Test one Flashcards
What is the surface area of Italy?
260 000 sq km(aprox)
What is the length if Italy?
1040 km(aprox)
What is the width of Italy?
200 km (aprox)
What kind of land form is Italy and where dose it jut from?
Italy is a peninsula
Juts from the European coast into the Mediterranean
What separates Italy from the rest of Europe?
In the far north we have the Alps that separate Italy from the rest of Europe.
What was Italy boarded by and why?
Boarded by the alps. Because they (ancient people) favored natural borders
What is the largest river and what river did it contain?
To their south, the valley of the Po (Latin, Padus)—Italy’s largest river—contains land with great agricultural potential.
What mountains separate the length of Italy?
-Apennine mountains, separates the length of Italy from the po vally.
What were the five rivers of note?
The Po (Padus) The Arno (arnus) The Tiber (Tiberis) The Liris The Volturnus.
What were the benefits of the rivers?
All the rivers gave access to fresh water and the sea.
What separates the Ionian, Sicilian sea and the Tyr rhenian sea
Sicilia separates the Ionian, Sicilian sea and the Tyr rhenian sea
What was the Strait of Messina and what was its significance?
Any ships wanting to enter through the strait of Messina, which will become a bone of contention at some point. He who controls the strait controls commerce, trade. You can charge money for people to go though. People will have to stop there.
What land was located close to southern Italy?
Italy is close to North Africa which facilitates north/south travel in the central Mediterranean.
What were three very important regions and what were their significance?
Etruria
Campania
Latium
Because of their location, they had very popular trade, which results in these three areas becoming some of the first to develop
What was the name of the lower region where many greeks settled?
Magna Graecia (great Greece). A lot of greeks will settle in this area to the point where it becomes great greece.
What were some other important regions?
Apulia
Masinum
Pethecusa and cumai (greeks establish themselves)
List some important cities.
Elisina Vellanova Cumae Capua Pithecusa Straits of Messina Syracusae Roma Tarqinii
When was the first appearance of agriculture in Italy?
4000 BC
What were the signs of early agriculture?
Etruscan Hut
Small villages, huts of a simple form.
We know about them because when the ground was excavated we see post holes. Central post with posts all around. Holes were the size of a tree. Did not find bricks or roof tiles. It is believed that everything rotted over 2000 years but they still found the holes in the rocks. The material (mud/wood) they used rotted away, leaving behind the holes
What did the early people plant?
The early people planted barley and wheat. The first appearance of agriculture was barley and wheat.
What branch of science studies pollen?
A branch that studies pollen (palynology, they find pollen in the rocks and mud which tells them what grew) .
What were the first tools made out of?
Tools made out of wood, bones, and stone.
Wood rots but bones (Bones can disappear in an akeline soil) and stone may survive
When do we start seeing early copper tools?
By 2000 BC we start seeing early copper tools and, some weapons ornaments (Often found in graves)
What came after copper?
After copper tools we start to see Bronze
What were the dates of the different phases of the bronze age?
Early bronze age 1800 - 1600 BC
Middle bronze age 1600 - 1300 BC
Late bronze age 1300 - 1200BC
When did we start finding Bronze Weapons?
Bronze Weapons found in early and middle bronze age
What is Bronze?
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin?
What did the rise of Bronze tell us?
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. This combination displays work with other civilizations. Unsure of which ones.
When did early settlements start growing in size?
During the late bronze age, 1300 - 1200BC settlements start to grow in size, start being placed on hilltops.
Why did settlements start appearing on hilltops and what dose that tell us?
That they had to defend themselves. People started to invade for resources they don’t have because they started producing goods.
“With prosperity comes jealousy and wars”
What types of cattle did early Romans start to raise?
Early Romans would raise goats, pigs, sheep, and cattle.
How do we know about the cattle that they were raising?
They know this due to the butcher/burn marks on bones they found on settlements. When you put meat in a pot the water rolls and causes more rounded bones.
When did the Iron age begin?
9th century BC
When did the development of cities begin?
A series of developments related to the iron age in Italy that leads to the development of cities By the 7th century
What is the duration of the Iron age in Italy?
9th to the last 3rd of the 8th century (735 BC) is the iron age
What does the rise of the Iron age tell us?
Must extract metal from ore which requires more advanced tools
The technique to smelt iron is complex, so their technology must be advancing.
What were the benefits of Iron?
Iron age tools are harder and better able to stay sharp and retain their shape.
Iron is cheaper
What areas start becoming major centers of wealth and society?
During the 9th and 8th people start relating to each other through trade (Etruria, Latium and Campania) They become major centers of wealth and society
What were signs of larger societies?
More post holes which display bigger buildings. Areas where the grave goods are good. And slowly start seeing a stratigraphy of society.
Did iron mean that you didnt see earlier forms of tools?
You still see bronze, wood and bone during the iron age.
What was needed to make Iron?
When they start making steel they need carbon which makes it even more complex.
What was the early iron age culture in Etruria called?
In Etruria, the early iron age culture was the (Villanova)? Villanovans evolved into Etruscans via the early iron age in Etruria.
How large were the Villanovan settlements?
The settlements of the Villanovans were over 1000 inhabitants. They hypostasized this due to the number of structures. They remain simple with clusters of huts, no elaborate social system or wealth or public buildings.
Where was the Latium? How big were the settlements and where were they located?
Between Etruria and Campania, we have the Latium. Settlements are about 1000 people or smaller. And the settlements are located on hills or spurs from the Apennine mountains.
Outside contacts start to effect changes
When do we start seeing signs of maritime contact? What did this bring?
9th and 8th BC we start seeing maritime contact which factors in the development of central Italy. With this comes influence, knowledge, trade, money, and Growth.
When did the Villanovan helmets and breast plates appear and what does that tell us?
The presence of Villanovan helmet and breastplate armor in the 8th c B.C suggests needing to protect themselves.
What is the Villanovan Hut Urn, when does it begin to appear, and what does it tell us?
Villanovan Hut Urn 9th - 8th for cremating bodies and placing them in urns that represent home. The shape of these urns suggests a change (advancement) in the shape of their homes. “Urnfield people”
Name two different potteries found
Villanovan Amphora
The finish is called Impasto. Very smooth finish.
Etruscan amphora
Bucchero finish. Shinier.
What information can we gather by comparing artifacts?
It is by comparing artifacts like this as grave goods that archeologists realize that the Villanova’s were the early iron age people that evolved into Etruscans
Clarify Amphora impasto finish and Bucchero finish. This shows that the Villanovans evolved into the Etruscans.
Name some outside contacts and when they began to appear.
The Phoenicians were merchants from coastal areas (Syria and Lebanon) and the Greeks from Greece “helinista”“Hellas”
Carthaginians are actually Phoenicians. They founded Carthage.
Made contact in…
Phoenicians 9-8th BC
Greeks 775 BC
How did Phoenicians conduct trade?
Phoenicians had long-distance trade by land and by sea. They were great sailors. May have even built some of the first fire signals for ships. They were not afraid to go far.
What was the social and political order of the Phoenicians
The social and political order of the Phoenicians were that they had city-states (meaning democracy) however they also had Kings and temples and priesthoods(organized religion) and association of powerful and rich merchants
When did the Phoenicians start to send settlements and trading expeditions?
Around 1000 Bc the leaders of the most powerful Phoenician cities (Tyre and Sidon) started to send settlements and trading expeditions as far as Spain. Started having contact with the Etruscans.
Where and when did the Phoenicians start cities?
The Phoenicians started cities on the coast of western Sicily in Corsica, Sardinia, Sicilia, North Africa, Spain, and Carthage in the 8th century BC.
What kind of relationship did the Carthaginians have with Rome?
In time the Carthaginians would become powerful enemies of Rome. But in the beginning, they would just trade.
Tyre and Sidon are Phoenician Cities, and the Phoenicians are from Syria and Lebanon
Where are Phoenicians from?
Tyre and Sidon are Phoenician Cities, and the Phoenicians are from Syria and Lebanon
Why does Greece start to found colonies in Italy?
After Greece starts to rebuild itself there is not enough food and land for everyone. Due to this, they decide to found colonies as opposed to the Phoenicians who settled away from Italy.
When did greeks start establishing colonies?
The Greeks in 775 in their first colony (pithecusa?)( Island on midwest coast) and then Cumae (750) (a Greek colony)
What was the relationship of the Greek colonies like with the Etruscans?
They trade with the Etruscans. Italy had a lot of Iron so they will be able to send to the mother city some goods. Farmland was vital so they can send wheat back to the mother colony.
What did the Greeks refer to themselves as?
Greeks refer to themselves as Hellian and they come from Helaas. The whole bottom peninsula is Magna Graecia.
What was the origin of the name Greek
Boeotia (Village of Graioi in Cumae?)
What was the name of the only Spartan colony?
Tarentum is the only colony of Sparta.
On what coast do you have more greek colonies start to form?
On the western coast, you have more greek colonies.
When do the three main areas go through a boom?
By the mid-8th (750) century BC (those three city’s) go through a Civilization boom (policies, social and cultural changes) First form of Italian city-states. Similarities with Greek but with their own twist. Same with their religion. They borrow but they make it Roman.
What are the characteristics of a city-state?
A city-state has more organization.
We start seeing a clearly defined urban core (fountains, roads, open courtyards). Then we start seeing an elite (larger buildings larger post holes, more decorations, elaborate tombs, very good grave goods). Temples, religious areas, Markets, military areas, cemetery.
When does the Evolution of City-states occur?
From about 725 all the way to 480 is when this all started happening.
When does writing come to Italy?
During the 8th century, writing comes to Italy.
Greeks borrowed from trading with Phoenicians, Romans borrowed their alphabet from the Greeks but made it a little different.
How did writing come about?
Greeks borrowed from trading with Phoenicians, Romans borrowed their alphabet from the Greeks but made it a little different.
When do we find Greek and Etruscan texts?
By 700 we find greek and Etruscan text. As well as Latin texts. They appear in a script derived from the greeks.
When does writing start to become more common and where do we see it?
By the 7th and 6th centuries writing becomes more common and comes into its own. Mostly Etruscan, a little in Latin. Written on stone, bronze, or pottery.
What can we learn from Tombs?
By the end of the 8th century BC, we start to see the appearance of family tombs in Etruria. We see the influence of greek and the near east in their grave goods. We start to see armor, chariots, frescos, images of parties in their tombs.
What were the characteristics of Tombs in 600 BC?
600 B.C.
In the shape of a tumulus. Grass on the top so you can’t see it. Made of limestone, easy to carve. Shaped like a home and decorated with frescos of sports, horse racing, and parties (what they were like in daily life) Fresco? Shows what kind of dishes, footwear, the fabric they had. Weapons, pots and pans, household goods, beds where they put the urns if they were cremated.
When do we start to see religious centers?
In the 6th (600) century you start
What were the characteristics of a greek temple?
- Can be accessed by all sides
- All columns go around the inside room (The Cella)
What are the characteristics of a Roman temple (Etruscan)?
- Can only be accessed from the front
- High podium
- Cella at the back, no coulombs. The only columns are holding the roof of the porch at the front.
- Made with perishable materials
- Did sculptures on their roof our of terracotta
- Several doors
- Sometimes around some temples you have sculpted columns on the side called Engaged Columns
What do the Villanovians become?
Villanovans become Etruscans. Folorence is in etruria
In the late 8th century a number of communities in Etruria develop rapidly
How many Citys were the Etruscans?
A federation of 12 cities.
What was the etruscian language?
They have a common language. (Etruscan)
What were the Etruscan features of government?
They have similar features of government, and religion which they borrowed from the Greeks. (kings)
Did the Etruscans have similar urban planning with each other??
Yes
