412 Nancy T. de Grummond
gods was combined with political action, games, and markets. In fact, under the Roman
Empire, they were expanded and were known as the Quindecim Populi. Excavations on
the plain at the Campo della Fiera outside Orvieto (ancient Volsinii), revealing altars,
temples, and votive deposits, have demonstrated that this is the site of Fanum Voltum-
nae (Stopponi 2011). Each of the Peoples was led by what the Romans called alucumo,
supposed to be an Etruscan word forrex(Servius,ad Aeneidem2.278; 8.65; 8.475;
Livy also calls themprincipes: 2.44.8; 6.2.2; 10.13.3; 10.16.3). One of these leaders was
customarily chosen as chief priest and sponsor for the games at Fanum Voltumnae (Livy
5.1). He symbolized the unification of the Twelve Peoples into one religiopolitical and
ethnic entity.
The Twelve adhered to the religious principles of theEtrusca disciplina, teachings deliv-
ered by prophets, then written down and disseminated throughout Etruria. They were
bound together by a charter myth, the story of the oracular child called Tages in Latin
and Greek, who miraculously popped up in a ploughed furrow at Tarquinia, and began
to chant the principles for learning the will of the gods and for responding appropri-
ately (Cicero,De divinatione2.23; Johannes LydusDe ostentis2.6.B). “All of Etruria,”
representing the Twelve Peoples, came to listen to the amazing messages. According to
one version, Tarchon, brother of Tyrrhenos and founder of the city of Tarquinia and
other cities, came to record what the child was saying and became a haruspex or inter-
preter. Several references indicate that traditional sacred knowledge was handed down,
sometimes from father to son, and had a profound influence for many centuries on most
aspects of Etruscan life. Archaeological and other literary evidence confirm a widespread
observance of rituals recorded in a series of books that had to do with the reading
of entrails of sacrificed animals (particularly the liver), the interpretation of lightning
and thunder and of other omens, the founding of cities and temples, and the practices
of agriculture (de Grummond 2006a: 23–30; 2006b: 191–3, 202–5). In particular,
the teachings of Tages may survive in a lengthy brontoscopic calendar in which thun-
der divination was used to address agricultural, military, social, and political concerns
(Turfa 2012).
Appearances
Thus far, little has been said of the stereotypical descriptions of the Etruscans in Greek
and Latin literature. One well-knowntoposassociates the Etruscans with a luxurious
lifestyle and flamboyant and free behavior (Farney 2007: 133–40, for a recent review;
see also Chapter 32 by Kathryn Lomas in this volume). Theobesus Etruscus(Catul-
lus 39.11) evidently got that way through banqueting sumptuously twice a day. The
conduct of Etruscan women was especially scandalous (Bonfante 1994, esp. 248–9),
and was played out, for example, in Livy’s accounts of the Etruscans in early Rome,
in the contrasting behavior of the imperious Etruscan queen Tanaquil or the wicked
Tullia and the chaste Roman noblewoman Lucretia. The Etruscans were described at
one time or another as cruel, piratical, effeminate, sexually promiscuous, ambitious,
and devious.