Rome, Veio: MRA-ITA-Rom359
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ITA-Rom359
Sample Material Type
- Plaster
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 16
- Height
- 5
Geographic Location
- Country
- Italy
- Place
- Rome
- Detailed location not available
- no
Site/monument
- Italy (ITA)
Rome
Veio
Historical note about the site/monument
- Veii is an archaeological site, corresponding to one of the most important cities of the Etruscan civilization (10th-4th century BCE) [1]. Its ruins are in a plateau at 16km (8.6 mi) N-NW from Rome, in the contemporary territory of Isola Farnese (XV Municipality of Rome). The whole area has been made a Regional Park in 1997 [2]. During in its golden age, Veii was one of the most important expressions of the development of the Villanovan culture before, and the Etruscan later [3] due to its extension and the developed pottery found here [4]. Since the 8th century BCE, the locals competed with the Latins for the control over the coastal area of Tevere river, with the result of getting defeated and the city getting completely destroyed in the 4th century from the Roman forces [4]. In the 1st century ACE, Veii was repopulated as a colony with Augustus (Municipium Augustum Veiens). Nevertheless, it never reached the same relevance as the past, being on the periphery of Rome [5]. Today, archaeological research units of American, Spanish and Italian universities are studying the necropolis [4]. The oldest settlement of Veii had an extension of 1,9 km2 and was surrounded by eminent city walls, 2m (6.5 ft) thick and up to 8m (26 ft) high. Out to the walls, there is a massive number of burial sites created between the span of time 10th and the 6thcenturies BCE, where remains of a developed Etruscan pottery have been retrieved. The remains of the Roman settlement consist in the acropolis situated on the hilltop on the centre of the area. One of the eminent tombs is Tomba delle Anatre (“Tomb of the ducks”) together with Tomba dei Leoni (Tomb of the Lions). The sepulchre is dated back in the second quarter of the 7th century and is called after its mural paintings representing colour stripes in red, yellow and black alternated, and a procession of ducks ("Anatre") on the top [3]. Probably, the birds could have a symbolic function, as ferrymen of death.
Further reading:
[1] Bartoloni, Gilda (2012). Introduzione all'Etruscologia. Milano: Hoepli.
[2] Italian Regional Law nr 29 of October 6, 1997.
[3] Bartoloni, Gilda; Berardinetti, Alessandra; Drago, Luciana; De Santis, Anna (1994). Veio tra IX e VI sec. a. C.: primi risultati sull'analisi comparata delle necropoli veienti, in Archeologia Classica, 46, pp. 1-46.
[4] Cascino, Roberta (2008). Attività produttive ceramiche a Veio. In: Mélanges de l'école française de Rome, 120 (1), pp. 5-19.
[5] Liverani, Paolo (1987). Municipium Augustum Veiens. Veio in età imperiale attraverso gli scavi Giorgi (1811-1813). Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Chronological period (sample)
- 10th-4th century BC
Other info about sample provenance
- "Veio, Pietra della Tomba delle Anatre" (hand-written notes)