Etruscan Civilization

The Etruscans are one of the few pre-Indo-European peoples to have survived to the Roman period and are probably one of the best known. They appear as a separate people, organized into city-states, at the very end of the eighth century, but probably go back even further.

They emerged from an iron age culture generally called the Villanova Civilization and controlled present day Tuscany, Campania and a part of the Po valley. Divided into a dozen independent cities, they remained a major power in Italy up to the fifth century BC, retaining control of trade routes from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe. They also dominated Central Italia, ruling the then backwater tribes of Latium. They probably founded Rome as a strategic stronghold on a major trade route.

After the fifth century, however, the rise of Greek cities (especially Syracuse) in southern Italy and Gaulish invasions weakened Etruscan power. In 474, Hieron of Syracuse defeated the Etruscan at Cumae and took naval supremacy from them,which, combined with the expulsion of the Tarquin dynasty from Rome, cut off trade routes to Campania and allowed the Samnite tribes to overrun the Etruscan cities there.

After that Etruscan power began to decline seriously. The Gauls invaded the Etruscan colonies in the Po valley and sacked central Italy. Around the same time Rome, taking advantage of Etruscan political divisions and setbacks progressively conquered Tuscany, which was definitively conquered in 265 B.C with the fall of Volsinia. The Etruscan people, culture and language survived, however, under Roman rule, being progressively assimilated into the roman "melting pot". The language ceased to be written at the beginning of the Christian era but was probably spoken much later by peasants (influencing modern Tuscan dialects) and sorcerers, much in the same way as Sumerian.

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. The ancient Greeks' word for them was Tyrrhenoi, or Tyrrsenoi. The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.

Etruscan Art

Gold Work

Etruscan gold work was arguably unrivaled in the Mediterranean during the first millennium BCE. A considerable selection of Gold jewellery was found in the Regolini Galassi tomb, which was discovered in the 19th Century, surprisingly with little evidence of looting. Looting was all too common in Ancient days, and was even encouraged officially by Alaric the Goth when his armies overran Rome in the early 5th Century CE.

Frescoes
These are very typical of so many Etruscan Frescoes which depicted figures vibrant with life, often dancing or playing musical instruments.

They painted birds or animals on many of these intermingled with the human figures, who usually looked strong and healthy and full of the joy of life.

The little birds and other figures from nature somehow do not seem out of place or look like mere decorations, but lended a natural harmony to the finished work.

Architecture

Near the Etruscan center of Viterbo, an Etruscan citadel now called Acquarossa was destroyed ca 500 BC and never rebuilt, thus preserving relatively undisturbed Etruscan structures, which have been excavated under the auspices of the Swedish Institute.

The walls of the houses were of various construction, some built of dressed blocks of volcanic tuff, some of sun-dried bricks framed within wooden poles and beams that formed a kind of half-timbered construction, and some of wattle and daub construction, in which hurdles of brushwood or reed were covered with clay. House plans range to two or three rooms in a row, with an entrance was normally on the long side; the hearth was set either near the center of the room or into the back wall.

The rock-cut chamber tombs executed in the same time-frame display close analogies with these house types. Decorative architectural features of terracotta, which have usually been associated with temple constructions, were found at Acquarossa in domestic settings: acroteria, painted roof tiles, and antefixes.

Etruscan architectural features are too extensive at Rome to be considered a mere influence. The oldest wall at Rome, dating to the early monarchy, is built in the style called opus quadratum after the roughly 4-sided blocks. The style was in use at Suti, Falerii, Ardea, and Tarquinia.

In addition to their walls, the Etruscans insisted on sewage and drainage systems, which are extensive in all Etruscan cities. The cloaca maxima, “great sewer”, at Rome is Etruscan.

The initial Roman roads, dikes, diversion channels and drainage ditches were Etruscan. More importantly, the Etruscans brought the arch to Rome, both barreled arches and corbelled arches, which you can see in gates, bridges, depictions of temple fronts, and vaulted passages.

Homes also were built in Etruscan style: a quadrangle of rooms around an open courtyard. The roof was of a type called cavoedium tuscanicum: two parallel beams crossing in one direction on which rafters were hung at right angles.

Known Art Works