- chapter 49: The phenomenon of terracotta –
and armed riders;^50 one group, however, had fi gured friezes that were painted only. Some
of these painted revetment plaques depict typical scenes of armed riders or chariots,
but another series carries running dogs, centaurs, or fi ghting animals, scenes closely
linked iconographically with cylinder-produced reliefs on Caeretan braziers.^51 Along the
eaves are antefi xes with female heads, of which some 19 different molds can be counted,
resting on eaves tiles with a painted underside, usually a fl oral band, with at least ten
different patterns.^52 Some of the roofs carried central acroteria at the end of the ridge
(Herakles and Athena, fl anked by volutes; a hippocamp rider; a standing warrior) and
at the corners of the roof (sphinxes); bases for the lateral acroteria were attached to the
back of the raking sima and were decorated on three sides and the underside.^53 Finally,
Caere may be one of the earliest workshops to introduce handmade high-relief sculpture
on columen and mutulus plaques in the open pediment, with scenes of battle.^54 All of these
roof elements share a distinctive emphasis on the painted decoration, which includes
several polychrome examples. One of the earliest roofs of this decorative system is found
at Satricum in southern Latium, where the entire roof appears to have been imported
by sea from Caere, as indicated by petrographic analyses in addition to the style of the
roof.^55 Other products of this Caeretan workshop are found nearby at Punta della Vipera,
Castellina del Marangone, Pyrgi, and Sasso di Furbara.^56
FORERUNNERS OF THE SO-CALLED SECOND PHASE,
550/540–520/510 BCThe arrival in Etruria of artisans from Asia Minor brought with it another style of roof
less tied to the Etruscan tradition of fi gural decoration: fl oral decoration in relief or paint.
From Tarquinia comes an antefi x with a palmette above a double volute, a revetment
plaque with a double anthemion in relief, and eaves tiles with painted star-fl owers on the
underside.^57 A lateral sima with a painted anthemion comes from the nearby sanctuary
at Gravisca.^58
East Greek infl uence appears in a roof from the Portonaccio sanctuary (Fig. 49.3),
possibly belonging to the sacellum of Menerva/Athena, with raking sima and revetment
plaques decorated with a relief meander above a painted anthemion; a slightly later
version in relief, and an eaves tile with a similar painted anthemion on the underside,
may represent a replacement roof.^59 Some painted revetment plaques from the workshop
at Caere employing Asia Minor artisans, discussed above, are characterized by purely
fl oral motifs, these with blues and greens that are especially unusual.^60
TERRACOTTA ROOFS OF THE SO-CALLED SECOND
PHASE, AFTER 510 BCThe second major shift in terracotta roof decoration in Etruria occurs at the end of the
sixth century bc when fl oral friezes in relief replace the fi gural scenes of the “First Phase.”
Roofs of this so-called Second Phase generally decorate temple buildings of larger scale
than before, often of the Vitruvian Tuscan order with a high podium carrying the triple
cellae preceded by two rows of columns and accessible by stairs only at the front. This
new decorative system, which remains in use over several centuries in Etruria and Central
Italy, includes the following roof elements: a tall raking sima with cavetto profi le, tall
strigils, central painted fascia with a half-round molding above, and a large half-round