— G iI da BartoI oni —Figure 5 .1 1 Diffusion of Greek geometric cups in Italy (Magna Graecia. Archeologia di un sapere, Milan,
2005, pp. 345-359)-or at least an increase, in the technology o f working this metal, a technology intensively
developed in the Aegean world; its transmission was presumably facilitated by contacts
with N ear Eastern populations. It is now the consensus, in fact, that the sophisticated
techniques o f working in many craft genres presuppose an apprenticeship spent with
Greek or N ear Eastern artisans, the keepers o f a more advanced learning, whether
sedentary or itinerant through various locations.
The Etruscan aristocrats tend, each one, to present him self as a rex (“k in g ”) within
his own sphere, whether that is his family or the extended family, his gens (clan), curia
(“tribe”) or populus (“people” , the entire community). (N ote that we m ust use the Latin
terms in the absence o f Etruscan literature). A t Veii, from the m iddle years o f the eighth
century through the entire seventh and into the first h alf o f the sixth century b c , we may
recognize the figures o f the rulers (capi) who present notable parallels to the seven kings
o f Rom e, to whom the oldest histories o f Rome refer.
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