The Apollo of Veii is a life-size painted

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

Etruscan statue of '' Aplu'' (

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

), designed to be placed at the highest part of a temple. The statue was discovered in the Portonaccio sanctuary of ancient Veii,

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...

, in what is now central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and dates from BC. It was created in the so-called "international" Ionic or late-archaic Etruscan style. It was discovered in 1916, and is now on display in the

National Etruscan Museum The National Etruscan Museum () is a museum dedicated to the Etruscan civilization, Etruscan and Falisci, Faliscan civilizations, housed in the Villa Giulia in Rome, Italy. It is the most important Etruscan museum in the world. History The villa ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Creator

The statue was probably made by Vulca, an Etruscan artist who was also responsible for the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, according to Pliny. He is the only Etruscan artist known by name.

Mythological depiction

This terracotta statue was part of a scene of Apollo and

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

contending over the Ceryneian Hind, placed 12 metres above the ground on beams on the acroterion of the Portonaccio Sanctuary of Minerva. The statue is dressed in a tunic and short cloak, advancing towards the left with the right arm outstretched and bent (the statue's left arm is towards the ground and may have held a bow). Together with other statues, it decorated the roof beams of the Portonaccio temple, a sanctuary dedicated to

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

. Placed on high plinths, this series of statues were acroterial. They stood some twelve metres above the ground level and even though they were created separately, they narrated events from

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

that were at least in part tied to the god Apollo. This statue, together with the statue of Heracles, formed a group representing one of the labours of the hero before his

apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

made him one of the divinities of Olympus. The myth narrates the contention between the god and the hero for the possession of the doe with the golden horns. There was probably also a statue of Mercury united to this group, of which only the head and a part of the body remain. Apollo, dressed in a tunic and short cloak, advances towards his left with his right arm outstretched and bent (his left arm is towards the ground, perhaps holding a bow); Heracles, with the doe tied around is outstretched towards the right, leaning forwards to attack with his bludgeon and with his torso in a violent curve.

Analysis

The group was conceived for a lateral vision and the solid volume of the figures united with the dissymmetry both in Apollo (the torso and face) and in the Heracles torso suggest that the artist understood optical deformations. The style of the statues is in the ambit of the “international” Ionic style that characterizes the Etruscan artistic culture of the late 6th century BC. The sculpture reaches a very high level of expression. A striking aspect of the statue is its elaborate hairstyle, characterized by long, flowing tresses styled in an intricate arrangement of spiraling curls and secured by a ribbon. This hairstyle exemplifies the Etruscan fashion of the time, which favored lengthy, voluminous hair for both men and women, a trend that remained popular throughout

Etruria Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...

in the late sixth century BC. File:Museo-di-villa-giulia---lapollo-di-veio 32529060456 o.jpg File:Apollo di Veio - Museo di Villa Giulia 2.jpg File:Terracotta statues.jpg File:Decorazione fittile del santuario di portonaccio, 510-500 ac ca, acroteri, 03.jpg File:Decorazione fittile del santuario di portonaccio, 510-500 ac ca, acroteri, apollo 04.jpg

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