WORLD CIVILIZATION

Detailed explanation-1: -What is our source of information on the Etruscan temple? The Roman Architect Vitruvius.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to Vitruvius the temples had a wooden structure with mud-brick walls which were then covered in stucco which could be painted or polished. Two rows of columns stood across the front porch (or pronaos) and were usually made of painted wood, although a temple at Veii had marble columns.

Detailed explanation-3: -The vaulted ceilings, arches, Tuscan column, and monumental city gates of Etruscan architecture would influence and inspire later Roman architects. Indeed, Etruscan builders were responsible for Rome’s most important early temple, that of the 6th-century BCE Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill.

Detailed explanation-4: -Roman writers described an Etruscan temple as a high podium on which rose a broad, square building with gabled roof, wide overhang, and deep porch. Inside, three dark chambers ended in solid walls. In front of the temple was an augural area, where priests stood to observe messages from the gods in the flight of birds.