Etruscan civilization

The Etruscans created a civilization in Etruria, in ancient Italy. They shared a common language and culture and formed a federation of city-states. After nearby lands were conquered, their territory covered, at its largest, roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Lazio. It also included what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto and western Campania.

Many writers have studied where the Etruscans came from, and most modern scholars agree that they were an indigenous population. The earliest evidence of a culture that can be identified as Etruscan dates from about 900 BC. This was the period of the Iron Age Villanovan culture, which is considered the earliest phase of Etruscan civilization. It developed from the earlier late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture in the same region, which was part of the central European Urnfield culture system.

The Etruscan civilization reached its greatest territorial extent around 500 BC, shortly after the Roman Kingdom became the Roman Republic. Beginning in the late 4th century BC, it gave way to the expanding Rome during the Roman–Etruscan Wars. Etruscans were granted Roman citizenship in 90 BC, and by 27 BC the whole Etruscan territory had been brought into the newly established Roman Empire.

Etruscan culture flourished in three confederacies of cities: Etruria (Tuscany, Latium and Umbria), the Po Valley, including the eastern Alps, and Campania. The league in northern Italy is mentioned by Livy in his Ab Urbe Condita. Authority in the Etruscan political system rested with individual cities and likely with individual families. At the height of Etruscan power, wealthy families became very rich through trade with the Celts to the north and the Greeks to the south, and they filled their large family tombs with imported luxuries.

The earliest known examples of Etruscan writing are inscriptions found in southern Etruria that date to around 700 BC. The Etruscans developed a system of writing based on the Euboean alphabet, which was used in the coastal areas of Magna Graecia in Southern Italy. The Etruscan language is still only partly understood, so modern knowledge of their society and culture depends heavily on much later Roman and Greek sources, which generally viewed the Etruscans unfavorably.

Legend and history

Main article: Etruscan history

The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, a word that comes from an Etruscan word meaning "the people," according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The ancient Greeks knew them as Tyrrhenians, a name that also gave the Tyrrhenian Sea its name. The Romans called them Tusci or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of Toscana, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. One idea is that Turs-, the root of Tusci, means "tower," so the Etruscans may have been called "tower builders," because they often built their towns on high cliffs with walls. However, the origin of the name Tyrrhenian remains unknown.

Ancient Greek and Roman writers disagreed about where the Etruscans came from. Some said they came from Greece or Lydia, while others said they were native to Italy. Dionysius of Halicarnassus argued that they had always lived in the land. Today, most scholars agree that the Etruscans were an indigenous population. Archaeologists believe their civilization grew out of the earlier Villanovan culture in Italy. Over time, the Etruscans became wealthy through trade in metals such as copper and iron, and their influence spread across Italy and the western Mediterranean Sea. Their power later declined, and Rome conquered Etruria in the 3rd century BC.

Main article: Etruscan origins

Main articles: Proto-Villanovan culture and Villanovan culture

Main article: Villanovan culture

Main articles: Etruria Padana and Etruria Campana

Main article: Etruscan cities

Main article: Founding of Rome

Society

Main articles: Etruscan society and Daily life of the Etruscans

Main article: Etruscan governance

Main articles: Etruscan society: Rise of the family and Women in Etruscan society

Main article: Etruscan military history

See also: Padanian Etruria

Main article: Etruscan cities

The Etruscans had a state system of society. It is believed that their government changed from a total monarchy to an oligarchic republic in the 6th century BC. Religion was closely tied to government. The king was considered the supreme authority and acted as a link between the gods and the people. Kings and magistrates worked to keep peace with the gods through rituals and by reading signs, using haruspices who studied animal entrails and the sky. Twelve city-states formed a league that met each year at the shrine of Voltuma to make political and religious decisions.

Wealthy families became an important part of Etruscan society, and the married couple was at its center. The Etruscans also had a strong military tradition. Warfare brought economic advantages, and they raided neighboring areas and fought piracy to gain land, goods, and other resources. Over time, their cities were absorbed by Italic, Celtic, and Roman peoples. Their names survive in inscriptions, and their ruins are still of interest in central Italy.

Economy

The Etruscan economy rested on farming, mining and metalworking, and trade across the Mediterranean. Their location on the Tyrrhenian coast helped their trade. Land was seen as the basic source of wealth, but the metal ores under the ground and the metal trade made the coastal cities very rich and drew Greek and Phoenician merchants to Etruria. Roman writers praised Etruria's fertile land, its grain (especially spelt), vineyards, olive groves and figs. Cities such as Cerveteri, Roselle, Volterra, Chiusi, Perugia and Arezzo supplied grain to Rome and to the army of Scipio during the Punic Wars. Etruscan engineers were skilled at irrigation and drainage, digging underground channels, as in the territory of Veii. The Romans later continued these works. The region also had valuable metals, especially copper and iron from the Colline Metallifere and iron from the island of Elba. Populonia became a major centre for iron smelting, and Etruscan bronzes were prized abroad.

The Etruscan cities traded widely around the Mediterranean. They sent out metals, wine and oil, and bought large amounts of Greek pottery. Trade passed through coastal emporia protected by sanctuaries, such as Gravisca, the port of Tarquinia, and Pyrgi, a port of Caere. Competition for these trade routes led the Etruscans to ally with Carthage against the Phocaean Greeks, as at the Battle of Alalia. The earliest Etruscan coins, mostly made at Populonia, date from around the fifth century BC, but they were used only a little. For a long time, trade relied on bronze weighed out by value, including the so-called ramo secco ingots.

Culture

Main article: Etruscan religion

Main article: Etruscan architecture

Main article: Etruscan art

Main articles: Etruscan language and Tyrsenian languages

The Etruscans followed an immanent polytheism. They believed that everything visible showed divine power, and that this power was split among deities who were active in the world and could be asked to help with human affairs. Two figures, Tages and Vegoia, were said to have taught the Etruscans how to understand the gods, and their teachings were kept in sacred books. Among the gods were local deities such as Tinia, the sky, and Fufluns, possibly the god of the people, along with some gods inspired by Greek and Roman ones, such as Artemis and Minerva. Little is known about Etruscan architecture. They adapted native Italic styles and were influenced by Greek architecture, and ancient Roman architecture later began with Etruscan styles. Their art, made from about the 9th to the 2nd century BC, included sarcophagi, wall-paintings, and engraved bronze mirrors, and most surviving art comes from tombs. The Etruscans also played pipes and percussion instruments, and later stringed instruments such as the lyre.

The Etruscans left about 13,000 inscriptions, but only a small number are long. Their language is written in the Etruscan alphabet, which came from a Euboean Greek alphabet they adopted through contact with Greek colonies such as Cumae in the 8th century BC. Most scholars believe that Etruscan is related only to other members of the Tyrsenian language family, which is not clearly connected to other known language groups. Etruscan texts were written for about seven centuries, and the oldest written records date from around 700 BC. Most surviving texts are funeral or religious, and many are epitaphs. Some of the most important are the Liber Linteus, a ritual text, and the Tablet of Cortona, a contract text. Etruscan literature is known mostly from references by later Roman writers. The Romans adopted the Etruscan alphabet in the middle of the 7th century BC, and the Etruscan alphabet also influenced the Oscan script, Umbrian, Faliscan, and Venetic writing.