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Tuscany, an Etruscan Land

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COD. 2.66 - 18 TUSCANY, AN ETRUSCAN LAND The culture and itineraries of an ancient but contemporary people EDITORIAL AN ANCIENT ncient Etruscan civilisation is truly fascinating. Its love of life, A its deep religious faith, its unu- CIVILISATION sual relationship with the after-life, not to mention the exceptional talent THAT SPEAKS of its artists, goldsmiths and artisans, all meant that it was truly unique. The question of its origins, like the puzzle of TO OUR its language, intrigued the Greeks and the Romans, who absorbed many of HEARTS its customs, symbols and institutions. The discovery of the magnificent Chimera of Arezzo at the time of the Renaissance had a signifi- cant impact on the cultural life of the Medici court in Florence. Indeed to this day Tuscany considers itself the proud heir of Etruscan civilisation. Several centuries after the Medici, when aris- tocrats and intellectu- als came to Italy as part of their Grand Tour, they would acquire large numbers of Etrus- can relics. This helped “spread the word,” inspir- ing writers, artists and poets throughout Europe, and not just in Tuscany. And that explains why, whatever our own origins, this ancient people somehow GAZING TOWARDS seems familiar today. It is so MODERNITY close that, thanks to the works of The bronze head of a young male (from art that have survived, we are able the late 4th century to see its way of interpreting the BC) at the National world, beauty and human nature. Archaeological Museum in Florence. Elena Percivaldi, historian 2 3 WHERE THEY CAME FROM A GENETIC JOURNEY IN THREE STAGES The map shows the route followed by the Etruscans as revealed by the latest genetic research – from THE MYSTERY OF 3 Lydia (in modern-day Turkey) to the Greek island of Lemnos. ETRURIA 2 They then reached Italy and ISLAND settled in Etruria. THEIR ORIGINS OF LEMNOS 1 There are basically three traditional theories about the origins of the Etruscans; that they were indigenous, that they came from the North LYDIA and that they came from the East. Today scholars are largely divided into two schools of thought: either they came from the Aegean/Anatolia MEDITERRANEAN SEA area or else they were the result of a long process of development here are many problems when it comes region in what is now Southern Turkey. He been due to the regular commercial and like “I son of” or “I am descended from”. to studying Etruscan civilisation, but believed that they moved to Italy after a cultural contacts that the Etruscans had An even less convincing theory is the T one of the most challenging is the terrible famine. According to a legend that with these populations. Nor should we for- one that, in the 18th century, was attribut- question of their origins. This has fasci- was popular among the Celts and other an- get that individuals from the Aegean world ed to the Roman historian Livy, who lived nated historians since ancient times. For cient civilisations, a Lydian king (this was were present in Etruria and this encouraged at the start of the Christian era. Accord- the Greek historian Herodotus (“the father during the 13th century BC) was obliged the adoption of so-called “orientalising” ing to this interpretation of his History of of history”), who lived in the fifth centu- to divide his people in two, ordering one customs, art and tendencies. Rome, the Rhaetian people, who lived in ry BC, the Etruscans came from the East, half of the population to leave and seek sus- Nor was Herodutus the only writer who the Alpine valleys in what is now Trentino while Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who tenance elsewhere. The members of the un- believed that the Etruscans came from and Alto-Adige, were similar to the Etrus- lived in the first century BC, believed they lucky half proceeded to set sail from Smyr- the East. According to his contempo- cans. The theory is that they moved from were indigenous. The Roman historian na (modern Izmir) under the guidance of rary, Hellanicus of Lesbos, and Anticlides the North to the South over the Alps. Livy, on the other hand, was convinced Tyrrhenus. They eventually reached the (who lived not long after them), the first In actual fact the reverse scenario is just that they came from the North. area of Italy which was then occupied by Etruscans were the Pelasgians, a “legend- as plausible: namely that the Etruscans To these three “historical” theories we can the Umbrians, and proceeded to found 12 ary” people who originated in Northern spread from the plains to the mountains, add more recent ones which are based on cities. According to this version of events, Greece prior to spreading out over the colonising the area and introducing the archaeological and linguistic evidence, as the Lydians changed their name, first to Mediterranean basin. alphabet and other things as they did so. well as on studies of DNA. Yet so far nobody the Tyrrhenians and then to the Tuscians, Yet another Greek writer, Dionysius of has managed to come up with a defini- a term that is also found in Roman sourc- Halicarnassus, believed that the Etrus- ORIGIN OR “DEVELOPMENT”? tive answer to the question of their origins, es. The strength of this thesis lies in the cans were indigenous. He used the work Today research into the Etruscans is di- which seems destined to remain unresolved. authority and reliability of its author, but of Etruscan scholars to argue that they had vided into two main theories: “formation” also in the similarities between the culture been known as the “Rasna” (or “Rasenna”). and Aegean-Anatolian origins. The former 3 THEORIES, LITTLE EVIDENCE of the Etruscans and that of the Aegean Yet linguistic evidence would suggest that was presented by the Etruscologist Massi- The first historian to look at the ques- and Anatolia. This is true of their customs, this term didn’t refer to the name of a mo Pallottino, who argues that Etruscan tion of the Etruscans was Herodotus, who languages, art and religion. Yet it must also people so much as to ancestry in general: civilisation shouldn’t be seen in terms of its maintained that they came from Lydia, a be borne in mind that this could also have it could best be translated as something “origins” so much as its “formation”. In oth- 2 3 WHERE THEY CAME FROM er words, as was the case with other ancient ence along the Tyrrhenian coast could lead the East, more specifically from the North- civilisations, that of the Etruscans gradu- one to believe that this was a new sea-go- eastern and Central Eastern Aegean.” RESEARCH INTO THE LANGUAGE ally formed with the passage of time in its ing people, but the phenomenon was large- This is proved by numerous linguistic here is an unhelpful lack of native area (in this case, ancient Etruria): ly caused by economic factors”. In other similarities, in addition to philological re- Tconclusive evidence surrounding other elements, so the argument goes, also words, the formation of a great people and a search on texts that had been conserved the origins of the Etruscan language, contributed to this process. These would great civilisation is completed and enriched by the Greeks and the Romans. Yet it still so the experts have turned to have included both indigenous (particular- by the elements that accompany its devel- needs to be understood why the Etruscans historical linguistics in an attempt ly the Villanovian culture) and non-native opment. Therefore, Pallottino concludes, would have moved westwards. The answer, to decipher the available clues. elements. The latter would have come from “commercial and intellectual contacts with according to De Palma at least, is to be As a result they have examined the North and the East, and not just Lydia the East and with Greece, the arrival of im- found in the crisis caused by the sudden inscriptions with the aim of and Anatolia in general, but from the entire migrants from various social backgrounds, population explosion in Europe and the identifying similarities between Greek or Mediterranean world. According the assimilation of techniques, customs, aridity of the climate at the end of the third the Etruscan language and other, to Pallottino, “archaelogical findings would more familiar ancient tongues. ideas and words played a vital role in the millennium. These were to have dramatic Some maintain that during their suggest that the Villanovian civilisation was formation of the Etruscan world.” repercussions for the successive millenni- long voyage from the East the the expression of an Etruscan ethnicity that Claudio De Palma, on the other hand, um, which saw the collapse of numerous Etruscans stopped in Sardinia, where had not only already been formed, but was has a completely different interpretation. In civilisations and the start of epoch-making they founded the Nuragic civilisation even expanding. It can therefore be asserted his book The Origin of the Etruscans(2004), migrations. “Numerous Mediterranean before crossing the Tyrrhenian Sea and that this Etruscan ethnicity had developed which is based on the Lemnos stele (which populations were obliged to migrate in making landfall in Tuscany. Sardinian, before the 9th century BC”. In his intro- was found in the village Kaminia on the order to escape from wars and massacres. then, would derive from the ancient duction to his book Etruscology (1984), Pal- Aegean island in 1885), he rejects Pallotti- Many of them left Anatolia, the Aege- Lydian language as well as Etruscan. lottino goes on to say that “it undoubtedly no’s theory, and reproposes the Eastern the- an and the Levant.” These included the However, in 2003 Mario Alinei, marked a dramatic change with respect to sis.
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