We are all familiar with the Roman Empire, much or little, we know how to locate them in time and we even know the names of many emperors. Its civil works such as roads, streets, hydraulic works, we are all very clear about the progress that the Roman Empire meant for history. But how the Romans came to develop all these skills, how from nothing they achieved an organized and structured society. To answer this question we have created this article, as you may have guessed those responsible were the Etruscanslet’s try to clarify what were its origins, its history, its culture and of course its economy. An exciting journey through history that will allow us to know and learn much more about our origins.
The Etruscans | origins
The origin of the Etruscan people today is still uncertain, we know that I know They settled in the Italian peninsulaaround the 13th century BC, choosing the central area and extending from the Po Valley to the Gulf of Naples.
They shared territory with other civilizations such as the Venetos, the Umbrians or the Samnites. Their maximum splendour they lived it around the 7th century BC. C., leaving us a large number of archaeological remains, where they have been able to study their way of life, their culture and their customs.
The decline of the Etruscan civilization we can place it in the 3rd century BCbeing his last king Tarquin the Proudwhen a new empire began to take shape, a new empire that did not start from “0”, but as we will see later, took advantage of all the knowledge of a society such as the Etruscan, to improve it and thus become an Empire that would govern much of of the fates of the known world for centuries to come, The Roman Empire.
The origins, as we have commented previously, are not very clear since no literary testimony has been found that can clarify its origins. The data that has come to us has been through texts based on legends like that of Herodotus or Tito Livio who was more determined to highlight the patriotic character, perhaps introducing some literary flourishes.
Basically there are 3 theories about the origin of the Etruscan people:
- Eastern theory. It is the one defended in the texts of herodotus who places the origins in Asia Minor, specifically in the region of Lidia. A group of expeditionaries from that region, led by Tirreno, was looking for new places to settle, fleeing from a terrible famine that was shaking the region. According to this story based on a Lydian legend, Tyrrhenian settled in the Umbrian region, where they founded cities and changed their name from Lydians to Tyrrhenian, in honor of the leader who led them to their new territories.
- indigenous civilization. This is the theory advocated by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, where the Etruscan civilization is the result of the evolution of previous settlements, then its origin places it in the Italian Peninsula. There really are no vestiges of a previous oriental culture as would be expected if its origin were placed in Asia Minor.
- The most defended theory today would be a combination of the two abovepossibly it was a town that had been forced to emigrate and settled in the central zone of the Peninsula, where they could receive influences from nearby settlements, being able to make a mixture of both cultures, the Mediterranean and the Asian with the good and the bad of each of them.
If we take into account that at the time of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the cultural vestiges that could have Asian connotations, were still undiscovered. Centuries later it would be found in different excavations.
The Etruscan people gave their last gasps in the 5th century BC At this time the Etruscans were already very weakened by the constant disputes they had with both the Greeks and the Carthaginians. However, it was the Roman empire who gave the Etruscans the coup de grâce.
Actually, it can be said that the Etruscans were never a really cohesive civilization, nor did they have a solid commercial or military organization, but rather a almost independent grouping of medium-sized cities with common social, cultural and commercial aspects.
The Etruscans | Political and Social Organization
We have to consider the political and social system of the Etruscan civilization from the point of view of each city-state, since its organization was individual. These cities had colonies and conquered territories, where they managed to establish their form of government, its laws, organization and policy.
The Etruscans – Organization | Political organization
The region of Etruria was constituted by 12 federations, these 12 cities had independence in the political and military sphere, the link between them was merely religious. This alliance or union was called Etruscan League or Dodecapolis.
The Etruscan civilization underwent three fundamental processes the beginning (economic development), heyday and a long decline.
The Etruscan League was originally made up of a Absolute monarchy. the king or Lucumo, He is in charge of distributing justice, commanding armies or acting as high priest. The Lucumo concentrated political, judicial, military and religious power.
This system undergoes a transformation starting in the 6th century BC. The League governments begin to modify the monarchical system that had governed them since the 9th century BC, converting an absolute monarchy into military dictatorship, which would give rise to an Oligarchic Republic, structured as follows:
- Lucumón or King-Priest.
- Senate.
- Collegiate, elective and temporary magistracies with religious and political power.
- popular assemblies.
The Etruscans – Organization | Social organization
The data that we have about Etruscan society is a bit confusing, since many of them are based on ancient literary texts. But the archaeological sites and remains that have come down to us are beginning to shed light, especially with regard to funerary sites, where the evidence of rich and poor classes They are highly contrasted.
It was about one gentile society, formed by the proper name of each individual and the name of the family. On some occasions they also add, in addition to the proper name and that of the family, other elements such as the father’s or mother’s name.
Etruscan society was stratified according to the fortune of each, what provided a status in society, where we find mainly in four large groups.
- The Patricians. Members of the oligarchy, with great fortunes.
- Clients or Free Plebes. Linked by customer ties. They were people of modest origin or fortune who entered under the tutelage of a wealthy or powerful citizen. This relationship was hereditary creating strong bonds between landowner and client, providing mutual support.
- commoners. Fundamentally it was foreigners, most were Greek craftsmen or merchants, they were poor with limited citizen rights.
- Slaves. The slaves coming from markets or defeated in war, in the Etruscan society were assigned to domestic service or to the tasks of the field.
The Etruscans | The Etruscan Family and Women
The Etruscan families attracted attention among the neighboring towns. The Greeks could not understand the role of the Etruscan woman, they did not think that they were a good example of a woman and a mother due to their libertine character. LEtruscan women had the same rights as menHe was involved in both political and social life. She could participate in games, like men, or have parties with her friends, with or without the presence of her husband.
This type of woman scandalized, as we have already said, a Greek society but also Roman society, even calling prostitutes Etruscans. The explanation of gender equality could be understood in that society, to the need for women to take charge of the family patrimony preserving it and even increasing it, when the husband died in some military contest.
the etruscan family was often made up of the father, the mother, the children and even on some occasions, the nephews. In the funerary remains that have been studied, this family relationship is also transferred to the burial mounds. Where the funerary inscriptions, tape all the members of the family in the same way.
We cannot forget that the “surnames”could come from both the father and the mother, something unthinkable in the incipient Roman or classical Greek culture.
The Etruscans | The Etruscan Cities
The Etruscan cities were located in plateaus or highlands, the reason was to be able to glimpse all the surrounding terrain, be it land or sea. The first Etruscan settlements, they were cabins They could have a round, square or rectangular floor plan. Roofs were generally thatched and steeply pitched.
The Etruscan cities were logically arrangedordered unlike the adjoining settlements that placed the houses without order but at random.
The Etruscans knew how to locate their settlements in an extraordinary way, since they settled in theto areas with very fertile soils and great mineral wealth. It is not in vain that these Etruscan cities are today important cities of present-day Italy. This may be a reason why all the cities were protected by a perimeter wall, to avoid the assault of other civilizations with less natural wealth.
The cities were designed according to a layout that was made with a plow. I know draw two axesthat would be the main streets of the city, these two axes were perpendicular to each other. One willing address North-South called “Cardo” and another willing East to West, called “Decumanus”. Every quarter into which the land had been divided, called Insulae, it divided again into a series of streets parallel to the cardo and the decumanus.
This distribution is not unique to the Etruscan civilization, but was possibly copied from the Greek urban system, to later be used by the Romans. Examples of this type of design we have in cities like Etruria.
The materials essential for Etruscan constructions were the clay, the tufa and the limestoneAs a curiosity, it seems that they were unaware of marble. The walls they were circular, having different entrance doors, always flanked by two towers. The main doors were those that delimited the two main streets, that is to say the ends of the cardo and the decumano, although there could be more doors along the perimeter of the wall.
the doors that originally they were semicircular archesgradually evolved, going from simple architraves in a first period until reaching imposing dimensions in the form of arches, a construction that was executed by embedding the dry tufa blocks. In the last stage, doors like all’Arco de Volterra, they are profusely decorated with bas-reliefs and frescoes.
The Etruscans | Etruscan architecture
Once we know the distribution of the…