The Etruscans- Cultural Anticedents AncientSites >Rome > Groups >Etruria New Vines "Products Contest" with $500 in Prizes! Places To Go!Today's PostsRomeAthensEgyptBabylonTaraMachuPicchuNewYorkAncientSitesSite MapAncientVine Rome Board Index | Rome Daily Posts Board: Etruria Topic: Origins of the Etruscans Topic Editor: Nesnut Hatshepsut Topic Description: The origin of the Etruscans... Email this post to a friend! Message: The Etruscans- Cultural Anticedents Author: Lauchum - Camitlnas Tullius, Patron Date: Nov 5, 2000 16:02 People often ask the question - why do we refer to the Etruscans as mysterious? After all, we are learning more about their language to the extent that we can decipher most onomastic inscriptions; we have insights into many aspects of their daily life through writings of the Romans and Greeks and through the many frescos which adorn the walls of the tombs of Tarquinia, Caere, Vulci etc. There are still however a number of unanswered questions: The first and foremost of these questions is Where did they come from? We have discussed the various theories regarding the Etruscans here, and I have summarised much of this information on my web page under history: http://pages.ancientsites.com/~Camitlnas_Tullius/history.html Even if we accept the current theory that the Etruscans were largely autochthenous, that they may have migrated from the East at some time towards the end of the Bronze age, that they had considerable cultural influences which transformed the Villanovan people into the Etruscans, we still have the question of language. Did the Villanovans speak a form of Etruscan, or was the language brought by subsequent migrations? This question will probably remain unanswered, since there are no written records from that period and that region. I have said this before in Historia Romana, but I believe that the key is probably the Pelasgians or Sea People. The city of Caere according to legend was founded by the Pelasgians, and there are sources, however legendary of other Pelasgian settlements in the Cortona region. The whole issue of the Etruscans and the foundation date of Rome has also been discussed at length. During the chat, the subject of the Scythians came up. Some authors have suggested a connection between the Scythian horsemen of the Ukraine and the Etruscans. The similarities are basically the role of women in their society, the burial in tumuli, and of course the equestrian expertise of both societies. These features alone do not support any serious connection between the two. The same similarities exist between many eastern civilisations and the Etruscans. For example the practice of burial in tumuli, and the role of women in society were also similar to Minoan society. It can be argued that there are also similarities in art- for example the portrayal of dolphins etc. If we look at Eastern Deities, we have Ishtar of the Akkadians, the mother goddess, the Ugaric Istar, with Sumerian origins. We have the Etruscan Uni, identified with Astarte, the Western form of Ishtar. Also we have Ani - the Etruscan sky god, the precursor of the Roman Janus. Going back further we have the Babylonian sky god Uni (going from memory) and various other similarities . I liked the quotation that for every recorded voyage there are a thousand unrecorded. If we look at the period towards the end of the Bronze age, it was a period of great turbulence. During that time we had the fall of Troy (approximately 1250). The fall of the Minoan civilisation, and the massive eruption at Thera was about this time too (about 1400). as well as the fall of the Hittites and the time when the biblical philistines with their chariots and that revolutionary tactic of using tamed camels came close to defeating Egypt. I will reiterate some thoughts from a previous post, so bear with me those who have read this before: I have previously alluded to the similarity of Roman and (second hand) Etruscan mythology as told by Herodotus about Tyrrhenus and his brother Tarchun, arriving from Lydia, which incidentally is not far from Anatolia. Then we have the Phoenician "TRSH" representing both Troias and Tyrsenoi. As I said earlier, I would postulate that the Sea People, generally referred to as Pelasgians were one of the main sources (whether fact or fiction) of much of this mythology, since these swashbuckling archaic pirates seem to have a lot written about them during this "dark age". We read in one legend about the Pelasgians settling in Cortona. Of course the Phoenicians would have still been the biblican Canaanites if it wasn't for the injection of shipbuilding skills from the same Pelasgians who settled in modern day Lebanon. A famous Stele on Lemnos is attributed to a Pelasgian colony there, so we know that at least some of these displaced people spoke a language similar to Etruscan. (Some ancient reports speak of the Pelsgians as a mixture of peoples) The alphabet itself has been compared to archaic Etruscan, but a closer look reveals that it is just as close to Euboan, and from memory, similar to other archaic alphabets. The language shows traits similar to Etruscan, but also similar to Lydian and Phrygian. About this time, we have reports that Egyptians were attacked from all directions, and defeated in one part of the Nile delta, by a mixture of peoples as we read in the heiroglyphs, the "Rk.w" or "Lk.w" (Lukki), The "Twrjs'.w" (Trojans?, Tyrrensoi? ), the "Plst.w" (Philistines),as well as the "Jqjws'.w", "Drdnj.w", "Dnn.w" and "S'rdn.w". Although some of these are unclear, they also include the Lycians, Achaens, Dardani, Danai, Sardinians and the Sicels. Now if we just for a moment think of the Pelasgi as injecting a spark of life into the Proto-Villanovans, who themselves probably started to wander into Italy around 1200 by land, we start to get an idea of the possibly mingling of races following the Volkswanderung that perhaps (?) crystallised into the Romans and the Etruscans, with different linguistic groups within the Pelasgians contributing to each. If the concept of the Pelasgians injecting a spark of civilisation doesnt appeal, think of it in terms of the meeting of two (or more) cultures. Occasionally this kind of melding (and conflict) of cultures has been known to produce great results. In my humble (?) opinion, the evidence is against a mass invasion by "The Etruscans", and I tend to favour the melting pot theory. From the archeological record, we had pretty much the same Proto Villanovans throughout Northern and Central Italy, ignoring those hairy Ligurians for a moment. The true Villanovan culture didn't come in until around thr 10th Century, and coincided roughly with what was to become the Etruscan area. I'm not saying that it was a peaceful period. Far from it, but the intertribal wars and cross pollenisation (viz the Sabine Women) were in themselves a part of the formative process. If someone can come up with evidence that settlements were systematically laid to waste during this period, I will listen to the story, but as far as I can see there are no mass layers of charcoal etc. It was a slow formative process, which took place mainly on the Italian peninsula, but greatly influenced by Archaic Greece including Cumae and the Punics as a result of Economic growth, largely attributed to the trade of metals from Northern Italy. This economic and demographic growth blossomed during the 8th through 6th Centuries BCE, through the Orientalizing Period and beyond. The problem with traditional accounts of the foundation of Rome, is that much of Livy , Varro et al is highly romanticized. We have several examples of this kind of work - the Song of Roland- Les chansons de geste. If we compare actual history with this work, we find major discrepancies. Old legend invariably become incorporated. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of having accurate histories for the period of the foundation of Rome which can be compared with Livy. Now, I should say that much of which I have said are my opinions. If you strongly believe that the Etruscans came from Lydia as per Herodotus, please feel free to argue your point. Camitlnas Next: Support for Herodotus ( - Camitlnas Tullius ) Previous: Some Interesting views (Re: Last posting) ( Lauchum - Camitlnas Tullius )