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Etruscan Cities and their Environment: Pyrgi
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by Caila Sempronius Pyrgi was the principal port of Caere, identified in the area of Santa Severa where the excavations which were begun in 1957 have brought to light a sanctuary (probably dedicated to the female deity Ilicia-Leucotea) and which traditional sources say was destroyed in 348 B.C. by the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius. Historically, Pyrgi followed the events of the metropolis of Caere, with a period of great flourishing between the 7th and 5th centuries B.C., corresponding to the Etruscan dominion of the seas. From the 3rd century, with the fall of Caere to the Romans, a maritime colony was set up there, definitively established in the 2nd century A.D. The sanctuary area is composed of two parallel temples (A and B) and a sacred area. Temple A is of the traditional Etruscan style with three chambers (cellae). Among the remains of the clay decorations is a mythological frieze of outstanding importance. This frieze which decorated the back façade, contains scenes of the myth of the Seven Against Thebes (now in the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome) and is a work in the severe style of the first decades of the 5th century B.C. Temple B. which is older than temple A, si similar to Greek structures with only one chamber surrounded by columns. It also has clay decorations and friezes adorning the central beam work and the mutuli of the façade with scenes of the Works of Heracles. But the most sensational discovery coming from the Pyrgi excavations are undoubtedly the three golden sheets with bilingual inscriptions in Phoenician and Etruscan. These were found in a well between the two temples. Two of these are in Etruscan and one is in Phoenician as a translation, though not literally exact. They refer to the dedication, made by the king of Caere, Thefarie Velianas, to the Phoenician goddess Astarte (Uni-Astarte), testimony to the relations between Caere and the Carthaginians who, as sources tell us, had already fought together against the Greeks of Phocea at Alalia. |
Divinely Decadent Demi Domus
~ Table of Contents ~
Test Article II
Test Article III The Tribe of the Langobarden Information about Crete, Knossos, Rethymno and Chania A Woman Of Sparta Menerva on an Etruscan Mirror in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe, Germany Martialis, the poet of Epigrams The Southern part of the Campus Martius and the Circus Flaminius Area Forum Romanum: Rostra, Curia, Decennalia Base and Lapis Niger Forum Romanum: The Arch of Titus Forum Romanum: The Arch of Septimius Severus Forum Romanum: the Temple of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins An Introduction to the Classic Period Maya I ~*Roots*~ Insulae Maecenas Worship on the Esquiline Pompey Virgil Horace Propertius The Architecture of Cicero's Villa in Tusculum Heraklia's Oikos The Villa Rustica - The Villa Buildings The Villa Rooms The Vintnery Ongoing Restoration of Shunet el-Zebib Quintus Ennius : a Greco-Roman «Republican» Poet on the Aventine A Tour of the Aventine Hill Shops and Craftsmen of the Aventine ENKI AND ERIDU: THE JOURNEY OF THE WATER--GOD TO NIPPUR By Kishra Etana Marcus Antonius Seleucia Pieria : Key to Empire and Gateway to Opulence |
