Etruscan

 

highest civilization in Italy before the rise of Rome. The core of the territory of the Etruscans, known as Etruria to the Latins, was northwest of the Tiber River, now in modern Tuscany and part of Umbria. The Latins called the people Etrusci or Tusci, and the Greeks called them Tyrrhenoi [whence Tyrrhenian Sea]; they called themselves Rasenna.

Origins

There are three theories that seek to explain the obscure origin of the Etruscans. Their language and culture differed markedly from that of other ancient peoples of the Italian peninsula at the time—Villanovans, Umbrians, and Picenes. As a result, many scholars long upheld the tradition of Herodotus that the Etruscans migrated to Italy from Lydia in the 12th cent. B.C. to escape a severe famine. Other scholars have argued that the Etruscans are an ancient people, indigenous to Italy, whose customs are merely distinct from other Italian peoples. The third theory—that the Etruscans came down from the north through the Alpine passes—has been largely discredited. Genetic studies in the early 21st cent. have shown similarities between the modern Tuscans and their cattle and people and cattle found in the Middle East.

Rise and Fall

Regardless of the obscurity of their origins, it is clear that a distinctive Etruscan culture evolved about the 8th cent. B.C., developed rapidly during the 7th cent., achieved its peak of power and wealth during the 6th cent., and declined during the 5th and 4th cent. Etruria had no centralized government, but rather comprised a loose confederation of city-states. Important centers were Clusium (modern Chiusi), Tarquinii (modern Tarquinia), Caere (modern Cerveteri), Veii (modern Veio), Volterra, Vetulonia, Perusia (modern Perugia), and Volsinii (modern Orvieto).

The political domination of the Etruscans was at its height c.500 B.C., a time in which they had consolidated the Umbrian cities and had occupied a large part of Latium. During this period the Etruscans were a great maritime power and established colonies on Corsica, Elba, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and on the coast of Spain. In the late 6th cent. a mutual agreement between Etruria and Carthage, with whom Etruria had allied itself against the Greeks c.535 B.C., restricted Etruscan trade, and by the late 5th cent. their sea power had come to an end.

The Romans, whose culture had been greatly influenced by the Etruscans (the Tarquin rulers of Rome were Etruscans), were distrustful of Etruscan power. The Etruscans had occuped Rome itself from c.616 B.C., but in c.510 B.C. they were driven out by the Romans. In the early 4th cent., after Etruria had been weakened by Gallic invasions, the Romans attempted to beat the Etruscans back. Beginning with Veii (c.396 B.C.) one Etruscan city after another fell to the Romans, and civil war further weakened Etruscan power. In the wars of the 3d cent., in which Rome defeated Carthage, the Etruscans provided support against their former allies. During the Social War (90–88 B.C.) of Sulla and Marius the remaining Etruscan families allied themselves with Marius, and in 88 B.C. Sulla eradicated the last traces of Etruscan independence.

Etruscan Culture

Much of the actual work in Etruria was done by the native population, who were subject to, though probably not slaves of, their conquerors; the nobility of Etruscan birth formed an exclusive caste. Women had an unusually high status compared to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Etruscan wealth and power were in part based upon their knowledge of ironworking and their exploitation of iron deposits that were abundant in Etruria. Etruscan art, which largely consisted of sculpture in clay and metal, fresco tomb paintings, and fine pottery, had some of its origins in Greek and Eastern arts and was extremely influential on the art of the Romans. Fond of music, games, and racing, the Etruscans introduced the chariot into Italy. They were also highly religious. Seeking to impose order on nature, they established strict laws to govern the relations between people and gods. Lacking the scientific rationalism of the Greeks, they tried to prolong the lives of the dead by decorating their tombs like houses. While religion is perhaps the best-known aspect of Etruscan civilization, even it remains quite enigmatic.

The Etruscan language also presents difficulties to the scholar. It can be easily read (the alphabet is of Greek extraction, and the sound value of the signs is known), but, with the exception of only a few words, the vocabulary is not understood. Although the language seems to contain both Indo-European and non-Indo-European elements as well as traces of ancient Mediterranean tongues, it cannot be classified into any known group of languages. Etruscan is known from some 10,000 epigraphic records dating from the 7th cent. B.C. to the 1st cent. A.D.; most are brief and repetitious dedications. One of the mysteries of Etruscan civilization is why the written record is so sparse and why the Romans wrote almost nothing about the Etruscan language or its literature.

Bibliography

See M. Pallottino, The Etruscans (tr. 1955); O. W. von Vacano, The Etruscans in the Ancient World (tr. 1960, repr. 1965); E. Richardson, The Etruscans: Their Art and Civilization (1976); M. Grant, The Etruscans (1981); E. MacNamara, Everyday Life of the Etruscans (1987); S. Haynes, Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History (2000); M. Torelli, Etruscans (2001).

Rasna Rasenna 1200 BC – 100 BC → Extent of Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities. Capital Velzna- (Orvieto) Language(s) Etruscan language Religion Etruscan paganism Political structure Confederation Luchume  - Unknown Tyrrhenus  - Unknown Tarchon Legislature Etruscan League Historical era Ancient  - Villanovan 1200 BC  - Roman assimilation 100 BC

Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci.^[1] The Attic Greek word for them was Τυρρήνιοι (Tyrrhēnioi) from which Latin also drew the names Tyrrhēni (Etruscans), Tyrrhēnia (Etruria) and Tyrrhēnum mare (Tyrrhenian Sea).^[2] The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.^[3] It was dated to be made in 800-300 B.C.

As distinguished by its own language, the civilization endured from an unknown prehistoric time prior to the foundation of Rome until its complete assimilation to Italic Rome in the Roman Republic. At its maximum extent during the foundation period of Rome and the Roman kingdom, it flourished in three confederacies: of Etruria, of the Po valley with the eastern Alps, and of Latium and Campania.^[4] Rome was sited in Etruscan territory. There is considerable evidence that early Rome was dominated by Etruscans until the Romans sacked Veii in 396 BC.

Culture that is identifiably and certainly Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the seventh century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy.

Language

Main article: Etruscan language

The Etruscans are believed to have spoken a non-Indo-European language. Knowledge of their language is still far from complete.

Etymology

No etymology exists for Rasna.

The etymology of Tusci is based on a beneficiary phrase in the third Iguvine tablet, which is a major source for the Umbrian language.^[5] The phrase is turskum ... nomen, the Tuscan name, from which a root *Tursci can be reconstructed.^[6] A metathesis and an e-extension produce E-trus-ci.^[7] A common hypothesis is that *Turs- along with Latin turris, "tower", come from Greek τύρσις, "tower."^[8]. The Tusci were therefore the "people who build towers"^[8] or "the tower builders."^[9] This venerable etymology is at least as old as Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who said "And there is no reason why 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."^[10]

The Bonfantes speculate that Etruscan houses seemed like towers to the simple Latins. It is true that the Etruscans preferred to build hill towns on high precipices enhanced by walls. On the other hand if the Tyrrhenian name came from an incursion of sea peoples or later migrants (see below) then it might well be related to the name of Troy, the city of towers in that case.

Origins

The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. Several hypotheses exist, some of which are listed below. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Debate over origins began even as the Etruscans lived out the floruit of their civilization and was revived in the 17th century AD. Whether ancient or modern theorists proceed mainly by looking for pattern matches between cultures; that is, given sets of cultural elements, {a, b, ...} of cultures {A, B, ...}, theorists look for groups of common elements and then hypothesize a connection between the corresponding cultures. The elements might be from any cultural aspects at all from speech sounds to pot marks.

No complete but many partial matches have been found.

Ethnic formation hypothesis

In his own history of the Etruscan debate, Massimo Pallottino, the dominant Etruscologist of his times, distinguished between "provenance" and "ethnic formation."^[11] Theories of the former seek an origin. He divided those into "oriental", "northern" and "autochthonous."

Formulating a different point of view on the same evidence, Pallottino says:^[12]

... we must consider the concept 'Etruscan' as ... attached to ... a nation that flourished in Etruria between the eighth and first centuries BC .... We may discuss the provenance of each of these elements but a more appropriate concept ... would be that of formation ... the formative process of the nation can only have taken place on the territories of the Etruscans proper; and we are able to witness the final stages of this process.

Autochthonous hypothesis

Dionysius of Halicarnassus asserted:^[10]

Indeed, those probably come nearest to the truth who declare that the nation migrated from nowhere signal, 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.

With this passage Dionysius launched the autochthonous theory, that the core element of the Etruscans, who spoke the Etruscan language, were of "the earth itself"; that is, on location for so long that they appeared to be the original or native inhabitants. They are therefore the owners of the Villanovan culture.^[13]

Picking up this theme, the Bonfantes (2002) state:^[14]

... the history of the Etruscan people extends ... from c. 1200 to c. 100 BC. Many sites of the chief Etruscan cities of historical times were continuously occupied from the Iron Age 'Villanovan period on. Much confusion would have been avoided if archaeologists had used the name 'Proto-Etruscan' .... For in fact the people ... did not appear suddenly. Nor did they suddenly start to speak Etruscan.

An additional elaboration conjectures that the Etruscans were^[15]

... an ethnic island of very ancient peoples isolated by the flood of Indo-European speakers.

Lydian immigration hypothesis

Herodotus^[16] records the legend that the Etruscans came from Lydia in Asia Minor:

This is their story: [...] their king divided the people into two groups, and made them draw lots, so that the one group should remain and the other leave the country; he himself was to be the head of those who drew the lot to remain there, and his son, whose name was Tyrrhenus, of those who departed. [...] they came to the Ombrici, where they founded cities and have lived ever since. They no longer called themselves Lydians, but Tyrrhenians, after the name of the king's son who had led them there.

In reply, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who read Herodotus, states:^[10]

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.

Sea peoples hypothesis

Main article: Tyrrhenians

The Tyrrhenians may have been one of the sea peoples of the 14th (13th?) century BC.

Genetic evidence

A team of geneticists from different universities in Italy and Spain undertook the first genetic studies of the ancient Etruscans, based on mitochondrial DNA from 80 bone samples taken from tombs dating from the seventh century to the third century BC in Etruria.^[17] This study finds that they were more related to each other than to the general population of modern Italy. Recent studies suggested a Near East origin ^[18]

This team of scientitsts did not use genetic testing to estimate total population numbers, however they referenced a second work that did give an estimate ^[19] Based upon that estimate, the pool contained between about 150,000 to 200,000 women. Dividing these numbers by the 36 cities in the three Etruscan leagues obtains an average of between 4167 and 6944 women per community. Selecting an arbitrary family size of four gives a most approximate Etruscan population of 600,000 to 800,000 persons in about 36 communities of an average between 16,668 and 27,776 persons each. These populations are sufficiently dense and sufficiently urban to have accomplished everything the Etruscans were supposed to have accomplished.

The studies did show that there is a link between Etruscans and certain populations of Anatolia. In particular, the areas of historical Etruscan occupation share a relatively high concentration of y-haplogroup G with Anatolians. This evidence is not specific to any period or calendar date; the time of a contiguous population or significant migration might be far back in the stone age.

Another team of Italian researchers has shown that the mtDNA of cattle (Bos taurus) in modern Tuscany is different from that of cattle normally found in Italy, and even in Europe as a whole.^[20] Their mtDNA is, in fact, similar to that of cattle typically found in the Near East. Many tribes who have migrated in the past have typically taken their livestock with them as they moved. This bovine mtDNA study suggests that at least some people whose descendants were Etruscans did in fact make their way to Italy from Anatolia or other parts of the Near East. The study gives no clue as to when they might have done so.

Prehistory

Main article: Villanovan culture

As the Villanovan Culture prevailed over the Etruscan range at the dawn of their history, it must have been theirs. That it was exclusively theirs over its time span is less certain, and whether Etruscan culture preceded it is completely unknown.

History

Main article: Etruscan history

History is the story of real events as related by particular authors. There are no extant histories written in Etruscan by persons identifying themselves as Etruscan. Etruscan history is known nearly entirely from Roman and Greek authors; however, the Roman populace included descendants of Etruscans and Roman culture contained elements of formerly Etruscan culture. Etruscan inscriptions contain also a small amount of historical information.

Society

Main article: Etruscan society

The Etruscan monuments provide a great deal of information about the society of the Etruscans, such as kinship and government.

Religion

Main article: Etruscan mythology

Architecture

Main article: Etruscan architecture

The Etruscans made lasting contributions to the architecture of Italy, which were adopted by the Romans and through them became standard to western civilization. Rome itself is a repository of Etruscan architectural features, which perhaps did not originate with the Etruscans, but were channeled by them into Roman civilization.

Some scholars also see in Urartean art, architecture, language and general culture traces of kinship to the Etruscans of the Italian peninsula.^[21]

Art

Main article: Etruscan art

Literature

Evidenced only in references in later Roman authors, no literary texts have survived, though this does not mean there was no Etruscan literature.

Theatre

Again, only Latin references are left of this area of Etruscan culture. One word is perhaps emblematic of this theatrical work - φersu (persona in Latin, person in English). This word, among others, passed into Latin.

Music

The instruments seen in Etruscan frescoes and bas-reliefs are essentially just 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.

Heritage at Rome

Those who subscribe to an Italic foundation of Rome, followed by an Etruscan invasion, typically speak of an Etruscan “influence” on Roman culture; that is, cultural objects that were adopted at Rome from neighboring Etruria. The prevalent view today is that Rome was founded by Etruscans and merged with Italics later. In that case Etruscan cultural objects are not influences but are a heritage.

The main criterion for deciding whether an object originated at Rome and travelled 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 we find that a given feature was there first, it cannot have originated at Rome. A second criterion is the opinion of the ancient sources. They tell us outright that certain institutions and customs came from the Etruscans.

The question of the founding population

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.

Later history relates that some Etruscans lived in the Tuscus vicus, the “Etruscan quarter”, and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from a Greek, Demaratus the Corinthian) which succeeded kings of Latin and Sabine origin. Etruscophile historians would argue that this, together with evidence for institutions, religious elements and other cultural elements, prove that Rome was founded by Etruscans - or at least came under Etruscan domination. 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.

Foundation of Rome

Rome was located on the edge of Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome. As it stands now, the settlements are known to have preceded Rome. Greeks also landed on Etruscan soil, at a conventional date of about 1000 BC.

Etruscan settlements were frequently built on a hill, the steeper the better, and surrounded by thick walls. When Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on the Palatine Hill according to Etruscan ritual; that is, they began with a pomoerium 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 believed by some to be Etruscan, occurring in a standard form stating “place from which”: Velzna-χ, “from Velzna”, Sveama-χ, “from Sveama”, Ruma-χ, “from Ruma”. We do not know what it means however. If Tiberius is from θefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar river.

Populus Romanus

Under Romulus and Numa the people were said to have been divided into thirty curiae and three tribes. Very few words of Etruscan entered the Latin language, 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, 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. Chance has thrown an example of the fasces into our possession. Remains of bronze rods and the axe come from a tomb in Etruscan Vetulonia. Now that its appearance is known, the depiction of one was identified 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. Populus seems to mean the people assembled in a military body, rather than the general populace, however.

Etruscan 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.

Notes

Bibliography

Ancient sources Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities at LacusCurtius Herodotus: The History Volume I Herodotus: The History Volume II Livy: From the Founding of the City on Wikisource Polybius: The Rise of the Roman Empire at LacusCurtius Modern sources Barker, G.; T. Rasmussen (1998). The Etruscans. London: Blackwell.  Bloch, Raymond (1969). The ancient civilization of the Etruscans. New York: Cowles Book.  Bonfante, Larissa; et al. ed. (1986). Etruscan Life and Afterlife: a Handbook of Etruscan Studies. Warminster: Aris and Phillips.  Bonfante, Larissa (1990). Etruscan. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07118-2.  Bonfante, G.; L. Bonfante (2002). The Etruscan Language. An Introduction. Manchester University Press.  Bram, L. (editor) (1975). Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.  Brendel (1995). Etruscan art. New Haven: Yale University Press.  Dennis, George (1848). The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. London: John Murray.  Available in the Gazeteer of Bill Thayer's Website at [8] Freeman, Edward Augustus (1893). History of Federal Government in Greece and Italy. London, New York: Macmillan and Co.

Greenidge, A. H. J. (2003). A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate.  de Grummond, Nancy & Erika Simon(editors) (2006). The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70687-1.  Hampton, C. (1969). The Etruscans and the survival of Etruria. London: Victor Gollancz.  Haynes, S. (2000). Etruscan Civilization. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Trust.  Maetzke, Guglielmo [1969]. The Art of the Etruscans.  Macnamara, E. (1973). Everyday Life of the Etruscans. London: B. T. Batsford.  Massa, Aldo (1989). The Etruscans. Editions Minerva.  Pallottino, M. (1975). The Etruscans. London: Penguin Books.  Richardson, Emeline (1964). The Etruscans: Their Art and Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  Roldán Hervás, José Manuel (2000). Historia de Roma. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.  Spivy, N.; S. Stoddart (1990). Etruscan Italy. London: Batsford.  Stillwell, Richard, ed. (1976). Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites.  Torelli, Mario, ed. (2000). Gli Etruschi. Milan: Bompiani.

See also

• Chimera of Arezzo
• Etruria
• National Etruscan Museum
• Sarcophagus of the Spouses
• Tomb of the Roaring Lions

External links

General

• Etruscan News Online, the Newsletter of the American Section of the Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies.
• Mysterious Etruscans, community dedicated to the preservation of Etruscan culture.
• Etruscan Origins, online article by Morris Weiss, M.D., at innominatesociety.com.

Genetics

• The Etruscans: A Population-Genetic Study
• DNA Boosts Herodotus’ Account of Etruscans as Migrants to Italy

Cities and sites

• (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

Art

• Etruscan Lion Plaque Pendant, article on a piece of Etruscan art.be-x-old:Этрускі

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