Post by Julia Gaia on Jan 1, 2008 7:45:49 GMT -5
The Defense of Etrusca
Etrusca existed out of many cities and towns, and each of these was defended by its own.
The first Etruscan villages were built from four-sided huts, either rectangular or round, with a very sloping roof (generally in straw or clay). Etruscan towns were different from other Italic settlements in that they were not arranged at random, but followed a precise economical or strategic logic. For example, some towns were sited atop hills, giving strategic control over a large area of land and/or sea. Other towns, like Veii and Tarquinius, arose in especially fertile agricultural territory. Unlike the first Etruscan towns, formed in order to progressively subsume the neighboring villages, settlements begun after 500 BC were carefully chosen not only by strategic and military leaders, but also by the priests who blessed them.
Etruscan towns were mapped out, first tracing with a plough two main perpendicular axes, called the cardo (north-south) and decumanus (east-west), then dividing the four areas thus obtained into insulae using roads running parallel to the cardo and decumanus. This precise city planning is still to be seen today in some towns of ancient Etruria, though it is not unique to Etruria - the idea of a town based on two perpendicular roads was commonly used in Greece and was taken up again in later periods by Rome for its military camps and town (for example, Augusta Praetoria and Augusta Taurinorum, the present-day Aosta and Turin).
The towns were enclosed by thick walls, which (with graves and temples) provide the only evidence for Etruscan stone architecture. Other materials used were clay, tufa and limestone; marble was all but unknown. Towns were entered through gates, of which there were usually seven or four (though some towns had five), with the main ones being at the ends of the decumanus and cardo. At first they were simple lintels, but from the 5th century BC they began to assume the form of artists, built with dry-stone joints between enormous blocks of tufa. Late Etruscan gates, such as the arch of Volterra, were further decorated with friezes and bas-reliefs on their main sections (the keystone and the upper levels). With the growth of Rome's military power, the Etruscan town was progressively assimililated into the Roman world and mentality.
Etrusca existed out of many cities and towns, and each of these was defended by its own.
The first Etruscan villages were built from four-sided huts, either rectangular or round, with a very sloping roof (generally in straw or clay). Etruscan towns were different from other Italic settlements in that they were not arranged at random, but followed a precise economical or strategic logic. For example, some towns were sited atop hills, giving strategic control over a large area of land and/or sea. Other towns, like Veii and Tarquinius, arose in especially fertile agricultural territory. Unlike the first Etruscan towns, formed in order to progressively subsume the neighboring villages, settlements begun after 500 BC were carefully chosen not only by strategic and military leaders, but also by the priests who blessed them.
Etruscan towns were mapped out, first tracing with a plough two main perpendicular axes, called the cardo (north-south) and decumanus (east-west), then dividing the four areas thus obtained into insulae using roads running parallel to the cardo and decumanus. This precise city planning is still to be seen today in some towns of ancient Etruria, though it is not unique to Etruria - the idea of a town based on two perpendicular roads was commonly used in Greece and was taken up again in later periods by Rome for its military camps and town (for example, Augusta Praetoria and Augusta Taurinorum, the present-day Aosta and Turin).
The towns were enclosed by thick walls, which (with graves and temples) provide the only evidence for Etruscan stone architecture. Other materials used were clay, tufa and limestone; marble was all but unknown. Towns were entered through gates, of which there were usually seven or four (though some towns had five), with the main ones being at the ends of the decumanus and cardo. At first they were simple lintels, but from the 5th century BC they began to assume the form of artists, built with dry-stone joints between enormous blocks of tufa. Late Etruscan gates, such as the arch of Volterra, were further decorated with friezes and bas-reliefs on their main sections (the keystone and the upper levels). With the growth of Rome's military power, the Etruscan town was progressively assimililated into the Roman world and mentality.
