The best definition of the Etruscans (referred to as “Tyrrhenians” by the Greeks) is perhaps the one given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian who lived between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE: “an ancient people unlike any other in language or customs“; a unique people, therefore, that has always sparked the interest of scholars and enthusiasts alike.
It is another Greek author (Hesiod, a poet from the 7th century BCE and one of the founders of Western literature along with Homer) who first mentions the Etruscans: “Circe, loving Ulysses, bore him Agrio and powerful Latinus, and Telegonus: those who ruled over all the illustrious Tyrrhenians in distant bright islands.”
In this case, the poet uses the word “Tyrrhenians” in a broad sense, to define all the peoples of Italy who were not of Greek descent.
Thus, the Etruscan culture enters the Greek cultural horizon as something other, something different yet worthy of being included in Greek mythology and geography; a culture of such importance that it encompassed all others; the only culture in Italy with which the Greeks could, at that time, interact as equals.
Where did the Etruscans live? In Etruria!
The homeland of the Etruscans is the territory historically known as “Etruria,” corresponding to the area between the Arno and the Tiber rivers (nowadays, Tuscany and parts of Umbria and northern Lazio). It was here, in the 8th century BCE, that Etruscan civilization emerged, rooted in the Villanovan culture of the Iron Age (10th-9th century BCE).
Like the Greeks, the Etruscans never formed a national state; instead, they were organized into city-states, independent poleis.
Important Etruscan centers were founded as early as the 8th century BCE beyond the traditional boundaries of this region, in Campania (Capua, Pontecagnano, and Fratte near Salerno) and in the Pianura Padana (Bologna, Mantua, Adria, Spina, Marzabotto).
The twelve most important cities (Vulci, Volterra, Volsinii, Veii, Vetulonia, Arezzo, Perugia, Cortona, Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Chiusi, and Roselle) formed the so-called “Dodecapolis“.
The Fanum Voltumnae in Campo della Fiera, Orvieto
The leaders of the cities met at the Fanum Voltumnae, the federal sanctuary and political and religious center of Etruria.
It was here, in the “celestial place” near Velzna (the Etruscan name for Orvieto), that the gods were worshipped, internal and external political issues were discussed, and the actions of the various cities were coordinated.
The discovery of the Fanum Voltumnae in Campo della Fiera, near Orvieto, is one of the most important discoveries in the history of archaeology.
The excavations started in 2000, and have been directed since then by prof. Simonetta Stopponi.
Italian ArtVenture’s founder Giovanni Vergineo has joined over fifteen archaeological campaigns in Campo della Fiera.
The political influence of some of the Etruscan cities extended even to non-Etruscan centers of great importance, such as Rome itself, which was ruled by three Etruscan kings throughout the 6th century BCE.
The Etruscans, the Greeks, the Romans, and the sunset of the Etruscan civilization
The Etruscans and Greeks maintained intense commercial and cultural relations; Greek influence on Etruscan culture was significant, especially in religion, art, and architecture, which are known to us primarily through necropolises and sanctuaries.
The Etruscan alphabet was also borrowed from the Greek alphabet but adapted to the phonetic needs of the Tyrrhenians since the Etruscans did not speak an Indo-European language like Greek or Latin.
The Tyrrhenians dominated not only the territory controlled by their poleis for centuries but also the sea (historian Diodorus Siculus calls them “masters of the sea”).
The maritime trade of this people is well-known from antiquity, as evidenced by the name of the Tyrrhenian Sea itself. The main actors of the “Tyrrhenian thalassocracy” were the two largest cities of coastal Etruria: Cerveteri and Tarquinia, which traded with many of the most important Mediterranean centers.
The arrival of the Greeks in the northern Tyrrhenian region led to fierce conflicts between the two peoples, culminating in two naval battles that were decisive for the geopolitical structure of the western Mediterranean.
The first of these clashes, the Battle of Alalia (540 BCE), saw the Etruscans and Carthaginians allied against the Phocaeans, who had recently founded the colony of Alalia in Corsica, thus disrupting the political and commercial balance between the major peoples of the area.
The Greeks won but at such a high cost that it compromised the positive outcome of the battle. In fact, for another sixty-six years, the Tyrrhenian remained, for the most part, an Etruscan sea.
In 474 BCE, a second naval battle took place, this time near Cumae, an ancient Greek colony in Campania.
In this case, the decisive factor was the help provided to the Cumaeans by the tyrant of Syracuse, Hiero, who sent the entire Syracusan fleet to assist the allied polis, decisively contributing to the Etruscans’ defeat.
The outcome of the battle had disastrous consequences, especially for the cities of coastal Etruria, which derived great wealth from their “thalassocracy” over the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Due to this defeat, the relations between Etruria proper and the cities of Campanian Etruria (such as Fratte, Pontecagnano, and Capua) were severely compromised; this led to a deep crisis, and neither Tarquinia nor Cerveteri could regain the importance they had during the 6th century BCE.
However, the shift of trade routes toward the Adriatic Sea had beneficial effects both on the cities of the Po Valley and on those of inland Etruria, such as Cortona, Arezzo, and, indeed, Volsinii.
The expulsion of Tarquin the Proud from Rome in 509 BCE marked the end of the monarchical period and the beginning of the Republican era, serving as a prelude to Rome’s conquest of Etruria.
The first city to be conquered, after a decade-long conflict, was Veii, the Etruscan city closest to Rome and therefore the most formidable, destroyed in 396 BCE.
The decision—made at the Fanum Voltumnae—not to aid Veii was a sign of the weakness of the Etruscan league, likely marked by centuries-old internal conflicts and unable to mount a coordinated and adequate response to the violent Roman expansionism.
The fall of this important polis paved the way for the conquest of Etruria, which was subjugated over the course of the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.
The last city to be conquered (264 BCE) was Volsinii itself, the site of the Fanum Voltumnae, the political and religious heart of Etruria.
This marks the end of the Etruscans as an independent people; the Romans quickly assimilated Etruria into their territory through the foundation of colonies.
Some aspects of Etruscan culture, however, were not erased but survived until the late imperial period; among these was the custom of attending the Fanum Voltumnae to watch gladiatorial and theatrical performances, and the obligation of some communities to send a priest to preside over them, as attested by the Rescript of Spello written during the time of Constantine (around 330 CE).
Nearly six hundred years after the Roman conquest, therefore, the heart of Etruscan religion continued to beat, albeit faintly.
The end of the Etruscans did not diminish the interest in this people, which still exerts an enormous fascination on scholars and the general public today.
Excavations like that of Campo della Fiera in Orvieto, in fact, add a piece each year to our understanding of the Etruscan world and help shed light on still unknown aspects of this inimitable civilization.
