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4to. 83,(1 blank) p. Old plain grey paper wrapper. 24 cm (Ref: ) (Details: Title printed in red & black. Engraved coat of arms of the cavaliere Gaetano Antinori, the dedicatee, on the title. Uncut and with broad margins) (Condition: Title spotted and yellowing; a small paper repair in the upper margin of the second leaf) (Note: Etruscomania, or 'etruscheria' was an 18th century cultural movement. An obsessive curiosity about the origins, language, art, and customs of the Etruscans swept all over Europe, especially Italy, at the beginning of that century. It exploded with the publication of 'De Etruria Regali Libri Septem', 'Seven Books about Royal Etruria', of the Scottish historian Thomas Dempster, 1579-1625. It was the first detailed study of every aspect of Etruscan civilisation, and was first published one century after his death in Florence in 1723/24. The 'Accademia Etrusca', was then established at Cortona in 1726. This Academy produced papers and reports on Etruscan culture, religion, architecture, antiquities, and their language. One of the leading exponents of this etruscomania was the Italian scholar of Florentine origin Giovanni Maria Lampredi, 1731-1793. His 'Saggio sopra la filosofia degli antichi Etruschi' is considered an important contribution to Etruscology. (See Italian version of Wikipedia 'Etruscologia') The treatise is about the natural theology, cosmogony, botany, medicin, politics of the Etruscans. There even is a section on 'keraunoskopia', the Etruscan theory of thunder. Lampredi argued that the Etruscans had an 'emanative system' for the cosmos tied to Pythagoreanism and Stoicism. Lampredi dedicated this work to the Head of the 'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona', Gaetano Antinori. The erudite fervor of the 'etruscheria' came to an end thanks to the work of the German scholars Winckelmann, and Karl Otfried Müller. The 20th century Italian ancient historian Arnaldo Momigliano, who was also an important historian of ancient historiography, wrote that the Etruscan frenzy was for a century a disintegrating force in Italy, a real illness of Italian culture, because it got bogged down in a one-sided, patriotic and uncritical position of a parochial type on the history of civilization, Rome, Etruscans and Italy. It's positive side-effects were the foundation of collections, musea, and it broadened the view concerning the history of ancient Italy, and the art and archaeology of the pre-roman peoples) (Collation: A-I4, K6 (leaf K6 verso blank)) (Photographs on request) 500 gr.
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