Etruria

(e-troo're-ah.) [Gr. Tyrrhenia.] (Anc. Geog.) A country which, prior to the founding of Rome, comprised nearly the whole of the Italian peninsula and its western islands. Under the designation of E. Cir cum pad an a, it consisted of the N. part of the continent from the Alps to the A pennines; under that of E. Camp an i an a, it included the region from the Tiber S. to the Gulf of Pæstum; under that of E. Propria were comprised the central portions of Italy, lying between the two first-mentioned divisions. The Etruscan countries eventually became absorbed into the Roman dominion. The high degree of civilization which the Etruscans po e ed long before Rome was heard of, is testified by innumerable works of masonry and art. Of especial high renown were their ornaments and utensils in baked clay (terra cotta), in the manufacture of which objects the Veientes were particularly famous. The various objects of ornament and use, found in great numbers in tombs, such as candelabra, cups, tripods, U A V A A Fig. 314. ETRUSCAN MIRROR FROM VULCI, with Phuphluns (Bacchus), Semla (Semele), and Apulu (Apollo). (Quarter size.) chaldrons, couches, discs; articles of armor, as helmets, cuira es, .; musical instruments, fans, cysts or caskets, are most of them models of exquisite finish and artistic skill. Their gems are as numerous as those of Egypt, and, like them, cut into the form of the scarabæus or beetle. They were exclusively intaglios, and of cornelian, sardonyx, and agate. Special mention should be made of the metal specula, or mirrors, with figures scratched upon the concave side (Fig. 314), the front or convex side being highly polished. These ranged over all the phases of Etruscan art, and are especially and peculiarly Etruscan. [s. 344]