Early Painted Tombs in Context

The changing Etruscan society of the 7th century BCE provided ideal conditions for skilled workers, who came to Italy and to Etruria from regions of the Eastern Mediterranean such as North Syria and Greece and worked alongside Etruscan craftsmen of the time. These craftsmen had the opportunity to invent and test new techniques and new ideas for their rich Etruscan customers. This was because Etruria had been developing its own ways of life and of death. Perhaps we can explain in a similar context the origin of wall painting in tombs, namely that painting the walls of chamber tombs was in pre-Roman Italy a unique Etruscan funerary art.