History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman....

Early Italian civilisation—Origin of Etruscans—Terramare civilisation—Villanuova period—Pit-tombs—Hut-urns—Trench-tombs—Relief-wares and painted vases from Cervetri—Chamber-tombs—Polledrara ware—Bucchero ware—Canopic jars—Imitations of Greek vases—Etruscan inscriptions—Sculpture in terracotta—Architectural decoration—Sarcophagi—Local pottery of Southern Italy—Messapian and Peucetian fabrics.

In the succeeding section of this work we propose, by a natural transition, to deal with Italian pottery, that is, Etruscan and Roman, as distinct from Greek. The subject naturally falls under three heads—the first two dealing with the pottery of the period previous to the Roman domination of Italy, and therefore contemporaneous with the Greek pottery; the third with Roman pottery from the second century B.C. onwards, and of necessity including also remains of similar pottery from Gaul, Britain, and other countries over which that civilisation extended.

In the present chapter the first two branches of the subject—namely, Etruscan pottery, and the local fabrics of Southern Italy—will be discussed; the period of time which they cover is, as has been said, coincident with that covered by the history of Greek pottery, extending from the Bronze Age down to the end of the third century B.C.