VOLUME: 8SUMMER 2007 The New Galleries between 1912 and 1926. The atrium, which was designed to evoke the garden of alarge of Ancient Classical Art privateRoman villa, has been enlarged, and Open at the in spite of its numerous innovations, the new design remains faithful to the original Metropolitan architectural concept: aspace designed ac- cordingtoastyle influenced by Classical Museum, New York architecture and roofed in glass, which al- by Jane Whitehead and Larissa lows the viewer to admire the objects under Bonfante natural light.” This is the space formerly occupied by the kitchen and restaurant, put The Metropolitan Museum’sopening of in place by aformer director,Francis Henry the new galleries of ancient Hellenistic, Etr- Taylor; the huge windows in the south wall, uscan, and Roman art on April 20, 2007 blocked up when it served as akitchen, completes the installment of its ancient col- have now been opened up to Central Park. lection,the first part of which, the Belfer In addition to old favorites, there are now Court, displaying pre-Greek and Oriental- many objects that were never before exhib- izing art, was opened in 1996. Abeautifully ited, as well as pieces beautifullydisplayed illustrated, 13-page cover article in Archeo in informative new contexts.Inthe sculp- (March 7, 2007) presents an exclusive pre- ture court here are some spectacular,unex- view: pected Roman portraits: one of a “The heart of the new galleries is the long-haired man in marble and two bronze spectacular Leon Levy and Shelby White heads, perhaps amother and son. Court, amajestic courtyard and peristyle, dedicated to Hellenistic and Roman art; it Continuedonpage 8 occupies an area designed and built by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White Etruschi:Lacollezione Bonci Casuccini Chiusi Siena Palermo by Debora Barbagli and Mario Iozzo Translated by Jane Whitehead. The first section –the larger one of the The exhibit, curated by D. Barbagli and two –isdedicated to the collection of Pietro M. Iozzo, the result of the successful col- Bonci Casuccini (1757-1842); it is housed laboration among various institutions (the today in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Comune di Siena, the Comune di Chiusi, di Palermo. Itsfounder,anable land owner, the Soprintendenza per iBeni Archeologici Cippusbase of pietra fetida, carved with scenes of great administrator,and multi-faceted char- della Toscana,the Fondazione Monte dei acter involved in the political changes of his gymnastic games. Casuccini Collection,PalermoMuseum 8385. Paschi, the Regione Siciliana, and the time, managed, among other things, to ob- Museo Archeologico Regionale “A. Sali- tain from Grand Duke Ferdinand III in 1792 nas”), has for the first time reunited finds the enrolment of his family in the album of from Chiusi that were part of one of the the Sienese nobility.His interestinarchae- most prestigious collectionsofEtruscan an- ology,which came to him rather late after tiquities, the Bonci Casuccini collection. some fortunate discoveries on his own One long page of the history of Chiusinear- property,led him to organize and over the chaeology is bound to this important fam- years to increase acollection that was even- ily: in alittle more than acentury,infact, tually housed in the palazzo on the via Pors- two members of the family gathered and enna in Chiusi. In the years between 1826 put together equally important collections. and the death of Pietro, aseries of excava- For this reason, the exhibit, separated into tions and discoveries in the vast family twodisplay sites, the museum complex at holdings involved some of the most impor- Santa Maria della Scala in Siena and the tant necropoleis of Chiusi (the podere il Museo Nazionale Archeologico in Chiusi, Colle, le Pellegrina, Poggio Gaiella, Mon- has been organized into sections based on tebello, and others). thehistorical developments that led to the formation and the later sale of these impor- Continued on page 8 tant groups of objects. L e t t e r s t o t h e e d i t o r s Dear Editors, Dear Editors, First of all, Ithank you very much for the Just aquick note to pay my compli- last issue of Etruscan News,which Ilargely ments: the new issue of Etruscan Newsis, AIA OUTREACH appreciated for the important information Ithink, even better than usual. Ilove the and agreeable form of publishing. This Priapusarticle -much more informative splendidmagazine has really created ause- than most stuffonthe topic, Iassure you - ful link among the archaeologists who are The AIA has added stafftosupport the Each provided reproducible activities and the debate over Etruscan genetics, the working in so many countries. new Vice President for Education and Out- and lesson plans for attending teachers. cats, everything in short. Complimenti!It's Iamalso very grateful to LarissaBon- reach, Shelby Brown. Included at this Click on Education on the AIA web site for fante and Jane Whitehead for the excellent always agreat journal, but this is an espe- year’s meeting was the childrens’ fair and lesson plans (six more to be added this translation and editing of my text, "Tar- cially fun and interesting issue. month!) and otherresources for teachers of quinia: Twenty Years of Excavation". teachers’ work-shops on “Ceramics in Ar- Andrew Lear chaeology” and “Roman Clothing.” K-12. With bestwishes, Classics Department Maria BonghiJovino Florida State University Università degli Studi di Milano Tallahassee, FL Dear Editors: ETRUSCANNEWS-Editorial Board, Issue #8, October 2007 The question of the Etruscan language's http://www.box.net/shared/ov82fh16b5 ultimate affinities has occupied the atten- (Not an orphan.doc) President of the U.S. LarissaBonfante [email protected] tion of at least aproportion of scholars and http://www.box.net/shared/sslf66ae0i (Not Section of the Istituto Classics Department an even greater number of amateurs for a an orphan.pdf) di Studi Etruschi ed New York University century and ahalf. What is clear is that the Italici, ex officio 100 Washington Square East increasingly common practice of listing Best regards. Silver Building, Room 503 miscellaneouslexical resemblances, even Yours sincerely, NewYork, NY 10003 with allegedly regular sound correspon- Ed Robertson Jane Whitehead dences, cannot constitute acceptable proof Edinburgh, Scotland Editior-in-Chief [email protected] of agenealogical relationship. Still less Modern and Classical Lan- valid, of course, is the practice, to be found guages even in some supposedly academic works, Valdosta State University of discarding whatprogress has been made Valdosta, GA 31698 by the combinatorialmethod in order to Rex Wallace dream up more convincing comparanda. Language Page Editor [email protected] The fact is thatgenealogical linguisticre- ClassicsDepartment lationships can only be proved by identify- University of Massachusetts Dear Editors, ing shared paradigms and irregularities Amherst,MA01003 which are so unusual that they cannotbeac- Ihave the pleasure to announce to you counted for by chance or by borrowing. Elizabeth de G. Colantoni [email protected] that starting with the nextissue of Studi Etr- Editor for the Fellows (See Johanna Nichols 1996: "The Compar- Classics Department uschi,which will come out in the next few ative Method as Heuristic" in Mark Durie Oberlin College months,the publishing house willoffer a and Malcolm Ross (eds.): The comparative Oberline, OH 44074 special price for individual clients, as is method reviewed: Regularity and irregu- done for many scientific periodicals. larity in language change [New York/Ox- Franceso de Angelis The price of Studi Etruschi vol. 71 (only Book Review Editor [email protected] ford: Oxford University Press]). Art History and Archaeology for individuals) will thus be E. 120.00. I By using the method of identifying Columbia University believe that such areductioninprice might shared paradigms and irregularities, and ap- New York, NY 10027 increase the circulation of thisimportant re- plying it to features of Etruscan morphol- view,and Iwould be grateful to you if you ogy which are already generally agreed by Elisa Rowa [email protected] would announce this information in the Layout Designer most mainstream specialists in Etruscan, I Valdosta State University next issue of Etruscan News. believe that Ihave identified proof that Etr- Valdosta, GA 31698 uscan is relativelyclosely genealogically Boris Bretschneider related to the Nakh-Daghestanian phylum Casa Editrice G. Bretschneider (also known as North-East Caucasian). ViaCrescenzio 43 Ihave attached theasyet unpublished 1-00193 Roma, Italy paper outlining thesefindings, and would Submissions, news, pictures, or other material appropriate to this newsletter may Internet: www.bretschneider.it be pleased to receive your comments. The be sent to any of the editors listedabove. The email address is preferred. For sub- files can also be downloaded from the fol- missions guidelines, see Etruscan News 3 (2003) 9. Nominations for membership in lowing addresses: the Section may be sent to LarissaBonfante at the above address. Page 2 A r t i c l e s the human brain to reconstruct asound "In certainsituations such as sports stadi- source even in the absence of the lower ums or open-air theatres, Ibelieve the right ANCIENTACOUSTICS:Why the Greeks could tones," Declercqsays. "This effect causes choice of the seat row periodicity or of the hear plays from the back row small loudspeakers to produce apparently steps underneath the chairs may be impor- better sound quality than you'd expect." tant." Although many moderntheatres improve by Philip Ball audibility with loudspeakers, Declercqsays Published online: 23 March 2007 that the filtering idea might still be relevant: The wonderful acousticsfor which the mer at Epidaurus,which is still sometimes Letter to our Readers: ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus is used for performances, can be heard so well renowned may come from exploiting com- even on awindless day. Dear Readers, plex acoustic physics, new research shows. Declercq and Dekeysersuspected that the The theatre, discovered under alayer of answer might be connected to the way earth on the Peloponnesos in 1881 and ex- sound reflects offcorrugated surfaces.