- Jean MacIntosh Turfa –
In Part II, the historical development of Etruria begins with the Villanovan culture
(Chapter 5), and proceeds through the Orientalizing phenomenon and the infusion of
foreign elements that stimulated special aspects of Etruscan culture (Chapter 6). Chapter
7 delves into the urbanization phenomenon that shaped the cities, central Italy, and
ultimately Europe, down through the sixth century bc: the subsequent eras of great art,
technology, and political developments of the Archaic through Hellenistic periods are
covered in Parts IV through VII, broken down into key features of culture, religion or
art, while Part II concludes with the waning of Etruria: the long twilight of the Roman
takeover of the land (Chapter 8), and a personal view from the tombs of the great and
the upstart families of northern Etruria who watched, but not meekly, as their homeland
changed (Chapter 9).
Treating Etruria’s relations with neighboring cultures, Part III traverses the Late
Bronze Age through the Iron Age and Archaic period, beginning with the scene
in the western Mediterranean at the dawn of the fi rst millennium (Chapter 10), and
describing the major indigenous cultures of the Italian archipelago and their relations
with Etruscans: Nuragic Sardinia (Chapter 11), Phoenician and Punic Sardinia (Chapter
12), Corsica (Chapter 13), the Faliscans, the Italic people closest to Etruria in culture and
society (Chapter 14), and Etruscan expansion and relations with the regions of the Po
Valley/Adriatic (Chapter 15) and Campania on and beyond the Bay of Naples (Chapter
16). Part III ends with the maximum dispersion of Etruscans and their materials, from
Etruria Marittima to Carthage, Iberia, Massalia, and Gaul (Chapter 17).
The basics of Etruscan society and daily life are analyzed in Part IV, beginning with the
political and legal systems that so impressed Aristotle and supported a period of Etruscan
hegemony that was never forgotten by the historians (Chapter 18). The economy and
commercial relations of Etruria could form an entire volume (and has done so in the
past): in this volume the latest discoveries attesting Etruscan activity far from home
and Etruria’s famous products, are presented in Chapter 19. The life of Etruscans at
home is discussed under the topic of mothers and children (Chapter 20), and slavery
and manumission, a topic often overlooked or misrepresented, although epigraphy and
onomastic studies enable us to scrutinize it now (Chapter 21). The most pervasive, and
distinctive, feature of Etruscan life, the language, is treated in Chapter 22, and in Chapter
23, where Etruscan numbers and reckoning – and their considerable legacy – are surveyed.
Part V comprises religion in Etruscan culture, beginning with the Etruscans’ avid
adoption or adaptation of Greek myth (Chapter 24) and the variegated identities of the
Etruscan pantheon, where many native gods have been little understood (Chapter 25).
The most famous of Etruscan religious practices, the fi elds of haruspicy and augury,
respected even by the Romans, are discussed in Chapter 26. The gods and the places
of Etruscan religion set the scene for studies of Etruscan sanctuary sites and temples
(Chapter 27), and the archaeological correlates of Etruscan rituals, especially sacrifi ces,
are explored in Chapter 28. The great (and still famous) shrines of Etruscan worship
are surveyed in the next chapters: Tarquinia’s urban and extra-mural shrines including
the Civita plateau complex, the Ara della Regina and the seaside shrines of Graviscae
(Chapter 29). The Caeretan international port sanctuary at Pyrgi, with its famous shrine
marked with gold plaques and politically inspired artwork, is covered in Chapter 30. The
great meeting point of all Etruria, the Fanum Voltumnae (“shrine of the god Voltumna/
Veltune”), only recently identifi ed by the excavations of Campo della Fiera at Orvieto,
is presented in Chapter 31. One fi nal aspect of Etruscan worship is funerary cult, with