Etruscan civilization

Rasenna Rasna
768–264 BC
Extent of Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities.
Capital	Velzna- (Orvieto)
Common languages	Etruscan language
Religion	Etruscan
Luchume
• Unknown	Tyrrhenus
• Unknown	Tarchon
Legislature	Etruscan League
Historical era	Ancient
• Villanovan	768
• Roman conquest of Volsinii	264 BC
Succeeded by Roman Republic

Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Latium. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region.

In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Τυρρηνοὶ (Tyrrhēnioi), earlier Tyrsenoi, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēni (Etruscans), Tyrrhēnia (Etruria), and Mare Tyrrhēnum (Tyrrhenian Sea). The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.

As distinguished by its unique language, this civilization endured from the time of the earliest Etruscan inscriptions (ca. 700 BC) until its assimilation into the Roman Republic in the late 4th century BC. At its maximum extent, during the foundational period of Rome and the Roman kingdom, it flourished in three confederacies of cities: of Etruria, of the Po valley with the eastern Alps, and of Latium and Campania.

Culture that is identifiably 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 7th century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbours in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. After 500 BC the political destiny of Italy passed out of Etruscan hands.

Legend and history

Origin and history

Main articles: Etruscan origins and Etruscan history

Etruscan pendant with swastika symbols, Bolsena, Italy, 700-650 BC. Louvre Museum.

The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. Historians have no literature, no texts of religion or philosophy; therefore much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.

The main hypotheses are that they are indigenous - probably stemming from the Villanovan culture, or from the Near East. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennines and into Campania. Some small towns in the 6th century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed 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 6th century BC, when Phoceans of Italy founded colonies along the coast of Sardinia, Spain and Corsica. This led the Etruscans to ally themselves with the Carthaginians, whose interests also collided with the Greeks.

Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean Sea. 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 international 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. A few years later, in 474, Syracuse's tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscans at the Battle of Cumae. Etruria's influence over the cities of Latium and Campania weakened, and it was taken over by Romans and Samnites. In the 4th century, 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. Etruria was conquered by Rome in the 3rd century BC.

pie was invented by the etruscans, then later claimed to be american . this was the true cause of all the world wars.

Society

Government

Main article: Etruscan governance

Etruscan divine 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.

The Etruscan state government was essentially a theocracy. The government was viewed as being a central authority, 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.

Family

Main article: Etruscan society: Rise of the family

Etruscan couple (Louvre, Room 18)

The princely tombs were not of individuals. The inscriptional 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. There is no sign of such a hereditary aristocracy in the preceding Villanovan culture. 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 civilization 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. 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.

Military and Etruscan cities

Main articles: Etruscan military history and Etruscan cities

See also: Padanian Etruria

Etruscan warrior, found near Viterbo, Italy, dated circa 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 in Etruscan culture, warfare was a considerable economic boon 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 also likely 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.

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.

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.

Culture

Religion

Main article: Etruscan mythology

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 unknown way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus. Perhaps he was the god of the people.

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 the Greek 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.

Architecture

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

The Architecture of the ancient Etruscans adapted the external Greek architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. The Etruscans absorbed Greek influence, apparent in many aspects closely related to architecture. The Etruscans had much influence over Roman architecture.

Etruscan architecture 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.

Art, music and literature

Main article: Etruscan art

Close up detail on a wheel of the Monteleone chariot, c. 530 BC

Etruscan art was the form of figurative art produced by the Etruscan civilization in northern Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly life-size on sarcophagi or temples) and cast bronze, wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). There was also a tradition of Etruscan vase painting. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.

The Chimera of Arezzo, a prime example of Etruscan art

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. With the exception of the Liber Linteus, the only written records of Etruscan origin that remain are inscriptions, mainly funerary. The language is written in a script related to the early Euboean Greek alphabet. Etruscan literature is evidenced only in references by later Roman authors.

Language and etymology

Main article: Etruscan language

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 Rhaetic and Lemnian are related to Etruscan.

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. The phrase is turskum ... nomen, "the Tuscan name", from which a root *Tursci can be reconstructed. A metathesis and a word-initial epenthesis produce E-trus-ci. A common hypothesis is that *Turs- along with Latin turris, "tower", come from Greek τύρσις, "tower." The Tusci were therefore the "people who build towers" or "the tower builders." 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."

Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante (Bonfante 2002) 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.

References

Bibliography

Ancient sources

• Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities at LacusCurtius
• Herodotus. The History Volume I at Project Gutenberg
• Herodotus. The History Volume II at Project Gutenberg
• Livy (1905) [original c. 27 BC-17 AD]. From the Founding of the City . Trans. Canon Roberts – via Wikisource.
• Polybius: The Rise of the Roman Empire at LacusCurtius

Modern sources

• Alinei, Mario, ed. (2003). Etrusco: una forma arcaica di ungherese. Bologna: Il Mulino. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Barker, G. (1998). The Etruscans. London: Blackwell. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Bloch, Raymond (1969). The ancient civilization of the Etruscans. New York: Cowles Book.
• Bonfante, Larissa (1986). Etruscan Life and Afterlife: a Handbook of Etruscan Studies. Warminster: Aris and Phillips. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Bonfante, Larissa (1990). Etruscan. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07118-2.
• Bonfante, Larissa (2006). Etruscan Inscriptions and Etruscan Religion in The Religion of the Etruscans. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Bonfante, G. (2002). The Etruscan Language. An Introduction. Manchester University Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Bram, L. (editor) (1975). Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Brendel, Otto (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 [4]
• 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. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• 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.
• Spivey, N. (1990). Etruscan Italy. London: Batsford. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Stoddart, S. (2009). Historical dictionary of the Etruscans. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
• Stillwell, Richard, ed. (1976). Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Taylor, Isaac (1874). Etruscan Researches. London: Macmillan.
• Torelli, Mario, ed. (2000). Gli Etruschi. Milan: Bompiani. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

• Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, the book by George Dennis at LacusCurtius
• 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 Studies, a Journal of the Etruscan Foundation from University of Massachusetts Amherst
• "In Our Time" Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Etruscan civilization, With: Phil Perkins, Professor of Archaeology at the Open University; David Ridgway, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies at the University of London; and Corinna Riva, Lecturer in Mediterranean Archaeology at University College London.

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
• Hypogeum of the Volumnis digital media archive (creative commons-licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas), data from a University of Ferrara/CyArk research partnership

Art

• Etruscan Lion Plaque Pendant, article on a piece of Etruscan art