Map showing the extent of the Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities.

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci, ancient Greeks called Tyrrhenoi and who called themselves Rasenna, syncopated to Rasna. 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 and Latium and of Campania. Rome was sited in Etruscan territory. There is considerable evidence that early Rome was founded and dominated by Etruscans. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x971, 405 KB) A map showing the extent of Etruria and the Etruscan civilization. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x971, 405 KB) A map showing the extent of Etruria and the Etruscan civilization. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... Ancient Italic peoples are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. ... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... The Roman Kingdom (Latin: Regnum Romanum) was the monarchal government for the city of Rome and its territories from its founding. ... Etruria — usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia — was an ancient country in Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium and Umbria. ... PO may stand for: Pareto optimality Parole Officer Per os, Latin for by mouth or orally Perfect Orange a third wave ska based in Knoxville, TN from 2002-2005 Pilkington Optronics, now Thales Optronics Pissed off (often used as a verb or adjective, as in POed or POed) Platforma... Latium (Lazio in Italian) is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania and the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... Campania is a region of Southern Italy, bordering on Lazio to the north-west, Molise to the north, Puglia to the north-east, Basilicata to the east, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. ...

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 7th century to an increasingly orientalizing culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. Of the various theories about the ethnic origins of the people who were culturally Villanovan, the non-committal expression "Proto-Etruscan" is preferred: if the Etruscans were not already on the Villanovan range, they would have had to enter Italy in numbers from the sea, have fought a major war to displace the indigenes, and to have developed into three confederacies of 36 cities, all within 100 years and without leaving any legends or other evidence. Centuries: 10th century BC - 9th century BC - 8th century BC Decades: 850s BC 840s BC 830s BC 820s BC 810s BC - 800s BC - 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC Events and Trends 804 BC - Hadad-nirari IV of Assyria conquers Damascus. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... The Villanovan culture and proto-Villanovan culture existed from 1100 BC to 700 BC where the proto-Villanovan culture runs from 1100 BC to 900 BC and Villanovan culture proper from 900 BC to 700 BC. The name Villanovan comes from the fact that the first archaeological finds relating to... Map of Magna Graecia Italy. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ...

Etruscan musician, Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2639, 569 KB) Description: Title: de: Tänzer des Festmahles, Detail Technique: de: Wandmalerei Dimensions: de: Höhe 130 cm Country of origin: de: Italien Current location (city): de: Tarquinia Current location (gallery): de: Tomba del Triclinio Other notes: Source: The... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2639, 569 KB) Description: Title: de: Tänzer des Festmahles, Detail Technique: de: Wandmalerei Dimensions: de: Höhe 130 cm Country of origin: de: Italien Current location (city): de: Tarquinia Current location (gallery): de: Tomba del Triclinio Other notes: Source: The... Tarquinia, formerly Corneto and in Antiquity Tarquinii, is an ancient city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy. ...

Language

Main article: Etruscan language.

The Etruscans are generally believed to have spoken a non-Indo-European language. Herodotus (c. 430 BC) records the legend that they came from Lydia (in modern western Turkey). Contrarily, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 100 BC) pronounced the Etruscans indigenous to Italy, calling themselves Rasenna and being part of an ancient nation "which does not resemble any other people in their language or in their way of life, or customs." After generations of speculation, secure knowledge of the Etruscan language only began with the discovery of the bilingual Phoenician-Etruscan Pyrgi Tablets found at the port of Caere in 1964, and this knowledge is still incomplete. Etruscan was a language spoken and written in the ancient region of Etruria (current Tuscany) and in parts of what are now Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna (where the Etruscans were displaced by Gauls), in Italy. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Lydia (disambiguation) Lydia is a historic region of western Anatolia, congruent with Turkeys modern provinces of İzmir and Manisa. ... Dionysius Halicarnassensis (of Halicarnassus), Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, flourished during the reign of Augustus. ... Rasenna (or rasna) is the word in the Etruscan language that is used to describe the Northern Italian people commonly known as the Etruscans. ... Etruscan was a language spoken and written in the ancient region of Etruria (current Tuscany) and in parts of what are now Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna (where the Etruscans were displaced by Gauls), in Italy. ... Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Phoenicia /Canaan (now Lebanon, coastal Syria and northern Israel ). Phoenician is a Semitic language of the Canaanite subgroup, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... The Pyrgi Tablets, found in an excavation of a sanctuary of that town in Italy, a port of the southern Etruscan town of Caere, are three golden leaves that record a dedication made around 500 BC by Thefarie Velianas, king of Caere, to the Phoenician goddess ‘Ashtart. ... Caere is the Latin name given by the Romans to one of the larger cities of Southern Etruria approximately 50-60 kilometres north (NNW) of Rome. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

An Etruscan warrior head figure used as a cippus (grave marker) in the necropolis Crocifisso del Tufo outside Orvieto

Some researchers have proposed that the non-Greek inscriptions found on the island of Lemnos, appearing to be related to the Etruscan language and dated to the sixth century BC, support Herodotus' hypothesis. However, recent research, referencing burial rituals, shows that there was no break in practices from the earlier settlements of the Villanovan culture to the Etruscans, indicating that they were likely indigenous, at least as far as the Romans were concerned. The Romans termed indigeni all peoples they knew to be more ancient than they. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 663 KB) Summary Etruscan cippus (grave marker) in the shape of a warrior head. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 663 KB) Summary Etruscan cippus (grave marker) in the shape of a warrior head. ... The site of Orvieto is an Etruscan acropolis. ... Lemnos (mod. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) // Overview The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time of learning and philosophy. ... The Villanovan culture and proto-Villanovan culture existed from 1100 BC to 700 BC where the proto-Villanovan culture runs from 1100 BC to 900 BC and Villanovan culture proper from 900 BC to 700 BC. The name Villanovan comes from the fact that the first archaeological finds relating to...

The term "Etruscans" should not imply that the culture was confined to Italy. There were too many to all have come from Lemnos, and there is no evidence of them in Lydia. They were, however, a seafaring people. Thousands of Etruscan inscriptions from all over the Mediterranean, especially the eastern Mediterranean, testify their presence. The end of their power dates from the time that the Romans began systematically to take over their seaports.

Mysterious origins

On the one hand the Etruscans were said in legend to have come from Anatolia, either Lydia or Troy, where they would have been urbane and international. On the other, they came from an indigenous people of Italy practicing the relatively unsophisticated and rural Villanovan culture. The poet Virgil said in the Aeneid that Trojans fled to the Italian peninsula. If they called themselves Rasenna, there is no obvious connection between that name and Etrusci or Tyrrheni. These origins are mysterious, being apparently contradictory. Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... Lydia (disambiguation) Lydia is a historic region of western Anatolia, congruent with Turkeys modern provinces of İzmir and Manisa. ... Walls of the excavated city of Troy Troy ( Ancient Greek Τροία Troia or Τροάς Troas also Ίλιον; Latin: Troia, Ilium) is a legendary city, scene of the Trojan War, described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. ... The Villanovan culture and proto-Villanovan culture existed from 1100 BC to 700 BC where the proto-Villanovan culture runs from 1100 BC to 900 BC and Villanovan culture proper from 900 BC to 700 BC. The name Villanovan comes from the fact that the first archaeological finds relating to...

The first scientific ethnographic study

In an effort to resolve the contradictions, 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 7th century to the 3rd century BC in Etruria. The results are enlightening but also contradictory. Etruria — usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia — was an ancient country in Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium and Umbria. ...

In ordinary language, comparison of mitochondrial DNA strands establishes degree of distant matrilineal kinship, far beyond the few generations recognized by society. No populations distant to us in time and place can be said to be related in the ordinary sense of the word, but remotely related individuals can be more so or less so. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA, or less popularly, mDNA) is DNA that is located in mitochondria. ...

This initial genetic study of the Etruscans finds that they were more related to each other than to the population of modern Italy; i.e., they qualify as a partially distinct genetic pool, or “people.” Moreover, this 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. From these findings, they could not have solely come from Troy or Lydia.

A possible Etruscan sea people

An Egyptian inscription at Deir al-Madinah records a victory of Ramesses III over Sea Peoples, including some named Tursha. These are probably the same as the earlier Teresh of the Merneptah Stele, commemorating Merneptah’s victory in a Libyan campaign at about 1220 BC. This may be too early for the Trojan War. Some have connected the name to Hittite Taruissa, Troy. Deir al-Madinah is the Arabic name of an Ancient Egyptian village that was home to the artisans who built the temples and tombs ordered by the pharaohs and other dignitaries during the New Kingdom period (18th to 20th dynasties) in the Valley of the Kings. ... Osirid statues of Ramses III at his temple at Medinet Habu. ... Sea Peoples is the term used for a mysterious confederacy of ship-faring raiders who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, invaded Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, and attempted to enter Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially year 8 of Rameses III of the 20th... The Merneptah Stele is the reverse of a stela erected by Amenhotep III written by Merneptah. ... Merneptah (occasionally: Merenptah) was pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (1213 – 1203 BC), the fourth ruler of the 19th Dynasty. ... The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Achaeans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. ... Hittite can refer to either: The ancient Anatolian people called the Hittites; or The Hittite language, an ancient Indo-European language they spoke. ... Walls of the excavated city of Troy Troy ( Ancient Greek Τροία Troia or Τροάς Troas also Ίλιον; Latin: Troia, Ilium) is a legendary city, scene of the Trojan War, described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. ...

The seafaring Etruscans may simply have sought brides from among their client or host populations, accounting for the mitochodrial DNA. At the other end of the spectrum of possibilities, perhaps some Trojans emigrated to Etruria, accounting for the different names. We have no evidence as to what language they spoke. They could have assimilated to Etruscan culture, just as the Etruscans assimilated to the Romans. The latter assimilation was thorough. The population of modern Tuscany is the closest of the moderns to the Etruscans, but that is not very close. The moderns do not evidence the higher degree of kinship to Anatolia or north Africa, and they are more related to the Basques than the ancients. This article is about the Basque people. ...

Archaeological possibilities

A final thread illuminated by the genetic evidence is the possible central European origin of the Villanovan. It appears to be an offshoot of the Urnfield. Some have hypothesized that the Villanovan represents immigrant Celts or Old Europeans (lumped under the Greek term “Pelasgian.”). Perhaps the Etruscans entered Italy over the Alps. The Urnfield culture of central European culture is dated roughly between 1300 BC and 750 BC. The name describes the custom of cremating the dead and placing them in cemeteries. ... A Celtic cross. ... Map showing the Neolithic expansions from the 7th to the 5th millennium BC Europe in ca. ... Ancient Greek writers used the name Pelasgian to refer to groups of people who preceded the Greeks and dwelt in several locations in mainland Greece, Crete, and other regions of the Aegean as neighbors of the Hellenes. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ...

Genetically, the ancient Etruscans have no closer affinities to the modern people of east Europe than do modern Italics. Moreover, the Urnfield never included only the Celts, and the Villanovan did not include only the Etruscans. It spread to Italics as well. More than likely, the Villanovan only represents a central European cultural influence and not a transfer of population.

If the Etruscans moved to Italy from Europe, they are most likely to have done so much earlier, and there is some evidence of that. The Rinaldone culture of central Italy and its twin, the Remedello culture of the Po Valley, appear to represent imports from the Fyn and Horgen cultures of the Swiss lakes region, who were being pushed ultimately by Indo-European pressure originating in the north Pontic area. The two pockets are remarkably coincidental, but the dates of those cultures are in the 3500-3000 BC window. Over the span of a few thousand years, it is impossible to say what the language might have been. PO may stand for: Pareto optimality Parole Officer Per os, Latin for by mouth or orally Perfect Orange a third wave ska based in Knoxville, TN from 2002-2005 Pilkington Optronics, now Thales Optronics Pissed off (often used as a verb or adjective, as in POed or POed) Platforma... Horgen is a locality in Switzerland. ... Composite satellite image of Switzerland. ... Indo-Europeans are speakers of Indo-European languages. ...

Etruscan society

Kinship

An Etruscan tusurthir.

The cemeteries of the Etruscans give us considerable information about their society. They were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing. The word for married couple was tusurthir. The lids of large numbers of sarcophagi are adorned with sculpted couples, smiling, in the prime of life (even if the remains were of persons advanced in age), reclining next to each other or with arms around each other. The bond was obviously a close one by social preference. Image File history File links Paris-Louvre-Etruscan_Couple. ... Image File history File links Paris-Louvre-Etruscan_Couple. ...

The names of persons are generally binomial: Vethur Hathisna, Avile Repesuna, Fasti aneina. The second name is typically a patronymic, but it is often made into a gentilical name with a -na suffix. Presumably, clans are a later development of a richer landed society. Dedications to Selvans (Sylvanus), the god of boundaries, are common. The Etruscans at their height used lautun, syncopated to lautn, to mean gens.

Kinship is defined with relation to the ego, or "I". I then may state whatever "I" am or you are to me. Females could state that they were the daughter of a father, sec or sech, and the wife of a husband, puia. A man apparently was never a husband, only a man. Etruscan society therefore was patrilineal and probably patriarchal. Kinship is the most basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. ... Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to ones fathers lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well. ... A patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arché means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. ...

Kinship among the Etruscans was vertical, or generational. They kept track of six generations. In addition to the mi (“I”) an individual recognized a clan (“son”) or a sec (“daughter”), a nefts (“grandson”), and a prumaths (“great-grandson”). Every self had an apa and ati (“father”and “mother”) and relatives older than they.

A division of relatives as maternal or paternal seems to have existed: the apa nachna and the ati nachna, the grandfather’s and grandmother’s relatives. On the level of the self, the lack of any words for aunt, uncle or cousins is notable. Very likely, apa was a generational word: it meant father or any of father’s male relatives. Similarly, ati would have meant any female relative of mother’s age or generation. Ruva (“brother”) is recognized, but no sister. A ruva was probably any related male of the self’s generation.

This horizontal telescoping of relatives applies indirectly to the self as well. The telals are the grand offspring, either male or female, of the grandmother, and the papals of the grandfather. Nefts can mean either grandson or grandnephew. One is reminded of Julius Caesar’s adoption of his grandnephew as son. Julius was clearly a patriarch accepting any male of Octavius' generation as a lineal descendant.

The Etruscans were careful also to distinguish status within the family. There was a step-daughter and step-son, sech fanthana and clan thuncultha, as well as a step-mother, atiu, an adopted son, clanti, and the universal mother-in-law, netei. Other terms were not as high or democratic in status. The system was like that of the Roman. The etera were slaves, or more precisely, foreign slaves. When they had been freed they were lautni (male) or lautnitha (female), freed men or women, who were closely connected to the family and were clients of it in return for service and respect.

Of the several formal kinship classifications, the Etruscan is most like the Hawaiian, which distinguishes sex and generation, but otherwise lumps persons in those classes together. The lack of a sister does not fit; however, the Etruscan dictionary is still in progress. Perhaps one will turn up.

Government

The historical Etruscans had achieved a state system of society, with remnants of the chiefdom and tribal forms. In this they were ahead of the surrounding Italics, who still had chiefs and tribes. Rome was in a sense the first Italic state, but it began as an Etruscan one. A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, which successfully claims the monopoly of the use of force. ... A chiefdom is any community led by an individual known as a chief. ... Tribal refers to a culture or society based on tribes or clans. ... Ancient Italic peoples are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. ... Chief can refer to : Paramount chief is the highest political leader in a region or country typically administered with a chief-based system. ... Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ...

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. The term theocracy is commonly used to describe a form of government in which a religion or faith plays the dominant role. ... In Greek mythology, the Gorgons (terrible or, according to some, loud-roaring) were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. ...

The political unit of 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. A magistrate is a judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. ...

All the city-states of the Etruscans were gathered into confederacies, or “leagues”. The sources tell us there were three. A league for unknown reasons, religious no doubt, had to include 12 city-states. The word for league was also mech. Once a year the states met at a fanu, or sacred place (Latin fanum) to discuss military and political affairs, and also to choose a lucumo, “ruler”, who held the office for one year. What he did is described by the infinitive, lucair, “to rule.” The Etrurian confederacy met at the fanum Voltumnae, the "shrine of Voltumna". Their league was called the “duodecim populi Etruriae” or the “twelve peoples of Eturia”.

The relationship between Rome and the Etruscans was not one of an outsider conquering a foreign people. The Etruscans considered Rome as one of their cities, perhaps originally in the Latian/Campanian league. It is entirely possible that the Tarquins appealed to Lars Porsena of Clusium, even though he was pro-republican, because he was lucumo of the Etrurian mech for that year. He would have been obliged to help the Tarquins whether he liked it or not. The kings of Rome at some point may also have been lucumo. The gens name, Lucius, is probably derived from lucair. Tarquin may mean either of two kings of ancient Rome: Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, Tarquin the Proud, seventh and last king This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Lars Porsena (sometimes spelled Lars Porsenna) was an Etruscan king known for his war against the city of Rome. ... Ancient Clusium was a Roman city, one of a succession found at the site. ... Lucius is one of the small group of common forenames found in the culture of ancient Rome. ...

The Romans attacked and annexed individual cities between 510 and 29 BC. This apparent disunity of the Etruscans was probably regarded as internal dissent by the Etruscans themselves. For example, after the sack of Rome by the Gauls, the Romans debated whether to move the city en masse to Veii, which they could not even have considered if Veii was thought to be a foreign people. Eventually Rome created treaties individually with the Etruscan states, rather than the whole. But by that time the league had fallen into disuse, due to the permanent hegemony of Rome and increasing assimilation of Etruscan civilization to it, which was a natural outcome, as Roman civilization was to a large degree Etruscan. Gallia (in English Gaul) is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Veii - or Veius - was in ancient times, an important Etrurian city 18 km NNW of Rome, Italy. ...

Religion

Rare Etruscan fanu.

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 favor of human affairs. Three layers 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, Selvan, 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. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1218x702, 219 KB) Summary A picture of the remnants of an Etruscan temple in Orvieto, Italy. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1218x702, 219 KB) Summary A picture of the remnants of an Etruscan temple in Orvieto, Italy. ...

Ruling over this panoply 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 (Bacchus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs.

The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them. These practices, which we would view as superstition, were taken over in total by the Romans. All the gods were the ais or eis, plurals aisar and eisar. One of them was a flere, a god. Where they were was a fanu or luth, a sacred place, such as a favi, a grave or temple. There you needed to make frequent fler, or offering.

Around the mun or muni, the tombs, were the man or mani (Latin Manes), the souls of the ancestors. Every man possessed a hinthial, or ghost, which might return if not propitiated. A special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha, or rath, sacred things. Every man, however, had his religious responsibilities, which were expressed in an alumnathe or slecaches, a sacred society. No public event was conducted without the netsvis, the haruspex, or his female equivalent, the nethsra. They read the bumps on the liver of a properly sacrificed sheep. We have a model of a liver marked into sections, with unreadable writing no doubt explaining what a bump in that region should mean.

Like the Egyptians, the Etruscans believed in eternal life, but prosperity there was linked to funereal prosperity here. The tombs in many cases were better than many houses, with spacious chambers, wall frescoes and grave furniture. Most Etruscan tombs have been plundered. In the tomb, especially on the sarcophagus, was a representation of the dead person in his or her prime, probably as they wanted to be in the hereafter. Some of the statuary is the finest and most realistic of any. We have no problem visualizing the appearance of the Etruscans. They wanted us to see them smiling and intimate with their kith and kin around them, and we do.

Etruscan 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. Ancient Italic peoples are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... Etruria — usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia — was an ancient country in Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium and Umbria. ...

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

Due to the fact that Rome was destroyed by the Gauls, losing most of its inscriptional evidence about its early history (according to Livy), most of that history is legendary. Archaeology confirms a widespread level of destruction by fire dated to that time. Legend; namely, the story of the rape of the Sabine women, says outright that the Italic Sabines were brought into the state. Gallia (in English Gaul) is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... The tribe of the Sabines (Latin Sabini) was an Italic tribe of ancient Italy. ...

Later history relates that the Etruscans lived in the Tuscus vicus, the “Etruscan quarter”, and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from Demaratus the Corinthian) as opposed to the non-Etruscan line. These views must come from the later reduction of Etrurian cities and absorption of the Etruscan populations into the Roman state. If we begin recounting all the institutions and persons said to be Etruscan, and comparing cultural objects to ones we know to have been of Etruscan origin, an originally Etruscan Rome appears unmistakably before our view. Rome was founded by Etruscans, all the kings were Etruscans, and the earliest government was Etruscan. Demaratus was the father of the fifth king of Rome Lucius Tarquinius Priscus; grandfather of the seventh and last King of Rome Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. ...

Foundation of Rome

Rome was founded in Etruscan territory. Despite the words of the sources, which indicated Campania and Latium also had been Etruscan, scholars took the view that Rome was 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. The Greeks also landed on Etruscan soil, at a round conventional date of about 1000 BC. Campania is a region of Southern Italy, bordering on Lazio to the north-west, Molise to the north, Puglia to the north-east, Basilicata to the east, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. ... Latium (Lazio in Italian) is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania and the Tyrrhenian Sea. ...

Etruscan walled town (Bagnoregio).

Etruscan settlements were inevitably 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). Image File history File linksMetadata Civita_di_Bagnoregio. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Civita_di_Bagnoregio. ... Romulus may refer to any of these articles: Romulus is a mythical founder of Rome, brother of Remus. ... 17th century aviaries on the hill, built by Rainaldi for Odoardo Cardinal Farnese: once wirework cages surmounted them. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The name of Rome is now believed to be Etruscan, occurring in a standard form stating “place from which”: Velzna-ch, “from Velzna”, Sveamach, “from Sveama”, Rumach, “from Ruma”. We do not know what it means. If Tiberius is from thefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar river.

Populus Romanus

Lore descending from the first constitution gives little indication of being anything but Etruscan. The people were divided into magic numbers: three tribes, 12 curiae per tribe. The word century also appears, ostensibly meaning “100” in Indo-European. Throughout the long history of Rome, a social century of any sort has never been 100. It is now known that many words of Etruscan origin have been given Indo-European pseudo-etymologies. This topic seems to generate a great deal of debate. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ...

The names of the tribes: Ramnes, Luceres, Tities, are Etruscan, as well as the word curiae. The king is most likely to have been a lucumo; certainly, the trappings of monarchy are all Etruscan: the golden crown, sceptre, the toga palmata (a special robe), the sella curulis (throne), and above all the symbol of state power: the fasces. The latter was a bundle of whipping rods surrounding a double-bladed axe. No confederate or associative form of government could have had the power to whip and execute, administered by the lictors. The term breast, also known by the Latin mamma in anatomy, refers to the upper ventral region of an animals torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. ... A Curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i. ... Roman fasces. ... The lictor, derived from the Latin ligare (to bind), was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium. ...

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. Vetulonia, formerly called Vetulonium or Vatluna, was an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modern village of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of Colonna. ... In a vascular plant, the stele is the central part of the root or stem containing the vascular tissue. ...

The most telling Etruscan feature is the very name of the people, populus, which appears as an Etruscan deity, Fufluns. It was divided into gentes, which is an Indo-European word, but that must have been substituted for the Etruscan word at the same time the Indo-European senatus arrived, at the start of the republic, when the Etruscans had become a minority in their own city and lived in the Etruscan quarter.

Etruscan architecture

Arched gate, Etruscan lion, Pisa.

Etruscan architectural features are too extensive at Rome to be considered a mere influence. The oldest wall at Rome, dating to the early monarchy, is built in the style called opus quadratum after the roughly 4-sided blocks. The style was in use at Suti, Falerii, Ardea, and Tarquinia. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x960, 434 KB) Summary City walls of Pisa, Italy Own photo - photo taken by Georges Jansoone on 10 October 2005 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Pisa Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x960, 434 KB) Summary City walls of Pisa, Italy Own photo - photo taken by Georges Jansoone on 10 October 2005 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Pisa Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the...

In addition to their walls, the Etruscans insisted on sewage and drainage systems, which are extensive in all Etruscan cities. The cloaca maxima, “great sewer”, at Rome is Etruscan. The initial Roman roads, dikes, diversion channels and drainage ditches were Etruscan. More importantly, the Etruscans brought the arch to Rome, both barreled arches and corbelled arches, which you can see in gates, bridges, depictions of temple fronts, and vaulted passages.

Homes also were built in Etruscan style: a quadrangle of rooms around an open courtyard. The roof was of a type called cavoedium tuscanicum: two parallel beams crossing in one direction on which rafters were hung at right angles.

Additional information

Much more can be and has been said on the topic; for example, on gladiatorial displays, banqueting, and entertainment, such as theatre, music and dancing, and above all Roman writing, which began in Italy among the Etruscans. The brief presentation in this article suffices to show that the Etruscans contributed more than an influence on the formation of Rome and Roman society. Pollice Verso, an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, is a well known history painters researched conception of a gladiatorial combat. ...

Some Etruscan cities

The cities that composed the Etruscan Dodecapoli or league of "twelve cities" has no completely authoritative roster. Those Etruscan cities most often included (with their more familiar Latin and Italian equivalents) are:

• Arretium (modern Arezzo)
• Caisra, Cisra (Caere or modern Cerveteri)
• Clevsin, (Clusium or modern Chiusi)
• Curtun (modern Cortona)
• Perusna (Perugia)
• Pupluna, Fufluna (Populonia)
• Veia (Veii or modern Veio)
• Tarch(u)na (Tarquinii or modern Tarquinia-Corneto)
• Vetluna, Vetluna (Vetulonia)
• Felathri (Volaterrae or modern Volterra)
• Velzna (Volsinii, presumed modern Orvieto)
• Velch, Velc(a)l (Vulci or modern Volci).

Other Etruscan cities, not members of the Dodecapoli: Church of Santa Maria della Pieve Arezzo is an old city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. ... A small town located approximately 60 miles N of Rome. ... Ancient Clusium was a Roman city, one of a succession found at the site. ... Chiusi (Etruscan Clevsin) is a town and comune in Siena province, Tuscany. ... André Rieu Concert in Piazza Della Republica, Cortona Cortona is a small town in Tuscany, Italy. ... Perugia is the capital city in the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the Tiber river, and the capital of the province of Perugia. ... Populonium (Etruscan Pupluna), an ancient seaport town of Etruria, Italy, at the north end of the peninsular of Monte Massoncello, at the south end of which is situated the town of Piombino. ... Veii - or Veius - was in ancient times, an important Etrurian city 18 km NNW of Rome, Italy. ... Tarquinia, formerly Corneto and originally Tarquinii, is an ancient city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy. ... Vetulonia, formerly called Vetulonium or Vatluna, was an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modern village of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of Colonna. ... Volterra is a town in the Tuscany region, Italy. ... The site of Orvieto is an Etruscan acropolis. ... Volci or Vulci is a Latinized form of an Etruscan city, which the Etruscans called Velch. ...

• Vi(p)sul (Faesulae or modern Fiesole)
• Adria
• Spina
• Felsina (Bononia modern Bologna)
• Rusellae, near modern Roselle Terme
• Alalia in Corsica (Roman and modern Aleria)
• Capeva (Capua)
• Manthva (Mantua)
• Inarime(?) (Pitecusa(Greek Pithekoussai) or modern Ischia)

For a map, see: "The Etruscan League of twelve cities" Florence as seen from Fiesole Fiesole is a town and comune (township) of Firenze province in the Italian region of Tuscany, 43°49N 11°18E, on a famously scenic height 346 m (1140 ft) above Florence, 8 km (5 mi) NE of that city. ... Adria is a town in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po. ... The site of Spina, the Etruscan port city on the Adriatic, at the ancient mouth of the Po south of the lagoon where Venice would one day rise, was lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the delta of the Po in 1922 first officially revealed a necropolis of... Bologna (pronounced , from Latin Bononia, BulÃ¥ggna in the local dialect) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, between the Po River and the Apennines. ... Rusellae was an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, about 10 miles southeast of Vetulonia and 5 miles northeast of Grosseto, situated on a hill with two summits, the higher 636 ft. ... Capital Ajaccio Land area¹ 8,680 km² Regional President ² Ange Santini (UMP) (since 2004) Population  - Jan. ... Capua (modern Santa Maria Capua Vetere) was the chief ancient city of Campania, and one of the most important towns of ancient Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Neapolis, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. ... Mantua Mantua (in Italian Mantova) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... The island of Ischia near Naples, Italy. ...

Some Etruscan rulers

• Osiniu (at Clusium) probably early 1100s
• Mezentius fl. c. 1100 ?
• Lausus (at Caere)
• Tyrsenos
• Velsu fl. 8th century
• Larthia (at Caere)
• Arimnestos (at Arimnus)
• Lars Porsena (at Clusium) fl. late 6th century
• Thefarie Velianas (at Caere) late 500s–early 400s
• Aruns (at Clusium) fl. c. 500
• Volumnius (at Veii) mid 400s–437
• Lars Tolumnius (at Veii) late 400s–428

Lars Porsena (sometimes spelled Lars Porsenna) was an Etruscan king known for his war against the city of Rome. ...

Bibliography

• Barker, G. and T. Rasmussen. The Etruscans. London: Blackwell, 1998.

• Bloch, Raymond. The ancient civilization of the Etruscans. Translated from the French by James Hogarth. Ancient Civilizations Series. New York: Cowles Book Co, 1969.

• Bonfante, Larissa et al. ed. Etruscan Life and Afterlife: a handbook of Etruscan studies. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1986.

• Bonfante, Larissa, Etruscan, University of California Press, 1990, ISBN 0-520-07118-2

• Bonfante, G. and L. Bonfante, The Etruscan Language. An Introduction, Manchester University Press, 2002.

• Brendel, Otto. Etruscan art. 2nd edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

• Maetzke, Guglielmo. The Art of the Etruscans. 1970. Originally published in Italian, 1969.

• Richardson, Emeline. The Etruscans: their art and civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

• Spivy, N. and S. Stoddart. Etruscan Italy. London: Batsford, 1990.

• Torelli, Mario. ed. The Etruscans. Milan: Bompiani, 2000.

• Pallottino, M. tr. Cremona, J. The Etruscans. London: Penguin Books, 1975,

• Hampton, C. The Etruscans: and the survival of Eturia. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1969.

• Macnamara, E., Everyday Life of the Etruscans. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1973.

• Haynes, S., Etruscan Civilization. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Trust, 2000.

• Ed. Bram, L., Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, Inc, 1975.

• Greenidge, A., History of Rome: During the Later Republic Early Principate. 2003, from gutenberg.org, Last accessed, 8/05/2004

• Massa, Aldo, The Etruscans, Editions Minerva, 1989, Translated by John Christmas

See also

• Liber Linteus - An Etruscan inscription.
• Tabula Cortonensis - An Etruscan inscription.
• Cippus perusinus - An Etruscan inscription.
• Pyrgi Tablets - An Etruscan inscription.
• Lemnian language - A language closely related to Etruscan once spoken on the Aegean island of Lemnos.
• Eteocypriot - A language found in the Aegean, possibly related to Etruscan.
• Eteocretan - A language found in the Aegean, possibly related to Etruscan.
• Etruria - The region and kingdom of the Etruscan civilization.
• Cortona - Originally the Etruscan city of Curtun

The Liber Linteus (Zagrabiensis) (also rarely known as Liber Agramensis) (Latin: Linen Book (of Zagreb) or Book of Agram) is the longest Etruscan text and the only extant linen book. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The Cippus Perusinus or Cippus Perugia is a stone tablet written during the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, consisting of 46 lines of Etruscan text exquisitely carved into it. ... The Pyrgi Tablets, found in an excavation of a sanctuary of that town in Italy, a port of the southern Etruscan town of Caere, are three golden leaves that record a dedication made around 500 BC by Thefarie Velianas, king of Caere, to the Phoenician goddess ‘Ashtart. ... The Lemnian language is the language of a 6th century BC inscription found on a funerary stela on the island of Lemnos (termed the Lemnos stele, discovered in 1885 near Kaminia). ... Eteocypriot was a language spoken in and around the Aegean islands by 600 BCE. It was written in the Cypriot syllabary, a syllabic script derived from Linear A which was used in Cyprus up to the 4th century BCE. It is conjectured by some linguists to be related to the... The Eteocretan (i. ... Etruria — usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia — was an ancient country in Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium and Umbria. ... André Rieu Concert in Piazza Della Republica, Cortona Cortona is a small town in Tuscany, Italy. ...

External links

• Etruscan Texts Project, a searchable database of Etruscan inscriptions.
• Etruscan News Online, the Newsletter of the American Section of the Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies.
• Etruscan and Early Italic Fonts, for the digital transcription of Etruscan inscriptions.
• Web bibliography of Etruscan-related sites (in Italian)
• Tabula Cortonensis, described by Dr Massimo Pittau (in Italian).
• Museum of the Etruscan Academy, in Cortona, Italy.
• Etruscan Lion Plaque Pendant, article on a piece of Etruscan art.
• Etruscan Splendors from Volterra in Tuscany
• Etruscan Engineering and Agricultural Achievements: The Ancient City of Spina
• Mysterious Etruscans, community dedicated to the preservation of Etruscan culture.
• The Etruscans: A Population-Genetic Study