Besides Tanagra and Myrina many other sites have yielded extensive finds of terra-cottas. From Sicily we possess a com plete series, from archaic to later times, the earlier being best represented at Selinus, where a great variety of richly coloured figures have been found ; there are also many fine heads of 5th century style, and figures of Aphrodite, Eros and other deities imitating the later types of Hellenistic art. At Naukratis in the Egyptian Delta the later terra-cottas are strongly influenced by Egyptian ideas, and figures like Bes and Horus are found in con junction with orientalized Aphrodite types. The terra-cottas of Tarentum stand apart from those of other sites, being markedly funereal in character; many represent Dionysos reclining at a banquet. Elsewhere in southern Italy the types correspond to those of Sicily and other Mediterranean sites.
Among terra-cotta work in relief, apart from definitely archi tectural examples, two groups, known respectively as "Melian" and "Locrian" stand out in importance. They both belong to the early 5th century and consist of small plaques. The subjects of the Locrian reliefs, which mostly relate to the myth and cult of Persephone, seem to indicate that they at least were of a votive character. They occur at Locri in southern Italy, and similar examples dedicated to Athena have been found on the Acropolis at Athens. The Melian reliefs exhibit a wider scope of subjects, mainly mythological; the work is exceedingly delicate and refined in character. Some are simple plaques ; others have the figures cut out without background, or sometimes with only the outer con tours. These reliefs have been found on various Greek sites, some in Melos.
There is a class of vases which comes rather under the heading of terra-cotta than of pottery, from its technical character and general appearance. These are found at Canosa, Calvi, Cumae and elsewhere in southern Italy, and belong to the Hellenistic period. This terra-cotta work combines in a marked degree the characteristics of the vase and the statuette, some being vases with moulded reliefs or small figures in the round attached; others actual figures of colossal heads modelled in vase form, with the addition of mouth, handle and base. They are often of gigantic size, and do not appear to have served any practical purpose; probably they were made specially for the tomb. They are covered with a white slip like the statuettes, and are often richly coloured.
decorate their temples, and the statue of Jupiter on the Capitol was made by Volca of Veii about 500 B.c., in clay painted ver milion, as was also the chariot on the pediment of the temple. Several painted clay statues of the end of the 6th century, have been found at Veii and are now in the Museo Papa Giulio. The statue of Apollo is the finest example we possess of Etruscan sculpture. For the decoration of temples terra-cotta remained in use even down to Roman times. Remains of temples with terra cotta decoration have been found at Cervetri (Caere), at Alatri, and at Civita Castellana (Falerii), as well as at Civita Lavinia. Other remains of terra-cotta decorations come from Conca (Satricum), Orvieto, Pitigliano and Luni, where the pediment of the temple has the figures of Olympian deities, muses and the slaughter of Niobids, all executed in terra-cotta on a large scale. The date of these sculptures is about 200 B.C. At Alatri and Falerii the decoration consists of a complete system of terra-cotta plating over the woodwork of the roofs and architraves, ornamented with patterns in relief or painted and surmounted with carved antefixal ornaments.
The form of monument which best exhibits the Etruscan fond ness for terra-cotta as a material for sculpture is the sarcophagus, of which some remarkable archaic examples exist, and a consid erable number of later date. Among the former the most con spicuous example is the well-known Castellani sarcophagus in the British Museum, dating from the end of the 6th century B.C. The sides are decorated with friezes of figures in relief, and on the cover is a group of a man and a woman reclining, executed in the round life-size. There are similar examples in the Louvre, and in Museo di Papa Giulio at Rome, the British Museum (Plate III., fig. 5) and the Archaeological Museum in Florence. A large number of Etruscan terra-cotta urns for holding the ashes of the dead have been found on various sites. They date from the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. and in form are miniature sarcophagi with a figure reclining on the lid and reliefs on the front and sides (Plate III., fig. 6). The reliefs are often of a funerary character, repre senting the last farewell to the dead in the presence of Charon and other death-deities; others have mythological subjects, such as the combat of Eteokles and Polyneikes ; the slaying of the dragon by Kadmos ; or the parting of Admetos and Alkestis.