Etruria Pottery

( Originally Published Late 1800's )

Etruria, according to Herodotus, was settled by a colony of Lydians, the wealthiest and most luxurious people of Asia Minor, to whom it is by some supposed, and with reason, the Greeks owe the earlier development of their arts and sciences, which would account for traces of eastern ornamentation on early Greek work. Vases of beautiful design, ornamented in relief, and with paintings in black outline, have received the name of Etruscan vases, but of late years it has been clearly proven that the most of these are of Greek origin, only copies having been made in Etruria. A red lustred ware was made at Arezzo, in Etruria, and also a red earthenware covered with black glaze and ornaments in relief. Among the ruins of Carthage (destroyed 146 B. C., and afterwards by Arabs in the Vlth century), amphora have been found, supposed to have been from Etruria, inscribed with the names of Marius and Longinus. Etruria was at the height of its splendor when Rome was founded, 754 B. C., and before it attained the height reached by Greece it was destroyed by invasion and internal dissensions. Excellent in jeweler's work, the Etruscans were never preeminent potters.