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Etruscans

ETRUSC-ov; pl. The ancient tribes that inhabited in the first millennium BC. northwest of the Apennine Peninsula, who created a developed civilization (ancient Etruria, modern Tuscany).

◁ Etruscan, -a; m. Etruscan, th, th. E. language. Uh vase.

ancient tribes that inhabited in the 1st millennium BC. e. northwest of the Apennine Peninsula (the region of ancient Etruria, modern Tuscany) and created a developed civilization that preceded the Roman one and had a great influence on it. The origin of the Etruscans is not clear. At the end of the 7th century united in a union of 12 city-states, about the middle of the VI century. took over the Campaign. In the V-III centuries. BC e. conquered by Rome.

ETRUSCIANS (lat. Etrusci, tusci, Greek tyrrhenoi, rsenoi, self-name - races), ancient people, inhabited in 1 thousand BC. e. region of Central Italy between the rivers Arno and Tiber and the Apennine mountains (ancient Etruria, modern Tuscany (cm. TUSCANY) ).
The appearance of the Etruscans and the mystery of origin
In the 8th c. BC e. the archaeological culture of the Etruscans is taking shape. On the territory of Tuscany, numerous settlements arise, surrounded by walls of massive stone blocks. Rich burials in round burial grounds covered with false vaults are replaced by more modest burials of the Villanova culture. The grave goods testify to high skill Etruscan blacksmiths and jewelers; Etruscan potters became the creators of "bucchero" ceramics, which are characterized by vessels with a black shiny surface, various in shape and often decorated with stucco figures of birds and animals.
Archeological data do not allow us to resolve the issue of the homeland of the Etruscans. Back in the 5th c. BC e. "father of history" Herodotus (cm. HERODOTUS) pointed to their eastern origin. According to the legend set forth by Herodotus, the Etruscans were the descendants of the Lydians. (cm. LYDIA) , some of whom were forced to leave Asia Minor, where famine raged, and go overseas (Her., I, 94). A contemporary of Herodotus Hellanicus of Lesbos saw the pre-Greek population in the Etruscans (cm. PELASGI) Hellas; Augustan Greek rhetorician Dionysius of Halicarnassus (cm. Dionysius of Halicarnassus) considered them to be the original inhabitants of Italy (Dion. Hal. I, 28-30). Disputes about the origin of the Etruscans continued for centuries: the problem was complicated by the fact that the language of the Etruscan inscriptions is still not clear to researchers. In search of family ties, Etruscan inscriptions are compared with all Indo-European languages, including with Slavic.
It is obvious that the Etruscan alphabet arose on the basis of the ancient Greek alphabet. More than 10 thousand Etruscan inscriptions of the 7th-1st centuries are known. BC e., but scientists were able to establish the meaning of only a few dozen words. Deciphering is hampered by the uniformity and brevity of the inscriptions, which are mostly funerary epitaphs and contain only names and traditional addresses to the gods. The largest Etruscan text (about 1500 words) was preserved on the shrouds in which the mummy from Alexandria was wrapped, now stored in the Zagreb Museum. Attempts to establish analogies for Etruscan words and grammatical forms in modern or ancient languages ​​have not yet been successful.
In 194, during the excavations of the Etruscan city of Pyrgi (the harbor of Caere), three gold plates with inscriptions were found. Two of them contained Etruscan texts, the third - a dedication to the gods, written in the Phoenician language. The Phoenician text, unfortunately, was not literal translation Etruscan, but was only his retelling. A comparative study of these texts opens up new perspectives for researchers of the Etruscan language.
In 1885, a burial stele of the 6th century BC was found on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. BC e., the inscriptions of which are made in a language related to Etruscan. Supporters of the eastern origin of the Etruscans, noting the undoubted influence of the art and religious beliefs of Asia Minor on their material culture, consider this find as an important argument to prove their theory. At the same time, some researchers continue to see in the Etruscans part of the ancient population of the Mediterranean, who lived here even before the migration of the Indo-Europeans. Many scientific schools, however, refuse such extreme and definite points of view. The formation of the Etruscan ethnos is sought to be presented as the result of the interaction of cultures of different tribes. This allows not only to emphasize the resemblance individual monuments material culture of the Etruscans with finds in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea, but also to explain the rapid rise of the Etruscan civilization and its rapid spread on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula.
Etruscan policies
By the 7th c. BC. Etruria was a confederation of 12 city-states, each of which was the center of the union of several smaller cities and settlements. At the head of each state were kings, then they were replaced by elected magistrates. The union of cities was headed in turn by one of the rulers, who also had the power of the high priest. The largest cities were Tarquinia (cm. TARQUINIA (city)) , Veii (cm. WEYY) , Cere (cm. CERE) , Wolsinii (cm. WOLSINI) , Vetulonia, Clusius, Perusia, Fiesole, Populonia, Volterra.
The ancient Etruscan cities were located on the tops of high hills and were hard-to-reach fortifications, "eagles' nests" that dominated the agricultural district. The inhabitants of Etruria were actively engaged in the development of mining deposits, as evidenced by the mountains of slag that have survived around the Etruscan settlements. The products of Etruscan artisans were in great demand among neighboring peoples, which led to the development of trade and the foundation of trading posts on the western and eastern coasts of the Apennine Peninsula. Items made in Etruria have been found in Switzerland, Burgundy, Provence, Spain, North Africa, Asia Minor and Greece. The sea washing the western coast of Italy, the Greeks called the Tyrrhenian, recognizing the absolute dominance of the Etruscan sailors on it - merchants and pirates.
Expansion and defeat
At the end of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. The Etruscans captured the river valley. Po, where they founded a number of cities, penetrated into Latium (cm. LAZIO) and occupied the fertile lands of Campania (cm. CAMPAIGN (administrative area)) . According to Titus Livy, from 616 to 510. BC e. in Rome, the dynasty of Etruscan kings ruled: Tarquinius the Ancient, Servius Tullius (cm. SERVIUS TULLIUS) , Tarquinius the Proud (cm. Tarquinius the Proud) . The Romans borrowed symbols from the Etruscans royal power: curule chair (throne) and fasces (cm. FASCIA) - bundles of rods with a double hatchet in the center.
Having spread its influence over most of the Apennine Peninsula, Etruria continued to be a politically unstable union of cities that could not resist an external enemy. In the 5th c. BC e. land along the river Po were captured by the Gauls (cm. celts) and later received the name of Cisalpine Gaul. It is possible that part of the Etruscans moved to the Alpine valleys, where, according to the testimony of ancient authors, a tribe of Retians lived, whose language was related to Etruscan. In southern Italy, the Etruscans suffered a series of defeats from the Greeks. Titus Livy tells of the stubborn wars that Rome waged with the Etruscans. In 510 BC. e. The Romans expelled the last Etruscan king and established republican rule. This was followed by a war with Porsenna, king of the city of Clusium. besieging Rome. The courage of the legendary Roman heroes did not allow the Etruscans to establish themselves in Latium. In 396 BC. e. after 10 years of war, the Roman troops stormed and destroyed Veii. During the 3rd century BC e. Etruscan cities completely lost their political independence. At the end of the 1st c. BC e. the Etruscan language was supplanted by Latin and fell into disuse, although many representatives of the ancient Etruscan families continued to live in Rome and enjoyed great influence. It is known that Patron was an Etruscan by origin. (cm. MAECENAS) , associate of Augustus and patron of poets.
Research History
Etruscan antiquities attracted the attention of scholars of Rome. Grammar Verrius Flaccus 1st c. BC e. was the author of a book about the deeds of the Etruscans; Emperor Claudius (cm. Claudius (emperor)) (41-54 AD) compiled a grammar of the Etruscan language and wrote the "History of the Etruscans" in 20 books. However, none of these writings has survived to this day, just as the books of Etruscan writers, whose names are mentioned by ancient authors, have not survived.
The European world discovered the culture of the Etruscans back in the Renaissance, when lovers of antiquities began to excavate in Etruscan tombs and collect art monuments. Until the first half of the 19th century. Numerous works of ancient Greek masters, which were imported into Etruria during its heyday, continued to be considered Etruscan. Established in European art of the 18th century. so-called. "Etruscan style" combined the motifs of both Greek and Roman art.
The beginning of the study of Etruscan culture was laid by the publication in Florence in 1723-1724. T. Dempster's work "Seven books about royal Etruria". In 1726, the Etruscan Academy was founded in Cortona, and then a museum. In 1789 Abbot L. Lanzi, who was researching the collection of Etruscan antiquities in the Uffizi Museum in Florence, published the book Discourse on the Etruscan Language and Other Ancient Languages ​​of Italy. In the 18-19 centuries. systematic excavations in the vicinity of Rome and in Tuscany have discovered many monuments of Etruscan art; their publication and study contributed to the formation of etruscology as a separate direction in the science of antiquity.
Etruscan roots of Roman culture
Roman scholar Vitruvius (cm. Vitruvius) (1st century BC) pointed out that thanks to the Etruscans, the Romans mastered the technique of monumental construction and learned to create cities with a regular layout of quarters and streets. Many modern cities Italy (Bologna, Perugia, Orvieto, Arezzo, etc.) stand in the place of the Etruscan cities. In Rome, the remains of the sewer system (Cloaca Maxima), created by the Etruscans, have been preserved. In Perugia and Volterra, fragments of walls made of large stone blocks and arched gates can be seen.
In the work of Vitruvius, one can find descriptions of Etruscan temples, which were built on platforms and were divided inside into three parallel naves. The facade of the temple was a portico with two rows of columns. In 1916, during excavations of the temple in Veii, fragments of a terracotta sculpture that adorned its facade were discovered. A statue of a deity (the so-called "Apollo from Vei") by the famous sculptor Vulka was also found here. (cm. VULKA from Vey) .
The masters of Etruria were fluent in the technique of casting from bronze; the expressiveness and expressiveness of the Etruscan sculptural portrait ("Orator", the so-called "Brutus's head") had an undeniable influence on Roman art. Etruscan sculpture was closely associated with funerary cults. The lids of sarcophagi and urns were completed by the figures of men and women reclining at a funeral feast; their images, estranged from earthly fuss. full of harmony and tranquility. The material for the sculptures was clay or an easily workable soft stone, which made it possible to convey smooth movements and finely model faces.
Etruscan tombs in Tarquinia have preserved the rarest monuments of fresco painting in the ancient world. Only a small part of the frescoes has been transferred to museums. Most of the paintings are exposed to the harmful effects of humid air and gradually disappear, losing their picturesque perfection. The tombs are often named according to the plots of the compositions that adorn their walls: the tombs of augurs, jugglers, hunting and fishing, lions, bulls, monsters, etc. Dancers, musicians with flutes and lyres are depicted, reclining at the tables feasting, luxurious utensils, elegant clothes : according to the beliefs of the Etruscans, joy and beauty should have surrounded them even after death.
Religion
The frescoes also preserved images of the gods and inscriptions containing their names. Supreme gods Tin (cm. TIN) , Uni and Mnerva were combined into a triad and subsequently revered in Rome as Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Tin was considered the god of the sky, who led a council of 12 gods, to whom a certain part of the sky was dedicated. The god Aplu was identified with the Greek Apollo, Turms - with Hermes, Seflans was the god of blacksmithing, Turan was often depicted on Etruscan mirrors as the goddess of love and beauty. Aita and Thersifae (Hades and Persephone of the ancient Greeks) reigned in the underworld. The gods proclaimed their will with the help of lightning, the appearance of which was observed by priests - fulgators.
Man's life path depended on many good and evil spirits. The signs they sent were interpreted by various priests: augurs (cm. AUGUERS) predicted the future by the flight of birds, haruspices (cm. HARUSPIKES) - according to the peculiarities of the structure of the liver of the sacrificial animal. A bronze model of the liver from Piacenza, intended for the training of priests, has been preserved. It is a reduced model of the universe, also divided into separate parts, subject to different gods. According to the Roman biographer Suetonius (cm. Suetonius Gaius Tranquill) (2nd century), it was the haruspex who predicted to Julius Caesar that the March Ides (March 15) would be fatal for him.
The images created by the Etruscan masters had a huge impact on European art. Symbol of Rome - bronze Capitoline she-wolf (cm. CAPITOLINE WOLF) - was made in Etruria. Among Michelangelo's drawings (cm. Michelangelo Buonarroti) there is an image of the head of an Etruscan god in a wolf's skin - a copy of an ancient fresco that has not come down to us. Monuments of Etruscan architecture are depicted in the engravings of Piranesi. Etruscan bronze figurines inspired Benvenuto Cellini to create the famous statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa. Significant collections of Etruscan art, collected in the Capitoline Museums of Rome, the Vatican Museums, the Archaeological Museum of Florence, the British Museum, the Louvre, the State Hermitage, testify to the outstanding contribution made by the Etruscan civilization to world culture.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what "Etruscans" are in other dictionaries:

Rasna (Rasenna) confederation ... Wikipedia

Etruscans- Etruscans. Wanf demon of the underworld. Fragment of a fresco in the tomb of François at Vulci. II I centuries. BC e. Etruscans. Wanf demon of the underworld. Fragment of a fresco in the tomb of François at Vulci. II I centuries. BC e. Etruscans are ancient tribes that inhabited 1 m ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"

Etruscans- Etruscans. Head of Tin from Satricum. Beginning 5th c. BC. Villa Giulia Museum. Rome. Etruscans, tribes that inhabited in the 1st millennium BC. northwest of the Apennine Peninsula (region of Etruria, modern Tuscany) and created a developed civilization, ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Chapter 2. Origin Etruscan people.

The Etruscans have always been considered a mysterious people who had little in common with the surrounding tribes. Quite naturally, both in antiquity and now they tried to find out where it came from. This is a subtle and complex problem, and to this day has not received a generally accepted solution. How are things in our time? To answer the question, it is important to recall the opinions of ancient authors on this matter, as well as the subsequent judgments of modern scientists. In this way we will find out whether the facts known to us allow us to come to any reasonable decision.

In ancient times, there was almost unanimous opinion on this issue. It was based on a story Herodotus, the first great Greek historian, about the adventures that brought the Tyrrhenians to the land of Tuscany. Here is what he writes:

“They say that in the reign of Atys, the son of Man, all Lydia was seized by a great famine. For some time the Lydians tried to lead ordinary life; but, since the hunger did not stop, they tried to think of something: some suggested one thing, others another. They say that it was then that the game of dice, grandma, ball games and others were invented, but not the game of checkers, since the Lydians do not claim to have invented it. And this is how these inventions helped them fight hunger: out of every two days, one day was devoted entirely to the game, to forget about the search for food. The next day people interrupted the game and ate. So they lived for eighteen years.

But since the disaster not only did not subside, but, on the contrary, intensified, the king divided the Lydian people into two parts; one of them, by lot, was to stay, the second - to leave the country. The king led the group that was supposed to remain, and at the head of the second group he put his son Tyrrhenus. Those Lydians, who were ordered by lot to leave the country, went to Smyrna, built ships, loaded all their belongings on them, and sailed off in search of land and food. Having explored the shores of many countries, they finally reached the land of the Umbrians. There they founded cities where they live to this day. But they ceased to be called Lydians, taking a name for themselves by the name of the king who led them. Thus they received the name Tyrrhenians."

We do know that the inhabitants of Tuscia, whom the Romans called Tusci or Etruscans (hence the current name of Tuscany), were known to the Greeks as Tyrrhenians. Hence, in turn, the name Tyrrhenian Sea, on the banks of which the Etruscans built their cities. Thus, Herodotus paints a picture of the migration of the Eastern people, and in his presentation the Etruscans turn out to be the same Lydians, who, according to the chronology of Greek historians, left their country quite late - in the XIII century BC. e. and settled on the shores of Italy.

Consequently, the entire Etruscan civilization comes directly from the Asia Minor plateau. Herodotus wrote his work in the middle of the 5th century. BC e. Almost all Greek and Roman historians accepted his point of view. Virgil, Ovid and Horace often refer to the Etruscans as Lydians in their poems. According to Tacitus ("Annals", IV, 55), during the Roman Empire Lydian city of Sardis retained the memory of his distant Etruscan origin; the Lydians even then considered themselves brothers of the Etruscans. Seneca cites the Etruscans as an example of the migration of an entire people and writes: "Tuscos Asia sibi vindicat" - "Asia believes that she gave birth to the Tusks."

So, the classical authors did not doubt the truth of the ancient traditions, which, as far as we know, were first announced by Herodotus. However, the Greek theorist Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who lived in Rome under Augustus, declared that he could not adhere to this opinion. In his first work on Roman history, he writes the following: “I don't think the Tyrrhenians came from Lydia. The language of them and the Lydians is different; and it cannot be said that they retained any other traits that would bear traces of descent from their supposed homeland. They worship other gods than the Lydians; they have different laws, and, at least from this point of view, they differ from the Lydians more than even from the Pelasgians. Thus, it seems to me, those who claim that the Etruscans are an indigenous people, and not those who came from across the sea, are right; in my opinion, this follows from the fact that they are a very ancient people, who neither in their language nor in their customs resemble any other peoples.

Thus already in ancient times there were two opposing opinions about the origin of the Etruscans. In modern times, the discussion flared up again. Some scientists follow Nicola Frere, which in late XVIII century was the permanent secretary of the Academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, proposed a third solution in addition to the two already existing ones. According to him, the Etruscans, like other Italic peoples, came from the north; Etruscans had Indo-European roots and were part of one of the waves of invaders that successively fell upon the peninsula starting from 2000 BC e. At present, this thesis, although not completely refuted, has very few adherents. It does not stand up to scrutiny by facts. Therefore, we must immediately discard it in order to avoid unnecessarily complicating the problem.

This nordic hypothesis based on an imaginary connection between the name retov, or the Raetians, with whom Drusus son of Augustus fought, and named "rasena", which, according to classical authors, called themselves the Etruscans. The presence of the Rhaetians supposedly constitutes historical proof that in ancient times the Etruscans came from the north and crossed the Alps. And this opinion seems to be confirmed by tita Libya, which notes: "Even the Alpine tribes, especially the Rhaetians, are of the same origin as the Etruscans. The very nature of their country had turned the Rhaetians into a savage state, so that they retained nothing of their ancient ancestral home, with the exception of dialect, and even then in an extremely distorted form" ( V, 33, II). Finally, in the areas where the Rhaetians lived, inscriptions were indeed found in a language similar to Etruscan.

In fact, we have an example of how false conclusions are drawn from true facts. The presence of the Etruscans in Rhaetia is a reality. But this happened relatively recently and has nothing to do with the hypothetical transition of the Etruscans through the Alpine valleys. Only in the IV century BC. e., when, due to the Celtic invasion, the Etruscans had to leave the Padana Plain, they took refuge in the Alpine foothills. Livy, if you carefully analyze his text, has nothing else in mind, and the inscriptions of the Etruscan type found in Raetia, created no earlier than 3rd century BC e., are excellently explained precisely by this movement of Etruscan refugees to the north.

The thesis about the eastern origin of the Etruscans has much more grounds. It seems to be unambiguously supported by a lot of data. linguistics and archaeology. Many features of the Etruscan civilization closely resemble what we know about the civilizations of ancient Asia Minor. Although the various Asian motifs in Etruscan religion and art can ultimately be explained by coincidence, supporters of this thesis believe that the eastern features of Etruscan civilization are too numerous and too noticeable; therefore, they point out, the hypothesis of pure coincidence should be ruled out.

The self-name of the Etruscans - "rasena" - can be found in numerous very similar forms in various dialects of Asia Minor. Hellenized name "Tyrrhenians" or "Tyrrhenians" also apparently comes from the Anatolian plateau. This is an adjective, most likely derived from the word "tirrha" or "tirrah". We know about the area in Lydia, which was precisely called Tirra. One is tempted to see the relationship between the Etruscan and Lydian words and to ascribe some meaning to this curious parallel. Judging by Latin wordturris - "tower",- undoubtedly derived from this root, then the name "Tyrrenians" literally means "people of the citadel". The root is very common in the Etruscan language. Enough to remember Tarhona, brother or son of Tyrrhenus, who founded Tarquinia and the dodecapolis, a league of twelve Etruscan cities. Or Tarquinia itself, the sacred city of ancient Etruria (Tuscia). However, names derived from the root tarch, often found in Asia Minor. There they were given to gods or rulers.

In 1885 two young scientists french school in Athens, Cousin and Dürrbak made a major discovery on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. Not far from the village of Kaminia, they found a funerary stele with decorations and inscriptions. We see it depicted in profile the face of a warrior with a spear and two carved texts: one around the warrior's head, the other on the side of the stele. This monument, a creation of local archaic art, was created no later than 7th century BC uh., that is, much earlier than the Greeks conquered the island (510 BC). The inscriptions are in Greek letters, but they language is not Greek. Very quickly, the similarity of this language with the language of the Etruscans was noticed. Here and there the same endings; It seems that word formation is carried out according to the same rules. Thus, on the island of Lemnos in the 7th century BC. e. spoke a language similar to Etruscan. And the stele is not the only evidence. Shortly before the Second World War, researchers of the Italian school found other fragments of inscriptions on the island in the same language - apparently in the language used by the inhabitants of the island before its conquest by Themistocles.

If the Tyrrhenians came from Anatolia, they could well stop on such Aegean islands as Lemnos, leaving small communities there. The appearance of the stele from Caminia, more or less coinciding in time with the birth of the Etruscan civilization, is quite understandable from the standpoint of the hypothesis of the eastern origin of the Etruscans.

Rice. 5. Funeral stele from Kaminia on the island of Lemnos. National Museum, Athens.

Trying to solve this problem, the researchers turned to anthropology. A systematic study of about forty skulls found in Etruscan graves by the Italian anthropologist Sergi did not give convincing results and did not reveal any significant difference between data from Etruria and from other regions of Italy. Sir Gavin de Veer recently came up with the idea of ​​using genetic evidence based on blood types. The proportion in which there are four blood types more or less constant in every nation. Therefore, by studying blood types, one can learn about the origin and degree of kinship of peoples who are not too separated in time.

Since the population of Tuscany has remained relatively stable over the centuries, modern Tuscans must save genes inherited from the Etruscans (Etruscan haplogroup G2a3a and G2a3b found in Europe; haplogroup G2a3b went to Europe through Starchevo and further through the archeological culture of Linear Band Pottery, was discovered by archaeologists in the center of Germany)

On maps showing the distribution of blood types in modern Italy, an area stands out in the center of the peninsula with clear differences from the rest of the Italian population and similar to the eastern peoples. The results of these studies allow us to assess the possible signs of the eastern origin of the Etruscans. However, the greatest caution should be observed, since this phenomenon can be explained by the influence of completely different factors.

It would take too much space to list all the Etruscan customs, religious ideas and artistic techniques, which are often and reasonably associated with the East. Let us mention only the most notable facts. Etruscan women, as in, occupied a privileged position that had nothing to do with the humiliated and subordinate position of the Greek (and Eastern) woman. But we observe such a sign of civilization and V social structure Crete and Mycenae. There, as in Etruria, women are present at plays, performances and games, not remaining, as in Greece, recluses in the quiet chambers of the female half.

We see Etruscan women at a feast next to their husbands: Etruscan frescoes often depict a woman reclining next to the owner of the house at the banquet table. As a result of this custom, the Greeks, and then the Romans, groundlessly accused Etruscan women of immorality. The inscriptions give yet another confirmation of the apparent equality of the Etruscan woman: often the person dedicating the inscription mentions the name of the mother along with the name of the father or even without it. We have evidence of the spread of such matronymy in Anatolia, especially in Lydia. Perhaps this shows traces of the ancient matriarchy.

Rice. 6. A married couple at a funeral feast. From an engraving by Byres in the Hypogea of ​​Tarquinia, part IV, ill. 8.

In the field of art and religion, there are even more points of convergence. Unlike the Greeks and Romans, like many Eastern peoples, the Etruscans professed a religion of revelation, whose commandments were jealously guarded in holy books. The supreme gods of the Etruscans were a trinity, which was worshiped in the triple temples. This Tinia, Uni and Menerva, whom the Romans, in turn, began to revere under the names of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

Trinity cult, which was worshiped in sanctuaries with three walls - each dedicated to one of the three gods - is also present in the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. Etruscan tombs often surround cippi - low pillars with or without decorations that are a symbol of the divine presence. They are carved from local stone - either from nefro, or from volcanic rocks - diorite or basalt. This is reminiscent of the Asia Minor cult, in which the deity is often represented in the form of a stone or a column. egg-shaped Etruscan columns they also depict the deceased in a schematic and symbolic form as a deified hero.

Even the ancients were struck by the unhealthy and manic attitude of the Etruscans towards the deities, their constant desire to know the future by studying the omens sent to people by the gods. Such pernicious religiosity, so great interest in divination inevitably brings to mind similar sentiments among many Eastern peoples. Later we will take a closer look at the divination technique, which was unusually common among the Etruscans.

Etruscan priests - haruspices- other peoples of antiquity had a reputation as masters in the art of divination. They excelled at interpreting signs and wonders. The analytical method of the haruspices has always been based on incredibly intricate casuistry. The clap of thunder, so strongly associated with the Tuscan skies, where terrible and violent thunderstorms often rage, has been the subject of studies that amaze us with their detailed and systematic nature. Haruspex, according to the ancients, knew no equal in the art of fulgurature. However, some Eastern peoples, for example, Babylonians, long before they tried to interpret thunderstorms in order to guess the will of the gods. We have reached babylonian texts, which explains the meaning of thunder depending on the corresponding day of the year. They have an undeniable similarity with the Etruscan text, which is preserved in the Greek translation of John of Lydia and is nothing more than thunderstorm calendar.

The haruspex's favorite pastime was the study of the liver and entrails of animals sacrificed to the gods; the very name of the haruspex seems to derive from this rite. We see on Etruscan bas-reliefs and mirrors images of priests performing this strange operation, which also reminds us of ancient Assyro-Babylonian customs. Of course, this method of divination was known and used in other countries. For example, there is ample evidence that it was practiced later in Greece. But nowhere else was it given such colossal importance as in some countries. ancient East and Tuskia. In the course of modern excavations in Asia Minor and Babylonia, many terracotta models of the liver. They are carved with prophecies based on the configuration of the depicted organs. Similar objects were found in the Etruscan land. The most famous of them - bronze liver discovered near Piacenza in 1877 From the outside, it is divided into several parts, bearing names of the Tus gods. These deities occupy certain areas in the sky, which correspond to well-defined fragments of the victim's liver. Which god sent the sign was determined by which part of the liver the sign was found; in the same way, lightning was sent by the god who owned that part of the sky from which it struck. Thus, the Etruscans, and before them the Babylonians, saw a parallelism between the liver of the sacrificial animal and the world as a whole: the first was just a microcosm, reproducing the structure of the world on a tiny scale.

In the field of art, the connection with the East is indicated by the outlines of certain objects and specific gold and silver processing methods. Etruscan objects made of gold and silver were made with great skill. in the 7th century BC e. Treasures from the tomb of Regolini-Galassi amaze with perfection and technical ingenuity. While admiring them, we involuntarily recall the fine technique of the jewelers of the Middle East.

It is clear that such a coincidence of well-known facts only reinforces the conviction of the supporters of the "Eastern hypothesis". And yet, many scientists are inclined to accept the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe indigenous origin of the Etruscans, which was put forward almost two thousand years ago by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. They never deny kinship linking Etruria and the East, but explain it differently.

Prior to the Indo-European invasion, the Mediterranean region was inhabited by ancient peoples connected by numerous ties of kinship. The invaders who came from the north in the period from 2000 to 1000 BC. e., destroyed almost all of these tribes. But here and there inevitably remained some elements that survived the general cataclysm. Etruscans, proponents of this hypothesis tell us, represent exactly one of these islands of ancient civilization; they survived the catastrophe, which explains the Mediterranean features of this civilization. In this way one can explain the indisputable relationship of the Etruscan language with some pre-Hellenic idioms of Asia Minor and the Aegean, such as those depicted on the Lemnos Stele.

This is a very attractive point of view, which is held by a number of linguists– apprentices of an Italian researcher Trombetti. Two recently published books Massimo Pallottino and Franz Altheim provide a scientific basis for this thesis. Both authors emphasize one essential point of their argument. In their opinion, up to the present time, the problem has been extremely incorrectly formulated. We always wonder where did the Etruscans come from as if it were the most natural thing to happen when a whole nation unexpectedly appears in some region, which later becomes its homeland. The Etruscans are known to us only from the Apennine Peninsula (and the islands of the Aegean Sea?); actually unfolds here all their history. Why, then, should we ask the purely academic question of their origin? The historian should rather be interested in how the Etruscan nation was formed, its civilizations. To solve this problem, he it is not necessary to postulate an eastern origin of the Etruscans, which is impossible to prove and which is highly improbable in any case.

Herodotus' story should be taken as a variety of those numerous legends that ancient authors refer to when telling about the origin of peoples. The Etruscans apparently came from a mixture of ethnic elements of various origins; it is from this mixture that an ethnos emerges, a nation with well-defined characteristics and physical traits. Thus, the Etruscans again become what they never ceased to be - purely Italian phenomenon. Therefore, without regrets, we can part with the hypothesis of their migration from another country, the source of which in any case requires an extremely cautious attitude towards itself.

This is the essence of the new doctrine, which denies the semi-historical-semi-legendary tradition and strangely repeats the conclusions Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the first to attempt to refute this tradition. So people with a reputation in modern etruscology declared themselves to be autochthonous, or at least partial autochthonous Etruscan people, denying the traditional hypothesis, although it continues to be supported by a significant number of researchers.

We must admit that it is not easy to make a choice in favor of one theory or another. Attempts by Altheim and Pallottino to prove the Italic origin of the Etruscans rely on a series of observations that are unquestionably true and stand up to scrutiny, whatever we may think of their idea as a whole. Of course, it is much more important to follow strictly the historical evolution of the Etruscan people in Tuscany, rather than wasting energy trying to figure out where it came from. In any case, no doubt the diversity of the roots of the Etruscan people. It came into being through the fusion of various ethnic elements, and we must abandon the naive idea of ​​a people who suddenly, as if miraculously, appears on Italian soil. Even if there was a migration and invasion of conquerors from the east, they could be quite small groups that mixed with the Italic tribes that had long lived between the Arno and the Tiber.

So the question is whether to stick to the idea of ​​navigators from Anatolia who arrived in the Mediterranean and were looking for a place on the shores of Italy where they could live.

It seems to us that from such a clearly defined point of view, the tradition of aliens from the East retains its significance. Only it allows us to explain the emergence at a particular moment in time of a civilization that is largely completely new, but possessing many features that connect the Etruscans with the Cretan-Mycenaean and Near Eastern world. If autochthonous theory brought to its logical conclusion, it will be difficult to explain the unexpected birth of crafts and arts, as well as religious beliefs and rites that were not previously known in Tuscan soil. It has been suggested that there was some kind of awakening of the ancient Mediterranean peoples - an awakening caused by the development of maritime and trade links between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean. at the beginning of the 7th century BC. e. But such an argument fails to explain what caused such a rapid development of culture in Italy, whose civilization was at a backward and in many respects primitive stage.

Of course the migration cannot be dated, as Herodotus claims, to 1500-1000 BC. BC e. Italy enters history at a later stage. All over the peninsula bronze age continued until about 800 BC. e. And only by the VIII century. BC e. we can attribute two events that were of the greatest importance for the history of ancient Italy, and, accordingly, for the entire Western world - the arrival of the first Greek colonists on the southern shores of the peninsula and to Sicily ca. 750 BC e. and the first flowering of the Etruscan civilization in Tuscany, which, according to indisputable archaeological data, did not occur before 700 BC. e.

Thus, in central and southern Italy, two great centers of civilization developed more or less simultaneously, and both contributed to the awakening of the peninsula from a long sleep. Previously, there was nothing comparable to the brilliant civilizations of the Middle East - Egyptian and Babylonian. This awakening is marked the beginning of Etruscan history, as well as the arrival of the Hellenes. Tracing the fate of Tuscia, we see the introduction of Italy to the history of mankind.

Raymond Block Etruscans. predictors of the future.
| | Chapter 3

The Etruscans are considered the creators of the first developed civilization on the Apennine Peninsula, the achievements of which, long before the Roman Republic, include big cities with remarkable architecture, fine metalwork, ceramics, painting and sculpture, an extensive drainage and irrigation system, an alphabet, and later coinage. Perhaps the Etruscans were aliens from across the sea; their first settlements in Italy were flourishing communities located in the central part of its western coast, in an area called Etruria (approximately the territory of modern Tuscany and Lazio). The ancient Greeks knew the Etruscans under the name of Tyrrhenians (or Tyrsenes), and the part of the Mediterranean Sea between the Apennine Peninsula and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica was called (and is called now) the Tyrrhenian Sea, since Etruscan sailors dominated here for several centuries. The Romans called the Etruscans Tusks (hence the modern Tuscany) or Etruscans, while the Etruscans themselves called themselves Rasna or Rasenna. In the era of their highest power, ca. 7th–5th centuries BC, the Etruscans extended their influence to a significant part of the Apennine Peninsula, up to the foothills of the Alps in the north and the environs of Naples in the south. Rome also submitted to them. Everywhere their dominance brought with it material prosperity, large-scale engineering projects, and achievements in the field of architecture. According to tradition, there was a confederation of twelve main city-states in Etruria, united in a religious and political union. These almost certainly included Caere (modern Cerveteri), Tarquinia (modern Tarquinia), Vetulonia, Veii and Volaterra (modern Volterra) - all directly on the coast or near it, as well as Perusia (modern Perugia), Cortona, Volsinii (modern Orvieto) and Arretius (modern Arezzo) in the interior of the country. Other important cities include Vulci, Clusium (modern Chiusi), Falerii, Populonia, Rusella and Fiesole.

ORIGIN, HISTORY AND CULTURE

Origin.

The earliest mention of the Etruscans we find in Homeric hymns(Hymn to Dionysus, 8), which tells of how this god was once captured by the Tyrrhenian pirates. Hesiod in Theogony(1016) mentions "the glory of the crowned Tyrrhenians", and Pindar (1st Pythian ode, 72) speaks of the war cry of the Tyrrhenes. Who were these famous pirates, obviously widely known to the ancient world? Since the time of Herodotus (5th century BC), the problem of their origin has occupied the minds of historians, archaeologists and amateurs. The first theory defending the Lydian, or eastern, origin of the Etruscans goes back to Herodotus (I 94). He writes that during the reign of Atys, a severe famine broke out in Lydia, and half of the population was forced to leave the country in search of food and a new place of residence. They went to Smyrna, built ships there, and passing through many port cities of the Mediterranean, finally settled among the Ombrics in Italy. There the Lydians changed their name, calling themselves Tyrrhenians in honor of their leader Tyrrhenus, the son of the king. The second theory is also rooted in antiquity. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, an Augustan rhetorician, disputes Herodotus, stating ( Roman antiquities, I 30) that the Etruscans were not settlers, but a local and most ancient people, differing from all their neighbors on the Apennine Peninsula both in language and in customs. The third theory, formulated by N. Frere in the 18th century, but still having supporters, defends the northern origin of the Etruscans. According to her, the Etruscans, along with other Italic tribes, entered the territory of Italy through the Alpine passes. Archeological data, apparently, speak in favor of the first version of the origin of the Etruscans. However, Herodotus' account must be approached with caution. Of course, the Lydian alien pirates did not settle the Tyrrhenian coast at once, but rather moved here in several waves. Around the middle of the 8th c. BC. the culture of Villanova (whose bearers had been here earlier) underwent changes under a clear oriental influence. However, the local element was strong enough to have a significant impact on the process of formation of a new people. This allows the messages of Herodotus and Dionysius to be reconciled.

Story.

Arriving in Italy, the aliens occupied the lands north of the Tiber River along the western coast of the peninsula and founded stone-walled settlements, each of which became an independent city-state. There were not so many Etruscans themselves, but superiority in weapons and military organization allowed them to conquer the local population. Leaving piracy behind, they established a lucrative trade with the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Egyptians and were active in the production of ceramics, terracotta, and metalware. Under their control thanks to efficient use work force and the development of drainage systems, agriculture has been significantly improved here.

From the beginning of the 7th c. BC. The Etruscans began to expand their political influence in southbound: The Etruscan kings ruled Rome, and their sphere of influence extended to the Greek colonies of Campania. The coordinated actions of the Etruscans and Carthaginians at this time in practice significantly impeded Greek colonization in the western Mediterranean. However, after 500 BC. their influence began to wane; OK. 474 BC the Greeks inflicted a major defeat on them, and a little later they began to feel the pressure of the Gauls on their northern borders. At the very beginning of the 4th c. BC. wars with the Romans and a powerful Gallic invasion of the peninsula forever undermined the power of the Etruscans. Gradually they were absorbed by the growing Roman state and dissolved in it.

Political and public institutions.

The political and religious center of the traditional confederation of twelve Etruscan cities, each of which was ruled by a lucumon (lucumo), was their common sanctuary of Voltumnae (Fanum Voltumnae) near modern Bolsena. Apparently, the lukumon of each city was elected by the local aristocracy, but it is not known who held power in the federation.

Royal powers and prerogatives were challenged from time to time by the nobility. For example, by the end of the 6th c. BC. The Etruscan monarchy in Rome was overthrown and replaced by a republic. State structures did not undergo radical changes, except that the institution of annually elected magistrates was created. Even the title of king (lucumo) was preserved, although it lost its former political content and was inherited by a minor official who performed priestly duties (rex sacrificulus).

The main weakness of the Etruscan alliance was, as in the case of the Greek city-states, the lack of cohesion and the inability to resist with a united front both Roman expansion in the south and Gallic invasion in the north.

During the period of the Etruscan political supremacy in Italy, their aristocracy owned many slaves who were used as servants and in agricultural work. The economic core of the state was the middle class of artisans and merchants. Family ties were strong, and each clan was proud of its traditions and jealously guarded them. The Roman custom, according to which all members of the genus received a common (generic) name, most likely dates back to Etruscan society. Even during the decline of the state, the offspring of Etruscan families were proud of their genealogies. Patron, friend and adviser of Augustus, could boast of descent from the Etruscan kings: his royal ancestors were lukomons of the city of Arretia.

In Etruscan society, women led a completely independent life. Sometimes even the pedigree was conducted along the female line. In contrast to Greek practice, and in keeping with later Roman customs, Etruscan matrons and young girls from the aristocracy were often seen at social gatherings and public spectacles. The emancipated position of Etruscan women gave rise to Greek moralists of subsequent centuries to condemn the mores of the Tyrrhenes.

Religion.

Livy (V 1) describes the Etruscans as "a people more than all others committed to their religious rites"; Arnobius, Christian apologist of the 4th c. AD, stigmatizes Etruria as the "mother of superstitions" ( Against the pagans, VII 26). The fact that the Etruscans were religious and superstitious is confirmed by literary evidence and monuments. The names of numerous gods, demigods, demons and heroes have been preserved, which are basically analogous to Greek and Roman deities. Thus, the Roman triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva among the Etruscans corresponded to Tin, Uni and Menrva. Evidence has also been preserved (for example, in the paintings of the tomb of Orko), indicating the nature of ideas about bliss and horror afterlife.

In the so-called. Etruscan teaching(Etruscan discipline), several books compiled in the 2nd c. BC, the content of which we can judge only on the basis of fragmentary indications of later writers, information and instructions were collected regarding Etruscan religious beliefs, customs and rituals. Here were: 1) libri haruspicini, books about predictions; 2) libri fulgurales, books about lightning; 3) libri rituales, books about rituals. Libri haruspicini taught the art of ascertaining the will of the gods by examining the viscera (primarily the liver) of certain animals. A soothsayer who specialized in this type of divination was called a haruspex. Libri fulgurales dealt with the interpretation of lightning, their redemption and propitiation. The clergyman responsible for this procedure was called the fulgurator. The libri rituales discussed the norms of political and public life and the conditions of human existence, including in the afterlife. These books were in charge of a whole hierarchy of experts. Ceremonies and superstitions described in Etruscan teaching, continued to influence Roman society after the turn of our era. The last mention of the use of Etruscan rituals in practice we meet in 408 AD, when the priests who came to Rome offered to avert the danger from the city from the side of the Goths, led by Alaric.

Economy.

When the Roman consul Scipio Africanus was preparing to invade Africa, i.e. to the campaign that was to end the 2nd Punic War, many Etruscan communities offered him their help. From the message of Livy (XXVIII 45) we learn that the city of Caere promised to provide grain and other provisions for the troops; Populonia undertook to supply iron, Tarquinia - canvas, Volaterra - details of ship equipment. Arretius promised to provide 3,000 shields, 3,000 helmets and 50,000 javelins, short lances and javelins, as well as axes, shovels, sickles, baskets, and 120,000 measures of wheat. Perusia, Clusius and Ruselli promised grain and timber for ships. If such obligations were taken in 205 BC, when Etruria had already lost its independence, then during the years of Etruscan hegemony in Italy, its Agriculture, craft and trade were to really flourish. In addition to the production of grain, olives, wine and timber, the rural population was engaged in cattle breeding, sheep breeding, hunting and fishing. The Etruscans also made household utensils and personal items. The development of production was facilitated by the abundant supply of iron and copper from the island of Elba. One of the main centers of metallurgy was Populonia. Etruscan products penetrated into Greece and Northern Europe.

ART AND ARCHEOLOGY

Excavation history.

The Etruscans were assimilated by the Romans during the last 3 centuries BC, but because their art was highly valued, Etruscan temples, city walls and tombs survived this period. Traces of the Etruscan civilization were partly buried underground along with Roman ruins and in the Middle Ages basically did not attract attention (however, a certain influence of Etruscan painting is found in Giotto); however, during the Renaissance they were again interested and some of them were excavated. Among those who visited the Etruscan tombs were Michelangelo and Giorgio Vasari. Among the famous statues discovered in the 16th century are the famous Chimera (1553), Minerva from Arezzo (1554), and the so-called. Speaker(Arringatore) - a portrait statue of some official, found near Lake Trasimene in 1566. In the 17th century. the number of excavated objects increased, and in the 18th century. the widespread study of Etruscan antiquities generated great enthusiasm (etruscheria, i.e. "Etruscan mania") among Italian scientists who believed that Etruscan culture was superior to ancient Greek. In the course of more or less systematic excavations, researchers of the 19th century discovered thousands of the richest Etruscan tombs filled with Etruscan metalwork and Greek vases - in Perugia, Tarquinia, Vulci, Cerveteri (1836, Regolini-Galassi tomb), Veii, Chiusi, Bologna, Vetulonia and many other places. In the 20th century especially significant were the discoveries of temple sculptures at Veii (1916 and 1938) and a rich burial at Comacchio (1922) on the Adriatic coast. Significant progress has been made in the understanding of Etruscan antiquities, especially through the efforts of the Institute of Etruscan and Italian Studies in Florence and its scientific periodical, Etruscan Studies (Studi Etruschi), published since 1927.

Geographical distribution of monuments.

The archaeological map of the monuments left by the Etruscans reflects their history. The oldest settlements, dating from about 700 BC, were found in the coastal zone between Rome and the island of Elba: Veii, Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci, Statonia, Vetulonia and Populonia. From the end of the 7th and throughout the 6th c. BC. Etruscan culture spread to the mainland from Pisa in the north and along the Apennines. In addition to Umbria, the Etruscans included cities that now bear the names of Fiesole, Arezzo, Cortona, Chiusi and Perugia. Their culture penetrated south to the modern cities of Orvieto, Falerii and Rome, and finally beyond Naples and into Campania. Etruscan artifacts have been found at Velletri, Praeneste, Conca, Capua and Pompeii. Bologna, Marzabotto and Spina became the centers of Etruscan colonization of the regions beyond the Apennine mountain range. Later, in 393 BC, the Gauls invaded these lands. Through trade, Etruscan influence spread to other areas of Italy.

With the weakening of the power of the Etruscans under the blows of the Gauls and Romans, the zone of distribution of their material culture was also reduced. However, in some cities of Tuscany, cultural traditions and language survived until the 1st century. BC. In Clusia, objects of art belonging to the Etruscan tradition were produced until about 100 BC; in Volaterra until about 80 BC, and in Perusia until about 40 BC. Some Etruscan inscriptions date from the time after the disappearance of the Etruscan states and possibly date back to the Augustan era.

Tombs.

The oldest traces of the Etruscans can be traced through their burials, often located on separate hills and, for example, in Caer and Tarquinia, which were real cities of the dead. The simplest type tombs, which spread from about 700 BC, are depressions carved into the rock. For kings and their relatives, such graves, apparently, were made more extensive. Such are the tombs of Bernardini and Barberini in Praeneste (c. 650 BC) with numerous ornaments of gold and silver, bronze tripods and cauldrons, as well as objects of glass and ivory brought from Phoenicia. Starting from the 7th c. BC. characteristic was the method of connecting several chambers to each other so that whole underground dwellings of various sizes were obtained. They had doors, sometimes windows, and often stone benches on which the dead were laid. In some cities (Caere, Tarquinia, Vetulonia, Populonia and Clusius), such tombs were covered with mounds up to 45 m in diameter, erected over natural hills. In other places (for example, in San Giuliano and Norcia), crypts were cut into sheer cliffs, giving them the appearance of houses and temples with flat or sloping roofs.

The architectural form of the tombs built of hewn stone is interesting. For the ruler of the city of Caere, a long corridor was built, above which huge stone blocks formed a false arched vault. The design and construction technique of this tomb resembles the tombs in Ugarit (Syria) belonging to the era of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture, and the so-called. the tomb of Tantalus in Asia Minor. Some Etruscan tombs have a false dome over a rectangular chamber (Pietrera in Vetulonia and Poggio delle Granate in Populonia) or over a circular room (the tomb from Casale Marittimo, reconstructed in the Archaeological Museum of Florence). Both types of tombs date back to the architectural tradition of the 2nd millennium BC. and resemble the tombs of the previous time in Cyprus and Crete.

The so-called "Grotto of Pythagoras" in Cortona, which is actually an Etruscan tomb of the 5th century BC. BC, testifies to the understanding of the laws of interaction of multidirectional forces, which is necessary for the construction of genuine arches and vaults. Such constructions appear in later tombs (3rd-1st centuries BC) - for example, in the so-called. the tomb of the Grand Duke in Chiusi and the tomb of San Manno near Perugia. The territory of the Etruscan cemeteries is crossed by regularly oriented driveways, on which deep ruts left by funeral carts have been preserved. The paintings and reliefs reproduce the public mourning and solemn processions that accompanied the deceased to his eternal abode, where he will be among the furnishings, personal items, bowls and jugs left for him to eat and drink. The platforms erected over the tomb were intended for funeral feasts, including dances and games, and for a kind of gladiator fights, presented in the paintings of the tomb of the Augurs in Tarquinia. It is the contents of the tombs that give us most of the information about the life and art of the Etruscans.

Cities.

The Etruscans can be considered the people who brought urban civilization to central and northern Italy, but little is known about their cities. Intensive human activity in these areas, which lasted for many centuries, destroyed or hid many Etruscan monuments from view. Nevertheless, quite a few mountain towns in Tuscany are still surrounded by Etruscan walls (Orvieto, Cortona, Chiusi, Fiesole, Perugia and probably Cerveteri). In addition, impressive city walls can be seen at Veii, Falerii, Saturnia and Tarquinia, and later city gates dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries. BC, - in Falerii and Perugia. Aerial photography is increasingly being used to discover Etruscan settlements and burial grounds. In the mid-1990s, systematic excavations began on a number of Etruscan cities, including Cerveteri and Tarquinia, as well as a number of cities in Tuscany.

The Etruscan cities in the mountains do not have a regular layout, as evidenced by the sections of two streets in Vetulonia. The dominant element in the appearance of the city was the temple or temples built on the most elevated places, as in Orvieto and Tarquinia. As a rule, the city had three gates dedicated to the intercessor gods: one - to Tin (Jupiter), the other - to Uni (Juno), and the third - to Menrva (Minerva). Extremely regular building in rectangular quarters was found only in Marzabotto (near modern Bologna), an Etruscan colony on the Reno River. Its streets were paved and water was drained through terracotta pipes.

Dwellings.

In Veii and Vetulonia, simple dwellings such as log cabins with two rooms, as well as houses of an irregular layout with several rooms, were found. The noble lucumons who ruled the Etruscan cities probably had more extensive urban and suburban residences. They, apparently, are reproduced by stone urns in the form of houses and late Etruscan tombs. The urn, kept in the Museum of Florence, depicts a palace-like two-story stone building with an arched entrance, wide windows on the first floor and galleries on the second floor. The Roman type of house with an atrium probably goes back to the Etruscan prototypes.

Temples.

The Etruscans built their temples of wood and mud brick with terracotta lining. The temple of the simplest type, very similar to the early Greek one, had a square room for a cult statue and a portico supported by two columns. The complex temple described by the Roman architect Vitruvius ( About architecture IV 8, 1), was divided inside into three rooms (celles) for the three main gods - Tin, Uni and Menrva. The portico was the same depth as the interior, and had two rows of columns, four in each row. Since an important role in the religion of the Etruscans was assigned to observations of the sky, temples were erected on high platforms. Temples with three cellae are reminiscent of pre-Greek sanctuaries in Lemnos and Crete. As we now know, large terracotta statues were placed on the ridge of the roof (as, for example, in Veii). In other words, Etruscan temples are a variety of Greek ones. The Etruscans also created a developed road network, bridges, sewers and irrigation canals.

Sculpture.

Early in their history, the Etruscans imported Syrian, Phoenician, and Assyrian ivory and metal products and imitated them in their own production. However, very soon they began to imitate everything Greek. Although their art reflects mainly Greek styles, there is a healthy energy and earthy spirit in it that is not characteristic of the Greek prototype, which is more restrained and intellectual in nature. The best Etruscan sculptures, perhaps, should be considered those made of metal, mainly bronze. Most of these statues were captured by the Romans: according to Pliny the Elder ( Natural history XXXIV 34), in one Volsinii, taken in 256 BC, they got 2000 pieces. Few have survived to our time. Among the most remarkable are the sheet-forged bust of a female from Vulci (c. 600 BC, British Museum), the Monteleone chariot richly decorated with relief mythological scenes (c. 540 BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art); Chimera from Arezzo (c. 500 BC, Archaeological Museum in Florence); a statue of a boy from the same time (in Copenhagen); god of war (c. 450 BC, in Kansas City); a statue of a warrior from Tudera (c. 350 BC, now in the Vatican); the expressive head of a priest (c. 180 BC, British Museum); head of a boy (c. 280 BC, Archaeological Museum in Florence). Symbol of Rome, famous Capitoline she-wolf(dated approximately after 500 BC, now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome), already known in the Middle Ages, probably also made by the Etruscans.

A remarkable achievement of world art was the terracotta statues and reliefs of the Etruscans. The best of them are the statues of the archaic era found near the temple of Apollo in Veii, among which there are images of gods and goddesses watching the struggle of Apollo and Hercules because of a dead doe (c. 500 BC). A relief depiction of a lively battle (probably from a pediment) was discovered in 1957-1958 in Pirgi, the port of Cerveteri. In style, it echoes the Greek compositions of the Early Classical era (480-470 BC). A magnificent team of winged horses was found near the temple of the 4th century. BC. in Tarquinia. Interesting from a historical point of view are the live scenes from the pediments of the temple in Civita Alba, where the plundering of Delphi by the Gauls is depicted.

Stone Etruscan sculpture reveals more local originality than metal. The first attempts to create stone sculptures are the pillar-shaped figures of men and women from the tomb of Pietrera in Vetulonia. They imitate the Greek statues of the middle of the 7th century. BC. The archaic tombs at Vulci and Chiusi are decorated with the figure of a centaur and various stone busts. Images of battles, festivities, games, funerals and scenes of women's life were found on tombstones of the 6th century. BC. from Chiusi and Fiesole. There are also scenes from Greek mythology, such as relief images on stone slabs set above the entrance to the tombs in Tarquinia. From the 4th century BC sarcophagi and urns with ashes were usually decorated with reliefs on the themes of Greek legends and scenes of the afterlife. On the covers of many of them there are figures of reclining men and women, whose faces are especially expressive.

Painting.

Etruscan painting is especially valuable, since it makes it possible to judge Greek paintings and frescoes that have not come down to us. With the exception of a few fragments of the picturesque decoration of the temples (Cerveteri and Falerii), Etruscan frescoes have survived only in the tombs - in Cerveteri, Veii, Orvieto and Tarquinia. In the oldest (c. 600 BC) tomb of Lions in Cerveteri there is an image of a deity between two lions; in the tomb of Campana at Veii, the deceased is represented as riding out to hunt. From the middle of the 6th c. BC. scenes of dances, libations, as well as athletic and gladiatorial competitions (Tarquinia) predominate, although there are also images of hunting and fishing (the tomb of Hunting and fishing in Tarquinia). The best monuments of Etruscan painting are the dance scenes from the tomb of Francesca Giustiniani and the tomb of Triclinius. The drawing here is very confident, the color scheme is not rich (yellow, red, brown, green and blue colors) and discreet, but harmonious. The frescoes of these two tombs imitate the work of Greek masters of the 5th century. BC. Among the few painted tombs of the late period, the large tomb of François at Vulci (4th century BC) is rightfully distinguished. One of the scenes discovered here - the attack of the Roman Gnaeus Tarquinius on the Etruscan Caelius Vibenna, who is assisted by his brother Aelius and another Etruscan Mastarna - is probably an Etruscan interpretation of a Roman legend on the same topic; other scenes are taken from Homer. The Etruscan afterlife, with an admixture of individual Greek elements, is presented in the tomb of Orc, the tomb of Typhon and the tomb of the Cardinal in Tarquinia, where various frightening demons (Haru, Tukhulka) are depicted. These Etruscan demons were apparently known to the Roman poet Virgil.

Ceramics.

Etruscan pottery is technologically good, but mostly imitative. Black vases of the bucchero type more or less successfully imitate bronze vessels (7th-5th centuries BC); they are often decorated with figures in relief, usually reproducing Greek designs. The evolution of painted pottery, with some delay in time, follows the development of Greek vases. The most peculiar vases depict objects of non-Greek origin, such as ships of the Tyrrhenian pirates or following the manner of folk art. In other words, the value of Etruscan ceramics lies in the fact that through it we trace the growth of Greek influence, especially in the field of mythology. The Etruscans themselves preferred Greek vases, which have been found by the thousands in Etruscan tombs (approx. 80% of the Greek vases known today come from Etruria and southern Italy. Thus, the François vase (in the Archaeological Museum of Florence), a magnificent creation of the master of the Attic black-figure style Clytius (first half of 6 century BC), was found in an Etruscan tomb near Chiusi.

Metalworking.

According to Greek authors, Etruscan bronze items were highly valued in Greece. Probably of Etruscan origin is an ancient bowl with human faces discovered in the necropolis of Athens, approximately dated to the beginning of the 7th century BC. BC. Part of an Etruscan tripod found on the Acropolis of Athens. At the end of the 7th, in the 6th and 5th centuries. BC. a large number of Etruscan cauldrons, buckets and jugs for wine were exported to Central Europe, some of them even reached Scandinavia. Bronze Etruscan figurine found in England.

In Tuscany, reliable, large and very spectacular coasters, tripods, cauldrons, lamps and even thrones were made of bronze. These items also formed part of the furnishings of the tombs, and many were decorated with relief or three-dimensional images of people and animals. Bronze chariots with scenes were also made here. heroic battles or figures legendary heroes. The engraved pattern was widely used to decorate bronze toilet boxes and bronze mirrors, many of which were made in Latin city Preneste. As motifs were used as scenes from Greek myths, and the main and minor Etruscan gods. The most famous of the engraved vessels is the Ficoroni cyst in Rome's Villa Giulia Museum, which depicts the exploits of the Argonauts.

Jewelry.

The Etruscans also excelled in jewelry. A remarkable set of bracelets, plates, necklaces and brooches adorned a woman buried in the tomb of Regolini-Galassi in Caere: apparently, she was literally covered with gold. The granulation technique, when figures of gods and animals were depicted with tiny balls of gold soldered onto a hot surface, was nowhere used as skillfully as in decorating the bows of some Etruscan brooches. Later, the Etruscans made earrings of various shapes with amazing ingenuity and care.

Coins.

The Etruscans mastered the minting of coins in the 5th century. BC. Gold, silver and bronze were used for this. The coins, decorated according to Greek patterns, depicted seahorses, gorgons, wheels, vases, double axes, and profiles of various patron gods of cities. They also made inscriptions with the names of Etruscan cities: Veltzna (Wolsinia), Vetluna (Vetulonia), Hamars (Chiusi), Pupluna (Populonia). The last Etruscan coins were minted in the 2nd century BC. BC.

contribution of archeology.

Archaeological discoveries made in Etruria since the middle of the 16th century. to the present day, recreated a vivid picture of the Etruscan civilization. This picture was greatly enriched by the use of such new methods as photographing tombs that have not yet been excavated (a method invented by C. Lerici) using a special periscope. Archaeological finds reflect not only the power and wealth of the early Etruscans based on piracy and barter, but also their gradual decline, due, according to ancient authors, to the relaxing influence of luxury. These finds illustrate the Etruscan warfare, their beliefs, pastimes and, to a lesser extent, their labor activity. Vases, reliefs, sculpture, painting, and small-form works of art show a surprisingly complete assimilation of Greek customs and beliefs, as well as striking evidence of the influence of the pre-Greek era.

Archeology has also confirmed the literary tradition that spoke of Etruscan influence on Rome. The terracotta decoration of the early Roman temples is in the Etruscan style; many vases and bronze objects from the early Republican period of Roman history are made by the Etruscans or in their manner. The double ax as a symbol of power, according to the Romans, was of Etruscan origin; double axes are also represented in Etruscan funerary sculpture - for example, on the stele of Aulus Veluscus, located in Florence. Moreover, such double hatchets were placed in the tombs of the leaders, as was the case in Populonia. At least until the 4th c. BC. the material culture of Rome was entirely dependent on the culture of the Etruscans

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The history of mankind of the last millennia knows numerous evidence of the Great Migration of Peoples from one region of the Earth to another due to a sharp deterioration in natural and climatic conditions. As a result, many peoples left the territories of beautiful lands, where their ancestors settled down for many centuries and millennia. On these lands they had to leave (in the power of natural elements) their cities and villages, palaces, majestic religious buildings, cultural monuments, land and underground structures, necropolises, etc. The peoples moved, taking with them only the most necessary things, suddenly turning out to be nomadic refugees. The resettlement went to the free lands of good neighbors, at the same time, a search was carried out for freer territories in the far reaches of the Earth.

It is known that many peoples who migrated were the heirs of great civilizations. The question involuntarily begs, what did they leave from the material creations on the abandoned lands? I would like to know where and what their cities and culture were like. Characteristically, large nations moved from place to place at the head of their administrative and spiritual leaders (kings, princes, priests, heroes). This order has been preserved for almost all millennia. Such a reliable system of self-organization with concern for the unity of society has passed the test of strength through many millennia, allowing to preserve the long historical existence of peoples as an ethnic group. Not many peoples of our time can be proud of the preserved spiritual and administrative self-government.

Great migrations of peoples occur almost every millennium. Their occurrence is relevant and possible in the coming decades. If earlier learned priests predicted the signs of an imminent imminent migration from inhabited places, now this can be done on the basis of the richest factual scientific and historical material.

It is known from history that many peoples came to Europe from the East: Etruscans, Celts, Scythians, Aryans, Huns, Hungarians ... They brought their original culture, traditions to new lands, creating new cities, states, civilization.

The most global reasons that forced people to leave their inhabited lands were: firstly, the sinking of islands and coastal land in some places (with their complete loss) and the rise of new islands and land in other places with the formation of free territories. It is known that the waters of the seas and oceans absorbed large and small islands of the legendary lands: Atlantis, Lemuria, Arctida, Hyperborea ... The process of lowering and raising the lands in different places is observed in our time. The second reason for migrations in our Northern Hemisphere of the Earth (as well as in the Southern) is the constant movement across the globe the North Geographic Pole (NGP), and with it "permafrost" and glaciation. From history it is known that permafrost and glaciation were where it is now warm (Africa, Europe ...), and today it is cold in those places where it was warm (Greenland, the north of our country and its northern islands...). The location of the North Geographic Pole is to some extent connected with the location of the glaciation and permafrost zones. About 11.6 thousand years ago, the SGP was located in the north-west of Canada near the border with Alaska with a small area of ​​"permafrost" and glaciation. But after the death and sinking of the island of Atlantis, the SGP began to move towards its current position, either approaching Alaska and Chukotka, or moving away, making zigzags to the sides (see map-scheme).

The process of migration of peoples can be traced on the example of the distant ancestors of the Krivichi (Prakrivichi), who in the 10th millennium BC. occupied the territory north of Pevek (Chukotka) for many hundreds of kilometers. But the gradual withdrawal of coastal lands under water forced them to move south to the level of Wrangel Island and the Bear Islands, and then even further south. In the 7th millennium BC they were located around the Anadyr Plateau (from the coast of the Chukchi Sea to the Kolyma Highlands).

In the IV millennium BC. near the northwest of Alaska, a powerful focus (center) of spreading permafrost and glaciation began to operate, spreading its influence to Chukotka. This forced the prakrivichs 6 thousand years ago to leave their lands and go westward to the banks of the Lena River, and then to the Yenisei and the Urals. The formation of new centers of cold formation on Wrangel Island, the New Siberian Islands, etc. allowed the spread of permafrost and partially glaciation from Chukotka to Yamal, and in a southerly direction - to Aldan, Vilyui, Podkamennaya Tunguska ... All this forced many people who lived there to move away in western and southern directions. Northern Europe and Scandinavia, recently freed from ice and "permafrost", had free, uninhabited territories.

Prakrivichi in the middle of the III millennium BC, being in the Polar Urals, were divided into two groups. One group went to the Mezen River, and then through the Pskov lands, to the Baltic on the Rhine, the coast of the North Sea. This group arrived here about three thousand years ago. The second group went south, west of the Urals to the area of ​​the source of the Kama, and then along the Kama, Oka, through the Zhytomyr region, Thuringia came out about 4 thousand years ago (the first) to the Rhine region - the coast of the North Sea. About 2.5 thousand years ago, after the unification of this people with the formation of statehood (principalities), a significant part of the northern group of people again went eastward through Dresden, the Warsaw, Vilnius, Smolensk, Bryansk, Muscovy regions to the Vyatka lands. Here in the middle of the II millennium AD. their independence was interrupted (but their priests went to the East). Grozny, the church, and others put their efforts into oblivion.

The migration routes of the ancestors of the legendary Etruscans, which they traveled over many millennia, are interesting. Let's call them "Proto-Etruscans". 12-13.5 thousand years ago they lived in the northeast of Greenland. At that time it was warm there.
But by the X millennium BC. the boundaries of permafrost formation and ice around the pole began to expand significantly with the appearance of new cold centers, and the SGP itself began to actively move towards Greenland. Under the onslaught of cold in the X millennium BC. the Proto-Etruscans were forced to move to the region of Svalbard and Scandinavia. At that time, this territory was part of one of the 15 confederations of the empire of Atlantis with its capital in the north of Scandinavia, the remains of which are now on the shelf of Norway. In search of more free lands, the Proto-Etruscans, by the time of the death of the island of Atlantis, moved beyond the Urals to the North Sosvenskaya Upland. Coming after the death of Fr. Atlantis glaciation of Scandinavia and Northern Europe caused waves of migrations of peoples from these places in eastern and southern directions (this period of migration still remains a blank spot in human history). About 8 thousand years ago, the Proto-Etruscans moved beyond the Yenisei at Podkamennaya Tunguska, later they were in the Baikal region (near Bodaibo, Nerchinsk), in the north of the Greater Khingan (Manchuria). By the 4th millennium BC they reached the lands between the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Aldan River. Relative to Greenland, these lands are located on the other side of the existing situation. North Pole. At Aldan, the people lived quietly for about six hundred years. The "permafrost" and glaciation that engulfed Chukotka reached Aldan 5.4 thousand years ago. This forced the Proto-Etruscans (and a number of other peoples) to leave in a westerly direction. Driven by the spreading cold zones, the Proto-Etruscans ended up in the Southern Urals about 5 thousand years ago. Here the people were divided (like the Prakrivichi) into two groups. One group went south, rounding the Caspian from the east, reached the southern coast of the Black Sea and the west of the Middle East (Turkey) by the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The second group passed in a western direction near the large bends of the Volga and Don, through the Zaporizhzhya steppes, the Carpathians, to the region of Etruria (Italy). In the Dnieper region, part of the people separated from the second group and left the northwestern coast of the Black Sea to the territory of Bulgaria, Greece to the Sea of ​​Marmara with the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Practically the Proto-Etruscans were on the southern and northern shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara. From the region of Etruria, a mobile expedition left to the west to search for new lands, which, having passed Spain, crossed to the northern coast of Africa and passed along it to the places of Carthage and Tripoli (the capital of modern Libya). There they set up strongholds. Somewhere in the early centuries new era and later a significant part of the Etruscans moved from the Apennine Peninsula to the Balkans, the northern Black Sea region and the Dnieper, as well as to the region of Hungary and the Baltic states (to Lithuania).

In the process of resettlement, the ancestors of the Krivichi, Etruscans and other peoples partially settled on the lands of other peoples for one reason or another. Some groups of Krivichi settled: near the Ob (along the Nadym and Pur rivers), on the Mezen River, south of Lake Pskov, on the border of Belarus - Poland - Lithuania, in the Carpathian region. The ancestors of the Etruscans remained to live: in the Southern Urals, west of the Dnieper, in the east of the Balkans and in Asia Minor (in western Turkey). For the most part, the descendants of these glorious peoples now live in the European part of the continent.

The process of moving the North Geographical Pole across the globe continues at a slow pace, but away from it, new cold centers are forming. The pattern of movement of the SGP indicates its zigzag orientation towards the cold pole (towards the Verkhoyansk region). After how many decades or centuries this will happen, further research and real manifestations of the climate will show. The change in the position of the North Pole is synchronously associated with a change in the position and South Pole. New lands may appear in the glaciation zone and at the same time vast areas in other places may be freed from ice.
The study of this process in nature must be given due attention so as not to be taken by surprise. This issue concerns many countries of the world, and it must be resolved jointly, including within the framework of the UN.

"Unannounced Visit", No. 4(18), 1996