Etruscans
period 6
Government
By Shannon Beauregard and Connor O'Brien
• The Etruscan Government was a
theocracy
• A theocracy is a government in
which all the people believe the
supreme ruler is a God
• The Governement was the central
authority over all the tribal and clan
organizations in the area
• The Government was said to hold
the power of life and death;the
gorgon, an ancient symbol of that
power, appears in Etruscan
decoration
• The political unit of Etruscan society
is a city-state
Government Cont.
• The People in the tribes were called the
mech, and the ruler was called the
Zilach
• Each king had Lictors to help enforce
his policies
• There were a total of three leagues for
the city-states, and each league had
twelve states
• Once a year, the states met at a Fanu,
or a scared holy place to talk about
military and political affairs
• They also then chose a "Lucumo", or
ruler, who ruled for one year
• What he did was decribed by the
infinitive "Lucair" meaning to rule
• The Etruscan confederacy met at the
Fanum Voltumnae, the shrine
of "voltumna"
Government Cont.
• This confederacy league was called the
"duodecim populi Etruriae" meaning the "12
peoples of Eutria"
• The family of the Lucomones was a famous
ruling family who combined civil with
religious ideas to rule
• Important city state centers were
Clusium(Chiusi), Turquinii(Tarquinia),
Caere(Cerveteri), Veii(Veio), Volterra,
Perusia(Perguia), and Volsinii(Orvieto)
• Etruscan texts name quite a number of
magistrates, without any hint as to what they
did
• They were called the Camthi, the Parnich,
the purth, the Tamera, the macstrev and
more
ART
by Teresa and
Isabel
Pottery and statues.
The Etruscans worked a lot with
pottery. It was one of their specialties.
They painted on the pottery and put
pictures of people and animals telling
stories. The pottery has beautiful
ordinate designs on them.
Sometimes, if wealthy, there would be
gold and silver detailing. Statues and
sculptures were also a part of their
culture. There were many statues of
many sizes. The statues represented
important figures including heroes
and Gods.
ART
by Teresa and Isabel
Gold work
• had the most gold
• mostly found in tombs
• many gold smiths in their culture
• jewelry, highlight frescos and pottery
• granulation - precise technique for for
gold working
Frescos - wall painting
• manipulation of scales
• knowledge of frescos was from Greeks
• stong allusion and form, lifesize
• tell stories, entertainment, key figures, enjoyment of
life
Canopic Urns
• are mainly made of terracotta with some bronze
• head scultpures
• 6th and 7th century B.C.
The Etruscan
Language
By Hannah Basile and Mattie Jacox
Basic Facts About The Etruscan
Language
• The Etruscan language has never been proved to be related to any
other language in the Indo-European family of languages, let alone
the world.The only know language that is some what similar to the
Etruscan language was spoken in Lemos and other extinct, rare
languages.
• The Etruscans were the first people living in Italy to learn to write.
• It is the ancestor of the modern day Latin alphabet.
• The commercial and cultural interaction with the Greeks is reflected
in some of the Etruscan vocabulary.
• Was spoken by the Entruscans until the first century AD, and it was
continued to be used in religious ceremonies until the 5th century
AD after Rome became a power.
• Most of our understanding coming from the Etruscan language
comes from incriptions on tombs and vases.
Etruscan Language Continued
Gold tablets from Pyrgi in 500
BCE. In creibed in Phoenician
(left) and Etruscan (center and
right)
Etruscan Numbers
• The basic writing system of Roman Numerals was greatly
influenced by the Etruscans and their number system.
History
- Controversy over origins: the Etruscans were either
indigenous, or immigrated from Asia Minor
- Appeared around 1000 BC in what is now Tuscany
- Original land between Tiber and Arno Rivers
- Compete with Greek expansion
- Bordered by Umbrian and Picenes peoples on South and
East
- Expands borders northward, controls between Mantua and
Campania
- Tarquin (Estruscan) Dynasty controls Rome 616-509 B.C.
- Begins a thalassocracy- naval rule of the immediate area
- Clash with Greek forces at Cumae, and Etruscan expansion
was finally checked by Aristodemus
History cont'd
- the Etruscans make a coalition with the Carthaginians i 540
B.C.
- Etruscan rule imposed on Corsica after a naval battle in the
Sardinia Sea
- 510 B.C. Etruscan monarchy in Rome falls and the Republic
replaces it
-
Etruscan Lifestyle
& Social Structure
Liv&Grace
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The social elite is equal to the rich and famous
Banquets were important to show off high status with the aristocrats
The upperclass memebers were the highest citizens of the city-states
The rulers of the etruscans were called lucremones and wore purple robes
aristorcracy execised strict control over the political, military, economic, and
religious aspects of lives
• Many people, Lucius Priscus and Lucius Superbus, were accomplished
warriors- giving them leader positions in rome
...continued
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they had a complicated set of rituatals for divining the future
Gender did not matter – Women had many rights
Etruscans posses military strength among the city-states
Civilization and urbanization were attributed by them
Independant fortified city-states ruled by monarchs
sophisticated people
had their own alphabet based on greek alphabet
they lived a very luxurious life
Religion: Offerings
By Michaela and Sam
-Made offerings to the gods to show that they were grateful.
-One example is sculptures of body parts when healing was
seeked. They would also make offerings of jewelry, prized
possessions, and figurines.
Religion: Gods
- Etruscan religion was believed to be a "revealed religion" so
that the the gods spoke to them through events in nature.
- They learned what these signs meant by communicating
with prophets.
- These gods were also sometimes depicted in human form.
Religion: Legend
"One day, says the legend, in a field near the river Marta in Etruria, a strange
event occurred. A divine being rose up from the newly ploughed furrow, a being
with the appearance of a child, but with the wisdom of an old man. The startled
cry of the ploughman brought lucomones, the priest kings of Etruria hurrying up to
the spot. To them, the wise child chanted the sacred doctrine, which they
reverently listened to and wrote down, so that this most precious possession
could be passed on to their successors. Immediately after the revelation, the
miraculous being fell dead and disappeared into the ploughed field. His name was
Tages, and he was believed to be the son of Genius and grandson of the highest
God, Tinia (or Jupiter as he became known to the Romans). This doctrine was
known to the Romans as the disciplina etrusca"
http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/religion.html
Religion: Gods
Apulu (Apollo) | god of the arts (esp. poetry and music),
archery, and divination
Artames (Diana) | goddess of the hunt
Fufluns (Bacchus) | god of wine and fertility
Menarva (Minerva) | goddess of wisdom, war, and crafts
Tinia (Jupiter) | god of the sky; ruler of the Etruscan
pantheon
Turan (Venus) | goddess of love and beauty
Turms (Mercury) | god of merchants
Uni (Juno) | goddess of marriage
Tombs and Archeological Sites
-obsession with elaborate burials, similar to Egyptian belief that
a part of the soul remains with
the body in the afterlife
-earliest tombs were Cremations
where the ashes were placed in
biconical urns (urns meant to
represent huts)
-tombs found underground with
Stuccoes (a form of plaster used
to create a decorative
atmosphere for the tombs)
Tombs and Archeological Sites (cont.)
-the tombs give insight into Etruscan culture (ex. the remains of murals
on some walls depict a commonly recurring theme of banquets)
-each tomb could hold many people (relatives were usually kept
together) and Etruscans included in tombs any necessities for
their next life such as pots and pans, plates, pitchers, ropes, knives, oil
lamps, Greek vases
-people not able to afford such elaborate chambers were buried in
plainer tombs, cut right into walls
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
architecture/cerveteri.htm,
Tombs and Archeological Sites (cont.)
-the tombs of Caere spanned a long period of time (6th to 7th
Century) and included over 400 tombs.
-the tombs of Tarquinia show the earliest remnants of the first
cremation sites. Contains about 150 tombs created during the 4th
to 9th Century
-the tombs of Vulci from the 8th century include the most lavish
and ordained burials. Most of the ceramics and paintings
recovered came form these tombs.
Negotiation, Tomb of the Baron,
Tarquinia. Note the wreath hanging
over the black horse
Various Tomb Sites
http://forum.stirpes.net/antiquity/2112-etruscan-paintings.html
The End.
Period 6 is lolsome.
(as are the Etruscans of course)