Etruscans Now
Architecture
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Gretchen E Meyers - John Cabot University, Rome
Space and Sensibility: Archaic Etruscan Conceptions of Monumental Architecture
How was monumental architecture experienced and designed in the Italic world of 7th and 6th century BC and how does this affect the development of later architectural forms of the Roman period?
During the 7th and 6th centuries BC in central Italy there is a shift in architectural practice, whereby small, hut communities begin to disappear and monumental structures emerge with stone footings, tile roofs and earthen walls. These structures exceed their hut-like predecessors in size and stability of building technique. What is more, these buildings seem to have functioned on a multiple level, encompassing public, private and sacred spaces. Using excavated examples of monumental building complexes at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Acquarossa as evidence, I illustrate a similar development of communal spaces in central Italy, where public, private and sacred functions are once again incorporated into one structure. I conclude with a consideration of how such spatial processes inform the development of not only, private, but also public architecture in the Roman world.