Etruscans

Date: 800 b.c.e.-400 b.c.e.

Locale: Central Italy

Etruscans

There is continuing scholarly debate about the origins of the Etruscans (ih-TRUHS-kuhns). Some scholars view the Etruscans as indigenous to central Italy and direct descendants of Villanovan culture. Others trace the origins of the Etruscans to Asia Minor. However, scholars agree that the Etruscan language and culture were very different from those of other peoples living in Italy and that their level of technology was very advanced.

History

Between 800 and 600 b.c.e. the Etruscans expanded into west central Italy, establishing Etruria (now called Tuscany) as a home base. The Etruscans became neighbors of the Latins in Rome, who had established villages there as early as 1000 b.c.e. They also became neighbors of the Greeks, who were expanding their commercial empire into Corsica, Sicily, and northwest coastal Italy. The Etruscans were considered as barbarians by the Greeks and were banned from participating in the Olympic Games.

The Etruscans grew wealthy on the copper, tin, zinc, lead, and iron deposits in Etruria. Fertile soil and favorable climate led to abundant crops of wheat, olives, and grapes. The Etruscans traded widely within the ancient world. They were trading partners and periodic hostile adversaries of two other maritime powers, the Greek city-states and the Phoenicians. The Etruscans built a loose confederation of twelve independent city-states such as Veii, Caere, Tarquinia, Vuki, and a number of large towns. Etruscan cities were linked by an elaborate system of roads. Meetings on matters of common interest were held at Velsna (in modern Orvieto). Clearly the city was the main center of population and life in Etruscan Italy.

Militarily, the Etruscans developed an excellent navy and a formidable army based on heavy body armor and the use of bronze chariots. Cities were built on defensible hilltops, protected by heavy walls and gates as well as ravines to provide security. Their military power was projected south into the Bay of Naples and toward the Latin villages of Rome, which the Etruscans easily dominated as an aristocratic military ruling elite from 616 to 509 b.c.e. Rome’s geographical location—with seven hills situated in the middle of a coastal plain—and its potential as the hub of major trade routes, was not lost on the Etruscans.

Politically, the Romans were ruled by Etruscan kings. The king’s power was called imperium and was conferred by a popular assembly. Imperium was symbolized by an eagle-headed scepter and an ax bound in a bundle of rods (fasces). After the Etruscans, both these symbols continued as Roman symbols, as did the concept of imperium.

According to tradition, the first Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (r. 616-579 b.c.e.), consolidated Roman villages and began the building of the city. His successor, Servius Tullius (r. 578-535 b.c.e.), extended the city boundaries and continued building structures, including fortified city walls. He also implemented social reform, dividing the population into six classes according to wealth. He introduced the system of centuries into the Roman citizen army, grouped in phalanx formation into legions. According to historian Livy, he also cemented bonds with the Latin nobles (patricians), who formed an advisory council to the king. The patricians were grouped into clans and were known by both personal name and clan name. The common people (plebeians) were divided into thirty wards, which as a committee could discuss only matters placed by the king on the agenda. In embryonic form, Rome’s second king set up the senate and assembly of tribes.

The third and last Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (r. 534-c. 509 b.c.e.), reversed the Servian reforms, established absolute rule, and succeeded in antagonizing both plebeians and patricians. Arrogant, tyrannical, and a lavish spender, Tarquinius built a temple to Jupiter larger than the Parthenon. He is also credited with building Rome’s great sewer, the Cloaca Maxima.

According to legend, Tarquinius’s son Sextus raped Lucretia, the wife of a friend. To regain her honor, Lucretia fatally stabbed herself, inspiring a friend, Lucius Junius Brutus, to lead a revolt against Tarquinius’s tyranny. In 509 b.c.e., the revolt was successful. In reaction to monarchical tyranny, the Romans turned legislative power over to the senate. Preventing overbearing executive power, Rome established a system of two consuls, elected only for a single one-year term, each with the power to veto the other. Junius Brutus was the first consul of the newly established Republic of Rome.

Following its defeat in Rome, Etruscan power received a serious setback. In 474 b.c.e., the Etruscan navy was defeated by the Greeks off Cumae. Rome and its Latin allies gradually expanded toward the Etruscan cities. In 396 b.c.e., Veii fell after a long siege. By 250 b.c.e., what was left of Etruscan autonomy was integrated into the Roman system. However, what had been integrated long before was the Etruscan concept of civilization and technological know-how to make advanced civilization possible.

Language and literature

The Etruscan language (like Finnish, Hungarian, and Basque) is not part of the family of Indo-European languages. It is unrelated to any other language spoken in Italy. By 700 b.c.e., the Etruscans had adapted the Greek alphabet to produce their first writing. To date, archaeologists have uncovered about thirteen thousand Etruscan inscriptions, most of which state simple facts about individual lives or instructions about ritual. The Etruscans have left behind no known literature and a language that is still incompletely known in relation to the meaning of words or grammatical forms. Hence what is known about the Etruscans comes from their monuments and artifacts or descriptions produced by other ancient civilizations, most of which were written at a later date.

Architecture and city planning

The Etruscans brought urban life to Italy and were a powerful influence for the development of civilization. In the course of the seventh century c.e., Etruscan Rome rapidly developed from a collection of villages into a major city. For Rome, the Etruscan cultural and technological legacy was immense. In building the city, the arch and vault, which could support considerable weight, were first used by the Etruscans. Later the arch would be used with great proficiency by the Romans. The practice of placing temples on a high platform (podium) at the far end of a sacred enclosure so as to elevate both the structure and the gods, making the individual feel relatively insignificant, would later become a standard Roman practice. The Romans also adopted the science of boundaries (limitatio), which divided land into rectangular grids. Also the marking of formal city boundaries in a circle (pomerium), to define a holy and protected space, became a basic Roman preoccupation. To expand land for cultivation and to eliminate unhealthy marshlands, the Etruscans employed the tunnel method of draining river bottoms (cuniculus), a method that the Romans would continue. The general use of drainage and irrigation systems, the construction of excellent hydraulic works, and the building of roads, bridges, and sewers were all aspects of Etruscan technology that the Romans would borrow and continue.

Art

Etruscan artistic achievement was expressed in wall frescoes and graphic terra-cotta portraits found in their tombs. They greatly admired Greek pottery and attempted to imitate it. However, the Etruscans also developed their own native style of pottery (buchero), with decorations on a shiny black background.

Daily life and death

Judging from paintings depicting scenes from everyday life, the realistic figures of the dead placed on top of sarcophagi or funerary urns, and artifacts uncovered from tombs, the Etruscans were a luxury- and pleasure-loving people with much leisure time and were voracious consumers. The banquet was a way of showing family status. Elaborate banquets are portrayed in tomb reliefs, along with sporting events, hunting, and dancing. Splendor was enjoyed even in death, for the Etruscans built large cities of the dead (necropolises), laid out in grid fashion. Such a necropolis, with streets, squares, and rectangular tombs cut into rock, can be toured at Cerveterei. Pleased with urban life on earth, the Etruscans appear to have envisioned the afterlife as a continuation. Etruscan houses were built of wood and clay, but tombs were built to last forever. Tombs were filled with favorite possessions of the deceased, a fact known to grave robbers through the ages. The Tomb of the Baron at Tarquinia is one of the best-preserved painted tombs and provides an insight into Etruscan life and anticipations of the afterlife.

Women’s life

Etruscan women enjoyed the luxury of fine jewelry, elegant clothing, elaborate hairstyles, decorated bronze mirrors, and diverse cosmetics and appear to have been granted a high degree of equality in Etruscan life. They were given individual first names and participated freely in all aspects of public life. That women’s bronze mirrors had inscriptions carved into them is an indication that Etruscan women were literate.

Religion and ritual

In relation to religious beliefs, the Etruscans had a major impact. Their preoccupation with foretelling the future (divination) also became a Roman preoccupation, though one that was usually relegated only to times of emergency. Examination of animal entrails, most commonly the liver, became a pseudoscience designed to uncover the will of the gods. The liver was considered as the seat of life. An inscribed bronze model of a sheep’s liver, found near Piacenza, appears to have been used as a teaching device for diviners.

Similarly, the interpretation of lightning and thunder was used by the Etruscans to decipher the will of the gods, a practice the Romans would continue. In fact, the Romans would insist on discovering signs (auspices) before making any major decision.

Like the Greeks, the Etruscans pictured their gods as having human form. The three major Etruscan gods, Tinia, Uni, and Menrva, were adapted by the Romans. Having much leisure time, the Etruscans celebrated many official holidays in honor of their gods. The Romans also would mark the year with many religious festivals. Undoubtedly, the major event in Etruscan Rome was the elaborate, semi-religious procession following victorious campaigns, containing victors, captive prisoners, displays of seized treasures, musicians, and dancers. This ritual of the triumphant victory processional would continue throughout the Roman Republican and Imperial eras.

Medicine

The Etruscans were known for their medical skills. Numerous surgical and dental instruments can be found among funerary objects in tombs. The Etruscans also had a reputation in the ancient world for the medicinal use of plants and the use of thermal springs for therapeutic purposes.

Sports and entertainment

For recreation on religious festivals, the Etruscans staged gladiator duels. Although they may seem to have been basic martial contests in comparison with the later Roman gladiatorial extravaganzas, still the Romans appear to have first developed their love of gladiator shows from the Etruscan experience. Tomb paintings also indicate that chariot racing was a favorite Etruscan recreation. This also became popular in Rome, with the Circus Maximus later outdoing anything the Etruscans could have fantasized.

The Etruscan propinquity toward rampant consumerism, fine foods, exciting sports, and elaborate banquets provided a hedonistic model that the Romans would later perfect to an extent that would have made the Etruscans envious. However, these are not the aspects of Etruscan life that would make Roman civilization probable. The Romans, adopting Etruscan technology—and even the togas that they wore—added their own original contribution, the citizen-based legion, which was used to defeat the Etruscans, conquer Italy, and then most of the Western world. This would be a world of cities, roads, and conspicuous consumption, one that the Etruscans helped shape.

Bibliography

Banti, Luisa. Etruscan Cities and Their Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

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

Grant, Michael. The Etruscans. New York: Scribners, 1980.

Hus, Alain. The Etruscans. New York: Grove Press, 1963.

Keller, Werner. The Etruscans. New York: Knopf, 1974.

Pallottino, Massimo. A History of Earliest Italy. Translated by M. Ryle and K. Soper. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Scullard, H. H. A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 b.c. New York: Routledge, 1991.

Spivey, Nigel J., and S. Stoddart. Etruscan Italy. London: Batsford, 1990.