|
Explorers, Scientists &
Inventors
Musicians, Painters &
Artists
Poets, Writers &
Philosophers
Native Americans & The Wild
West
First Ladies
Popes
Troublemakers
Historians
Archaeologists
Royal
Families
Assassinations in History
Who
got slain, almost slain, when, how,
why, and by whom?
Go to the
Assassination Archive
Online History Dictionary A - Z
Voyages in History
When did what
vessel arrive with whom onboard and where
did it sink if it didn't?
Go to the
Passage-Chart
|
|
THE ETRUSCANS
Click to view full map.
The Etruscans
The Etruscans lived in Etruria,
roughly today's Tuscany, Italy.
|
|
What Language Did the
Etruscans Speak?
The language of the Etruscans was
Etruscan, which became in Rome's days sort of what Latin is for
us today: Nobody spoke it but scholars and academics were studying
it.
The Etruscans — Before
and After
The Etruscan culture flourished from
around 700 BC until 200 BC. The culture of the people who inhabited
Tuscany before the Etruscans is called the Villanovan
culture. After 200 BC the Etruscan culture was absorbed by the
Romans.
What Do We Know About
the Etruscans?
Lovers of archaeology are having a field
day with the Etruscans because no Etruscan literature survived.
Thus, all information about these people have to be patched together
from archaeological digs and references made by later Greek and
Roman writers, such as
Herodotus and
Dionysius of
Halicarnassus.
What we do know is that the Etruscans
dominated the entire peninsula and influenced the Roman culture. For
instance, the Roman toga was actually Etruscan. And what we know as
the Roman numerals were in fact, you guessed it, Etruscan numerals.
|
Similar to the Greeks and the Romans,
the Etruscans had many gods, Tinia or Tin being the main god.
Animal sacrifice was practiced and
Etruscan professionals were able to read the future from the
animal's dead liver.
And here is Italy in 326 BC:
Italy and Vicinity - Territorial Control 326
BC
More History
|
