transport: Etruscan civilization

Evidence: 54 • authority: 72

Etruscan sculpture was one of the most important artistic expressions of the Etruscan people, who inhabited the regions of Northern Italy and Central Italy between about the 9th century BC and the 1st century BC. Etruscan art was largely a derivation of Greek art, although developed with many characteristics of its own. Given the almost total lack of Etruscan written documents, a problem compounded by the paucity of information on their language—still largely undeciphered—it is in their art that the keys to the reconstruction of their history are to be found, although Greek and Roman chronicles are also of great help. Like its culture in general, Etruscan sculpture has many obscure aspects…

Evidence: 61 • authority: 72

Etruscan architecture was created between about 900 BC and 27 BC, when the expanding civilization of ancient Rome finally absorbed Etruscan civilization. The Etruscans were considerable builders in stone, wood and other materials of temples, houses, tombs and city walls, as well as bridges and roads. The only structures remaining in quantity in anything like their original condition are tombs and walls, but through archaeology and other sources we have a good deal of information on what once existed. From about 630 BC, Etruscan architecture was heavily influenced by Greek architecture, which was itself developing through the same period. In turn it influenced Roman architecture, which in it…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 72

The Etruscans ( ih-TRUSK-ən) created a civilization in Etruria, in ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. After adjacent lands had been conquered, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Lazio, as well as what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto and western Campania. A large body of literature has flourished on the origins of the Etruscans, and the consensus among modern scholars is that the Etruscans were an indigenous population. The earliest evidence of a culture that is identifiably Etruscan dates from about 900 BC. This is the pe…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

In classical antiquity, several theses were elaborated on the origin of the Etruscans from the 5th century BC, when the Etruscan civilization had been already established for several centuries in its territories, that can be summarized into three main hypotheses. The first is the autochthonous development in situ out of the Villanovan culture, as claimed by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus who described the Etruscans autochthonous people who had always lived in Etruria. The second is a migration from the Aegean Sea, as claimed by two Greek historians: Herodotus, who described them as a group of immigrants from Lydia in Anatolia, and Hellanicus of Lesbos who claimed that the Ty…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

The Etruscan (original title Turms, kuolematon which translates to Turms, Immortal) is a novel by Mika Waltari, published in 1955, telling of the adventures of a young man, Turms, which begins approximately in 480 BC. It tells of the spiritual development of Turms, as he adventures from Greece to Sicily, then to Rome and then finally to Tuscany, where he learns of his immortality and his duties to the future. There are many actual historical events in this book, but how Turms gets involved in them is fictitious. Turms is involved in the Ionian Rebellion against the Persian Empire and participates in the burning of the Lydian capital, Sardis. Fleeing Anatolia to escape punishment for crimes…

Evidence: 36 • authority: 80

History of ancient pottery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It was adapted into Linear B, which was used by the Mycenaeans to write an early form of Greek. Since its modern rediscovery in 1900, no texts in the script have yet been deciphered. Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans named the script "Linear" because its characters consisted simply of lines inscribed in clay, in contrast to the more pictographic characters in Cretan hieroglyphs – likewise undeciphered – that were used during the same period. Linear A belongs to a group of scripts that evolved independently…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival. It is the only Canaanite language still spoken today. It is also one of the only two Northwest Semitic languages with contemporary speakers, the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date to the 10th centur…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Etruscan religion comprises the religious beliefs and practices of the Etruscan civilization. The Etruscans were polytheistic, and although there is some syncretism between their mythological traditions and those of the Greeks and Romans, the Etruscan conception and worship of these divinities is individual and not an adoption of other cultures' practices. Because there are no surviving Etruscan sacred texts, with the exception of the Liber Linteus, it is impossible to fully understand their religion, however we can gain some insight from archaeological evidence. The Etruscans appear to have had specific religious personnel, and to have engaged in a reciprocal practice of offerings, rituals…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The concept of Italic peoples is widely used in linguistics and historiography of ancient Italy. In a strict sense, commonly used in linguistics, it refers to the Osco-Umbrians and Latino-Faliscans, speakers of the Italic languages, a subgroup of the Indo-European language family. In a broader sense, commonly used in historiography, all the ancient peoples of Italy are referred to as Italic peoples, including the non-Indo-European ones, such as Rhaetians and Etruscans. The Italic peoples emerged from the Urnfield and Tumulus groups, who spread across Italy during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Their distinctive material culture, known as the proto-Villanovan culture, appeared in pa…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Latins (Latin: Latīnī), sometimes known as the Latials or Latians, were an Italic people that included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome (see Roman people). From about 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium (in Latin Latium vetus), the area in the Italian Peninsula between the Tiber river and the promontory of Mount Circeo, 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Rome. Following the Roman expansion, the Latins spread into the Latium adiectum, which was inhabited by Osco-Umbrian peoples. Their language, Latin, belongs to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Italic peoples emerged from the Urnfield and Tumulus groups, who spread acros…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Latin (lingua Latina or Latinum) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, including English, having contributed many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, the sciences, medicine, a…