Tarchuna (Rise of the Republic) Religious Level 4

Altar of Tinia

The early Etruscan ‘tmia’ (or ‘sanctuary’) were usually open-air enclosures marked off from the rest of a settlement. This changed around 600BC when the Etruscans, through Greek influence, started building monumental temples. In a sacred context, and in contrast with Greek temples, Etruscan ones showed a clear differentiation between front and back, with a columnated deep front porch and an inner chamber or ‘cella’, which was flush with the podium on which the temple stood. When building their cemeteries and necropolises, the Etruscans went to great lengths to make their dead comfortable; their tombs were constructed in a similar way to houses designed for the living, and featured many equivalent details. Later-period tombs found in the city of Caere, for example, have windows, doors, columns and ceiling beams, and also came complete with furniture.