The divine protectress Juno Sospita, molded in terracotta and painted in vibrant red and black, once smiled from the roof of an early-fifth-century B.C. Etruscan temple. Worshiped throughout central Italy as a guardian of cities, the deity wears her characteristic colorful helmet, with checkered crest, goat ears and horns (one of each is missing), and stylized palm branch. The Etruscans dominated central Italy during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. and established trade routes throughout the Mediterranean. As their contact with Greece increased through trade, they adopted the early Greek practice of protecting wooden buildings with sloping gabled roofs […]
