Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program

Raramente si sono conservati gli elementi angolari dei tetti in terracotta. Per questa ragione è sempre difficile ricostruire graficamente un tetto completo anche quando sono testimoniati tutti gli altri elementi ( 1 . Nascono infatti diversi problemi se i consueti elementi del frontone e quelli delle gronde si sovrappongono ad angolo. Ma i pochi esemplari conosciuti mostrano almeno in parte come è stato realizzato l'angolo in alcuni tetti etruschi del VII e VI secolo a.C.

Decorated roofs with figured friezes in relief are characteristic of architecture in Etruria and Rome throughout the 6th century B.C., classified by Della Seta in his 1918 catalogue of the Villa Giulia Museum as the first phase of Etruscan architectural terracottas. Veii, the largest Etruscan city and the one closest to Rome, is one of the first Etruscan centers to produce roofs with figured friezes. The earliest example belongs to the so-called oikos on the Piazza d Armi, the ancient acropolis of Veii ( ) 1 . The roof is characteristic of a decorative system probably originating at Veii already in the first quarter of the 6th cent. B.C., but particularly popular throughout southern Etruria during the second quarter of the century, using revetment plaques with military scenes, antefixes with female head, and eaves tiles with painted floral patterns on the soffit. By decorative system, I mean that there are a series of roofs that include all three elements of this roof with the same type of decoration on each, even when found in different centers, made with different moulds and produced by different workshops.