L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 11 L'Italo-Americano about the planned Center and also about the Etruscans. In the next issue of L'Italo Americano we will continue this story by featuring Dr. Pieraccini and the remarkable s tory of S an Francisco born Mario A. Del Chiaro (Berkeley Ph.D.), the center's vis ionary and firs t benefactor – not to mention the pioneer of Etruscan Studies in the US. Th e Center aims to bring together Berkeley's top scholars in the field of Ancient Italy, from Pre-Roman Italy to the Late Antique. It will offer to the undergraduate and graduate s tudent a w ide variety of research opportunities in Italy – from studying ancient Latin texts at the Vatican, to researching pottery at Pompeii, conducting res earch in the Roman provinces , to excavating Etrus can tombs . A s for the Center itself, it offers a unique and broad view of ancient Italy and includes an important Etruscan component – a field of study seldom offered in the US universities today. Why are the Etrus cans important? The ans w er may s eem relatively simple and straight forward. They are the ancestors of Italians from central Italy and the civilization who passed to the Romans a heritage spanning from engineering s kills and religious concepts to styles in art and architecture (just to name a few things). Etruscans developed from the early Iron Age Villanovans (1,000 – 800 BCE). They lived in central Italy between the 8 th and 2 nd centuries BCE when t h e h e a r t o f E t r u r i a w a s bounded by the Tiber and Arno rivers, the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea. During that time, Etruscans built many of the ancient cities dotting the h i l l s f r o m t h e T i b e r t o t h e A r n o , f o r e x a m p l e V e i i , C e r v e t e r i , T a r q u i n i a , V u l c i , P e r u g i a , O r v i e t o , C h i u s i , Volterra, etc. Each autonomous c i t y , o r i g i n a l l y r u l e d b y a powerful, wealthy chief/king, h a d a s a c r e d b o u n d a r y o r pomerium. The Etruscan economy was primarily based on agriculture and trade. By the 7 th century BCE, they had created a broad n e t w o r k o f c o m m e r c i a l a n d artistic trade routes throughout t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n a n d t h e y were avid importers of Greek and Near Eastern art. Their own artistic legacy lives on in their wall paintings, bronze and clay sculpture, vase paintings and gold jewelry. S o p h i s t i c a t e d a n d p r o s p e r o u s , E t r u s c a n s w e r e major contributors to some of Western civilization's greatest a c h i e v e m e n t s , e s p e c i a l l y i n architecture, engineering, and a r t . T h e i r l i t e r a t u r e h a s n o t survived, but Etruscans leave us much of their past through their m a t e r i a l c u l t u r e , n a m e l y , tombs, temples, habitation sites, and more. The Etruscans spent a good amount of time preparing for their death. In fact, we know m o r e a b o u t t h e i r c e m e t e r i e s ( w h i c h i n l a r g e p a r t h a v e s u r v i v e d ) t h a n w e d o a b o u t their cities (many of which are buried under ancient Roman cities which became Medieval, B a r o q u e , t h e n m o d e r n ) . T h e E t r u s c a n s e x e r t e d a h e a v y influence on early Rome, and, w h e n s t u d y i n g t h i s a n c i e n t civilization, it becomes clear they had an important impact on the history of ancient Rome. E t r u s c a n s o r g a n i z e d themselves into city-states to the north of Rome and the early 6 th century BCE their cultural influence expanded down to Rome. At that time, the area of Rome was made up of simple s t r u c t u r e s t o w h i c h t h e Etruscans introduced a form of w h a t w e w o u l d c a l l u r b a n p l a n n i n g . T h e y d r a i n e d t h e surrounding marshes and built u n d e r g r o u n d s e w e r s , b u i l t public works using the arch and vault, and laid out roads and bridges. They promoted trade, the development of metallurgy, a n d b e t t e r a g r i c u l t u r a l practices. The Etruscans adopted the Greek alphabet (in the Bay of Naples) and used it to write t h e i r n o n I n d o e u r o p e a n language. Their prose, poetry and histories have not survived, b u t w e k n o w t h e y w r o t e extensively. What has survived are over some 13,000 funerary inscriptions – hard to put back an entire language with list of names and dates. As the small village (Rome) grew on the banks of the Tiber River into a substantial city, p o w e r f u l E t r u s c a n f a m i l i e s moved down from Etruria and settled in. In fact the last three kings of Rome were Etruscan. They left an Etruscan veneer on the city and a legandery event accounted best by Livy in the 1 st century BCE, describes how the Romans ousted the last king o f R o m e a n d v i c t o r i o u s l y established the Republic by 500 BCE. B a c k t o t h e p r e s e n t - d a y , over 2,500 years later, we find that 2015 has been declared "The Year of the Etruscans," in Italy. During the year, Italy's Mario Del Chiaro en route to an excavation in Italy in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Dr. Lisa Pieraccini archeological heritage is being p r o m o t e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e r e g i o n . M a n y m u s e u m s a r e participating and the lead was t a k e n b y a m a j o r e x h i b i t a t P a l a z z o S t r o z z i i n F l o r e n c e from March 14 to June 21. It showcased some of the ancient w o r l d ' s m o s t i m p o r t a n t masterpieces from Italian and international museums. I n a d d i t i o n , t h e w h o l e o f Tuscany has been involved in t h e p r o j e c t c a l l e d " T h e Etruscan Streets", described as " W a l k i n g a n d d r i v i n g t o discover museums and other s i t e s o f a r c h a e o l o g i c a l interest." 2015 is also the year i n w h i c h w e c e l e b r a t e t h e anniversary of the Museum of Etruscan Academy and the city of Cortona. With all these events taking place in Italy, how fitting it is that the Bay Area has launched its own center for the study of o u r a n c i e n t a n c e s t o r s . T h i s remarkable and long overdue Center can be best described as providing an interdisciplinary a p p r o a c h t o r e s e a r c h a n d teaching and is a boon to the I t a l i a n - f o c u s e d a c a d e m i c community in the Bay Area and beyond. In the next issue of L'Italo Americano we will continue w i t h m o r e o n D r . L i s a Pieraccini, the Center's Project Director, and Professor Mario A . D e l C h i a r o , t h e C e n t e r ' s first benefactor. He is Professor Emeritus of Greek, Roman and Etruscan Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he taught for over 35 years.. F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n regarding the Center, please c o n t a c t P r o j e c t D i r e c t o r , L i s a P i e r a c c i n i a t l i s a p @ berkeley.edu. Mario A. Del Chiaro honored at the First Del Chiaro Lecture in Etruscan Art and Archaeology at the University of California Berkeley in 2012. Left to right: Mario Del Chiaro, Lisa Pieraccini and Stephan Steingraber. Photo courtesy of Dr. Lisa Pieraccini Continued from page 1

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