Lewis and Reinhold section 2

2. THE ETRUSCANS

[editors comments:]The origin of the Etruscans, the neighbors of the Romans in the region from the Tiber River to the Arno now known as Tuscany, remains the most knotty question of early Italian history. The theory that they came to Italy as migrants from Lydia in Asia Minor was current at least as early as the fifth century B.C., when Herodotus recorded it in his History (1. xciv). As the first of the following three selections shows, however, this theory did not win universal acceptance even in ancient times. There are about 10,000 Etruscan inscriptions, written in the Greek alphabet, but in an obscure language. On the basis of extensive archaeological remains, Etruscologists are generally inclined to the view that it was largely an indigenous Italic culture, with exotic elements. "Most of the obscurities of Etruscan history derive from the fact that it reaches us from an alien and largely hostile tradition, recorded when Etruria was already a spent force" (Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2d ed., p. 410). The cultural influence of the Etruscans on Rome, particularly on her religious, military, and political institutions, was impressive.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities I. xxx. 1-3; From LCL

I am convinced that the Pelasgians are not the same as the Tyrrhenians. And I do not believe, either, that the Tyrrhenians were a colony of the Lydians; for they do not use the same language as the latter, nor can it be alleged that, though they no longer speak a similar tongue, they still retain some other indications of their mother country. For they neither worship the same gods as the Lydians nor make use of similar laws or institutions, but in these very respects they differ more from the Lydians than from the Pelasgians. Indeed, those probably come nearest to the truth who declare that the nation migrated from nowhere else, but was native to the country, since it is found to be a very ancient nation and to agree with no other either in its language or in its manner of living. And there is no reason why the Greeks should not have called them by this name, both from their living in towers (4) [tyrrheis in Greek] and from the name of one of their rulers. The Romans, however, give them other names: from the country they once inhabited, named Etruria, they call them Etruscans, and from their knowledge of the ceremonies relating to divine worship, in which they excel others, they now call them Tuscans. (5)

Livy, History of Rome v. xxxiii. 7-10; From LCL

The Tuscan sway, down to the rise of the Roman domination, stretched over a wide expanse of land and sea. How great their power was on the upper and lower seas, by which Italy is surrounded like an island, is apparent from the names, since the Italian peoples have called one of them Tuscan, the general designation of the nation, and the other Hadriatic, from Hatria, an Etruscan colony; and the Greeks call the same seas Tyrrhenian and Adriatic. In the lands which slope on either side towards one of these seas they had twice twelve cities; first the twelve on this side of the Apennines, towards the lower sea; to which afterwards they added the same number beyond the Apennines, sending over as many colonies as there were original cities, and taking possession of all the region beyond the Po River (except the angle belonging to the Veneti who dwell about the gulf) as far as the Alps.

Diodorus of Sicily, Historical Library v. xl. 1-2; From LCL

It remains for us now to speak of the Tyrrhenians. This people, excelling as they did in manly vigor, in ancient times possessed great territory and founded many notable cities. Likewise, because they also availed themselves of powerful naval forces and were masters of the sea over a long period, they caused the sea along Italy to be named Tyrrhenian after them; and, also perfecting the organization of land forces, they were the inventors of the salpinx, as it is called, a discovery of the greatest usefulness in war and named after them the "Tyrrhenian trumpet." They were also the authors of the dignity that surrounds the heads of the state, providing their rulers with lictors and an ivory stool (6) and a toga with a purple band (7); and in connection with their houses they invented the peristyle, a useful device for avoiding the confusion connected with the attending throngs; and these things were adopted for the most part by the Romans, who added to their embellishment and transferred them to their own political institutions. Letters and the teaching about nature and the gods they also brought to greater perfection, and they elaborated the art of divination by thunder and lightning more than all other men; and for this reason the Romans, who rule practically the entire inhabited world, show honor to these men even to this day and employ them as interpreters of the omens of Jupiter as they appear in thunder and lightning. (8)

(4). This version of the origin of the name Tyrrhenian appears already in the fifth century B.C. (Herodotus I. xciv).

(5). This ancient "etymology" regarded the name Tuscan as derived from the Greek verb thyo, "to sacrifice." The prevalent view today is that Tusci stems from Tursci (whence Etursci, which became Etrusa), where turs is the same element that appears in the Greek Tyrsenoi, the older form of Tyrrhenoi.

(6). This stool was called by the Romans sella curulis, "curule chair." For the lictors, sec Glossary.

(7). Called by the Romans toga praetexta. See Glossary.

(8). On the importance of divination among the Romans, see ¤ 177.