Etruscan civilization

Ethnonym and etymology According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Etruscans called themselves Rasenna (Greek Ῥασέννα), a stem from the Etruscan Rasna (𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀): "the people". Evidence of inscriptions as Tular Rasnal (𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌛 𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀𐌋), "boundary of the people", or Mechlum Rasnal (𐌌𐌄𐌙𐌋 𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀𐌋), "community of the people", attest to its autonym usage. The Tyrsenian etymology, however, remains unknown. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians (, Tyrrhēnoi, earlier Tyrsēnoi), from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia (Etruria), and Mare Tyrrhēnum (Tyrrhenian Sea). The ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī (singular Tuscus). Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Toscana, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. The term Tusci is thought by linguists to have been the Umbrian word for Etruscan, based on an inscription on an ancient bronze tablet from a nearby region. The inscription contains the phrase turskum ... nomen, literally 'the Tuscan name'. Based on knowledge of Umbrian grammar, linguists can infer that the base form of the word turskum is *Tursci, which would, through metathesis and a word-initial epenthesis, be likely to lead to the form, E-trus-ci. As for the original meaning of the root, *Turs-, a widely cited hypothesis is that it, like the Latin turris, it means 'tower' and comes from the ancient Greek word for tower: , likely a loan into Greek. In this hypothesis, the Tusci were called the 'people who build towers" This proposed etymology is made the more plausible because the Etruscans preferred to build their towns on high precipices reinforced by walls. Alternatively, Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante have speculated that Etruscan houses may have seemed like towers to the simple Latins. The proposed etymology has a long history, with Dionysius of Halicarnassus having observed in the first century BC, "[T]here is no reason that the Greeks should not have called [the Etruscans] by this name, both from their living in towers and from the name of one of their rulers." In his recent Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Robert Beekes claims the Greek word is a "loanword from a Mediterranean language", a hypothesis that goes back to an article by Paul Kretschmer in Glotta from 1934. Origins Ancient sources , a painted by the Athenian Exekias ca. 530 BCE, showing the narrative of Dionysus's capture by Tyrrhenian pirates and transfiguration of them into dolphins in the seventh Homeric Hymn , Museo archeologico nazionale , Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève pendant with a large equilateral cross of concentric circles flanked by four small right-facing swastikas among its symbols from Bolsena, Italy, 700–650 BC. Louvre Literary and historical texts in the Etruscan language have not survived, and the language itself is only partially understood by modern scholars. This makes modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman and Greek sources. These ancient writers differed in their theories about the origin of the Etruscan people. Some suggested they were Pelasgians who had migrated there from Greece, with others maintained that they were indigenous to central Italy. The first Greek author to mention the Etruscans, whom the Ancient Greeks called Tyrrhenians, was the 8th-century BC poet Hesiod in his work the Theogony. He mentioned them as residing in central Italy alongside the Latins. The 7th-century BC Homeric Hymn to Dionysus referred to them as pirates. Unlike later Greek authors, these authors did not suggest that Etruscans had migrated to Italy from the east and did not associate them with the Pelasgians. It was only in the 5th century BC, when the Etruscan civilization had been established for several centuries, that Greek writers started associating the name "Tyrrhenians" with the "Pelasgians", and even then some did so in a way that suggests they were meant only as generic, descriptive labels for "non-Greek" and "indigenous ancestors of Greeks" respectively. The 5th-century BC historians Herodotus and Thucydides, and the 1st-century BC historian Strabo, did seem to suggest that the Tyrrhenians were originally Pelasgians who migrated to Italy from Lydia by way of the Greek island of Lemnos. They all described Lemnos as having been settled by Pelasgians, whom Thucydides identified as "belonging to the Tyrrhenians" (). As Strabo and Herodotus told it, the migration to Lemnos was led by Tyrrhenus / Tyrsenos, the son of Atys (who was king of Lydia). Strabo There is some evidence suggesting a link between Lemnos and the Tyrrhenians. The Lemnos stele bears inscriptions in a language with strong structural resemblances to the language of the Etruscans. The discovery of these inscriptions in modern times has led to the suggestion of a "Tyrrhenian language group" consisting of Etruscan, Lemnian, and the Raetic spoken in the Alps. Τhis is aligned with the famous and debated testimony of Herodotus: Herodotus also mentions the existence of a tribe called Tyrsenioi/Tyrrhenoi in Central Macedonia, "who were once neighbors of those now called Dorians (for at that time the Pelasgians inhabited the land which is now called Thessaliotis)." By this Herodotus refers to Creston, a city/region in Macedonia. Additionally, Thucydides claimed that to dwell in the Athos Peninsula, also known as Acte. However, the 1st-century BC historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek living in Rome, dismissed many of the ancient theories of other Greek historians and postulated that the Etruscans were indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria and were different from both the Pelasgians and the Lydians. Dionysius noted that the 5th-century historian Xanthus of Lydia, who was originally from Sardis and was regarded as an important source and authority for the history of Lydia, never suggested a Lydian origin of the Etruscans and never named Tyrrhenus as a ruler of the Lydians. The first-century historian Pliny the Elder also put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north, and wrote in his Natural History (AD 79): Archeological evidence and modern etruscology , one of the world's great archaeological finds, 2nd quarter of the 6th century BC , Museo Gregoriano Etrusco , Museo etrusco Guarnacci The question of the Etruscans' origins has long been a subject of interest and debate among historians. In modern times, all the evidence gathered by prehistoric and protohistoric archaeologists, anthropologists, and etruscologists points to an autochthonous origin of the Etruscans. In 2000, the etruscologist Dominique Briquel explained in detail why he believes that ancient Greek narratives on Etruscan origins should not even count as historical documents. He argues that the ancient story of the Etruscans' 'Lydian origins' was a deliberate, politically motivated fabrication, and that ancient Greeks inferred a connection between the Tyrrhenians and the Pelasgians solely on the basis of certain Greek and local traditions and because there had been trade between the Etruscans and Greeks. He noted that, even if these stories include historical facts suggesting contact, such contact is more plausibly traceable to cultural exchange than to migration. Several archaeologists specializing in Prehistory and Protohistory who have analyzed Bronze Age and Iron Age remains that were excavated in the territory of historical Etruria have pointed out that no evidence has been found, related either to material culture or to social practices, to support a migration theory. The most marked and radical change that has been archaeologically attested in the area is the adoption, starting in about the 12th century BC, of the funeral rite of incineration in terracotta urns, a Continental European practice derived from the Urnfield culture; nothing about it suggests an ethnic contribution from Asia Minor or the Near East. Based on this cultural continuity, there is now a consensus among archeologists that Proto-Etruscan culture developed, during the last phase of the Bronze Age, from the indigenous Proto-Villanovan culture and that the subsequent Iron Age Villanovan culture is most accurately described as an early phase of the Etruscan civilization. One of the most common mistakes for a long time, even among some scholars of the past, has been to associate the later Orientalizing period of Etruscan civilization with the question of its origins. Orientalization was an artistic and cultural phenomenon that spread among the Greeks themselves and throughout much of the central and western Mediterranean, not only in Etruria. The Etruscan orientalizing period was due, as has been amply demonstrated by archeologists, to contacts with the Greeks and the Eastern Mediterranean and not to mass migrations. The facial features (the profile, almond-shaped eyes, large nose) in the frescoes and sculptures and the depiction of reddish-brown men and light-skinned women, influenced by archaic Greek art, followed the artistic traditions from the Eastern Mediterranean that had spread even among the Greeks themselves, and to a lesser extent also to several other civilizations in the central and western Mediterranean up to the Iberian Peninsula. Actually, many of the tombs of the Late Orientalizing and Archaic periods, such as the Tomb of the Augurs, the Tomb of the Triclinium and the Tomb of the Leopards, as well as other tombs from the archaic period in the Monterozzi necropolis in Tarquinia, were painted by Greek painters or at least foreign artists. These images have, therefore, a very limited value for a realistic representation of the Etruscan population. It was only from the end of the 4th century BC that evidence of physiognomic portraits began to be found in Etruscan art and Etruscan portraiture became more realistic. Archeogenetics There have been numerous biological studies on the Etruscan origins, the oldest of which dates to the 1950s, when research was still based on blood tests of modern samples and DNA analysis (including the analysis of ancient samples) was not yet possible. Only very recently, with the development of archaeogenetics, have comprehensive studies containing the whole genome sequencing of Etruscan samples been published, including autosomal DNA and Y-DNA, autosomal DNA being the "most valuable to understand what really happened in an individual's history", as stated by geneticist David Reich, whereas previously studies were based only on mitochondrial DNA analysis, which contains less and limited information. An archeogenetic study focusing on Etruscan origins was published in September 2021 in the journal Science Advances and analyzed the autosomal DNA and the uniparental markers (Y-DNA and mtDNA) of 48 Iron Age individuals from Tuscany and Lazio, spanning from 800 to 1 BC and concluded that the Etruscans were autochthonous (locally indigenous) and had a genetic profile similar to their Latin neighbors. In the Etruscan individuals the ancestral component Steppe was present in the same percentages as those found in the previously analyzed Iron Age Latins, and the Etruscan DNA bore no trace of recent admixture with Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Both Etruscans and Latins were firmly part of the European cluster, west of modern Italians. The Etruscans were a mixture of WHG, EEF and Steppe ancestry; 75% of the Etruscan male individuals were found to belong to haplogroup R1b (R1b M269), especially its clade R1b-P312 and its derivative R1b-L2, whose direct ancestor is R1b-U152, whilst the most common mitochondrial DNA haplogroup among the Etruscans was H. The conclusions of the 2021 study are in line with a 2019 study published in the journal Science that analyzed the remains of eleven Iron Age individuals from the areas around Rome, of whom four were Etruscan, one buried in Veio Grotta Gramiccia from the Villanovan era (900-800 BC) and three buried in La Mattonara Necropolis near Civitavecchia from the Orientalizing period (700-600 BC). The study concluded that Etruscans (900–600 BC) and the Latins (900–500 BC) from Latium vetus were genetically similar, with genetic differences between the examined Etruscans and Latins found to be insignificant. The Etruscan individuals and contemporary Latins were distinguished from preceding populations of Italy by the presence of steppe ancestry. Their DNA was a mixture of two-thirds Copper Age ancestry (EEF + WHG; Etruscans ~66–72%, Latins ~62–75%) and one-third Steppe-related ancestry (Etruscans ~27–33%, Latins ~24–37%). A couple of mitochondrial DNA studies published in 2013 in the journals PLOS One and American Journal of Physical Anthropology, based on Etruscan samples from Tuscany and Latium, concluded that the Etruscans were an indigenous population, showing that Etruscan mtDNA appears to be very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Hungary) and to other Tuscan populations, strongly suggesting that the Etruscan civilization developed locally from the Villanovan culture, as supported by archaeological evidence and anthropological research, and that genetic links between Tuscany and western Anatolia date to at least 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic and the "most likely separation time between Tuscany and Western Anatolia falls around 7,600 years ago", at the time of the migrations of Early European Farmers (EEF) from Anatolia to Europe in the early Neolithic. The ancient Etruscan samples had mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (mtDNA) JT (subclades of J and T) and U5, with a minority of mtDNA H1b. An mtDNA study published in 2004, based on about 28 samples of individuals who lived from 600 to 100 BC in Veneto, Etruria and Campania, found that the Etruscans had no significant heterogeneity and that all mitochondrial lineages observed among the Etruscan samples appear typically European or West Asian but only a few haplotypes were shared with modern populations. Allele sharing between the Etruscans and modern populations is highest among Germans (seven haplotypes in common), the Cornish from the South West of Britain (five haplotypes in common), the Turks (four haplotypes in common) and the Tuscans (two haplotypes in common). The modern populations with the shortest genetic distance from the ancient Etruscans, based solely on mtDNA and FST, were Tuscans followed by the Turks, other populations from the Mediterranean and the Cornish after. and by archaeologists, who argued that the study was not clear-cut and had not provided evidence that the Etruscans were an intrusive population to the European context. Periodization of Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization begins with the early Iron Age Villanovan culture, regarded as the oldest phase, that occupied a large area of northern and central Italy during the Iron Age. The Villanovan culture emerges with the phenomenon of regionalization from the late Bronze Age culture called "Proto-Villanovan", part of the central European Urnfield culture system. In the last Villanovan phase, called the recent phase (about 770–730 BC), the Etruscans established relations of a certain consistency with the first Greek immigrants in southern Italy (in Pithecusa and then in Cuma), so much so as to initially absorb techniques and figurative models and soon more properly cultural models, with the introduction, for example, of writing, of a new way of banqueting, of a heroic funerary ideology, that is, a new aristocratic way of life, such as to profoundly change the physiognomy of Etruscan society. Also directly Phoenician, or otherwise Near Eastern, craftsmen, merchants and artists contributed to the spread in southern Europe of Near Eastern cultural and artistic motifs. The last three phases of Etruscan civilization are called, respectively, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic, which roughly correspond to the homonymous phases of the ancient Greek civilization. Chronology Expansion Etruscan expansion was concentrated both in the north, beyond the Apennines, and in Campania, although the Etruscan presence in the Emilia-Romagna area, according to archaeologists, was not due to a recent expansion but to a much older presence. However, it is thought 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 sixth century BC, when Phocaeans of Italy founded colonies along the coast of Sardinia, Spain and Corsica. This led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, 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. Though the battle had no clear winner, Carthage managed to expand its sphere of influence at the Greeks' expense, 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 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, Sicily. A few years later, in 474 BC, Syracuse's tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscans at the Battle of Cumae. Etruria's influence over the cities of Latium and Campania weakened, and the area was taken over by Romans and Samnites. In the 4th century BC, 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. During the Roman–Etruscan Wars, Etruria was conquered by Rome in the 3rd century BC. there was a period between 600 BC and 500 BC in which an alliance formed among 12 Etruscan settlements, known today as the Etruscan League, Etruscan Federation, or Dodecapolis (). According to a legend, the Etruscan League of 12 cities was founded by Tarchon and his brother Tyrrhenus. Tarchon lent his name to the city of Tarchna, or Tarquinnii, as it was known by the Romans. Tyrrhenus gave his name to the Tyrrhenians, the alternative name for the Etruscans. Although there is no consensus on which cities were in the league, the following list may be close to the mark: Arretium, Caisra, Clevsin, Curtun, Perusna, Pupluna, Veii, Tarchna, Vetluna, Volterra, Velzna, and Velch. Some modern authors include Rusellae. The league was mostly an economic and religious league, or a loose confederation, similar to the Greek states. During the later imperial times, when Etruria was just one of many regions controlled by Rome, the number of cities in the league increased by three. This is noted on many gravestones from the 2nd century BC onwards. According to Livy, the 12 city-states met once a year at the Fanum Voltumnae at Volsinii, where a leader was chosen to represent the league. There were two other Etruscan leagues ("Lega dei popoli"): that of Campania, the main city of which was Capua, and the Po Valley city-states in northern Italy, which included Bologna, Spina and Adria. Rome was probably a small settlement until the arrival of the Etruscans, who constructed the first elements of its urban infrastructure such as the drainage system. The main criterion for deciding whether an object originated at Rome and traveled 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 one finds that a given feature was there first, it cannot have originated at Rome. A second criterion is the opinion of the ancient sources. These would indicate that certain institutions and customs came directly from the Etruscans. Rome is located on the edge of what was Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome, but the settlements are now known to have preceded Rome. Etruscan settlements were frequently built on hills—the steeper the better—and surrounded by thick walls. According to Roman mythology, when Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on the Palatine Hill according to Etruscan ritual; that is, they began with a pomerium 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 attested in Etruscan in the form Ruma-χ meaning 'Roman', a form that mirrors other attested ethnonyms in that language with the same suffix -χ: Velzna-χ '(someone) from Volsinii' and Sveama-χ '(someone) from Sovana'. But this in itself does not prove Etruscan origin conclusively. If Tiberius is from θefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar (Tiber) river. A heavily discussed topic among scholars is who was the founding population of Rome. 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. Later history relates that some Etruscans lived in the Vicus Tuscus, the "Etruscan quarter", and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from a Greek, Demaratus of Corinth) that succeeded kings of Latin and Sabine origin. Etruscophile historians argue that this, together with evidence for institutions, religious elements and other cultural elements, proves that Rome was founded by Etruscans. Under Romulus and Numa Pompilius, the people were said to have been divided into 30 curiae and three tribes. Few Etruscan words entered Latin, 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, the 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. An example of the fasces are the remains of bronze rods and the axe from a tomb in Etruscan Vetulonia. This allowed archaeologists to identify the depiction of a fasces 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. Roman families of Etruscan origin ==Society==

Government The historical Etruscans had achieved a state system of society, with remnants of the chiefdom and tribal forms. 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. The government was viewed as being a central authority, ruling 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 , "district". Etruscan texts name quite a number of magistrates, without much of a hint as to their function: The , the , the , the , the , and so on. The people were the mech. Importance of Religion in the Government Governments in ancient Mediterranean societies were explicitly interwoven with the religious practices of the contemporary. The Etruscan King lucomo (plural: lucumones), was considered the supreme authority and under the Etruscans' theocratic governmental approach acted as the connection between god and people. The royal title was not just limited to hereditary succession but was also given due to elite lineage, divine sanction and also wealth. This prominence of divine sanction is reflective of the importance of religion in Etruscan governments and as such, all Etruscan kingship was also believed to be under divine approval and held the final word. Roman historian Titus Livius records the story of Lucomo which reflects how the divinity was revered and understood in the Etruscan era as captured by Roman historians. Lucomo was propelled by his wife Tanaquil to acquire power in Rome due to the inability to do so in Etruscan government,(Rome is considered the first Italic state) and on their journey an eagle replaced Lucomo's cap, which was interpreted as an omen from the divine of future kingship. That such bird had come from such a quarter of the heavens... it had lifted the ornament placed on the head of man, to restore it to the same, by direction of the gods." This notion of combined political power and religious authorities held by the kingship is reinforced by Sybille Haynes, an expert on Etruscology, described the lucomo to also be "chief priest." Tombs of the royals found also are engraved with divine symbols, which can be interpreted to understand that kings in this society acted as a connection between humans and the spiritual. While there was a transition from monarchy to oligarchic democracy, religion was deeply intertwined with Etruscan political and governmental identity, as Kings and magistrates worked to ensure peace with the gods by rituals and interpretation of the divine and their will through haruspicy and augury. The haruspices were a group of pristries who by analysis of the celestial signs and animal entrails could deduce the will of the gods. The creation of city-states as Tenney Frank argued took place due to economic and natural advantages, and also due to a need for common tribal meetings in ancient polities. It allowed for a dialogue of ideas to increase communication, and desires and was headed by the zilath mechl rasnal, ("magistrate of the Etruscan people") who as modern scholars have argued functioned largely as a ceremonial leader, rather than a federal executive. Modelling a decentralised theocracy, this role further ties together the idea that Entruscan government was held through shared religious rituals and beliefs. It is important to note that while Etruscan city states such as Tarquinia and Veii were established as politically autonomous, being centered around aristocratic rule and magistrates, international composition in these states were also considered progressive by scholars and historians. It is believed often due to the abundance of Greek and Roman sources over Etruscan ones that women were not allowed participation and enjoyment in public life, however their society was depicted to revere female gods, and women were allowed to participate in public life. This reverence for female duties can be deduced to understand how gender-diverse spirituality was also an important aspect of Etruscan society. Political religion also extended to the establishment of the twelve city-states, whose league was called "duodecim populi Etruriae". This league held assemblies annually and selected their zilath mechl rasna at the Fanun Voltumnae, the shrine of Voltuma. Taking place at a sanctuary dedicated to the god Voltuma. These assemblies acted as both political conferences where military and peace talks could be held as well as religious festivals. Foreign policy, related to war, and alliances, were believed to be an outcome of the will of the gods, and discussions regarding this also took place at the yearly assemblies. Mario Torelli articulates that these asemblies served the purpose of ensuing a divine sanction for the actions decided by the collective. Lastly, the importance of religion in these meetings is further emblematic by the appointment of a dictator, who was chosen based on religious rituals to then hold the same supreme authority that the King had enjoyed in early Etruscan civilisation. As such, it can be envisioned that Etruscan policy and assemblies prioritised and revered divine legitimacy, the messages from gods were treated as the ultimate authority and the government's desire to maintain a strong positive relationship is prevalent. Religion was further embedded into the urban and geographical organisations of city states, and temples became an important political feature where decisions would be made as gods would act as a tool of legitimation. Mario Torelli, an Italian scholar of the culture of Etruscans, notes the intersection of temples as a place of worship and political power, creating the ultimate intersection cultivating an environment of sacred order. 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. • 550 BC: Etruscan-Punic coalition against Greece off the coast of Corsica • 540 BC: Naval victory at Alalia • 524 BC: Defeat at Cyme against the Greeks • 510 BC: Fall of the Etruscan kingship of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus in Rome • 508 BC: Lars Porsena besieges Rome • 508 BC: War between Clusium and Aricia • 482 BC: Beginning of the conflict between Veii and Rome • 474 BC: Defeat of the Etruscans against Syracuse in the Battle of Cyme (also Cumae) • 430 BC 406 BC: Defeat against the Samnites in Campania • 406 BC: Siege of Veii by Rome • 396 BC: Destruction of Veii by Rome • from 396 BC: Invasion of the Celts into the Po Valley • 384 BC: Plunder of Pyrgi (Santa Severa) by Dionysius I of Syracuse • 358 BC: Alliance of Tarquinia and Cerveteri against Rome • 310 BC: Defeat against the Romans at Lake Vadimone • 300 BC: Pyrgi becomes a Roman colony • 280 BC: Defeat of Vulci against Rome • 264 BC 100 BC: Defeat of Volsinii against Rome • 260 BC: Subjugation by the Gauls in the Po Valley • 205 BC: Support of Scipio in the campaign against Hannibal • 183 BC: Foundation of the Roman colony in Saturnia • 90 BC: Granting of Roman citizenship • 82 BC: Repression of Sulla in Etruria • 79 BC: Capitulation of Volterra • from 40 BC: Final Romanization of Etruria 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. 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==

Agriculture The Etruscans were aware of the techniques of water accumulation and conservation in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece. They built canals and dams to irrigate the land, and drained and reclaimed swamps. The archaeological remains of this infrastructure are still evident in the maritime southwestern parts of Tuscany. Vite maritata is a viticulture technique exploiting companion planting named after the Maremma region of Italy which may be relevant to climate change. It was developed around the area by these early predecessors of the Romans who cultivated plant as nearly as possible in their natural habitat. The vines from which wine is made are a kind of liana that naturally intertwine with trees such as maples or willows. Religion 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. 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 way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus, possibly, 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, some Greek and Roman gods were inspired by the Etruscan system: Aritimi (Artemis), Menrva (Minerva), Pacha (Dionysus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs. Art and music , Monterozzi necropolis, Tarquinia, Italy Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly lifesize on sarcophagi or temples), wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but few large examples have survived (the material was too valuable, and recycled later). In contrast to terracotta and bronze, there was apparently little Etruscan sculpture in stone, despite the Etruscans controlling fine sources of marble, including Carrara marble, which seems not to have been exploited until the Romans. Most surviving Etruscan art comes from tombs, including all the fresco wall-paintings, a minority of which show scenes of feasting and some narrative mythological subjects. Bucchero wares in black were the early and native styles of fine Etruscan pottery. There was also a tradition of elaborate Etruscan vase painting, which sprung from its Greek equivalent; the Etruscans were the main export market for Greek vases. Etruscan temples were heavily decorated with colorfully painted terracotta antefixes and other fittings, which survive in large numbers where the wooden superstructure has vanished. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in 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. Language . 3rd–2nd century BC, San Marco near Perugia Etruscans left around 13,000 inscriptions which have been found so far, only a small minority of which are of significant length. Attested from 700 BC to AD 50, the relation of Etruscan to other languages has been a source of long-running speculation and study. The Etruscans are believed to have spoken a Pre-Indo-European and Paleo-European language, and 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 Raetic and Lemnian are related to Etruscan. With a few exceptions, such as the Liber Linteus, the only written records in the Etruscan language that remain are inscriptions, mainly funerary. The language is written in the Etruscan alphabet, a script related to the early Euboean Greek alphabet. Many thousand inscriptions in Etruscan are known, mostly epitaphs, and a few very short texts have survived, which are mainly religious. Etruscan imaginative literature is evidenced only in references by later Roman authors, but it is evident from their visual art that the Greek myths were well known. With the founding of Pithekussai on Ischia and Kyme (lat. Cumae) in Campania in the course of the Greek colonization, the Etruscans came under the influence of the Greek culture in the 8th century BC. The Etruscans adopted an alphabet from the western Greek colonists that came from their homeland, the Euboean Chalkis. This alphabet from Cumae is therefore also called Euboean or Chalcidian Alphabet. The oldest written records of the Etruscans date from around 700 BC. One of the oldest Etruscan written documents is found on the tablet of Marsiliana d'Albegna from the hinterland of Vulci, which is now kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. A western Greek model alphabet is engraved on the edge of this wax tablet made of ivory. In accordance with later Etruscan writing habits, the letters in this model alphabet were mirrored and arranged from right to left: The script with these letters was first used in southern Etruria around 700 BC in the Etruscan Cisra (lat. Caere), today's Cerveteri. In the following centuries the Etruscans consistently used the letters mentioned, so that the deciphering of the Etruscan inscriptions is not a problem. As in Greek, the characters were subject to regional and temporal changes. Overall, one can distinguish an archaic script from the 7th to 5th centuries from a more recent script from the 4th to 1st centuries BC, in which some characters were no longer used, including the X for a sh sound. In addition, in writing and language, the emphasis on the first syllable meant that internal vowels were not reproduced, e.g. Menrva instead of Menerva. Accordingly, linguists also distinguish between Old and New Etruscan. . Small Etruscan bottle from 630 to 620 BCE with an early form of the alphabet Alongside the tablet of Marsiliana d'Albegna, around 70 objects with model alphabets have been preserved from the early period. The most famous of these are: • Alabastron from the Regolini-Galassi tomb in Cerveteri • Bucchero amphora from Formello • Bucchero cockerel from Viterbo • Bucchero vessel from the necropolis of Sorbo near Cerveteri As all four artifacts date from the 7th century B.C. come from, the alphabets are always written clockwise. The last object has the special feature that, in addition to the letters of the alphabet, almost all consonants are shown in sequence in connection with the vowels I, A, U and E (Syllabary). This syllabic writing system was probably used to practice the written characters. The letters Θ, Φ and Ψ were omitted by the Romans because the corresponding aspirated sounds did not occur in their language. The Etruscan alphabet spread across the northern and central parts of the Italian peninsula. It is assumed that the formation of the Oscan script, probably in the 6th century BC, was fundamentally influenced by Etruscan. The characters of the Umbrian, Faliscan and Venetic languages can also be traced back to Etruscan alphabets. == See also ==