Mauro Cristofani
Mauro Cristofani ( born January 2, 1941 † August 25, 1997 in Rome ) was an Italian Etruskologe, epigraphists and classical archaeologist. He is considered one of the most important and influential Etruscologists who has done both as a professional scientist as well as a writer for the general public standout.
Life and career
Mauro Cristofani was an academic student of the Etruscologists Massimo Pallottino. He has taught since 1975 as full professor at the University of Siena, previously at the University of Pisa and since 1989 at the University of Naples Federico II Since 1970 he was married to the archaeologist Marina Martelli, with whom he lived in Rome, and on several occasions also worked scientifically. Cristofanis journalistic oeuvre comprises some 400 journals, including 16 monographs. Among them are archaeological and philological and epigraphic special studies, who turned to the scientific world, as well as popular science magazines. Many of his books have experienced in Italy several editions. Together with art historian Giovanni Previtali he founded the magazine Prospect, showcasing the ancient and modern art.
Since 1985 he also wrote frequently for the third page of the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on archaeological topics. Excavations he carried out in Calabria, the Acropolis of Volterra, Lucca, in ancient industrial area of Populonia as well as teaching excavation in the city of Cerveteri. Since 1981 Cristofani directed the Centro di Studio per l' Etrusco - Italica Archeological Museum. He has been given multiple honors. He was a member of the Italian Society of Linguistics, the Istituto Nazionale di Studi e Etruschi Italici in Florence, corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute and the Accademia dei Lincei. In addition, own of the explored through him Etruscan cities like Cortona, Siena and Volterra local awards were given to him. After a long illness and a liver transplant that had not stopped him from his other research, Cristofani died in 1997 at the age of only 56 years.
Cristofani conducted research on various fields of Etruscan studies. As an archaeologist, he ergrub settlements, conducted research to jewelry, to pottery, to metal work, as well as epigraphists to the inscriptions, where it zugutekam be good philological armor. So he published, for example, at a fixed calendar on a clay tablet from Capua. With his wife, he published a major three-volume work. Together, they designed the first band to Etruscan jewelry, the second volume of the bronzes he edited, the third to the ceramic it. Cristofani contributed the final chapter of red-figure vase painting. He had always focused on the combination of physical and linguistic- literary legacies and the historical and cultural and historical insights to the Etruscans his gaze. In his later years he turned also reinforced the archeology of the South Italian Greeks, but he was particularly interested in for their ceramics. A highlight of his work was the Etruscans 1985, where he designed the exhibition Civilizations of the Etruscans in Florence and the accompanying catalog issued, which became a standard work of Etruscan studies.
Writings (selection )
- The Etruscans. History, faith and culture (" Etruschi. Cultura e società ", 1979). Empire, Lucerne 1983, ISBN 3-7243-0205-3 ( Terra magica ).
- The Etruscans ( " Gli Etruschi ", 1984). Belser, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-7630-1676-7.
- Civilizations of the Etruscans ( Progetto Etruschi; Vol. 3). Electa, Milano 1985, ISBN 88-435-1157-2 ( catalog of the exhibition at the Museo Archeologico Firenze, 16 March to 20 October 1985).
- Dizionario della civiltà etrusca. Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, Floren 1999, ISBN 88-09-21728-4 ( Nachdr d ed Florence 1985).