Etruscans

A non-Indo-European ethnic group inhabiting northern Italy (Etruria) throughout the first millennium B.C.E.

According to ancient sources, the Etruscans (called Tyrhennoi by the Greeks) immigrated to Italy from Anatolia during the 1200s B.C.E. Some more recent scholars suggest that they represent the pre-Indo-European aboriginal population of the Italian peninsula, like the Basques in Spain. A distinctive Etruscan civilization began to emerge in the 800s B.C.E. The Etruscans were not politically unified, but were rather a loose confederacy of independent city-states. The most important city-states included Clusium (Chiusi), Tarquinii (Tarquinia), Caere (Cerveteri), Veii (Veio), Volterra, Vetulonia, Perusia (Perugia), and Volsinii (Orvieto).

During the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., the Etruscan civilization reached its peak. Etruscan society was composed of an Etruscan-speaking nobility and a subject (though probably not slave) class of native laborers. The Etruscan states were initially kingdoms but gradually became oligarchic republics. The Etruscans dominated the Umbrian states of northern Italy as well as the Latin tribes and Rome (the Tarquin dynasty of Rome was Etruscan in origin). They also developed a maritime trade network, with colonies in Corsica, Elba, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. They allied with Carthage in an attempt to drive Greek traders out of the western Mediterranean. However, by the beginning of the 400s B.C.E. Etruscan sea power had all but vanished.

Etruscan power continued to decline in the face of attacks by the Gauls. In 396 B.C.E., the first Etruscan state, Veii, fell to the Romans (who had asserted their independence around 510 B.C.E.); within two centuries, all of Etruria was under Roman domination. During the civil war between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (90–88 B.C.E.), the Etruscans allied with Marius; following his victory, Sulla eliminated their independence. Their language was suppressed and their distinct culture and folkways outlawed. A century later, the future Emperor Claudius compiled an Etruscan dictionary (now lost), but they vanished as a distinct ethnic group soon after. Nevertheless, many old Roman families retained a memory of Etruscan roots.

Etruscan were expert ironworkers, which allowed them to make superior weapons. Etruscans made extensive use of the chariot in both war and recreation and may have introduced the wheel to Italy. They also built and maintained a network of paved roads throughout the territories under their control, allowing trade to flow freely throughout northern Italy.

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The Etruscans, the dominant people of northern Italy in pre-Roman times, were expert artisans, as these vases from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, indicate. Many of their creations were traded widely through the Mediterranean world in the first millennium B.C.E. (Library of Congress)

They were renowned for their pottery (which was their main export besides wine) and complex artwork, including highly lifelike statutes of bronze and other metals. They kept up extensive trade and cultural contacts with the ancient Near East, and much of their artwork reflects this influence.

Etruscan religion involved complex rituals designed to maintain the balance between humans and nature. Unlike the ancient Romans, the Etruscans believed strongly in an afterlife; one’s disposition in it depended on one’s behavior in this world. Many Roman deities are based on Etruscan originals.

While the Etruscan language can be easily read (it is written in a variant Greek alphabet), the vocabulary is, with few exceptions, unknown today. It seems to contain both Indo-European and non-Indo-European terms, but cannot be classified into any other language family.

Brian M. Gottesman

See also: Mediterranean Sea; Roman Empire

Bibliography

Barker, Graeme, and Tom Rasmussen. The Etruscans. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998.

Heurgon, Jacques. Daily Life of the Etruscans. London: Phoenix, 2002.