Long before the Romans built their city by the Tiber every
part of Italy had become the home of wandering peoples, attracted by the mild
climate and rich soil of this favored land. Two of these peoples were neighbors
of the Romans—Etruscans on the north and Greeks on the south.
THE ETRUSCANS
The ancestors of the historic Etruscans were probably
Aegean sea-rovers who settled in the Italian peninsula before the beginning of
the eighth century B.C. The immigrants mingled with the natives and by conquest
and colonization founded a strong power in the country to which they gave their
name—Etruria. At one time the Etruscans appear to have ruled over Campania and
also in the Po Valley as far as the Alps. Their colonies occupied the shores of
Sardinia and Corsica. Their fleets swept the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscans for
several centuries were the leading nation in Italy.
ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION
These Etruscans, like the Hittites of Asia Minor, are
a mysterious race. No one as yet has been able to read their language, which is
quite unlike any Indo-European tongue. The words, however, are written in an
alphabet borrowed from Greek settlers in Italy. Many other civilizing arts
besides the alphabet came to the Etruscans from abroad. Babylonia gave to them
the principle of the round arch and the practice of divination. Etruscan graves
contain Egyptian seals adorned with hieroglyphics and beautiful vases bearing
designs from Greek mythology. The Etruscans were skillful workers in iron,
bronze, and gold. They built their cities with massive walls, arched gates,
paved streets, and underground drains. In the course of time a great part of
this Etruscan civilization was absorbed in that of Rome.
