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The Etruscans: From the Heart of Ancient Italy

by Renee Dreyfus

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Gemma said: " This is the exhibit book for the Etruscan art exhibit in San Francisco on display at the Legion of Honor art museum (and the exhibit travels on to San Antonio next using the same exhibit book). This is one of the first times I have tried to read the This is the exhibit book for the Etruscan art exhibit in San Francisco on display at the Legion of Honor art museum (and the exhibit travels on to San Antonio next using the same exhibit book). This is one of the first times I have tried to read the exhibit book before going to see the exhibit (since I happened to be at the museum for something else a week earlier). I got through some early chapters and jumped ahead to some later chapters, but did not read cover to cover. It's a big book to try and get through in a week! I do want to go back and read some specific sections now that i've seen the exhibit. The art shows very happy relatable people, not stiff serious statues, and was very fun to walk through and see the artifacts.

I enjoyed having a bit more background of the time period and what was happening before going to the exhibit (but also they did a great job with the video first and texts in the exhibit that I don't think it's needed). The book has different chapters, authored by different experts. I wish the amazon listing or this goodreads listing would show the title of content (I would add a screenshot of the table of contents to the amazon, but I don't know the copywrite rules). The book open with the theme Formation and relations (6 articles/chapters), then Religion and ritual (3 chapters), Art and iconography (5 chapters), Architecture (2 chapters), Luxuries (2 chapters), Cultural identity and gender (4 chapters) and ends with Legacy (3 chapters). I'm not a history major, and I was confused a bit by who all the different people are in the region (the people call themselves one name, the greeks have another name, and there is a later roman name), and the many comparisons to later Rome (when I also know nothing about roman or greek history).

The book may be more beneficial to someone with more ancient history knowledge. I don't think one has to have gone to this specific exhibit about the Etruscans to enjoy this book since it covers may interesting and detailed topics about the Etruscans, and has lovely artifact pictures to use for examples. I have a long going gemini ai chat devoted to all the questions I asked while reading parts of this book, and asking when look at the artifacts when I was at the exhibit. I realize when looking at a museum artifact, I'm curious about the specific artifact and where it was found, how it was used, and how it got to the museum, as well as what it represents and why it's is museum quality. This book does a great job of the history and culture of the etruscan people, and does mention many of the artifacts and what they are in general, but a bit less on the more personal history of each artifact and specifically how they are used.

There were a few surprises I had between reading about the Etruscans and seeing the exhibit.

1. I was most surprised that many of the metal statues/votives artifacts were much smaller than I anticipated! Even at the exhibit, one had to be really close the jewelry bracelets and gold pieces to see the intricate beaded gold work. For example, the jacket cover image, just assume the whole votive statue of hercules (?) is like about 6-7 inches tall, which is much smaller than the book cover image that has the head alone as like 5" wide. Also so detailed! I think the images of artifacts in the middle of book have no sizes, and the catalog of images in the appendix has sizes but no pictures. I've never thought about art books mentioning sizes before. Usually if I go to the exhibit first before getting the book, I have an idea of the artifact sizes.

2. With all the talk of seafaring and trade, and being the "Tyrrhenian pirates", I expected to see maybe more sea images, but I saw very few fishes images in the exhibit. (I really like under water themes and was looking for them).

3. Banquets! I have many questions about how comfortable is it to semi-recline like in all the images and statues. I appreciate that when looking at the reclining images in person, then I could see they did use pillow. (and there was an artifact labeled 'stand', but it looked like maybe it was a stand for an arm... like for reclining on, but it was also ceramic, would it break with body weight, idk?) I also expected maybe more music or dancing images. I saw the one votive or incense/candle holder with castanettes in their hand, and one urn with a player playing a double recorder, but no string instruments, horn or drums depicted. I would like to read the chapter about textiles to figure out maybe what they were wearing, and if they had pillows and table cloths (or even tables) for banquets.

4. Wine. The book mentions how the etruscans were very good at growing and trading wine. I didn't see any glazing on the pottery, which would make it water tight (cos silica/glass melting, but also doubtful their wood fires got that hot for glazing). Some of the black pots looked really well burnished and it looks like the bucchero was very fine particle clay to reduce leaks. I'm just curious how all the pots didn't leak or get moldy from the wine in them if they aren't water tight. I tried to look in them to see if i could tell if any of the inside of the pots were coated, but I couldn't tell, and if they were from funeral graves, then maybe they were ornamental and not coated on the inside... i don't know. There was an item called a wine sieve on display, and an urn/pot with an image that said it was a depiction of a large barrel designed for mixing wine and water. I feel the wine must have tasted very different than todays modern wine. Then two of the urns/pots in the middle of the exhibit had some lovely heart motifs on the vase top boarder, and I realize they were really hearts because grape leaves look like hearts. There is a chapter about etruscan pottery that I should read, and hope it answers some of these questions.

5. The liver of Piacenza - a very important artifact that traveled for the first time (the docent mentioned the artifact was personally chaperoned and guarded by high-ranking officials for it's travels). The brass bean shape, phone size model of a sheep's liver maps out 40 deities for divination was not what I expected. It's also less than half the size of an actual sheep liver and flat- I would never have guessed it was a liver. I also don't think i could read 40 names on it, again so small! and with lots of detail. later in exhibit there was a small nice looking small pottery bird with the etruscan alphabet written around the base that was much more fun and clear to look at for etruscan text. There is a chapter or 2 or 3 about religion and iconology in this book, but I haven't read them yet either. Hopefully, the chapters will tell me more about how the etruscans could both love life with their festive banquets and funeral/gladiator games for both men and women, yet also be a bit conservative and pious in their religion with many divinations, offerings and funeral preparations.

6. The Linen Book. Again, I thought it looked smaller than I expected - I thought the stripes of linen would be wider, or more legible. There are certainly sections of the writing that are very faint, and it was nice to be able to see some of the letters were cut through to make it into narrower mummy bandages. I was hoping to see if there were red lines marking where "pages" were, but I couldn't tell, and I'm still a little confused how it accordion folded to be an old book. And maybe that's to be expected for such an old artifact. The book does have a section about the etruscan language and a few of the chapters mention the language and how rome may have had both languages side by side for a time when the etruscans were absorbed into rome.

7. Tall people. In the last gallery (and book spin) there were some brass statues that show people that were very, very tall, like stretch, and thin, some flat. I wish to know why they made art like that. It was like a modern art interpretation, not a representation.

Overall a very lovely and fun exhibit with artifacts that show happy smiling people. This book quality is fantastic - large thick pages, many articles from a variety of experts. The photos of the artifacts are really well done and shows the detailed. The writing was very readable, engaging and well chosen topics. The later themes of Etruscan legacy, and worked into other chapters that i did read, showed why we should care about the Etruscans and connected how they influenced Italy and future roman culture, which spread through western europe. ...more "

Aug 17, 2026 03:41PM · see review