Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

pilasters have a long and distinguished history in Roman and later
times. In the Porta Marzia, sculpted half-figures of Jupiter and his
sons Castor and Pollux and their steeds look out from between the
fluted pilasters. The divine twins had appeared miraculously on a
battlefield in 484 BCEto turn the tide in favor of the Romans. The
presence of these three deities at the apex of the Porta Marzia may
reflect the new Roman practice of erecting triumphal arches with
gilded bronze statues on top.

SARCOPHAGUS OF LARS PULENAIn Hellenistic Etruria,

the counterparts of the magnificent Archaic terracotta sarcophagus

(FIG. 9-5) from Cerveteri were made of local stone. The leading pro-

duction center was Tarquinia, where an Etruscan sculptor fashioned

the sarcophagus of Lars Pulena (FIG. 9-15) early in the second century

BCE. The scene sculpted on the front of the coffin shows the deceased in

the Underworld between two charuns (Etruscan death demons) swing-

ing hammers. It signifies that Lars Pulena has successfully made the

Later Etruscan Art 233

9-14Porta Marzia (Gate of

Mars), Perugia, Italy, second

century bce.

The arch has a long history in

ancient architecture, but it was

most commonly used in

Etruscan and Roman buildings.

Often Greek pilasters or engaged

columns frame an arcuated

opening.

9-15Sarcophagus of Lars

Pulena, from Tarquinia, Italy,

early second century bce.Tufa,

6  6 long. Museo Archeologico

Nazionale, Tarquinia.

Images of the deceased on late

Etruscan sarcophagi are much

more somber than those on

Archaic examples (FIG. 9-5), but

Lars Pulena proudly displays a

list of his life’s achievements on

an open scroll.

1 ft.

9-15ASarcoph-

agus of Ramtha

Visnai and

Arnth Tetnies,

ca. 350–300 BCE.