- Hilary Becker –
it re-introduces the kingship repeatedly even though its peer city-states have abandoned
monarchy. In 437 bce there is a King Tolumnius of Veii whose defeat provided spolia
opima for Rome.^17 The Veientines switched to elected offi ce at some point afterwards but
evidently grew tired of it (taedio annuae ambitionis) and elected a king again in 403 bce.
The other Etruscan city-states apparently had oligarchic governments and disapproved of
this decision so much so that they did not help Veii in its ultimate battle against Rome.^18
Another set of texts that are helpful in understanding this important period of
transition are the Elogia Tarquiniensia, Latin inscriptions set up in the Julio-Claudian era
to honor the storied ancestors of T. Vestricius Spurinna. All three Spurinnae are listed
as praetors, and at least two of them were leading armies. For this reason, the sphere of
experience of a republican zilath seems to be roughly equivalent to that of a praetor.
These defi nitions become even more interesting through the account of the life of Aulus
Spurinna, who was three times elected as a praetor. He drove out a king Orgolnius of
Caere (Caeritum regem), showing that there were still occasional monarchical fl are-ups.^19
The date of Aulus Spurinna’s activities has been debated, but may fall anywhere from
later in the fi fth century to the mid fourth century bce.^20
The city-state and republican administrationMany different titles for magistracies occurred as the different Etruscan city-states
transitioned from monarchy to oligarchy. As we have seen, the zilath is the chief offi cial
of a city, who as with the other magistracies, is drawn from the patrician class. A person
could be a zilath more than once, such as a Larth from Tarquinia, who, “the son of Arnth
Plecu and of Ramtha Apatrui, having been zilath twice, died at the age of forty-nine
years”.^21 The second century bce Vulcian Larth Tute out-served him by serving as a zilath
(lit. zilchnu “having performed the zilath-ship”) eight times.^22 One could evidently hold
this position at a young age because Sethre Tutes was a zilath at Vulci three times before
he died at the age of 25.^23 One of the most basic functions of the zilath-ship is that it was
eponymous and used to date the year, such that in Tarquinia the Tomba degli Scudi was
built during the magistracy (zil) of Vel Hulchnie^24 and the Tomba dell’Orco I during the
magistracies of Larth Hulchnies and Marce Caliathe, allowing us to see that there can be
one or two zilaths in a given year.^25
Many different attributes could be added to the title zilath (such as marunuchva,
parchis, or eterau), and as with Thefarie Velianas, these attributes are important in so
far as they may add to or delimit the jurisdiction and responsibilities of an offi ce. The
zilath eterau, for example, may have been a magistrate of the youths.^26 These magisterial
titles are not all understood but are recognizable because a word typically follows zilath
in the genitive, such as a magistrate from Chiusi who was labeled as zilath scuntnues; the
meaning of this second term is not known but may be related to the root “scun,” a role
that may be connected to building.^27 Jacques Heurgon likens these multiple magistracies
in each city-state to Athens, where there was an archon eponymous, a king archon, an archon
polemarch, and the six junior archons, the thesmothetae.^28
In addition to zilaths in charge of the central city of a city-state, this role is also
attested in secondary centers. Information supporting this can be found from magisterial
inscriptions in Norchia, Musarna and Tuscania that seem to distinguish between the
magistracies held in these locations and those held in the capital city of Tarquinia.^29
For example, a group of inscriptions from the Tarquinian town of Musarna provide