Map showing the extent of the Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities.
The Etruscan civilization existed in Etruria and the Po valley in the northern part of what is now Italy, prior to the formation of the Roman Republic.
The Etruscans are generally believed to have been a non-Indo-European people who inhabited northern and central Italy before 800 BC. Herodotus (c. 400 BC) records the legend that they came from Lydia (modern western Turkey). Contrarily, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 100 BC) pronounced that the Etruscans were 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."
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 Villanovans to the Etruscans, indicating that they were likely indigenous after all.
During the 700s BC, the Etruscans developed into a series of autonomous city-states: Arretium (Arezzo), Caisra (Caere or modern Cerveteri), Clevsin (Clusium or modern Chiusi), Curtun (modern Cortona), Perusia (Perugia), Fufluna or Pupluna (Populonia), Veii, Tarchna (Tarquinii or modern Tarquinia-Corneto), Vetluna (Vetulonia), Felathri (Volaterrae or modern Volterra), Velzna (Volsinii or modern day Orvieto), and Velch (Volci or modern day Vulci). In the valley of the Po, where the Celts effaced their traces, stood the Etruscan cities that are now modern Mantua and Bologna, as well as the lost cities of Atria in Veneto and the recently-rediscovered Spina, south of the lagoon where Venice would rise. Etruscan influence also developed far to the north and the south. The Romans were under Etruscan power in the infancy of their own culture, and after they became independent always regarded the Etruscans with the half sneering condescension, half horrified fascination with which former subject peoples usually view their erstwhile masters (this is an important point, for it lies at the heart of the very ambivalent Roman attitude towards monarchies vs. republics).
Knowledge about the Etruscans is fragmentary, and usually filtered through Roman eyes. 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. It is known that they normally acknowledged one among their number as High King. By the 5th century BC they were under increasing pressure from turbulent Italics on the one hand, and ferocious Celts on the other. By the 3rd century BC, they had fallen under the authority of Rome. (The last Etruscan city to be subdued by Rome was Velzna, 265 BC.) In 90 BC, Etruscans were granted Roman citizenship, but they backed Marius a decade later. As a result, their language was suppressed and their distinct culture and folkways outlawed. A century later, the future Emperor Claudius could find enough elderly rustics remaining to compile an Etruscan dictionary (now lost), but they vanished as a distinct ethnic group soon after. Nevertheless, a large number of old Roman families retained a memory of Etruscan roots, for example the Sempronii, Licinii, Minucii, and Larcii. Then too, a number of the older Roman divinities turn out to be based closely on Etruscan originals.
Etruscan technology was in general more advanced than that of its neighbours. Much of what we consider as typically Roman technology, such as stone arches and municipal or sanitary inventions such as paved streets, aqueducts and sewers, were all acquired from their Etruscan neighbours. The ancient Etruscans had strong commercial interactions with Phoenicia, and later with the empire of Carthage, long before the rise of Rome.
The fall of the Etruscan state can be attributed to a variety of factors, the most influential being its disunity. The Etruscan state government was essentially a theocracy. The Etruscans met annually at the shrine of Voltumna to discuss military and political affairs. Apart from this, the Etruscans could be considered, as many ancient sources describe them, “duodecim populi Eturiae” or “the twelve peoples of Eturia”. Although the divisions between the states were not as extreme as those found in ancient Greece, individual states were under no obligation to provide aid to one another, and frequently found it difficult to unify against one threat. For this reason, the Romans could simply attack and annex individual cities. This disunity is further illustrated by the fact that Rome created treaties individually with the Etruscan states, rather than the whole. With the fall of Veii to the Romans, a key southern defense was destroyed, leaving the Etruscans pressed in on from all sides by several different forces, and ripe for conquest.
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
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.
- 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
See also
External links
This article incorporates some information taken from http://www.hostkingdom.net with permission
|
