Etruscan civilization: Encyclopedia II - Etruscan civilization - Etruscan heritage at Rome

Etruscan civilization - Etruscan heritage at Rome

Those who subscribe to an Italic foundation of Rome, followed by an Etruscan invasion, typically speak of an Etruscan “influence” on Roman culture; that is, cultural objects that were adopted at Rome from neighboring Etruria. The prevalent view today is that Rome was founded by Etruscans and merged with Italics later. In that case Etruscan cultural objects are not influences but are a heritage.

The main criterion for deciding whether an object originated at Rome and travelled by influence to the Etruscans, or descended to the Romans from the Etruscans, is date. Many if not most of the Etruscan cities were older than Rome. If we find that a given feature was there first, it cannot have originated at Rome. A second criterion is the opinion of the ancient sources. They tell us outright that certain institutions and customs came from the Etruscans.

Etruscan civilization - The Question of the founding population

Due to the fact that Rome was destroyed by the Gauls, losing most of its inscriptional evidence about its early history (according to Livy), most of that history is legendary. Archaeology confirms a widespread level of destruction by fire dated to that time. Legend; namely, the story of the rape of the Sabine women, says outright that the Italic Sabines were brought into the state.

Later history relates that the Etruscans lived in the Tuscus vicus, the “Etruscan quarter”, and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from Demaratus the Corinthian) as opposed to the non-Etruscan line. These views must come from the later reduction of Etrurian cities and absorption of the Etruscan populations into the Roman state. If we begin recounting all the institutions and persons said to be Etruscan, and comparing cultural objects to ones we know to have been of Etruscan origin, an originally Etruscan Rome appears unmistakably before our view. Rome was founded by Etruscans, all the kings were Etruscans, and the earliest government was Etruscan.

Etruscan civilization - Foundation of Rome

Rome was founded in Etruscan territory. Despite the words of the sources, which indicated Campania and Latium also had been Etruscan, scholars took the view that Rome was on the edge of Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome. As it stands now, the settlements are known to have preceded Rome. The Greeks also landed on Etruscan soil, at a round conventional date of about 1000 BC.

Etruscan settlements were inevitably built on a hill, the steeper the better, and surrounded by thick walls. When Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on the Palatine hill according to Etruscan ritual; that is, they began with a pomoerium or sacred ditch. Then they proceded to the walls. Romulus was required to kill Remus when the latter jumped over the wall, breaking its magic spell (see also under Pons Sublicius).

The name of Rome is now believed to be Etruscan, occuring in a standard form stating “place from which”: Velzna-ch, “from Velzna”, Sveamach, “from Sveama”, Rumach, “from Ruma”. We do not know what it means. If Tiberius is from thefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar river.

Etruscan civilization - Populus Romanus

Lore descending from the first constitution gives little indication of being anything but Etruscan. The people were divided into magic numbers: three tribes, 12 curiae per tribe. The word century also appears, ostensibly meaning “100” in Indo-European. Throughout the long history of Rome, a social century of any sort has never been 100. It is now known that many words of Etruscan origin have been given Indo-European pseudo-etymologies. This topic seems to generate a great deal of debate.

The names of the tribes: Ramnes, Luceres, Tities, are Etruscan, as well as the word curiae. The king is most likely to have been a lucumo; certainly, the trappings of monarchy are all Etruscan: the golden crown, sceptre, the toga palmata (a special robe), the sella curulis (throne), and above all the symbol of state power: the fasces. The latter was a bundle of whipping rods surrounding a double-bladed axe. No confederate or associative form of government could have had the power to whip and execute, administered by the lictors.

Chance has thrown an example of the fasces into our possession. Remains of bronze rods and the axe come from a tomb in Etruscan Vetulonia. Now that its appearance is known, the depiction of one was identified on the grave stele of Avele Feluske, who is shown as a warrior wielding the fasces.

The most telling Etruscan feature is the very name of the people, populus, which appears as an Etruscan deity, Fufluns. It was divided into gentes, which is an Indo-European word, but that must have been substituted for the Etruscan word at the same time the Indo-European senatus arrived, at the start of the republic, when the Etruscans had become a minority in their own city and lived in the Etruscan quarter.

Etruscan civilization - Etruscan architecture

Etruscan architectural features are too extensive at Rome to be considered a mere influence. The oldest wall at Rome, dating to the early monarchy, is built in the style called opus quadratum after the roughly 4-sided blocks. The style was in use at Suti, Falerii, Ardea, and Tarquinia.

In addition to their walls, the Etruscans insisted on sewage and drainage systems, which are extensive in all Etruscan cities. The cloaca maxima, “great sewer”, at Rome is Etruscan. The initial Roman roads, dikes, diversion channels and drainage ditches were Etruscan. More importantly, the Etruscans brought the arch to Rome, both barreled arches and corbelled arches, which you can see in gates, bridges, depictions of temple fronts, and vaulted passages.

Homes also were built in Etruscan style: a quadrangle of rooms around an open courtyard. The roof was of a type called cavoedium tuscanicum: two parallel beams crossing in one direction on which rafters were hung at right angles.

Etruscan civilization - Additional information

Much more can be and has been said on the topic; for example, on gladiatorial displays, banqeting, and entertainment, such as theatre, music and dancing, and above all Roman writing, which began in Italy among the Etruscans. The brief presentation in this article suffices to show that the Etruscans contributed more than an influence on the formation of Rome and Roman society.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etruscan heritage at Rome", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki