- Marie-Laurence Haack –
However, while gaining in autonomy and legitimacy, studies were fragmented, as
shown by the fi rst issues of Studi Etruschi, which were divided into distinct sections
on history and archaeology, on language and epigraphy and natural history and by
dictionaries such as the Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte (Berlin, 1926, s. v. Etrusker, III, 132
ff.) in which Duhn dealt with the archaeological side, Herbig with the linguistic side and
Reche with the anthropological side. From 1935 to 1947, the new academic discipline,
“Etruscology,” tried to solve the controversial issue of Etruscan origins but in the absence
of any certainties on the subject Etruscology was subjected to the competition of Roman
history. To gain recognition by the authorities that were very much aware of the themes
of race, nation and empire, German and Italian Etruscologists gave priority to the theme
of the origin of Etruscans. Traditionally, the Etruscans were recognized to be foreign in
origin, either they came from overseas or they had a Lydian origin by relying on the claims
of Herodotus, considered as the father of history. In the 1930s, the theory of Dionysius
of Halicarnassus who thought the Etruscans were a native people, “since it has existed
from time immemorial and bears no resemblance to any other race as regards language or
customs,” aroused new interest among German-speaking and Italian Etruscologists, even
among its traditional opponents. In the wake of A. Trombetti, linguistic arguments in
favor of the “Italianness” of the Etruscan nation and civilization were put forward.
In Germany, when the Etruscans were not seen as a foil for their luxurious manners,
they generated the same desire for annexation. Some scholars sought traces of the Etruscans
in northern Italy near the Austrian border. E. Fischer, a Nazi geneticist, attempted to
challenge Italian anthropologists, by claiming to be able to isolate the Etruscan character
of a race. In short, the origin of the Etruscans became a matter of rivalry between the
Germans and the Italians. The interest taken by all these scientists in a historically isolated
and once-spurned theory was a consequence of the Führer’s and Il Duce’s words on the
purity of the race. In Italy, in 1938, the year when the “battle of the race” was launched,
the “Manifesto of racist scientists” came out, according to which the Italian race existed
and had been fi xed for thousands of years in the peninsula. Accordingly, its physical
and psychological characters must not be altered especially through crossbreeding with
extra-European races. Etruscologists, however, sounded doubtful as to whether or not the
language was native, non-specialists took it upon themselves to demonstrate, through
the example of the Etruscan language, the unity and continuity of the Italian race. While
Etruscology was being dogged by a discourse on origins, learned societies were becoming
fascistic. The most fervent fascists among Etruscologists, like P. Ducati, were unable to
strike out the theory of a heterochthonous origin, and we notice, if not a loss of interest
in Etruscology, at least a new interest in Greek or Roman history on the part of many
Etruscologists seeking to secure their careers. Indeed, in Italy, Roman history offered
devotees of the fascist regime two key themes: the Empire and Augustus. On Augustus,
imperator and conqueror, the shadow of Il Duce is cast, as M. Pallottino underlined in
Capitolium, which unreservedly supported Il Duce’s action. A victorious and grandiose
Roman Empire was preferred to a still debated and actually questionable history of the
Etruscans. M. Pallottino described the great Augustan exhibition of the Roman Empire
as an undertaking sought by the Duce and worthy of fascist Italy.^3
After the Second World War, pluridisciplinarity gave way to interdisciplinarity. The
barriers between Etruscologically special fi elds broke down thanks to the emergence of new
personalities with, at the same time, linguistic, historical and artistic competences. The
most distinguished was unquestionably M. Pallottino who, in the midst of war, devoted