Etruscan civilization

Etruscan culture developed in northern and central Italy after ca 800 BC without a serious break out of the preceding Villanovan culture. The Villanovan culture, the earliest Iron Age culture of central and northern Italy, gave way in the 7th century to an increasingly Orientalizing culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy.

Related Topics:
800 BC - Villanovan culture - Magna Graecia - Hellenic civilization

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The Etruscan civilization flourished in Etruria and the Po valley in the northern part of what is now Italy, prior to the arrival of Gauls in the Po valley and the formation of the Roman Republic.

Related Topics:
Etruria - Po - Italy - Gauls - Roman Republic

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:Main article: Etruscan language.

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The Etruscans are generally believed to have spoken a non-Indo-European language. Herodotus (c. 400 BC) records the legend that they came from Lydia (modern western Turkey). Contrarily, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 100 BC) pronounced that the Etruscans were indigenous to Italy, calling themselves Rasenna and being part of an ancient nation "which does not resemble any other people in their language or in their way of life, or customs." Knowledge of the Etruscan language only began with the discovery of the bilingual Phoenician-Etruscan Pyrgi Tablets found at the port of Caere in 1964, and this knowledge is still incomplete.

Related Topics:
Indo-European - Herodotus - Lydia - Turkey - Dionysius of Halicarnassus - Rasenna - Etruscan language - Phoenician - Pyrgi Tablets - Caere - 1964

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Some researchers have proposed that the non-Greek inscriptions found on the island of Lemnos, appearing to be related to the Etruscan language and dated to the sixth century BC, support Herodotus' hypothesis. However, recent research, referencing burial rituals, shows that there was no break in practices from the earlier settlements of the Villanovan culture to the Etruscans, indicating that they were likely indigenous after all.

Related Topics:
Lemnos - Sixth century BC - Villanovan culture

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