The Etruscans

[Ursus]

The following is not meant to be a definitive essay, but a primer for anyone seeking a basic understanding, especially the inquisitive students who so frequently visit our halls these days.

 

 

 

Sources

Much like the Celts, what we know of the Etruscans must be puzzled together from archaeology and contemporary Greco-Roman references. The Greeks regarded them as economic competitors, and the Romans were their upstart subjects. Hardly objective sources, the Etruscans must speak for themselves from their material culture. Unfortunately not a great deal survives. The Roman interest in Etruscan culture was confined primarily to the religious and funerary. Other traces of Etruscan culture gradually faded away under Roman dominion. Until the mysterious Etruscan language is completely deciphered, we can receive only impressions.

 

 

Origins

The beginnings of Etruscan culture is shrouded in obscurity, and conjectures attempting to explain it could make for their own essay. It will suffice for our purposes to summarize the two main theories: they either migrated somewhere from the east (probably Asia Minor) or they were an indigenous phenomenon. What is obvious is they were not an Indo-European people, but the Etruscans were not the only tribe in Italy to have this distinction.

 

From the mists of genesis we can say there was a semi-nomadic

[Favonius Cornelius]

It seems remarkable to me that even to this day a language can remain so unknown.

 

I had a long arguement with this guy at Ancient Worlds who claimed that early Rome had nothing to do with Etruscans. What do you think of it:

 

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/362447

[Ursus]

Hmmm. I wonder if that guy is the religious expert I knew briefly from SVR. Could be.

 

But in the particular post you linked to, he seems to be arguing that the specific divination rituals used to found Rome (according to legend) were different from the Etruscan rituals. That could be true for all I know, I'm not an expert on Etruscan augury. To be honest I really don't care either way since it's just a legend and I don't take it at face value.

 

But to say Etruria exerted no influence would be incorrect, I think. The first pantheon of Rome was headed by Jupiter, Mars and Quirinius. The second pantheon was headed by Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Grouping three deities in the same temple isn't a Latin practice and it isn't a Greek practice - it seems to have been an Etruscan practice.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

It's hard to think that the Etruscans have no realations with the Romans when the Etruscans were smack-dab north of Rome. Remember that Rome was first intendedly built as a fortress city to protect the Latins from Etruscan agression, which they feared at the time. So contact between Rome and Etruria happened no matter what.

When Rome conquered Greece, they took in Hellenism and adapted it. So you could say the same thing happened when Rome conquered the Etrurians and Samnites. Back then Rome's government was really ethical and productive, so they did not allow the Latin and Italian cities to trade with other. So who else left was there to trade( it was obliged) with but Rome. So certainly trade between the Etrurians and Romans happened, which in history always results in a mix of cultures and influences. ( Source, A primer's guide to Roman history.)

My post just only tries to shown that the Romans and Etrurians culture had to have contact. I also have a book on Roman medicine that has a big section on Etrurian influences on Roman medicine. I can scan it if someone wants to read it.

Edited November 14, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Favonius Cornelius]

Hmmm. I wonder if that guy is the religious expert I knew briefly from SVR. Could be.

 

Could be Ursus. The man knows quite a lot about it that's for sure, but he seems to take on some anti-established opinions about things. If you continue on with the discussion I think you will see he disavows all influence from the Etruscans which I cannot agree with. He also believed that early Christanity had homosexual roots and that Julius Caesar was actually a poor general.

 

Clearly unhinged.

Edited November 14, 2005 by Favonius Cornelius

[Pantagathus]

I've mentioned this before in the 'Pelasgian' thread but it's seeming increasingly likely that the Etruscans were in fact part of a diaspora from Asia Minor due to climatic issues ~3000 BC.

 

It was this diaspora that apparently sowed the seeds for the Minoans, Pelasgians, Illyrians, Thracians, Nuragic people of Sardinia, and of course the Etruscans. Though it's correct that the language hasn't been decifered per se, it has been shown to be from the same linguistic tree as Lydian & Pelasgian (and though I haven't read the paper yet, Illyrian now seems to be grouped in there as well).

 

From all I've read, It seems likely that what the Greeks and Phoenicians sought out in regards to trade with the Etruscans was more to the effect of access through them to the Gaulish & Germanic hinterland; where the Etruscans performed the role more of brokers than true suppliers.

 

It seems quite likely that their reputation as pirates stems from their tight policing of what they considered their soveriegn trade routes. It really wasn't until the Phocaeans founded Massalia in ~600BC that this starts to loosen up. I suspect though that this was more because the Etruscans started to become overwhelmed with the scope of maintaining any sort of regionalistic monpoly when faced with Rome growing into a Republic, the Celtic pressures on their land from the north, the Assyrian pressure on the Phoenician economy (with Carthage trying to shore up control over the western Med) and the Greeks trying to make sure they weren't left in the cold & vulnerable...

 

As for their religion and religious imagery, I personally feel it's wrong for scholars to continue maintaining that it was 'orientalized' by their contact with the Greeks or Phoenicians. If we consider the most likely origins of them as a people & then if you accept the great antiquity of much of the common 'Pelasgian' pantheon one should consider that the similarities were already there due to a common origin; not because the Phoenician & Greeks from the east offered anything new or better for the Etruscans to adopt in favor of whatever they were doing in the Bronze Age.

 

Therefore, the 'orientalizing' that is claimed to have occured after the 8th Century BC should be seen more as a 're-syncing' for lack of a better term.