A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean

Ethnicity and the Etruscans 407

Mantua

Piacenza

Ferrara

Spina

Bologna (Felsina) Villanova

Marzabotto

Fiesole

Volterra

Siena

Murlo

Populania Chianciano Perugia

Vetulonia Cetona Todi

Talamone Bolsena

Tuscania

Vulci

Pyrgi

Rome

Palestrina (Praeneste)

Nemi

Capua

Herculaneum

Pompeii

Tyrrhenian

Sea

Bay of

Naples

CORSICA

SARDINIA

ELBA

R. Po

Bisenzio

Aleria (Alalia)

Cerveteri

(Caere)

Adriatic

Sea

Ligurian

Sea

0

100

160

Miles

Kilometers

50

80

0

Orvieto (Volsinii)

.R

Tib

er

Ar ezzo

Chiusi (Clusium)

Cortona

L. T rasimeno

Tarquinia

Viterbo

Narce

Cività Castellana (Falerii)

Veii

PITHEKOUSSAI

R.

Arn

o

Map 27.1 Map of Italy. Courtesy of N. de Grummond.

whereas the essential issue was theformationand development of this particular culture
over a period of centuries. In what follows, attention will be given to the historical devel-
opment of the Etruscans, but at the same time we may address the areas that have the
greatest bearing on defining their ethnicity: language, nomenclature, religion, appear-
ance, and biological characteristics. When possible, ethnic distinctions will be nuanced by
reference to Etruscan men and women whose status was royal, princely, aristocratic, slave,
or freed.