A WARRIOR FROM CERVETERI

The Etruscans ornamented their temples with lavish architectural sculpture.

Staring resolutely, with hand on sword, this terracotta warrior would have looked out over the pediment of a temple in Cerveteri, around the end of the 6th century BC. He would not have been alone: an entire battle scene of soldiers in single combat set in the pediment would have greeted the pilgrims on their approach to the temple's entrance.