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Etruscan civilization

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Etruscans ?????  rasna
900–100 BC
Extent of Etruscan civilisation and the twelve Etruscan League cities.
Status	City-states
Common languages	Etruscan
Religion	Etruscan
Government	Chiefdom
Legislature	Etruscan League
Historical era	Iron Age, Ancient history
• Villanovan culture	900
• The last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome.	100 BC
Currency	Etruscan coinage(5th century BC onward)
Preceded by Succeeded by Proto-Villanovan culture Roman Kingdom
Today part of	Italy   Vatican City  Corsica

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The Etruscan civilization (/ɪˈtrʌskən/) is the modern name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, south of the Arno river, western Umbria, northern and central Lazio,^[1] with offshoots also to the north in the Po Valley, in the current Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy and southern Veneto, and to the south, in some areas of Campania. As distinguished by its unique language, this civilization endured from before the time of the earliest Etruscan inscriptions (c. 700 BC)^[2] until its assimilation into the Roman Republic, beginning in the late 4th century BC with the Roman–Etruscan Wars.^[2]

 

Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 900 BC, approximately with the Iron Age Villanovan culture, regarded as the oldest phase of Etruscan civilization.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

 

The latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by Ancient Greek culture, during the Archaic (Orientalizing period), and later the Classical period. At its maximum extent, during the foundational period of Rome and the Roman Kingdom, Etruscan civilization flourished in three confederacies of cities: of Etruria(Tuscany, Latium and Umbria), of the Po Valley with the eastern Alps, and of Campania.^[8][9] The league in northern Italy is mentioned in Livy.^[10][11][12] The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands.^[13] The last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC.

 

Although the Etruscans developed a system of writing, the Etruscan language remains only partly understood, and only a handful of texts of any length survive, making modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman and Greek sources. Politics was based on the small city and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south and filled their large family tombs with imported luxuries. Archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them.

 

Contents

• 1Legend and history
  • 1.1Origins
    • 1.1.1Genetic research
  • 1.2Expansion
  • 1.3Etruscan League
  • 1.4Possible founding of Rome
  • 1.5Roman families of Etruscan origin
• 2Society
  • 2.1Government
  • 2.2Family
  • 2.3Military
  • 2.4Cities
• 3Culture
  • 3.1Religion
  • 3.2Architecture
  • 3.3Art and music
  • 3.4Language and etymology
  • 3.5Literature
• 4References
• 5Further reading
  • 5.1Cities and sites
• 6External links

Legend and history

Main articles: Etruscan history and Villanovan culture

 

Origins

Main article: Etruscan origins

 

Etruscan pendant with swastika symbols from Bolsena, Italy, 700–650 BC. Louvre

 

Etruscan riders, Silver panel 540–520 BC, from Castel San Marino, near Perugia

 

Painted terracotta Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, about 150–130 BC.

 

The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna,^[14][15][16] while the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī (singular Tuscus).^[17][18] Their Roman name is the origin of the terms "Toscana", which refers to their heartland, and "Etruria", which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians (Τυρρηνοί, Turrhēnoi, earlier Τυρσηνοί Tursēnoi), from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia (Etruria), and Mare Tyrrhēnum (Tyrrhenian Sea),^[19] prompting some to associate them with the Teresh (Sea Peoples).

 

The origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians (Turrhēnoi/Τυρρηνοί, Tursēnoi/Τυρσηνοί) with Pelasgians, which could both be broad descriptive terms. Strabo^[20] and the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus^[21] make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates.^[22] Thucydides,^[23] Herodotus^[24] and Strabo^[25] all denote Lemnos as settled by Pelasgians, whom Thucydides identifies as "belonging to the Tyrrhenians" (τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον Πελασγικόν, τῶν καὶ Λῆμνόν ποτε καὶ Ἀθήνας Τυρσηνῶν). Although both Strabo and Herodotus^[26] agree that Tyrrhenus / Tyrsenos, son of Atys, king of Lydia, led the migration, Strabo^[25] specifies that it was the Pelasgians of Lemnos and Imbros who followed Tyrrhenus to the Italian Peninsula. A link between Lemnos and the Tyrrhenians was further manifested by the discovery of the Lemnos Stele, whose inscriptions were written in a language which shows strong structural resemblances to the language of the Etruscans.^[27] This has led to the suggestion of a "Tyrrhenian language group" comprising Etruscan, Lemnian, and the Raetic spoken in the Alps.

 

According to another source tells that a group of Greek traders from Euboea (Evvoia) went to Campania on 770 BC where they settled at Ischia and in Cumae and had traded with these local people. For over time has passed, these Greeks had been assimilated from these local people.^[28]

 

Hellanicus of Lesbos records a Pelasgian migration from Thessaly to the Italian peninsula, noting that "the Pelasgi made themselves masters of some of the lands belonging to the Umbri".^[29]

 

By contrast, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek writer living in Rome, dismisses many of the ancient theories of the other Greek historians and postulates that the Etruscans were indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria.^[30]

For this reason, therefore, I am persuaded that the Pelasgians are a different people from the Tyrrhenians. And I do not believe, either, that the Tyrrhenians were a colony of the Lydians; for they do not use the same language as the latter, nor can it be alleged that, though they no longer speak a similar tongue, they still retain some other indications of their mother country. For they neither worship the same gods as the Lydians nor make use of similar laws or institutions, but in these very respects they differ more from the Lydians than from the Pelasgians. Indeed, those probably come nearest to the truth who declare that the nation migrated from nowhere else, but was native to the country, since it is found to be a very ancient nation and to agree with no other either in its language or in its manner of living.

 

Furthermore, Dionysius of Halicarnassus is the first ancient writer who reports the endonym of the Etruscans: Rasenna.

The Romans, however, give them other names: from the country they once inhabited, named Etruria, they call them Etruscans, and from their knowledge of the ceremonies relating to divine worship, in which they excel others, they now call them, rather inaccurately, Tusci, but formerly, with the same accuracy as the Greeks, they called them Thyoscoï.^[31] Their own name for themselves, however, is the same as that of one of their leaders, Rasenna.

Livy in his Ab Urbe Condita Libri says the Rhaetians were Etruscans driven into the mountains by the invading Gauls, and asserts that the inhabitants of Raetia were of Etruscan origin.^[32]

The Alpine tribes have also, no doubt, the same origin (of the Etruscans), especially the Raetians; who have been rendered so savage by the very nature of the country as to retain nothing of their ancient character save the sound of their speech, and even that is corrupted.

Pliny the Elder also put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History (AD 79):^[33]

Adjoining these the (Alpine) Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states. The Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus.

 

Genetic research

 

Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilization derives from tomb findings.^[34]A mtDNA study in 2004 stated that the Etruscans had no significant heterogeneity, and that all mitochondrial lineages observed among the Etruscan samples appear typically European or West Asian, but only a few haplotypes were shared with modern populations. Allele sharing between the Etruscans and modern populations is highest among Germans (seven haplotypes in common), the Cornish from South West England (five haplotypes in common), the Turks (four haplotypes in common), and the Tuscans (two haplotypes in common).^[35]

 

A mitochondrial DNA study (2013) also suggests that the Etruscans were an indigenous population, showing that Etruscans appear to fall very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe and to other Tuscan populations, strongly suggesting that the Etruscan civilization developed locally from the Villanovan culture and that genetic links between Tuscany and Western Anatolia date back at least 5,000 years during the Neolithic, and the "most likely separation time between Tuscany and Western Anatolia falls around 7,600 years ago". The ancient Etruscan samples had mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (mtDNA) JT (predominantly J) and U5, with a minority of mtDNA H1b.^[36] According to British archeologist Phil Perkins, "there are indications that the evidence of DNA can support the theory that Etruscan people are autochthonous in central Italy".^[37][38]

 

Expansion

Main article: Padanian Etruria

 

Etruscan territories and major spread pathways of Etruscan products

 

Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania. Some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly subsumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the political structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than, Magna Graecia in the south. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC, when Phocaeans of Italy founded colonies along the coast of Sardinia, Spain and Corsica. This led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks.^[39][40]

 

Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean. Though the battle had no clear winner, Carthage managed to expand its sphere of influence at the expense of the Greeks, and Etruria saw itself relegated to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea with full ownership of Corsica. From the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces. In 480 BC, Etruria's ally Carthage was defeated by a coalition of Magna Graecia cities led by Syracuse, Sicily. A few years later, in 474 BC, Syracuse's tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscans at the Battle of Cumae. Etruria's influence over the cities of Latium and Campania weakened, and the area was taken over by Romans and Samnites.

 

In the 4th century BC, Etruria saw a Gallic invasion end its influence over the Po Valley and the Adriatic coast. Meanwhile, Rome had started annexing Etruscan cities. This led to the loss of the northern Etruscan provinces. During the Roman–Etruscan Wars, Etruria was conquered by Rome in the 3rd century BC.^[39][40]

 

Etruscan League

Main article: Etruscan cities

 

The Mars of Todi, an Etruscan bronze sculpture, c. 400 BC

 

According to legend,^[41] there was a period between 600 BC and 500 BC in which an alliance was formed among twelve Etruscan settlements, known today as the Etruscan League, Etruscan Federation, or Dodecapolis (in Greek Δωδεκάπολις). According to a legend the Etruscan League of twelve cities was founded by Tarchon and his brother Tyrrhenus. Tarchon lent his name to the city of Tarchna, or Tarquinnii, as it was known by the Romans. Tyrrhenus gave his name to the Tyrrhenians, the alternative name for the Etruscans. Although there is no consensus on which cities were in the league, the following list may be close to the mark: Arretium, Caisra, Clevsin, Curtun, Perusna, Pupluna, Veii, Tarchna, Vetluna, Volterra, Velzna, and Velch. Some modern authors include Rusellae.^[42] The league was mostly an economic and religious league, or a loose confederation, similar to the Greek states. During the later imperial times, when Etruria was just one of many regions controlled by Rome, the number of cities in the league increased by three. This is noted on many later grave stones from the 2nd century BC onwards. According to Livy, the twelve city-states met once a year at the Fanum Voltumnaeat Volsinii, where a leader was chosen to represent the league.^[43]

 

There were two other Etruscan leagues ("Lega dei popoli"): that of Campania, the main city of which was Capua, and the Po Valley city-states in the North, which included Bologna, Spina and Adria.

 

Possible founding of Rome

Main article: Founding of Rome

 

A former Etruscan walled town, Civita di Bagnoregio

 

The Capitoline Wolf, long considered an Etruscan bronze, feeding the twins Romulus and Remus

 

Those who subscribe to a Latin foundation of Rome followed by an Etruscan invasion typically speak of an Etruscan "influence" on Roman culture – that is, cultural objects which were adopted by Rome from neighbouring Etruria. The prevailing view is that Rome was founded by Latins who later merged with Etruscans. In this interpretation, Etruscan cultural objects are considered influences rather than part of a heritage.^[44] Rome was probably a small settlement until the arrival of the Etruscans, who constructed the first elements of its urban infrastructure such as the drainage system.^[45][46]

 

The main criterion for deciding whether an object originated at Rome and traveled by influence to the Etruscans, or descended to the Romans from the Etruscans, is date. Many, if not most, of the Etruscan cities were older than Rome. If one finds that a given feature was there first, it cannot have originated at Rome. A second criterion is the opinion of the ancient sources. These would indicate that certain institutions and customs came directly from the Etruscans. Rome is located on the edge of what was Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome, but the settlements are now known to have preceded Rome.

 

Etruscan settlements were frequently built on hills – the steeper the better – and surrounded by thick walls. According to Roman mythology, when Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on the Palatine Hill according to Etruscan ritual; that is, they began with a pomerium or sacred ditch. Then, they proceeded to the walls. Romulus was required to kill Remus when the latter jumped over the wall, breaking its magic spell (see also under Pons Sublicius). The name of Rome is attested in Etruscan in the form Ruma-χmeaning 'Roman', a form that mirrors other attested ethnonyms in that language with the same suffix -χ: Velzna-χ '(someone) from Volsinii' and Sveama-χ '(someone) from Sovana'. This in itself, however, is not enough to prove Etruscan origin conclusively. If Tiberius is from θefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar (Tiber) river. A heavily discussed topic among scholars is who was the founding population of Rome. In 390 BC, the city of Rome was attacked by the Gauls, and as a result may have lost many – though not all – of its earlier records. Certainly, the history of Rome before that date is not as secure as it later becomes, but enough material remains to give a good picture of the development of the city and its institutions.^{[citation needed]}

 

Later history relates that some Etruscans lived in the Vicus Tuscus,^[47] the "Etruscan quarter", and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from a Greek, Demaratus of Corinth) that succeeded kings of Latin and Sabine origin. Etruscophile historians would argue that this, together with evidence for institutions, religious elements and other cultural elements, proves that Rome was founded by Italics. The true picture is rather more complicated, not least because the Etruscan cities were separate entities which never came together to form a single Etruscan state. Furthermore, there were strong Latin and Italic elements to Roman culture, and later Romans proudly celebrated these multiple, 'multicultural' influences on the city.

 

Under Romulus and Numa Pompilius, the people were said to have been divided into thirty curiae and three tribes. Few Etruscan words entered Latin, but the names of at least two of the tribes – Ramnes and Luceres – seem to be Etruscan. The last kings may have borne the Etruscan title lucumo, while the regalia were traditionally considered of Etruscan origin – the golden crown, the sceptre, the toga palmata (a special robe), the sella curulis (curule chair), and above all the primary symbol of state power: The fasces. The latter was a bundle of whipping rods surrounding a double-bladed axe, carried by the king's lictors. An example of the fasces are the remains of bronze rods and the axe from a tomb in Etruscan Vetulonia. This allowed archaeologists to identify the depiction of a fasces on the grave stele of Avele Feluske, who is shown as a warrior wielding the fasces. The most telling Etruscan feature is the word populus, which appears as an Etruscan deity, Fufluns. Populusseems to mean the people assembled in a military body, rather than the general populace.^{[citation needed]}

 

Roman families of Etruscan origin

• Lartia (gens)
• Herminia (gens)
• Cilnia (gens)
• Tarquinia (gens)
• Tarquitia (gens)
• Caecina (gens)
• Caelia (gens)
• Perperna (gens)
• Caesennia (gens)
• Ceionia (gens)
• Erucia (gens)
• Persia (gens)
• Rasinia (gens)
• Sanquinia (gens)

Society

Main article: Etruscan society

 

Government

Main article: Etruscan governance

 

Etruscan mother and child, 500–450 BC

 

The historical Etruscans had achieved a state system of society, with remnants of the chiefdom and tribal forms. In this, they were different from the surrounding Italics, who had chiefs and tribes. Rome was in a sense the first Italic state, but it began as an Etruscan one. It is believed that the Etruscan government style changed from total monarchy to oligarchic republic (as the Roman Republic) in the 6th century BC, although it is important to note this did not happen to all the city-states.^{[citation needed]}

 

The government was viewed as being a central authority, ruling over all tribal and clan organizations. It retained the power of life and death; in fact, the gorgon, an ancient symbol of that power, appears as a motif in Etruscan decoration. The adherents to this state power were united by a common religion. Political unity in Etruscan society was the city-state, which was probably the referent of methlum, "district". Etruscan texts name quite a number of magistrates, without much of a hint as to their function: The camthi, the parnich, the purth, the tamera, the macstrev, and so on. The people were the mech. The chief ruler of a methlum was perhaps a zilach.^{[citation needed]}

 

Family

Main article: Etruscan society: Rise of the family

 

Etruscan couple (Louvre, Room 18)

 

The princely tombs were not of individuals. The inscription evidence shows that families were interred there over long periods, marking the growth of the aristocratic family as a fixed institution, parallel to the gens at Rome and perhaps even its model. The Etruscans could have used any model of the eastern Mediterranean. That the growth of this class is related to the new acquisition of wealth through trade is unquestioned. The wealthiest cities were located near the coast. At the centre of the society was the married couple, tusurthir. The Etruscans were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing.

 

Similarly, the behaviour of some wealthy women is not uniquely Etruscan. The apparent promiscuous revelry has a spiritual explanation. Swaddling and Bonfante (among others) explain that depictions of the nude embrace, or symplegma, "had the power to ward off evil", as did baring the breast, which was adopted by western culture as an apotropaic device, appearing finally on the figureheads of sailing ships as a nude female upper torso. It is also possible that Greek and Roman attitudes to the Etruscans were based on a misunderstanding of the place of women within their society. In both Greece and Republican Rome, respectable women were confined to the house and mixed-sex socialising did not occur. Thus, the freedom of women within Etruscan society could have been misunderstood as implying their sexual availability.^{[original research?]} It is worth noting that a number of Etruscan tombs carry funerary inscriptions in the form "X son of (father) and (mother)", indicating the importance of the mother's side of the family.^{[citation needed]}

 

Military

Main article: Etruscan military history

See also: Padanian Etruria

 

Etruscan warrior, found near Viterbo, Italy, dated c. 500 BC

 

The Etruscans, like the contemporary cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, had a significant military tradition. In addition to marking the rank and power of certain individuals, warfare was a considerable economic advantage to Etruscan civilization. Like many ancient societies, the Etruscans conducted campaigns during summer months, raiding neighboring areas, attempting to gain territory and combating piracy as a means of acquiring valuable resources, such as land, prestige, goods, and slaves. It is likely that individuals taken in battle would be ransomed back to their families and clans at high cost. Prisoners could also potentially be sacrificed on tombs as an honor to fallen leaders of Etruscan society, not unlike the sacrifices made by Achilles for Patrocles.^[48][49][50]

 

Cities

Main article: Etruscan cities

 

The range of Etruscan civilization is marked by its cities. They were entirely assimilated by Italic, Celtic, or Roman ethnic groups, but the names survive from inscriptions and their ruins are of aesthetic and historic interest in most of the cities of central Italy. Etruscan cities flourished over most of Italy during the Roman Iron Age, marking the farthest extent of Etruscan civilization. They were gradually assimilated first by Italics in the south, then by Celts in the north and finally in Etruria itself by the growing Roman Republic.^[48]

 

That many Roman cities were formerly Etruscan was well known to all the Roman authors. Some cities were founded by Etruscans in prehistoric times, and bore entirely Etruscan names. Others were colonized by Etruscans who Etruscanized the name, usually Italic.^[49]

 

Culture

 

Religion

Main article: Etruscan religion

Chimera of Arezzo

Inscription of Tinia on the Chimera's leg

 

The Etruscan system of belief was an immanent polytheism; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities that acted continually on the world of man and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favour of human affairs. How to understand the will of deities, and how to behave, had been revealed to the Etruscans by two initiators, Tages, a childlike figure born from tilled land and immediately gifted with prescience, and Vegoia, a female figure. Their teachings were kept in a series of sacred books. Three layers of deities are evident in the extensive Etruscan art motifs. one appears to be divinities of an indigenous nature: Catha and Usil, the sun; Tivr, the moon; Selvans, a civil god; Turan, the goddess of love; Laran, the god of war; Leinth, the goddess of death; Maris; Thalna; Turms; and the ever-popular Fufluns, whose name is related in some way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus, possibly, the god of the people.^[51][52]

 

Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess. In addition, some Greek and Roman gods were taken into the Etruscan system: Aritimi (Artemis), Menrva (Minerva), Pacha (Dionysus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs.^[51][52]

 

Architecture

Main article: Etruscan architecture

 

3D view, facing west, of the Etruscan Hypogeum of the Volumnis, Perugia, Italy, cut from a laser scan

 

Relatively little is known about the architecture of the ancient Etruscans. They adapted the native Italic styles with influence from the external appearance of Greek architecture. In turn, Ancient Roman architecture began with Etruscan styles, and then accepted still further Greek influence. Roman temples show many of the same differences in form to Greek ones that Etruscan temples do, but like the Greeks, use stone, in which they closely copy Greek conventions. The houses of the wealthy were evidently often large and comfortable, but the burial chambers of tombs, often filled with grave-goods, are the nearest approach to them to survive. In the southern Etruscan area, tombs have large rock-cut chambers under a tumulus in large necropoleis, and these, together with some city walls, are the only Etruscan constructions to survive. Etruscan architecture is not generally considered as part of the body of Greco-Roman classical architecture.^[53]

 

Art and music

Main article: Etruscan art

 

5th century BC fresco of dancers and musicians, Tomb of the Leopards, Monterozzi necropolis, Tarquinia, Italy

 

A dancer in the Tomb of the Augurs, Tarquinia, Italy, 525–500 BC

 

Terracotta head of a Man Wearing a Laurel-Wreath, 2nd century BC

 

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly lifesize on sarcophagi or temples), wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but few large examples have survived (the material was too valuable, and recycled later). In contrast to terracotta and bronze, there was apparently little Etruscan sculpture in stone, despite the Etruscans controlling fine sources of marble, including Carrara marble, which seems not to have been exploited until the Romans. Most surviving Etruscan art comes from tombs, including all the fresco wall-paintings, which show scenes of feasting and some narrative mythological subjects.^{[citation needed]}

 

Bucchero wares in black were the early and native styles of fine Etruscan pottery. There was also a tradition of elaborate Etruscan vase painting, which sprung from its Greek equivalent; the Etruscans were the main export market for Greek vases. Etruscan temples were heavily decorated with colourfully painted terracotta antefixes and other fittings, which survive in large numbers where the wooden superstructure has vanished. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.^[54]

The Etruscan musical instruments seen in frescoes and bas-reliefs are different types of pipes, such as the plagiaulos (the pipes of Pan or Syrinx), the alabaster pipe and the famous double pipes, accompanied on percussion instruments such as the tintinnabulum, tympanum and crotales, and later by stringed instruments like the lyre and kithara.

 

Language and etymology

Main article: Etruscan language

 

Cippus Perusinus. 3rd–2nd century BC, San Marco near Perugia

 

Knowledge of the Etruscan language is still far from complete. The Etruscans are believed to have spoken a non-Indo-European language; the majority consensus is that Etruscan is related only to other members of what is called the Tyrsenian language family, which in itself is an isolate family, that is, unrelated directly to other known language groups. Since Rix (1998), it is widely accepted that the Tyrsenian family groups Raetic and Lemnian are related to Etruscan.^[2]

 

No etymology exists for Rasna, the Etruscans' name for themselves. The etymology of Tusci is based on a beneficiary phrase in the third Iguvine tablet, which is a major source for the Umbrian language.^[55] The phrase is turskum ... nomen, "the Tuscan name", from which a root *Tursci can be reconstructed.^[56] A metathesis and a word-initial epenthesis produce E-trus-ci.^[57] A common hypothesis is that *Turs- along with Latin turris, "tower", come from Greek τύρσις, "tower."^[58] The Tusci were therefore the "people who build towers"^[58] or "the tower builders."^[59] This venerable etymology is at least as old as Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who said "And there is no reason that the Greeks should not have called them by this name, both from their living in towers and from the name of one of their rulers."^[60]

 

Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante speculate that Etruscan houses seemed like towers to the simple Latins.^[61] It is true that the Etruscans preferred to build hill towns on high precipices enhanced by walls.

 

Literature

 

Samples of Etruscan script, from the Liber linteus

 

Etruscan texts, written in a space of seven centuries, use a form of the Greek alphabet due to close contact between the Etruscans and the Greek colonies at Pithecusae and Cumae in the 8th century BC (until it was no longer used, at the beginning of the 1st century AD). Etruscan inscriptions disappeared from Chiusi, Perugia and Arezzo around this time. only a few fragments survive, religious and especially funeral texts most of which are late (from the 4th century BC). In addition to the original texts that have survived to this day, we have a large number of quotations and allusions from classical authors. In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus wrote that literary culture was one of the great achievements of the Etruscans. Little is known of it and even what is known of their language is due to the repetition of the same few words in the many inscriptions found (by way of the modern epitaphs) contrasted in bilingual or trilingual texts with Latin and Punic. Out of the aforementioned genres, is just one such Vorrio (Vorrius) cited in classical sources mention.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]} With a few exceptions, such as the Liber Linteus, the only written records in the Etruscan language that remain are inscriptions, mainly funerary. The language is written in the Etruscan alphabet, a script related to the early Euboean Greek alphabet.^[62] Many thousand inscriptions in Etruscan are known, mostly epitaphs, and a few very short texts have survived, which are mainly religious. Etruscan imaginative literature is evidenced only in references by later Roman authors, but it is evident from their visual art that the Greek myths were well-known.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Laurel Taylor. "The Etruscans, an introduction". Khan Academy.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Helmut Rix (2008). "Etruscan". In Roger D. Woodard (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp. 141–64.
3. ^ Diana Neri (2012). "1.1 Il periodo villanoviano nell'Emilia occidentale". Gli etruschi tra VIII e VII secolo a.C. nel territorio di Castelfranco Emilia (MO) (in Italian). Firenze: All'Insegna del Giglio. p. 9. ISBN 978-8878145337. Il termine “Villanoviano” è entrato nella letteratura archeologica quando, a metà dell ’800, il conte Gozzadini mise in luce le prime tombe ad incinerazione nella sua proprietà di Villanova di Castenaso, in località Caselle (BO). La cultura villanoviana coincide con il periodo più antico della civiltà etrusca, in particolare durante i secoli IX e VIII a.C. e i termini di Villanoviano I, II e III, utilizzati dagli archeologi per scandire le fasi evolutive, costituiscono partizioni convenzionali della prima età del Ferro
4. ^ Gilda Bartoloni (2012). La cultura villanoviana. All'inizio della storia etrusca (in Italian). Roma: Carocci editore.
5. ^ Giovanni Colonna (2000). "I caratteri originali della civiltà Etrusca". In Mario Torelli (ed.). Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milano: Bompiani. pp. 25–41.
6. ^ Dominique Briquel (2000). "Le origini degli Etruschi: una questione dibattuta fin dall'antichità". In Mario Torelli (ed.). Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milano: Bompiani. pp. 43–51.
7. ^ Gilda Bartoloni (2000). "Le origini e la diffusione della cultura villanoviana". In Mario Torelli (ed.). Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milano: Bompiani. pp. 53–71.
8. ^ "A good map of the Italian range and cities of the culture at the beginning of its history". mysteriousetruscans.com.
9. ^ The topic of the "League of Etruria" is covered in Freeman, pp. 562–65.
10. ^ Titus Livius. Ab Urbe Condita Libri [The History of Rome]. Book V, Section 33. The passage identifies the Raetii as a remnant of the 12 cities "beyond the Apennines".
11. ^ Polybius. "Campanian Etruscans mentioned". II.17.
12. ^ The entire subject with complete ancient sources in footnotes was worked up by George Dennis in his Introduction. In the LacusCurtius transcription, the references in Dennis's footnotes link to the texts in English or Latin; the reader may also find the English of some of them on WikiSource or other Internet sites. As the work has already been done by Dennis and Thayer, the complete work-up is not repeated here.
13. ^ M. Cary; H.H. Scullard (1979). A History of Rome (3rd ed.). p. 28. ISBN 0-312-38395-9.
14. ^ Rasenna comes from Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. I.30.3. The syncopated form, Rasna, is inscriptional and is inflected.
15. ^ The topic is covered in Pallottino, p. 133.
16. ^ Some inscriptions, such as the cippus of Cortona, feature the Raśna (pronounced Rashna) alternative, as is described at Gabor Z. Bodroghy. "Origins". The Palaeolinguistic Connection. Etruscan. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008.
17. ^ According to Félix Gaffiot's Dictionnaire Illustré Latin Français, the major authors of the Roman Republic (Livy, Cicero, Horace, and others) used the term Tusci. Cognate words developed, including Tuscia and Tusculanensis. Tuscī was clearly the principal term used to designate things Etruscan; Etruscī and Etrusia/Etrūria were used less often, mainly by Cicero and Horace, and they lack cognates.
18. ^ According to the online Etymological Dictionary". the English use of Etruscan dates from 1706.
19. ^ Gaffiot's.
20. ^ Strabo, 6.2
21. ^ Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, 7.7–8
22. ^ John Pairman Brown, Israel and Hellas, Vol.2 (2000) p. 211
23. ^ 4.109
24. ^ 6.137
25. ^ Jump up to:^a b 5.2, citing Anticlides
26. ^ 1.94
27. ^ Robert D. Morritt (2010). Stones that Speak. p. 272.
28. ^ Haegen, Anne Mueller von der; Strasser, Ruth F. (2013). "The Mysterious People of Etruria". Art & Architecture: Tuscany. Potsdam: H.F.Ullmann Publishing. p. 313. ISBN 978-3-8480-0321-1.
29. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. 1.17–19.
30. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. Book I, Chapters 30 1.
31. ^ Thyoscoï, earlier form of Tusci.
32. ^ Titus Livius. Ab Urbe Condita Libri [The History of Rome]. Book 5.
33. ^ "Etruscan origins in a prehistoric European context". Observations that transcend law and politics. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
34. ^ Bonfante (2006): 9.
35. ^ C. Vernesi e Altri (March 2004). "The Etruscans: A population-genetic study". American Journal of Human Genetics.
36. ^ Silvia Ghirotto; Francesca Tassi; Erica Fumagalli; Vincenza Colonna; Anna Sandionigi; Martina Lari; Stefania Vai; Emmanuele Petiti; Giorgio Corti; Ermanno Rizzi; Gianluca De Bellis; David Caramelli; Guido Barbujani (6 February 2013). "Origins and evolution of the Etruscans' mtDNA". PLoS one. 8: e55519. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055519. PMC 3566088. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
37. ^ Perkins, Phil (2017). "Chapter 8: DNA and Etruscan identity". In Naso, Alessandro (ed.). Etruscology. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 109–18. ISBN 978-1934078495.
38. ^ Perkins, Phil (2009). "DNA and Etruscan identity". In Perkins, Phil; Swaddling, Judith (eds.). Etruscan by Definition: Papers in Honour of Sybille Haynes. London: The British Museum Research Publications. pp. 95–111. ISBN 978-0861591732. 173.
39. ^ Jump up to:^a b Larissa Bonfante. Etruscan life and afterlife. ISBN 978-0-8143-1813-3. Retrieved 2009-04-22 – via Google Books.
40. ^ Jump up to:^a b John Franklin Hall. Etruscan Italy. ISBN 978-0-8425-2334-9. Retrieved 22 April2009 – via Google Books.
41. ^ Livy VII.21
42. ^ "Etruschi" [Etruscans]. Dizionario di storia (in Italian). Treccani. Retrieved 29 March2016.
43. ^ "The Etruscan League of 12". mysteriousetruscans.com. 2 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
44. ^ Davis, Madison; Frankforter, Daniel (2004). "The Shakespeare Name Dictionary". Routleg. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
45. ^ Cunningham, Reich (2006). Cultures and Values: A survey of the humanities. p. 92. The later Romans' own grandiose picture of the early days of their city was intended to glamorize its origins, but only with the arrival of the Etruscans did anything like an urban center begin to develop.
46. ^ Hughes (2012). Rome: A cultural, visual, and personal history. p. 24. Some Roman technical achievements began in Etruscan expertise. Though the Etruscans never came up with an aqueduct, they were good at drainage, and hence they were the ancestors of Rome's monumental sewer systems.
47. ^ Tacitus, Cornelius. The Annals & The Histories. Trans. Alfred Church and William Brodribb. New York, 2003.
48. ^ Jump up to:^a b Mario Torelli. The Etruscans. Rizzoli International Publications.
49. ^ Jump up to:^a b Trevor Dupey. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. Rizzoli Harper Collins Publisher.
50. ^ Dora Jane Hamblin. The Etruscans. Time Life Books.
51. ^ Jump up to:^a b De Grummond; Nancy Thomson (2006). Etruscan Mythology, Sacred History and Legend: An Introduction. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology.
52. ^ Jump up to:^a b Erika Simon. The religion of the Etruscans. ISBN 978-0-292-70687-3 – via Google Books.
53. ^ Axel Boëthius; Roger Ling; Tom Rasmussen (1994). Etruscan and early Roman architecture. Yale University Press.
54. ^ Spivey, Nigel (1997). Etruscan Art. London: Thames and Hudson.
55. ^ Michael Weiss. "'Cui bono?' The beneficiary phrases of the third Iguvine table"(PDF). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
56. ^ Carl Darling Buck (1904). Introduction: A Grammar of Oscan and Umbian. the forumromanum.org. Boston: Gibb & Company.
57. ^ Eric Partridge (1983). Origins. Greenwich House, New York. under "tower".
58. ^ Jump up to:^a b The Bonfantes (2003), p. 51.
59. ^ Partridge (1983)
60. ^ Book I, Section 30.
61. ^ Bonfante, Giuliano; Bonfante, Larissa (2002). The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Revised Edition. Manchester University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0719055409.
62. ^ "Etrusca". The Culture Traveler.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.

Further reading

• Bell S. and Carpino A. A Companion to the Etruscans, Oxford; Chichester; Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.
• Bonfante, Giuliano and Bonfante Larissa. The Etruscan Language: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002.
• Bonfante, Larissa. Out of Etruria: Etruscan Influence North and South. Oxford: B.A.R., 1981.
• Bonfante, Larissa. Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986.
• Bonfante, Larissa. Etruscan Myths. London: British Museum Press, 2006.
• Haynes, Sybille. Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000.
• Izzet, Vedia. The Archaeology of Etruscan Society. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• Naso, A. Etruscology, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017.
• Smith, C. The Etruscans: a very short introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Spivey, Nigel. Etruscan Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
• Swaddling, Judith and Philip Perkins. Etruscan by Definition: The Culture, Regional, and Personal Identity of the Etruscans: Papers in Honor of Sybille Haynes. London: British Museum, 2009.
• Turfa, Jean MacIntosh. The Etruscan World. London: Routledge, 2013.

Cities and sites[edit]

• (Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Umbria) "The Cai Cutu Etruscan tomb" An undisturbed late Etruscan family tomb, reused between the 3rd and 1st century BC, reassembled in the National Archeological Museum of Perugia
• Etruscan Splendors from Volterra in Tuscany
• Hypogeum of the Volumnis digital media archive (creative commons-licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas), data from a University of Ferrara/CyArk research partnership

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Etruscans.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Etruscan civilization

Library resources about  Etruscan civilization

Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries

• "Etruscan weapons and warfare". Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
• "Etruscan Lion Plaque Pendant". Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2002.
• "The place of the Etruscans in world civilisation".