Etruscan News 18
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Volume 18 Winter 2016 The Stele of Poggio Colla New Directors of the a New Document of the Villa Giulia and Museo Etruscan Language THE ETRUSCANS - MASTERS OF WRITING Archeologico Firenze by P. Gregory Warden EXHIBITIONS AT LATTES AND CORTONA by Larissa Bonfante The summer of 2015 saw the con- The Italian culture minister, Dario clusion of 21 years of active excavation Franceschini, recently announced the at Poggio Colla. During the last few appointment of a number of new direc- days of excavation, however, a most tors of major Italian museums. Among surprising discovery took place: a curi- these are the two new directors of the ously shaped stone, incorporated into a principal Etruscan Museums at the fron- newly uncovered segment of Phase I tiers of ancient Etruria, the Museo temple’s wall foundation. As we better Nazionale di Villa Giulia in Rome and defined the shape of the stone, a crew the Museo Archeologico in Florence, member digging on the other side of the Maria Paola Guidobaldi and Mario wall noticed the first hint of an inscrip- Iozzo. Both directors have a vast experi- tion, and we finally recognized it for ence and have been involved in innova- what it was: a stele. We thus know that tive, collaborative programs, often Ivory tessera hospitalis from Sant’Omobono (Capitoline Museum Rome). Top, line of inscription from the Cippus Perusinus (M.A.N.U.) Exhibit before the public a panorama of the dif- Ecriture Etrusque ferent functions of writing among the Musée Henri Prades, Lattara Etruscans. Oct. 17, 2015 - Feb. 29, 2016 In order to present the manner in MAEC Cortona which the Etruscans learned, used, but Mar. 19 - July 31, 2016 also ultimately abandoned their writing, we must retrace the history of the by Paolo Bruschetti, Françoise Etruscan civilization, which was one of Gaultier, Paolo Giulierini, Laurent the most literate of the ancient Positioning the stele for removal. Haumesser, and Lionel Pernet Mediterranean. During the seven cen- Maria Paola Guidobaldi turies in which it was used, there was Thirty years ago in Perugia, the scarcely a sphere of Etruscan life in exhibit Scrivere Etrusco presented to the which writing did not play a role. One public the principal epigraphical docu- notes in particular the importance that ments of the Etruscan civilization: the inscriptions held in the formalization of Zagreb mummy, the Capua tile, and the exchanges among aristocrats since the Perugia cippus. The discoveries, which introduction of the alphabet about 700 have multiplied since then, and the con- BC. The richness of the information stant progress of our understanding of that the inscriptions bring us about the the texts have incited us to return to the social organization of ancient Etruria is theme of Etruscan writing, and to set considerable, continued on page 15 The stele being photographed. Mario Iozzo this monument predates even the first working with American institutions. temple complex. After days of careful Mario Iozzo, director of the excavation and exploration we con- Archaeological Museum of Chiusi from firmed the presence of numerous char- 1989 to 2008, followed a long line of acters inscribed along the edges of the distinguished directors of this remark- stone. able museum, which included Doro On the very last day of work at Levi, director of the Italian School at Poggio Colla and under the gaze of Athens, and Clelia Laviosa, author of many visiting Etruscan scholars, a pro- the pioneering book on Hellenistic urns fessional crew continued on page 16 typical of Chiusi, continued on page 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITORS Dear Editors: Dear Editors: For the past few weeks I have been I had the most wonderful time in poring over your Etruscan News. It is Florence and my almost three weeks fascinating; I never realized that so could be described as simply walking many were involved in researching that around with “curious abandonment.” ancient culture. I am learning so much The weather was absolutely wonderful just from reading your institute’s and I did of course get into museums, newsletter. Thanks for passing on to me especially the newly opened Museo the Winter 2015 copy. dell’Opera del Duomo, which I very I was particularly struck by the short much like. There is enough space to piece (with photograph) of the Athena appreciate the paintings and sculpture. Parthenos sculpture and museum in Sometimes I find the interactive film Nashville, Tennessee. Larissa and video and so forth quite annoying, Bonfante’s lecture there was another but I think, in this case, it is most taste- surprise for me; I’d never heard of the ful. Nashville Parthenon! I am sure you know about this coming As a young boy, I was swept up in language exhibit, but I do enclose the the bedtime stories from Greek and brochure. Roman mythology as told to my younger brother and me by our father. I (ED: The exhibit is Ecriture Etrusque, came to really admire the Greek god- which is featured on the front page of dess Gaea, Mother Earth, and her capac- this issue.) ity for re-birth as young and fresh as Nancy de Grummond with students at the FSU exhibition Barb Martini Johnson ever. (It was the Greeks’ way of vener- “Printing Ancient Pottery in 3-D: Etruscan Ceramics from Cetamura.” St. Paul, MN ating the earth’s renewal every spring.) That probably is when my concern for ETRUSCAN NEWS the environment was first conceived. I Editorial Board, Issue #18, January 2016 find it intriguing to discover that there was a Greek connection to Italy before the Roman era by way of the Editor-in-Chief Jane Whitehead [email protected] Phoenicians and their impact on the Modern and Classical Languages Etruscan civilization. Valdosta State University So, thanks for the newsletter. It is Valdosta, GA 31698 affording me many enjoyable hours of reading and learning. President of the U.S. Larissa Bonfante [email protected] Gaia rising up from the earth in Section of the Istituto Classics Department Warmest regards, di Studi Etruschi ed New York University Mario D. Bartoletti, EdD support of her Giant sons, detail from a red-figure vase of the Italici, ex officio 100 Washington Square East Valdosta, GA Silver Building, Room 503 Gigantomachia. (Naples 81521). New York, NY 10003 Language Page Editor Rex Wallace [email protected] Classics Department University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 Book Review Editor Francesco de Angelis [email protected] Art History and Archaeology Columbia University New York, NY 10027 Layout-Design Editor Gary Enea [email protected] Submissions, news, pictures, or other material appropriate to this newsletter may be sent to any of the editors listed above. The email address is preferred. For submissions guidelines, see Etruscan News 3 (2003). Dear Editors: Del Chiaro. The 5th annual Mario Del Ingrid Edlund Berry,who delivered the Chiaro Lecture, entitled Black Flowers, Distribution of Etruscan News is made possible through the generosity of 4th Annual Mario Del Chiaro Lecture, will be delivered by Tom Rasmussen at NYU’s Center for Ancient Studies. pictured here on that occasion with Lisa UC Berkeley on April 28th, 2016. Pieraccini, Elizabeth Peña and Mario Lisa C. Pieraccini Page 2 Dear Editors: Letter to our Readers I am sending a photograph for your Dear Readers, Archaeocat feature. It is not Etruscan, Our front page features the current exhibition on language and inscriptions but it is very archaeological. I was organized by three museums: the Louvre, the Musée de Lattes and the MAEC of recently on a tour of Ethiopia with an Cortona. In the year 2015 we look back on two important moments in the study Archaeological Tours group, led by an of the Etruscan language: the discovery, in 1964, of the golden bilingual tablets excellent lecturer who excavates in at Pyrgi, the harbor of Cerveteri, and the Year of the Etruscans in 1986, when Ethiopia and knows the territory. One Francesco Roncalli’s exhibition, Scrivere Etrusco, reunited in Perugia the most day she was explaining about some post important inscriptions found up to that time. This year’s exhibition on the holes, and this cat popped up to see who Etruscan language coincides with the discovery of a new inscription at Poggio Ethiopian cat (Photo, J. Phillips). was looking at his house. He did not Colla, the news of which has “spread like wildfire in the Etruscan community,” really seem to mind, he was just curious. as Greg Warden, the excavator, says in his excavation report for the summer of Dear Editors: Yours truly, 2015. We await more information with bated breath. Last night I went to a marvelous Ellis Gellhorn As the newsletter of the NY Section of the Istituto di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Etruscan cena. It was held at new Museo Etruscan News is pleased to announce the election of two new foreign members, Archeologico Etrusco De Feis in Naples Francesco de Angelis and Lisa Pieraccini, who are contributing toward bringing and I took pictures of every course. I the Etruscans to both scholarly and popular awareness, on both sides of the have a copy of the book of the museum's Atlantic and both sides of the country. This marks a change of generation, which catalog for you. The director is a young is also taking place in Italy, where a new group of directors of museums was Professoressa Florenza Grasso. The recently announced by the Ministry of Culture in Italy. Of greatest interest to our museum is small but has some beautiful readers and to tourists interested in the Etruscans are the appointment of Mario things from Campania and Puglia.