CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ETRUSCANS IN CAMPANIA

Mariassunta Cuozzo

T

he ancient perception of the Etruscan character of some districts of Campania is
attested in the ancient literary sources. According to Pliny the Elder (NH 3.70),
at one time the Picentine region belonged to Etruscans, extending for thirty miles
from Sorrento to the River Sele (D’Agostino 1988; Cuozzo 2003, Cerchiai 2010). For
Livy (7.3.1) and Strabo (5.4.3), Capua is an urbs maxima at the head of an Etruscan do
Dodecapolis in Campania. (Fig. 16.1).
Nevertheless, the archaeological picture of the region presents noteworthy elements
of complexity and the signifi cance of the occurrence of cultural traits of “Villanovan”
type in Campania has been the subject of heated debate. Today, the composite cultural
panorama, rather than being interpreted in terms of ethnic contrasts, seems to take shape
from the very beginning as a dynamic and dialectic situation of population, which in

Figure 16.1 Campania from Iron Age to Archaic period: population distribution.