev. Ed., 1878 (Reissued 1883). Vol. i. chap. vii. p. 87 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 3 note 2} Ashby, in Encyl. Brit. v.Google Scholar Falerii; Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Falerii; Nissen, , Ital. Landeskunde, i. 513, ii. 362 ffGoogle Scholar. Deecke, Die Falisker, gives the best résumé of what is known of the Faliscans from ancient historians.

^{page 3 note 3} Some part of the ground-plan of the temple was discovered in 1886–7, and farther down the ravine to the S. a shrine with various votive objects came to light which make it practically certain that both shrine and temple were sacred to Juno Curitis, the great goddess of the Faliscans. Pasqui, Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 92 ff.; A.J.A. 1887, p. 41; Durm, Baukunst der Etrusher und Römer, p. 104. Ovid, , Am. iii. 13Google Scholar, speaks of the steep slope and the grove which lay probably round the shrine.

^{page 3 note 4} The remains had apparently fallen or been thrown down from the heights above. A short description of the terra-cotta remains is given by Mengarelli in Not. Scavi, 1911. The identification as a temple of Mercury rested on an inscription and on the fact that the central acroterion was a large terra-cotta figure of Mercury. G. Herbig in Glotta, 1913, has, however, shown that the inscription ‘Tito Mercui Efiles’ = not, as was thought, ‘Tito Mercurio Epillius,’ but ‘Tito Merconia Epillii (uxor),’ and consequently does not refer to Mercury at all. The temple must therefore remain nameless.

^{page 4 note 1} The large temple from Contrada Vignale. The terra-cottas from all these temples are in the Museo di Villa Giulia.

^{page 4 note 2} Furtwängler, Heiligtum der Aphaia, Text, p. 310.

^{page 4 note 3} Pasqui, Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 137 ff.; Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 414 ff. Cozza's description of the excavations and remains, especially of the architectural terra-cottas, is extremely valuable.

^{page 5 note 1} See Plate I.

^{page 5 note 2} For this measurement see below, p. 30.

^{page 6 note 1} Martha, L'Art Etrusque, pp. 174, 298; A.J.A. 1887, p. 464; Courbaud, Bas-Relief; Romain, p. 41; Borrmann, Die Keramik in der Baukunst, p. 42.

^{page 6 note 2} Deonna, Statues en terre-cuite, p. 113 ff.

^{page 6 note 3} J.R.S. 1914, p. 157 ff. For the polychromy of the various pieces see my note at the end of the article. Readers are referred to the above article for illustrations of the principal fragments, which are not given here.

^{page 7 note 1} Helbig, , Führer, ii. 3, p. 34Google Scholar. Dr. Weege, who is responsible for the part of Helbig's Führer, 3rd ed., dealing with the antiquities in the Villa Giulia, is disposed to see the influence of Leochares throughout.

^{page 7 note 2} Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888; Deonna, op. cit. p. 116.

^{page 7 note 3} Graillot, Mél. d'Arch. et d'Hist. 1896, p. 162. The eclecticism of the pediment is a strong argument against so early a date, which is suggested by the excellence of the workmanship. We should remember Damophon, until recently placed from his style in the fourth century.

^{page 7 note 4} Figs. 1, 2, 4, 6 are repeated from her paper by kind permission of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

^{page 7 note 5} Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 419; Deonna, op. cit. p. 116, gives a fuller description, also Rev. Arch. ii. 1906, p. 405Google Scholar; Helbig., Führer ii ³. 1784Google Scholar a; Strong, J.R.S. 1914, Pl. XXIX. Fig. I.

^{page 9 note 1} Bernoulli, Die Erhaltene Darstellungen Alexanders des Grossen, p. 57, note 3.

^{page 9 note 2} Mariani, , Rendiconti, xxiv. 1915, pp. 1–7Google Scholar and Plates I., II.

^{page 9 note 3} The same is true of the Fortnum head (mentioned below) in the Ashmolean Museum, and a fine terra-cotta head from Antemnae in the Museo di Villa Giulia, Helbig, i. p. 348, r., both probably from tomb monuments. These are of greater artistic value than many works in marble that have been repeatedly published.

^{page 9 note 4} Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 418; Deonna, op. cit. p. 127 ff.; Rev. Arch. 1906, ii. p. 406Google Scholar; Helbig, , Führer, ii ³. 1784 bGoogle Scholar; Strong, J.R.S. 1914, Pl. XXIX. Fig. 2.

^{page 9 note 5} Pasqui, Not. Scavi. 1887, p. 138 ff.

^{page 11 note 1} It has been so restored in the sketch (Fig. 7), giving a tentative reconstruction of the pediment.

^{page 11 note 2} Deonna, op. cit. p. 124 ff.; Helbig, , Führer, ii ³. 1784 cGoogle Scholar.

^{page 12 note 1} Reinach, S., Rép. de la Statuaire i. 149, 260, 273, 277, 279, etc.Google Scholar; Reinach, S., Rép. de Reliefs, ii. 299Google Scholar, iii. 99, 135, etc. Also in the case of Clotho in groups of the Fates on Roman sarcophagi.

^{page 12 note 2} Deonna, p. 134; Strong, loc. cit. Pl. 41.

^{page 12 note 3} Deonna, p. 179.

^{page 12 note 4} Pasqui, Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 138; Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 418; Deonna, p. 121 ff.; Rev. Arch. 1906, ii. p. 406Google Scholar; Helbig, , Führer, ii ³. 1784 f.Google Scholar; Strong, loc. cit. Pl. XXX. Fig. 2.

^{page 12 note 5} Deonna, p. 171, No. 7.

^{page 13 note 1} S. Reinach, Recueil de têtes, 188, 189.

^{page 13 note 2} Amelung, , Ausonia iii. 1908, p. 133Google Scholar; cf. E. Strong, Burlington Magazine, 1910, p. 78.

^{page 14 note 1} Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 418; Deonna, p. 123.

^{page 14 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 418.

^{page 14 note 3} Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 419; Deonna, p. 125; Rev. Arch. 1906, ii. p. 406; Helbig, , Führer, ii ³. 1784 eGoogle Scholar; Strong, loc. cit. Pl. XXX. Fig. 1.

^{page 16 note 1} Deonna, p. 187; Rev. Arch. 1906, ii. p. 405; J.H.S. 1886, p. 122, Plate A.

^{page 16 note 2} Antike Denkmäler, ii. Taf. 48; Hekler, Greek and Roman Portraits, 59.

^{page 16 note 3} Pasqui, Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 138; Cozza, Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 419; Deonna, p. 132; Helbig, , Führer, ii ³. 1784 gGoogle Scholar.

^{page 17 note 1} Many of the fragments have unfortunately no inventory numbers, so it is impossible to give closer references.

^{page 17 note 2} Reclining figures are found in the angles of the pediment of the temple on Samothrace, which is also of the Hellenistic period. Conze, , Hauser, , Niemann, , Die Archaeologische Ausgrabungen auf Samotkrace, vol. i. p. 26, Pl. XXXV., XXXVIGoogle Scholar.

^{page 17 note 3} The drawing has been carried out with great skill and care by Mr. E. J. Lambert—but it has been purposely kept in the nature of a sketch.

^{page 18 note 1} Milani, , Museo Italiano, i. p. 89Google Scholar, plates, gives the earlier arrangement with all the figures in one pediment. This is corrected in the Cat. R. Arch. Mus. Firenze, p. 249, Pl. C. which gives the present arrangement with the figures divided into two pediments.

^{page 18 note 2} Rizzo, Bull. Com. 1911, pp. 54 ff. The archaic fragments from Caere, conjectured to be pedimental, are too few to give any idea of their position. The torso of the warrior in the Conservatori Museum is in size and style so like the acroteria from Conca and from the so-called Mercury temple at Falerii that it is probably part of a similar ornament.

^{page 19 note 1} Ably discussed by Rizzo: see above, p. 2, note 2.

^{page 19 note 2} It is instructive to compare in this respect the pediment of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus as represented on a relief of Antonine date (Reinach, , Reliefs, ii. pp. 2031–2Google Scholar), where the gods are grouped in frontal attitudes, with the animated action of the divinities in the pediments of the Parthenon.

^{page 19 note 3} The god Soranus worshipped on Mt. Soracte in the ‘Ager Faliscus’ is identified with Apollo by Verg., Aen. xi. 785Google Scholar (see Serv. ad loc.). The cults both of this god and of the great goddess Juno of Falerii are of Sabine origin, as the words ‘hirpi’ used of the worshippers of Soranus and ‘Curitis’ as epithet of Juno show. Roscher, Lex. Articles: Soranus pater with reff. (Wissowa), Juno with reff. (Roscher). The inscription found near Falerii (Notizie Scavi, 1899, p. 48; Dessau, Inscr. Select. 4034) is peculiarly important: C. Varius Hermes | sancto Sorano | Apollini pro sal. | sua et fili sui et | patroni sui ei | coniugis eius.

^{page 20 note 1} Cf. the group in the pediments, and the draped figure from the temple of Juno.

^{page 20 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 138. Helbig, , Führer, ii. 1784 kGoogle Scholar; Strong, loc. cit. Fig. 22. For polychromy see my note at the end of Mrs. Strong's article.

^{page 21 note 1} Helbig, Führer, 1784 h.

^{page 21 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1887, p. 188; Helbig, , Führer, ii. 1784 dGoogle Scholar.

^{page 22 note 1} Helbig, Führer, 1784 l.

^{page 23 note 1} Helbig, Führer, 1784 m; Strong, loc. cit. 1914, Fig. 23, No. 1.

^{page 24 note 1} They cannot come from the central acroterion as it would then be at an angle with the plane of the pediment; also fragment 4 gives us the hind legs of horses facing in the opposite direction.

^{page 24 note 2} The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus is represented with lateral acroteria in the form of chariots driving up the pediment in a relief from the arch of M. Aurelius in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

See also Wace, in P.B.S.R. iv. (1907), p. 240Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 1} Not. Scavi., 1888, p. 423; Helbig, Führer, 1784 i.; Strong, loc. cit. Fig. 24.

^{page 25 note 2} For the custom of protecting beam ends against both spiritual and material damage see E. Strong, J.R.S. 1914, p. 164.

^{page 25 note 3} As has been too hastily assumed by Durm in his reconstruction; Rizzo, Bull. Com. 1911, p. 52.

^{page 25 note 4} Not. Scavi, 1885, Tav. iv. i. p. 36.

^{page 25 note 5} Durm, p. 140, Fig. 162.

^{page 26 note 1} Helbig, Führer, 1784 s.

^{page 26 note 2} That Greek artists in terra-cotta continued to work in Rome at a later date is proved by the cippus of the Athenian ‘plastes,’ Gnaeus Arrius Stratocles, and his wife in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala degli Orti Lamiani, No. 16A, to which Mrs. Strong has kindly called my attention. Loewy, Die Inschriften griechischer Bildhauer, E 552; I.G. xiv. 1419.

^{page 27 note 1} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 419 ff. Fenger, Le Temple Etrusco-Latin, follows Cozza's arrangement of the plaques in the main. He reproduces the drawings from Not. Scavi with examples of terra-cottas from other temples.

^{page 27 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 426, Fig. 432; Helbig, Führer, 1784 q; Cf. Koch, Dachterrakotten aus Campanien, Taf. xvi. for somewhat similar types from Capua.

^{page 27 note 3} The original use of these types was certainly a protective one; the πότνια θήρων to keep down the powers of evil, the male figure with his lighted torch to preserve day perpetually round the sacred building. At the time, however, when such temples as ours were built the magical significance must have been almost if not wholly lost in the artistic.

^{page 27 note 4} Cf. Koch, op. cit. Taf. xxxi. for Persian Artemis with lions from Cales. Also similar figures from Alatri in the Villa Giulia Museum.

^{page 28 note 1} Fragments of similar cornices with and without cresting à jour from Mercury Temple at Falerii, Alatri, Segni etc. (Villa Giulia Museum). Also from Cervetri, and Civita Lavinia (B.M.).

^{page 28 note 2} Fragments of plaques from the same mould from the temple in Contrada Vignale (the ancient Acropolis) exist in the Museum of the Villa Giulia.

^{page 28 note 3} This piece is specially mentioned by Cozza as furnishing conclusive evidence as to the slope of the pediment. Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 428.

^{page 29 note 1} Similar right-angled pieces are found among the terra-cottas from Luni. Both Milani, op. cit. and Fenger, Le Temple Etrusco-Latin suggest their use round doors or windows.

^{page 29 note 2} Gusman, L'Art décoratif de Rome, Pl. 71, there described as of Etruscan type under Oriental influence; but no attempt is made to date it. The birds and insects mentioned in the description do not occur. Helbig, Führer, 1784 r.

^{page 30 note 1} Helbig, Führer, p. 1784.

^{page 30 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 425, Fig. 12.

^{page 30 note 3} A fragment of one of these tiles is shown in Plate II., middle right.

^{page 30 note 4} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 425, Fig. 11.

^{page 30 note 5} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 429, Fig. 19.

^{page 31 note 1} It has been suggested to me that the back wall of the pediment may have been painted. There is, however, no evidence to justify such a supposition in the case of the temple.

^{page 30 note 2} Thiersch, , Jahreshefte, xi. 1908, p. 47 ff.Google Scholar; Wiegand, and Schrader, , Priene, i. p. 106Google Scholar; Hermann and Watzinger, Magnesia am Maeander, p. 63 ff.

^{page 30 note 3} In the British Museum there is, however, a plaque from Lavinia, Civita, Catalogue of Terra-cottas, D 715Google Scholar, with a pattern of palmettes encircled by a fillet, very similar to 3 (d), in which every other palmette in the upper row is replaced by alternating heads of maenads and Sileni. These, though in somewhat lower relief, are identical in style and almost in type with those on the antefixes under consideration.

^{page 32 note 1} Not. Scavi, 1888, p. 431, Fig. 20.

^{page 32 note 2} Die Keramik in der Baukunst, Fig. 25.

^{page 32 note 3} Le Temple Etrusco-Latin. A large coloured restoration of a temple is given, based principally on remains found at Falerii. Cozza's drawings are also reproduced in the text.

^{page 32 note 4} Bull Com. 1910, p. 302, Fig. 6. Also given by Mrs. Strong, J.R.S. 1914, Fig. 18.

^{page 32 note 5} Durm, Baukunst der Etrusker und Römer, p. 107, Fig. 117; Brizio, , Mon. dei Lincei, vol. i. 1889, pp. 249 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 32 note 6} Milani, , Mon. dei Lincei, vol. vi. p. 20Google Scholar. The temple at Marzabotto is 19 m. wide, that at Florence 20 m.

^{page 32 note 7} Bollet. Associazione Arch. Rom. iv. 1914, p. 193Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 1} La Glyptothèque Ny Carlsberg, Text, vol. ii. pp. 1 ff.

^{page 33 note 2} Die Keramik in der Baukunst, pp. 39 f.

^{page 33 note 3} Rizzo's refutation of Fra Giocondo's interpretation of the disputed passage, adopted by Durm in his handbook and also by Fenger, is to me quite conclusive. Dr. Morgan, the latest translator of Vitruvius (1914), correctly renders ‘stillicidium' by eave.’ The accompanying drawing, however, on p. 121 does not bear out this translation, but seems to fall back on Fra Giocondo's interpretation.

^{page 33 note 4} Rizzo explains tectum absolutum in the sentence ut stillicidium tecti absoluti tertiario respondeat as the roof excluding the eave, thus obtaining a projection of ¼ of the whole length of the roof. Wiegand, considering tectum absolutum to be equivalent to the roof in its entirety, believes in a projection of one-third. Such a projection combined with the heavy antefixes and roof tiles would lay a great strain on the cantherii. Rizzo's interpretation is, on the other hand, perfectly feasible, while still retaining the heavy proportions of the roof which we know to have been characteristic of Etruscan buildings.

^{page 33 note 5} Ovid, , Fasti iii. 843Google Scholar, ‘Capta Minerva.’ For the worship of Jupiter Imperator, Roscher, Lexikon, Juppiter, b.d. Faliskern (Aust).

^{page 33 note 6} As our knowledge of the Etruscan religion increases we may hope to gain some light as to the nature and names of the various triads worshipped in Etruria. We know at present practically nothing of the Etruscan gods, beyond being able to interpret a few scenes painted in tombs or engraved on mirrors and other articles.

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