Ethnicity and the Etruscans 411of the individual in Etruscan, with slight variation in Latin, and an additional Latin
name: C.Cassius.C.f.Saturninusv.cazi.c.clan. Many of the late inscriptions, all funerary
and some 34 of which are bilingual with Latin (Benelli 1994; Adams 2003), come from
inland Chiusi and Perugia to the east, where Etruscan culture remained vigorous for
the longest time. They are fascinating for what they reveal about Etruscan uncertainty
about identity during this stage of transition to Roman rule. Worth noting is that a sur-
prising number of the bilinguals include the metronymic, either in Latin or Etruscan or
both:cuinte. ́sinu.arntnal, translated as Q.Sentius.L.f.Arria.natus (ETCl 1.957; see also
ETCl 1.354, 1.1221, 1.2430, 1.1449, 1.1181; Pe 1.211, 1.313, 1.846, etc.). During
this period, when personal identity could be an almost daily problem, many Etruscans
insisted on giving this information that was normally not included in Latin.
Naturally, legal considerations were important as well, so that when an Etruscan wanted
to be enrolled in a voting tribe, he would need to choose a Roman name. The bilinguals
show an interesting array of solutions to this problem. Some are fairly easy to understand
as translations: for example, the famous inscription that gives the name of a priest and his
titles, which has been interpreted as revealing the Etruscan word forharuspex—net ́svis
(ETUm. 1.7; Benelli, 1994: 13–15):[L. Ca]fatius L. f. Ste. haruspe[x] fulguriator,
translated as[c]afates.lr.lr. net ́svis. trutnvt.frontac. The Latin version gives the name of
his tribe, Stellatina, and the two wordsharuspex fulguriator, which seem to have three
Etruscan words as their equivalent. The change from the name of Laris Cafates, son of
Laris, involves a minor adjustment, substituting thepraenomenL[ucius].
In fact, rarely do two bilingual inscriptions say exactly the same thing, and sometimes
the alternate Roman name is downright astonishing, to the point that one wishes to
ask if in fact the inscriptions refer to different persons. Frequently, thepraenomenis
completely changed. A case in point isETAr 1.3, where the Etruscan isa.haprni.a
a휒ratinalisa—that is, “Avle Haprni, son of Avle, son of Achratina.” This is “translated”
asCn.LaberiusA.f.Pom, “Gnaeus Laberius, son of Aulus, Pomptine (tribe).” Such rad-
ical changes have been explained as evidence of a conscious strategy to assimilate oneself
into Roman society (Farney 2010; also, see Chapter 29 in this volume).
Religion
Next to language, the most prominent ethnic indicator of the Etruscans was their reli-
gion. The well-known quote from Livy seems to be absolutely true: the Etruscans were
agens“more than any others dedicated to religious practices, in that they excelled in the
art of cultivating these (practices)” (5.1.6). (See also Chapter 31 in this volume.) This
perception of them became stereotypical, as seen in the equally popular citation from the
Early Christian Arnobius (Adversus nationes7.26), claiming that Etruria was thegenetrix
et mater superstitionis(“begetter and mother of superstition”).
The Etruscans, who could not be referred to as one nation, were bound together
by their religious practice. They lived in separately governed city-states, belonging to a
loosely organized union known as the Duodecim Populi, the Twelve Peoples of Etruria,
which met periodically at the shrine of the Fanum Voltumnae, a site where worship of the