Word: etruscans
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...ETRUSCAN, by Mika Waltari (381 pp.; Pufnam; $4.50), takes its readers on a Cook's tour of the Mediterranean world of 500 B.C. The voluble guide is a young superman called Turms, who clobbers men, conquers women and seeks his ease in the lap of the gods ("I saw her, the goddess, taking shape and resting lightly on the couch, lovelier than all earthly women . . ."). Turms is also busy making history. He contributes to the death struggle between Greece and Persia by setting fire to the temple of the Persian goddess Cybele in Sardis, helps incite war between Carthage...
Spina, the half-mythical Etruscan "Venice" on the swampy Po delta, was one of the world's great cities in the 5th century B.C. Ancient writings tell tales of its wealth and luxury, but over the centuries the silt of the Po has been pushing the shore line into the Adriatic. Cut off from the sea, Spina declined in late Roman times to a village; then it disappeared. Cemeteries believed to be connected with it were found and recently excavated by both thieves and archaeologists (TIME, Nov. 8, 1954), but the remains of the city itself lay obstinately hidden...
...Spina site will produce no stately, columned temples. All that remains is the foundations of the city, but when they are excavated carefully, they may yield information more interesting than any number of temples. The brilliant Etruscan culture, which flourished before the great days of Rome, is a deep mystery. Etruscan tombs are stuffed with striking art works, but Etruscan remains other than tombs are scarce. Out of Spina, covered for 2,000 years with preserving mud, may come knowledge of Etruscan buildings, government, religion and social structure. Historians may learn where the Etruscans came from; they may even find...
...fine arts. The University Summer Courses in Aquila, the University of Florence, the Italian University for Foreigners in Perugia, the University of Pisa, the Societa Dante Alighieri, and the University of Urbino give courses in late July about local art treasurers. Perugia and Pisa Universities offer special instruction on Etruscan antiquities...
...bargains than contemporary pictures by little-known artists. Sample rates: a bronze reindeer from ancient Persia for $632.50, a 5,000-year-old "female divinity" from Sumer for $103.50, an ancient Egyptian bronze statuette of Anubis for $172.50, a Tarascan warrior for $200, a Coptic bone statuette for $28.75, Etruscan earrings for $189.75, and two highly stylized Spanish and Greek bronzes for $200 (left} and $402.50 (right...