APULU OF VEIIThe finest of these rooftop statues to survive
today is the life-size image of Apulu (FIG. 9-4), which displays the
energy and excitement that characterize Archaic Etruscan art in gen-
eral. The statue comes from a temple in the Portonaccio sanctuary at
Veii. It is but one of a group of at least four painted terracotta figures
that adorned the top of the temple roof and depicted one of the 12
labors of Herakles/Hercles (see “Herakles,” Chapter 5, page 120).
The god confronts Hercle for possession of the Ceryneian hind, a
wondrous beast with golden horns that was sacred to Apulu’s sister
Artumes. The bright paint and the rippling folds of Apulu’s garment
call to mind the Archaic korai of the Acropolis in Ionian garb (FIG.
5-12). But Apulu’s vigorous striding motion, gesticulating arms, fan-
like calf muscles, and animated face are distinctly Etruscan. Some
scholars have attributed the Apulu statue to Vulca of Veii,the most
226 Chapter 9 THE ETRUSCANSI
n 616 BCE, according to the traditional chronology, Tarquinius
Priscus of Tarquinia became Rome’s first Etruscan king. He ruled for
almost 40 years. His grandson, Tarquinius Superbus (“the Arro-
gant”), was Rome’s last king. Outraged by his tyrannical behavior,
the Romans drove him out in 509 BCE. Before his expulsion, how-
ever, Tarquinius Superbus embarked on a grand program to embell-
ish the city he ruled.
The king’s most ambitious undertaking was the erection of a
magnificent temple on the Capitoline Hill for the joint worship of
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. For this great commission, he summoned
architects, sculptors, and workers from all over Etruria. Rome’s first
great religious shrine was Etruscan in patronage, in manufacture, and
in form. The architect’s name is unknown, but several sources pre-
serve the identity of the Etruscan sculptor brought in to adorn the
temple. His name was Vulca of Veii, and he may also have made a
statue of the god Apulu (FIG. 9-4) for his native city. Pliny the Elder de-
scribed his works as “the finest images of deities of that era... more
admired than gold.”* The Romans entrusted Vulca with making the
statue of Jupiter that stood in the central
cella of the Capitoline temple’s three cellas.
He also fashioned the enormous terracotta
statuary group of Jupiter in a four-horse
chariot, which was mounted on the roof at
the highest point directly over the center of
the temple facade. The fame of Vulca’s red-
faced (painted terracotta) portrayal of Jupi-
ter was so great that Roman generals would
paint their faces red in emulation of his
Jupiter when they paraded in triumph
through Rome after a battlefield victory.
(The model of a three-cella Etruscan tem-
ple in FIG. 9-3also gives an approximate
idea of the appearance of the Capitoline
Jupiter temple and of Vulca’s roof statue.)
Vulca is the only Etruscan artist any ancient writer names, but
the signatures of other Etruscan artists appear on preserved art-
works. One of these is Novios Plautios (FIG. 9-13), who also worked
in Rome, although a few centuries later. By then the Etruscan kings
of Rome were a distant memory, and the Romans had captured Veii
and annexed its territory.*Pliny,Natural History,35.157.Etruscan Artists in Rome
WRITTEN SOURCES
9-4Apulu (Apollo),
from the roof of the
Portonaccio temple, Veii,
Italy, ca. 510–500 bce.
Painted terracotta, 5 11
high. Museo Nazionale
di Villa Giulia, Rome.
The Veii Apulu was part
of a statuary group
depicting a Greek myth.
Distinctly Etruscan,
however, are the god’s
vigorous motion and
gesticulating arms and
the placement of the
statue on a temple roof.1 ft.famous Etruscan sculptor of the time (see “Etruscan Artists in Rome,”
above). The statue’s discovery in 1916 was instrumental in prompt-
ing a reevaluation of the originality of Etruscan art.CERVETERI SARCOPHAGUS Although life-size terracotta
statuary was known in Greece, this medium was especially favored
in Etruria. Another Archaic Etruscan terracotta masterwork is the
sarcophagus (FIG. 9-5) from a Cerveteri tomb in the form of a hus-
band and wife reclining on a banquet couch. The sarcophagus,
which was once brightly painted, was cast in four sections and is of
monumental size, but it contained only the ashes of the deceased.
Cremation was the most common means of disposing of the dead in
Italy at this time. This kind of funerary monument had no parallel at
this date in Greece, where there were no monumental tombs that