History of the Etruscan civilization. Origin of the Etruscan people

1. ETRUSIAN CIVILIZATION. The Etruscans are considered the creators of the first developed civilization on the Apennine Peninsula, whose achievements, long before the Roman Republic, include large 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.

Many historical monuments have survived from the Etruscans: the remains of cities, necropolises, weapons, household utensils, frescoes, statues, more than 10 thousand inscriptions dating back to the 7th-1st centuries. BC, several excerpts from an Etruscan linen book, traces of Etruscan influence in Roman culture, references to the Etruscans in the writings of ancient authors.

Up to the present time, mainly Etruscan burial grounds, rich in burial utensils, have been subjected to archaeological survey. The remains of most cities remain unexplored due to dense modern buildings.

The Etruscans used an alphabet close to Greek, but the direction of the Etruscan writing was usually left-handed, in contrast to Greek and Latin; occasionally the Etruscans practiced changing the direction of writing with each line.

From the 8th century BC. the main center of Etruscan civilization was Etruria, from where the Etruscans settled by conquest in the north to the Alpine mountains and in the south to the Gulf of Naples, thus occupying a large territory in Central and Northern Italy.

The main occupation of the majority of the population in this territory was agriculture, which, however, required considerable effort in most areas to obtain good harvests, since some areas were swampy, others arid, and others hilly. The Etruscans became famous for the creation of irrigation and reclamation systems in the form of open channels and underground drainage. The most famous structure of this kind was the Great Roman cloaca, an underground sewer lined with stone to divert water from the swamps between the hills on which Rome was located into the Tiber. This canal, built in the VI century. BC. during the reign of the Etruscan king Tarquinius the Ancient in Rome, it still operates without fail, included in the sewer system of Rome. The drainage of swamps also contributed to the destruction of breeding grounds for malaria. To prevent landslides, the Etruscans fortified hillsides with retaining stone walls. Titus of Livy and Pliny the Elder report that the Etruscans drove the Romans to build the Roman cloaca. On this basis, it can be assumed that during the construction of large structures and in other areas of their dominance, the Etruscans attracted the local population to serve their labor service.

As elsewhere in Italy, wheat, spelt, barley, oats, flax, and grapes were grown in the areas of Etruscan settlement. The tools for cultivating the land were a plow to which a pair of oxen, a hoe, and a shovel were harnessed.

Cattle breeding played an important role: cows, sheep, pigs were bred. The Etruscans were also engaged in horse breeding, but on a limited scale. The horse was considered a sacred animal among them and was used, as in the East and in Greece, exclusively in military affairs.

The extraction and processing of metals, especially copper and iron, reached a high development in Etruria. Etruria was the only region of Italy where there were ore deposits. Here, in the spurs of the Apennines, copper, silver, zinc, and iron were mined; especially rich deposits of iron ore were developed on the nearby island of Ylva (Elba). The Etruscans received the tin necessary for the manufacture of bronze through Gaul from Britain. Iron metallurgy has spread widely in Etruria since the 7th century. BC. The Etruscans mined and processed a huge amount of metal for those times. They mined ore not only from the surface of the earth, but, building mines, developed deeper deposits. Judging by the analogy with Greek and Roman mining, the extraction of ore was manual. The main tools of miners all over the world were then a spade, a pickaxe, a hammer, a shovel, a basket for carrying out ore. Metal was smelted in small melting furnaces; several well-preserved kilns with remains of ore and charcoal have been found in the vicinity of Populonia, Volaterra and Vetulonia, the main metallurgical centers of Etruria. The percentage of extraction of metal from ore was still so low that in modern times it turned out to be economically profitable to melt the mountains of slag around the Etruscan cities. But for its time, Etruria was one of the most advanced centers of metal production and processing.

The abundance of metal tools contributed to the development of the Etruscan economy, and the good armament of their troops contributed to the establishment of dominance over the conquered communities and the development of slave relations.

Metal products were an important item of Etruscan export. At the same time, some metal products, such as bronze cauldrons and jewelry, were imported by the Etruscans. They also imported metals that they lacked (tin, silver, gold) as raw materials for their handicraft industry. Each Etruscan city minted its own coin, which depicted the symbol of the city, and sometimes its name was also indicated. In the III century. BC. after subjugation to Rome, the Etruscans stopped minting their own coin and began to use the Roman one.

The Etruscans contributed to urban planning in Italy. Their cities were surrounded by powerful walls of huge stone blocks. The most ancient buildings of the Etruscan cities were characterized by crooked streets, due to the terrain and repeating the curves of the coastline of rivers and lakes. With the outward chaotic nature of such development, there was also a rational side in it - taking into account environmental conditions. Later, under the influence of the Greeks, the Etruscans switched to a clear planning of city blocks in a checkerboard pattern, in which streets oriented to the cardinal points intersected at right angles. Although such cities were beautiful, easy to navigate, and convenient for traffic and water and sewerage, the Greek type of urban planning had its drawbacks: it basically ignored natural conditions such as terrain and prevailing winds.

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.

The Etruscans erected temples and other buildings on a stone foundation, but unbaked bricks and wood were used to build walls and ceilings, so almost nothing has survived from them. According to legend, the Etruscan masters built in Rome, on the Capitoline Hill, the main shrine of the Romans - the temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

Large necropolises were located near the cities. Etruscan tombs of three types are known: shaft, chamber with a bulk mound and rock, cut in the rock. The rich burial grounds were distinguished by their large size and luxurious decoration: they consisted of several rooms decorated with wall paintings and statues. Sarcophagi, armchairs and many other grave goods were carved from stone and therefore well preserved. If rich tombs, apparently, copied the plan and interior decoration of a rich house, then funeral urns in the form of clay models of huts give an idea of ​​the houses of the common people.

Many Etruscan cities had access to the sea, if not directly, then through rivers or canals. For example, the city of Spinu, located in northeastern Italy, near the Adriatic coast, was connected to the sea by a channel 3 km long and 30 m wide. Although the remains of Vetulonia in modern Tuscany are 12 km from the sea, but in ancient times it was located on the shore of the bay deeply embedded in the land. In Roman times, only a shallow lake remained from that bay, and then it dried up.

The Etruscan shipbuilding was very perfect, the materials for which were supplied by the pine forests of Etruria, Corsica and Latium. Etruscan ships sailed and rowed. In the underwater part of military ships there was a metal ram. From the 7th century BC. the Etruscans began to use a metal anchor with a stem and two paws. The Romans borrowed this type of anchor, as well as the battering ram, which they called the rostrum. The strong fleet of the Etruscans allowed them to compete with the Carthaginians and Greeks.

The Etruscans reached a high development of ceramic production. Their pottery is close to Greek, but they also created their own style, which in science is called "bucchero". Its characteristic features are imitation of the shape of metal vessels, black shiny color and decoration with bas-reliefs.

Etruscan woolen fabrics were exported, and also, undoubtedly, were widely used in the everyday life of the Etruscans. In addition, the Etruscans were famous for flax growing and used linen products very widely: the linen was used to make clothes, sails, military armor, and served as writing material. The custom of writing linen books later passed to the Romans. The Etruscans carried on extensive trade with the countries of the Mediterranean. From the developed industrial cities of Greece and from Carthage, they imported luxury items, from Carthage, in addition, ivory as a raw material for their artisans. The buyer of expensive imported goods was the Etruscan nobility. It is assumed that in exchange for imported luxury, Etruria supplied copper, iron and slaves to developed trade and craft centers. However, it is known that various products of the Etruscan craft were also in demand in developed societies.

The trade of the Etruscans with the northern tribes that lived in Central and Western Europe up to Britain and Scandinavia was probably dominated by the export of finished products - metal and ceramic products, fabrics, wine. The consumer of these goods was mainly the nobility of the barbarian tribes, who paid off the Etruscan merchants with slaves, tin, and amber. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus reports that in trade with the trans-Alpine Celts, Italian merchants, by whom he is believed to mean the Etruscans, received a slave for an amphora of wine.

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. 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.

Sea trade prevailed among the Etruscans over land trade and was combined with piracy, which was also characteristic of other sailors of that time. According to A. I. Nemirovsky, the greatest distribution of Etruscan piracy falls on the period of decline of the Etruscan states in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC, when, on the one hand, due to Greek competition, Celtic invasion and Roman expansion, their foreign trade was undermined, and on the other hand, piracy was stimulated by the growing demand for slaves in Roman society. It was at this time that in the mouths of the Greeks the words "Tyrrhenes" and "pirates" became synonymous.

Each Etruscan city was an economic entity. They differed from each other in the nature of their economic activity. So, Populonia specialized in the extraction and processing of metals, Clusius - in agriculture, Caere - in crafts and trade. It is no coincidence that it was Pore who especially competed and was at enmity with the Greek colonies in Italy and Sicily, which were significant centers of handicraft production and foreign trade.

Information about the religion of the Etruscans is better preserved than about other aspects of the life of their society. The main deities of the Etruscan pantheon were Tin, Uni and Menrva. Tin was a deity of the sky, a thunderer and was considered the king of the gods. His shrines were on high, steep hills. In terms of its functions, Tin corresponded to the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter, therefore it is no coincidence that later in Rome the image of Type merged with the image of Jupiter. The goddess Uni corresponded to the Roman Juno, so they also merged in Rome in a single image of Juno. In the image of the Etruscan goddess Menrva, features characteristic of the Greek Athena are visible: both were considered the patroness of crafts and arts. In Rome, with the development of crafts, the veneration of the goddess Minerva, whose image was identical to Athena-Menrva, spread. Uncertain information about the supreme god Vertumne (Voltumne, Voltumnia) has been preserved. There is an assumption that this name is only one of the epithets of the god Tin.

In addition to numerous higher gods, the Etruscans also worshiped a whole host of lower deities - good and evil demons, which are depicted in many in Etruscan tombs. Like the Hurrians, Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians and other Middle Eastern peoples, the Etruscans imagined demons in the form of fantastic birds and animals, and sometimes people with wings behind their backs. For example, the good demons lazi, corresponding to the Roman lares, were considered by the Etruscans to be the patrons of the hearth and were represented as young women with wings behind their backs.

The main places of worship were temples, in which statues of deities were placed. As a sacrifice to the gods brought true, wine, fruit, oil, animals. During a family meal, a small cup of food was placed on the table or on the hearth for the demons - the patrons of the house. At the funeral feasts of noble people, captives were sacrificed to the gods. It is assumed that the Etruscans forced the prisoners to fight each other to the death or poisoned them with animals. It was in the form of duels of slaves at the funeral of the nobility that gladiatorial games were borrowed in the 3rd century BC. BC. the Romans; they also borrowed from the Etruscans and persecution of people by animals. Gradually losing their religious meaning of human sacrifice and turning into a public spectacle, these games lasted until the period of the late Roman Empire.

An important role in the religion of the Etruscans was played by the idea of ​​​​a gloomy afterlife kingdom, where the souls of the dead gather. The Etruscan god of the underworld Aita corresponded to the Greek god Hades.

An important place in Etruscan society was occupied by the priesthood. Haruspex priests were in charge of divination by the insides of sacrificial animals, primarily by the liver, as well as the interpretation of various signs - unusual natural phenomena (lightning, the birth of freaks, etc.). The augur priests divined from the behavior of the birds. These features of the Etruscan cult, through a number of intermediate links, are borrowed from Babylonia. In turn, the Romans adopted them from the Etruscans.

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.

2. The ancient population of Italy lived by birth in territorial communities - paga, as a result of the union of which the city arose. At the head of archaic Rome was an elected king, combining the duties of high priest, military commander, legislator and judge, and he had a senate. The most important matters were decided by the people's assembly.

In 510-509. BC e. a republic is formed. Republican rule persisted until 30-29 BC. BC, followed by the Period of Empire. During these years, Rome waged almost continuous victorious wars and turned from a small city into the capital of a huge Mediterranean power, spreading its influence over numerous provinces: Macedonia, Achaia (Greece), Near and Far Spain, regions of Africa and Asia, the Middle East. This leads to an intensive cultural exchange, an intensive process of interpenetration of cultures.

Luxurious booty of victors, stories of soldiers, the penetration of wealthy people into the newly acquired provinces led to a revolution at the level of everyday culture: ideas about wealth changed, new material and spiritual needs arose, new mores were born. The mass enthusiasm for oriental luxury began after the Asian triumphs of L. Cornelius Scipio and Gn. Pain-Juice Mandia. Fashion quickly spread to Attalic (Pergamon robes), chased silver, Corinthian bronze, inlaid beds, similar to ancient Egyptian ones.

The conquest of the Hellenistic states, and by the 1st century. BC e. and Hellenistic Greece revolutionized the culture of Rome. The Romans were faced with a culture that surpassed their own in depth and variety. “Greece captive captivated her winners,” Horace, the ancient Roman poet, would later say. The Romans began to study the Greek language, literature, philosophy, bought Greek slaves to teach children. Wealthy families sent their sons to Athens, Ephesus and other cities of Greece and Asia Minor to listen to the lectures of famous orators and philosophers. This influenced the growth of the Roman intelligentsia. Two new comic types appeared in society and literature: the absurd Grecomaniacs and the severe persecutors of the Greek sciences. In many families, foreign education was combined with old Roman traditions and patriotic ambition.

Thus, in the culture of Ancient Rome, the Etruscan and ancient Greek beginnings are clearly traced.

The whole history of cultural relations between Rome and Greece since that time shows the secret admiration of the Romans for Greek culture, the desire to achieve its perfection, sometimes reaching imitation. However, assimilating the ancient Greek culture, the Romans put their own content into it. The convergence of Greek and Roman cultures became especially noticeable during the time of the empire. Nevertheless, the majestic harmony of Greek art, the poetic spirituality of its images, remained forever inaccessible to the Romans. Pragmatism of thinking, engineering solutions determined the functional nature of Roman culture. Too sober, too practical was the Roman to, admiring the skill of make-up, to achieve their plastic balance and amazing generalization of the idea.

The ideology of the Roman was primarily determined by patriotism - the idea of ​​Rome as the highest value, the duty of a citizen to serve him, sparing no effort and life. Courage, fidelity, dignity, moderation in personal life, the ability to obey iron discipline and law were revered in Rome. Lies, dishonesty, flattery were considered vices peculiar to slaves. If the Greek bowed before art, philosophy, then the Roman composing plays, the work of a sculptor, painter, performing on stage despised as slave occupations. Worthy of a citizen of Rome, in his view, were only wars, politics, law, historiography and agriculture.

In 509 BC. in Rome, after the expulsion of the last (seventh) Rex Tarquinius the Proud, a republican system was established. The period of the republic is a period of intensive upward development of production, which led to significant social changes, which were reflected in the change in the legal status of certain groups of the population. Successful wars of conquest also played a significant role in this process, steadily expanding the boundaries of the Roman state, turning it into a powerful world power.

The main social division in Rome was the division into free and slaves. The unity of the free citizens of Rome (quirites) was for some time maintained by the existence of their collective ownership of land and slaves belonging to the state. However, over time, collective ownership of land became fictitious, the public land fund passed to individual owners, until, finally, the agrarian law of 3 BC. did not liquidate it, finally approving private property.

The free in Rome fell into two social class groups: the upper class of slave owners (landowners, merchants) and small producers (farmers and artisans), who made up the majority of society. The latter were joined by the urban poor, the lumpen proletarians. Due to the fact that slavery at first had a patriarchal character, the struggle between large slave owners and small producers, who most often cultivated the land themselves and worked in workshops, for a long time was the main content of the history of the Roman Republic. Only with time did the contradiction between slaves and slave owners come to the fore.

The legal status of the individual in Rome was characterized by three statuses - freedom, citizenship and family. Only a person who possessed all these statuses had full legal capacity. In public law, it meant the right to participate in the people's assembly and hold public office. In private law, she gave the right to enter into a Roman marriage and participate in property relations.

According to the status of freedom, the entire population of Rome was divided into free and slaves. Only a free person could be full-fledged.

Slaves in the period of the republic become the main oppressed and exploited class. The main source of slavery was military captivity. So, after the defeat of Carthage, 55,000 people were turned into slavery, and in total in the II-I centuries. BC. - more than half a million (the number of Roman citizens who had a property qualification did not reach 400,000 at that time). Of great importance as a source of slavery was the widely developed slave trade - the purchase of slaves abroad. Due to the plight of the slaves, their natural reproduction was less important. One can also note the fact that despite the abolition of debt bondage by the Petelia Law, in fact, it continued to exist, albeit in a limited amount. By the end of the period of the republic, self-sale into slavery becomes widespread.

Slaves were state and privately owned. Most of the prisoners of war became the first. They were operated in mines and state workshops. The position of the privately owned slaves steadily worsened. If at the beginning of Roman history, during the period of patriarchal slavery, they were part of the families of Roman citizens, and wholly subordinate to the householder, still enjoyed some protection of sacred (sacred, based on religious beliefs) law, then during the heyday of the republic, the exploitation of slave labor sharply intensified . Ancient slavery becomes the same basis of the Roman economy as the labor of small free producers. The position of slaves in large slave-owning latifundia was especially difficult. The position of the slaves employed in urban craft workshops and households was somewhat better. Much better was the situation of talented workers, teachers, actors, sculptors from among the slaves, many of whom managed to gain freedom and become freedmen.

Regardless of what place a slave occupied in production, he was the property of his master and was considered as part of his property. The power of the master over the slave was practically unlimited. Everything produced by the slave went to the owner: "what is acquired through the slave is acquired for the master." The owner allocated to the slave what he considered necessary to maintain his existence and performance.

Slave-owning relations determined the general disinterest of slaves in the results of their labor, which in turn forced slave owners to look for more effective forms of exploitation. Peculia became such a form - a part of the owner's property (a land plot, a craft workshop, etc.), which he provided to a slave for independent housekeeping and receiving part of the income from it. Peculium allowed the owner to use his property more efficiently to generate income and interested the slave in the results of his labor. Another form that originated during the period of the republic was the colonat. The columns were not slaves, but tenants of the land, who fell into economic dependence on the landowners and were eventually attached to the land.

They were impoverished freemen, freedmen and slaves. The columns had personal property, they could conclude contracts and marry.

Over time, the position of the column becomes hereditary. However, in the period under review, the colonate, like the peculium, was not yet widespread.

The inefficiency of slave labor led at the end of the Republican period to the mass release of slaves into the wild. Freedmen remained in a certain dependence on their former master, who turned into their patron, in whose favor they were obliged to bear certain material and labor duties and who, in the event of their childlessness, inherited their property. However, the development of this process in the period when the slave system was still developing, contradicted the general interests of the ruling class, and therefore in 2 BC. A law was passed to restrict this practice.

According to the status of citizenship, the free population of Rome was divided into citizens and foreigners (peregrines). Only free-born Roman citizens could have full legal capacity. In addition to them, freedmen were among the citizens, but they remained clients of the former owners and were limited in their rights.

As property differentiation develops, the role of wealth in determining the position of a Roman citizen increases. Among the slave owners at the end of III-II century. BC. there are privileged classes of nobles and horsemen.

The upper class (nobiles) included the most noble patrician and wealthy plebeian families. The economic base of the nobles was large land ownership and huge amounts of money. Only they began to replenish the Senate and be elected to the highest government positions. The nobility turns into a closed estate, access to which was practically impossible for a new person and which jealously guarded its privileges. Only in rare cases did people who did not belong to the nobility by birth become the highest officials.

The second estate (horsemen) was formed from the commercial and financial nobility and landowners of the middle hand. In the 1st century BC. the process of merging the nobles with the top of the horsemen, who gained access to the senate and to important judicial positions, develops. Relationships arise between their individual representatives.

As the boundaries of the Roman state expanded, "the number of free people was replenished by the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula (completely conquered by the middle of the 3rd century BC) and other countries. They differed from Roman citizens in their legal status. Residents of Italy, who were not part of the Roman community (Latins), at first did not enjoy all the rights of Roman citizens. They were divided into two groups - the ancient Latins and the Latins of the colonies. The former recognized property rights, the right to speak in court and marry Roman citizens. But they were deprived of the right to participate in the assemblies of the people.The Latins, inhabitants of the colonies founded by Rome in Italy, and some of its cities and regions, which concluded treaties of alliance with Rome, enjoyed the same rights as the ancient Latins, with the exception of the right to marry Roman citizens. as a result of allied wars (1st century BC), all Latins were granted the rights of Roman citizens.

The second category of free, unentitled Roman citizens were the peregrines. These included free residents of the provinces - countries outside of Italy and conquered by Rome. They had to bear the tax obligations. Peregrines also included free residents of foreign countries. Peregrines did not have the rights of the Latins, but received property legal capacity. To protect their rights, they had to choose patrons for themselves - patrons, in respect of which they were in a position that differed little from that of clients.

The status of the family meant that only the heads of Roman families, the householders, enjoyed full political and civil legal capacity. The rest of the family members were considered to be under the authority of the householder. The latter was the person of "own right", while the members of his family were called persons of "another's right" - the right of the householder. Entering into property legal relations, they acquired property not for themselves, but for him. But restrictions in private law did not affect their position in public law. In addition, these restrictions began to weaken, the right of family members to acquire their own property began to be recognized.

The legal status of a person changed with the loss of a particular status.

The greatest changes occurred with the loss of the status of freedom (captivity, enslavement). It meant the loss of both the status of citizenship and family, i.e., the complete loss of legal capacity. With the loss of the status of citizenship (exile), the legal capacity of a citizen was lost, but freedom was preserved. And finally, the loss of family status (as a result, for example, of the adoption of the head of the family by another person) led to the loss of only "one's own right".

3. The neglect of the arts and sciences did not mean that the Roman remained a dropout. In enlightened houses they taught not only the Greek language, but also the correct, elegant Latin.

Already in the Republican period, original, original art, philosophy, science were formed in Rome, and their own method of creativity was formed. Their main feature is psychological realism and truly Roman individualism.

The ancient Roman model of the world was fundamentally different from the Greek one. It did not have an event of personality, organically inscribed in the event of the polis and the cosmos, as with the Greeks. The event model of the Roman was simplified to two events: the event of the individual fit into the event of the state, or the Roman Empire. That is why the Romans turned their attention to the individual.

A noticeable mark in science was left by the works of Menelaus of Alexandria on spherical geometry and trigonometry, Ptolemy's geocentric model of the world, works on optics, astronomy (a catalog of more than 1,600 stars was compiled), experiments were made on animals in physiology. The physician Galen came close to discovering the meanings of nerves for motor reflexes and blood circulation. Construction equipment developed, which made it possible to create the Flavian Colosseum, a one and a half kilometer bridge across the Danube under Trajan, etc. The mechanics were improved, lifting mechanisms were used. According to Seneca, the “despicable slaves” each time invented something new: pipes through which steam flowed to heat the premises, a special polishing of marble, mirror tiles to reflect the sun's rays.

The art of mosaic spread: even in the houses on the Rhine, glass was inserted into the windows. Both Menelaus and Ptolemy were Greek scholars working in Rome.

Astrology was very popular, which was studied by the largest astronomers. Basically, Roman scholars comprehended and commented on the Greeks.

The emergence of literary drama in Rome.

The Romans took the literary drama in finished form from the Greeks, translated it into Latin and adapted it to their own concepts and tastes. This is explained by the historical situation of that time. The conquest of the southern Italian cities, which possessed all the treasures of Greek culture, could not pass without a trace for the Romans. The Greeks begin to appear in Rome as prisoners, hostages, diplomatic representatives, teachers.

In the context of the public upsurge caused by the victorious end of the 1st Punic War, at the festive games of 240 BC. it was decided to put on a dramatic performance. The production was entrusted to the Greek Livius Andronicus, who came to Rome as a prisoner of war after the capture of Tarentum in 272 BC. Andronicus was a slave of a Roman senator, from whom he received his Roman name - Livy. Livius Andronicus, released to freedom, began to teach Greek and Latin to the sons of the Roman nobility. This schoolteacher staged tragedy and, probably, also comedy, which he reworked from the Greek model, or, perhaps, simply translated from Greek into Latin. The production of Livius Andronicus gave impetus to the further development of the Roman theater.

From 235 BC the playwright Gnaeus Nevius (c. 280-201 BC), who probably belonged to a Roman plebeian family, begins to stage his plays. Unlike Greek playwrights, who usually wrote in one particular genre, he wrote both tragedies and comedies. His tragedies were also adaptations of Greek plays. But Nevius was engaged not only in reworking tragedies with a mythological plot. He was the creator of tragedies from Roman history. Such a tragedy was called by the Romans a pretext. Sometimes pretexts were also written on contemporary events for the playwrights. However, Nevius achieved the greatest fame in the field of comedy.

Historiography I. BC e.

Historiography developed under rather difficult conditions. The great Roman historian Tacitus in his works "History" and "Annals" shows the tragedy of society, which consists in the incompatibility of imperial power and the freedom of citizens, the princeps and the senate. Skillful dramatization of events, subtle psychologism and accuracy of judgments make Tacitus perhaps the best of Roman historians.

Roman historiography - from Cato the Elder to Tacitus - reflects the facts of the history and tradition of Rome with great completeness. One of the first historians of Rome was Mark Porcius Cato the Elder. Works of Roman historians II century. and the first half of the 1st century BC e. played a large role in the creation of classical Roman historiography.

1. Gaius Julius Caesar - commander and one of the founders of the Roman Empire and Caesarism, was an outstanding author of military historical memoirs and wrote several literary and critical works of high artistic quality in language and style.

2. From Gaius Sallust Crispus (86-35 BC), two works came completely - "The Conspiracy of Catiline" and "The Jugurtine War" (the history of the difficult war of the Romans with the Numidian king Jugurtha II), as well as "History" - a presentation of Roman history for 10 years, starting from 78, which have survived only in fragments.

Sallust, a talented master of historical prose, came from a plebeian family, at first he was in the ranks of the popular, then he moved to Caesar, ruling the province of Africa, and amassed a large fortune. He is an opponent of the aristocracy and the rich, and denounced them for the fact that they do not allow capable people from other classes to reach responsible government positions. In this he sees the reason for the disintegration of the republic.

3. Titus Livy was born in 59 BC. e. in the city of Patavia (in modern Padua), he was brought up in the old republican traditions and received a philosophical and rhetorical education. Patavia in the civil war was on the side of Pompey, the city had republican traditions, so Livy received from Octavian Augustus the sometimes ironic assessment of "Pompey". But in the historical writings of Livy, the ideology of the ruling circles of Roman society is carried out, akin to the political ideas of Virgil's Aeneid.

The basis of the historical works of Livy is the idea of ​​the greatness of Rome, the glorification of the ancient customs, heroism and patriotism of the ancestors. This reverence for the mores of the ancestors fully coincided with the restoration policy of the principate.

Music, singing and dancing.

In Rome there have always been many musicians, composers, teachers of music and singing,

but almost all of them came either from Greece proper, or from the Greek cities of southern Italy, or from Egypt. Professional dancers and dancers who performed in public came to the Eternal City from Syria and Spain. Ever since Eastern cults and rites (for example, the cult of Isis) began to take hold in Rome, musicians who arrived from where the cult itself was borrowed from took part in them. On the other hand, the musicians who accompanied the purely Roman rites with their playing, the military musicians and those who accompanied the actors on the stage, were mainly people of Roman or, in any case, Italian origin.

Musicians, whatever their origin, enjoyed certain privileges in Rome as a reward for the services they rendered to the city by their playing or singing during great public celebrations. So, in a privileged position were military musicians, symphonists - musicians who participated in religious ceremonies, as well as those who played wind instruments. The scabillars (“rattlers”), who set the beat for the choir and dancers on stage, enjoyed the same sympathy from the public as the most outstanding actors. Famous musicians and singers were so highly valued that they managed to establish friendly relations with representatives of the most noble families.

Politics and Law in Ancient Rome.

The most important cultural innovations of Roman antiquity are associated with the development of politics and law. Ancient Rome is the birthplace of jurisprudence.

Management of the vast Roman dermis of state organs, a well-organized administrative structure, legal laws governing civil relations, legal proceedings, etc. The first legal document is the Law of 12 books, regulating criminal, financial, commercial relations. The constant expansion of the territory leads to the emergence of other documents - private law for the Latins and public law governing relations between the Latins and the conquered peoples living in the provinces.

Among the ancient Roman lawyers, the figures of Scaevola, Papinian, Ulpian stand out. An original contribution to the field of law was made by the outstanding jurist of the era of Hadrian Salvius Julian, who looked through all the existing praetor edicts (the praetors exercised the supreme judicial power), selected from them everything that corresponded to the new conditions of life, brought them into a system, and then turned them into a single praetor edict. Thus, all the valuable experience in the previous court decisions was taken into account. There were other schools of jurisprudence competing with each other.

The Roman historian Polybius already in the II century. BC e. saw in the perfection of the political and legal structure of Rome the guarantee of its power. Ancient Roman jurists really laid the foundation of legal culture. Roman law is still the foundation on which modern legal systems rely. But the relationships clearly stipulated by law, the powers and duties of numerous bureaucratic institutions and officials - the Senate, magistrates, consuls, prefects, procurators, censors, etc. - did not eliminate the tension of the political struggle in society. In their struggle for a place in the system of power, the nobility (nobility) connects the general population, trying to get support from them.

Antiquity bequeathed to subsequent eras the maxim “man is the measure of all things” and showed what heights a free person can reach in art, knowledge, politics, state building, and finally, in the most important thing - self-knowledge and self-improvement. Beautiful Greek statues have become the standard of beauty of the human body, Greek philosophy has become a model of the beauty of human thinking, and the best deeds of Roman heroes have become examples of the beauty of civil service and state building.

In the ancient world, a grandiose attempt was made to unite the West and the East in a single civilization, to overcome the separation of peoples and traditions in a great cultural synthesis, which revealed how fruitful the interaction and interpenetration of cultures was. One result of this synthesis was the emergence of Christianity, which was born as the religion of a small community on the fringes of the Roman world and gradually developed into a world religion.

The ancient heritage has nourished and continues to nourish world culture and science for centuries. From antiquity, man brought the idea of ​​the cosmic origin and fate of the Earth and the human race, of the unity of nature and man, of all creatures that lived and live on our planet. The human mind had already reached the stars. The knowledge obtained in antiquity showed its great potential. Then the foundations of many sciences were laid.

Antiquity became the breadwinner of the literature and art of subsequent eras. Any rise in the cultural life of the Middle Ages or the New Age was associated with an appeal to the ancient heritage. With the greatest completeness and power, this was expressed in the Renaissance, which produced the greatest geniuses and magnificent works of art.

LITERATURE

Nemirovsky A.I., Kharsekin A.I. Etruscans. Introduction to Etruscology. Voronezh, 1969

Culturology for technical universities. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2001.

History of the state and law of foreign countries. Part 1. Textbook for universities. 2nd ed., ster. Ed. prof. Krashennikova N.A. and prof. Zhidkova O.A. - M .: Publishing house NORMA (Publishing group NORMA-INFRA M), 2001.

History of the Ancient World, v.3. - M., 1980.

Krushilo Yu.S. Anthology on the history of the ancient world. - M., 1980.

Kuzishchin V.I. History of Ancient Rome. - M .: Higher school 1982.

Nemirovsky A.I. At the origins of historical thought. - Voronezh, 1979.

Struve V.V. Anthology on the history of the ancient world. - M., 1975.

Utchenko S.L. Political doctrines of ancient Rome III-I centuries. BC. - M., 1977.

Reader on the history of ancient Rome. - M .: Higher school, 1987.

1. Culture of Ancient Rome / Ed. E. S. Golubtsova., M., 1983-1988.

2. Ancient Rome. Ed. A.Myasnikova.-St. Petersburg: "Autograph".-1996.-378p.

3. Ilyinskaya L.S. Ancient Rome.-M.-1997.-432 p.

4. History of world culture / Ed. Levchuka L. T., K., 1994.

Federal Agency for Education

SEI VPO "Ural State Economic University"

Department of Economic Theory

Test

discipline: "Culturology"

Created by the Etruscans - the people who lived in Italy in 1 thousand BC. e. It had a profound impact on Roman civilization (see Art. Ancient Rome). Etruria is called the cradle of Rome.

Etruria (modern Tuscany), a region in the northwest of the Apennine Peninsula, between the Arno River in the north and the Tiber River in the south. Its area is approx. 20000 km2. The country possessed fertile soils, numerous rivers and lakes, and rich deposits of iron, copper, marble, and other minerals. Not later than the 7th c. BC e. it is inhabited by the Etruscans, whose origin is still controversial. It is possible that migrants from the East, mixed with local residents, participated in the formation of the Etruscan civilization.

They created 12 prosperous city-states on the territory of Etruria, which were part of a religious and political union, the so-called. Tuscan Federation. They brought two more 12-grades to the valley of the Pad River (modern Po) and to Campania. To con. 6th c. BC e. most of Northern and Central Italy was under Etruscan influence, and Etruria itself was (along with Greek-populated Southern Italy) its richest and most developed region.

Starting from the 5th c. BC e. The Etruscans are gradually losing their power: they were ousted from Campania by the Greeks and Samnites, from Northern Italy by the Gauls. To the beginning 3 in. BC e. they came under the rule of Rome. After the Allied War (357-355 BC), all free inhabitants of Etruria received Roman citizenship. By the beginning of N. e. Etruria was almost completely Romanized, and the Etruscan language was forgotten.

The Etruscan city-states were first under the rule of kings, from the 5th century. BC e. - military-priestly nobility (lukumons). Their vast estates were cultivated by dependent peasants from ordinary Etruscans who were not citizens of their cities.

Land reclamation was widely used in Etruscan agriculture, which made it possible to use swampy plains. Grain harvests in Etruria were 1.5 times higher than the Italian average. In the Etruscan craft, the extraction and processing of metals was especially prominent. Etruscan products made of iron and bronze were famous throughout the Mediterranean. Etruscan architects, sculptors and builders were often invited to Rome and other Italian cities. Etruscan sailors (merchants and pirates) were also known everywhere.

Since Etruscan writing has not yet been deciphered, an idea of ​​​​the spiritual culture of the Etruscans can only be obtained on the basis of evidence from Roman and Greek authors and archaeological excavations.

Judging by them, the Etruscans from the 7th century. BC e. had its own peculiar architecture, painting and sculpture. The paintings of Etruscan tombs testify not only to the skill of Etruscan artists, but also to a developed system of ideas about the afterlife. The realism (sometimes turning into naturalism) of the Etruscan sculptural portrait is also associated with these ideas. In this respect, Roman sculptors were students of the Etruscans, not the Greeks. The architectural type of the Roman temple also goes back to the Etruscans. The Capitoline Temple in Rome (see Art. Capitol) was built and decorated by Etruscan craftsmen, and its inhabitants (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva) had Etruscan prototypes.

The Etruscans were famous throughout Italy for their soothsayers-haruspices, who predicted the future by the liver of sacrificial animals and interpreted unusual natural phenomena as divine signs (prodigies). The Romans called the art of divination an Etruscan science. Although they had their own bird-fortune-telling priests (augurs), they often invited Etruscan haruspices to Rome. Christian authors of Roman times called Etruria the mother and progenitor of all superstitions.

Etruscan civilization. Fresco "Tombs of the Leopards" in Tarquinia. OK. 470 BC e.

Etruscan civilization. Mirror depicting the Judgment of Paris. Drawing 3 c. BC e.

University: VZFEI

Introduction 3-4

Architecture 5-7

Painting 7-9

Pottery 10

Sculpture 11-13

Conclusion 14

Literature 15

Introduction

Civilization(from the Latin language - state, civil) - a special socio-cultural community of people with its inherent economic, political and cultural specifics.

Etruscan civilization- this is the predecessor of the Ancient Roman civilization, it is the first period in the development of the artistic culture of Ancient Rome. The Etruscan civilization arose in the 7th-4th centuries. BC. The Etruscans appeared in the northwest of the Apennine Peninsula at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. The territory occupied by them became known as Etruria (modern Tuscany). In ancient times, the Etruscans were called "peoples of the sea", because they inspired fear and awe in the Mediterranean merchants and sailors. Disputes about the origin of the Etruscans are still ongoing. Perhaps they came from Asia Minor, perhaps from Lydia, but this is only an assumption. What race the Etruscans belong to is also not known. The past of this people is shrouded in mystery, because scientists still do not fully understand their writing, and the Romans, having freed themselves from the power of the Etruscans in the 4th century. BC, wiped out their cities.

Many Etruscan monuments are known, but the content of the myths that are embodied in them is unknown. There are many Etruscan inscriptions, but they are very difficult to read, although the Etruscans used the Greek alphabet. They wrote from right to left and without spacing between words. The Etruscan gods are very similar to the Greek ones, and the names of the gods, in all likelihood, are also used by the Romans over time to call their own, for example: Uni - Juno, Menrva - Minerva, Tini - Jupiter. Numerous images of Etruscan gods are found on mirrors, coins, ceramic vases (the functions of these gods are special and not fully understood). The servants of the gods were numerous laz demons. The universe was presented to the Etruscans in the form of three steps - heaven, earth and the underworld, interconnected by passages and faults in the earth's crust, along which the souls of the dead descended to Hades. The similarity of faults were pits for sacrifices to underground gods and souls of ancestors that existed in every city. It is also known for sure that the Romans borrowed from the Etruscans gladiatorial fights and baiting of animals, stage games and sacrificial rites, divination and belief in evil and good spirits. The Etruscans, like the Egyptians, believed in life after death, so the main monuments that have survived after the Etruscans are associated with burial.

Architecture

The Etruscans left behind entire “cities of the dead” - cemeteries, which sometimes exceeded the size of the cities of the living. It seemed that life took place here, maybe different, otherworldly, but life. The Etruscans had a cult of the dead: they believed in the afterlife and wanted to make it as pleasant as possible for the dead. Therefore, their art, which served death, was full of life and bright joy. The cult of ancestors and the veneration of the dead contributed to the development of a special type of tombs among the Etruscans, which were more like dwellings with richly furnished chambers. The only thing that reminded of the purpose of these structures was the funeral urns in them in the form of a human figure, in the form of a house, and so on, or monumental sarcophagi with sculptural images of the dead on the lids. Sculptural images of married couples (in all likelihood, having similarities with the dead) are reclining on them at a friendly conversation or at a meal. Embracing each other, they gesticulate cheerfully, discuss something vigorously, forgetting that their bed is the bed of death and they will never get up from it. BUT they do not believe in death, but are only waiting for the transition to the other world no less joyful than the earthly one.

The tombs of the Etruscans were superbly cleaned, decorated with colorful frescoes depicting scenes of death, travel in the underworld, the trial of the souls of the dead. The paintings on the walls of the tombs depicted the best aspects of life - festivities with music and dancing, sports, hunting scenes or a pleasant stay in the family circle. The tombs were filled with furniture and rich utensils, they had many luxurious funeral gifts, even wagons, and the dead were showered with gold jewelry. Etruscan tombs were diverse in form - chambered with a bulk mound (mounds - tumuluses), rocky, mine. The tombs of the Etruscans had geometric shapes, and this is no coincidence. In ancient times, the shape of objects carried a deep meaning, for example: a square was a symbol of the earth, and a circle was a symbol of the sky. If the deceased was buried in a round tomb, it means that in the eyes of the living he was already an inhabitant of heaven, that is, a god. Therefore, the history of Etruscan art begins and ends with tombs.

It is known for sure that the Etruscans were the first to use a regular layout in the construction of the city, but from the Greeks they adopted

planning of city blocks in a checkerboard pattern, where an acropolis was erected at the highest point of the city, with temples and altars.

Their cities (Tarquinia, etc.) were surrounded by powerful walls of huge stone blocks. It was from them that the Romans learned to build bridges and arches, pave roads and drain swamps.

On the basis of Greek images, the Etruscans created a type of temple that stood on a podium (i.e., a high pedestal), with a canopy in front of the entrance to the building or a gallery with arches. Etruscan temples were built of wood and brick. The Etruscan temple was square in plan, decorated with columns on three sides (wooden floor beams made it possible to place columns at a considerable distance from each other), the roof had a strong slope, the role of the frieze was performed by rows of painted clay slabs. The temple stood on a high foundation (stone foundation) and had a deep portico, which opened into the depths of the temple with three rooms at once. This was due to the fact that the Etruscans revered the gods in triads - triplets.

The main triad was Tinia, Menrva, Uni. If we draw an analogy with the Greeks and Romans, we get the following - Zeus, Hera, Athena and Jupiter, Juno, Minerva. The Etruscan temple concealed everything secret within itself, and it was not accessible and not visible. The walls of the temples were decorated with terracotta reliefs on subjects borrowed from Greek mythology or associated with sacrifices and bloody fights. The will of the gods could be interpreted and communicated to people only by priests and soothsayers who mastered the art of divination by the flight of birds, by lightning, by the entrails of animals. Givings say that the main shrine of the Romans - their first temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva on the Capitol (one of the 7 hills on which Rome was built) - was created by the Etruscans. It probably differed little from the Etruscan buildings both in architecture and in the chosen material for the buildings. Also, the Etruscans left the legacy of the Romans - the technique of removing vaults. Thus, the Romans reached unprecedented heights in the construction of vaulted ceilings.

Painting

The Etruscans were not only skilled sculptors, their tombs are full of bright colors of fresco painting. The walls of Etruscan tombs were decorated with frescoes. The plots often represented the feasts of the Etruscans after

solemn funerals of noble people. There are also scenes of equestrian competitions, fist fights, fencing games, hunting and fishing. There are even images of the bliss of souls in the realm of the dead. And if it were not for the figures of mourners or priests, reminiscent of the funerary significance of the paintings, this could simply be forgotten, since the human figures on the frescoes are overflowing with seething energy and joy of life. Feasting people enjoying the holiday; fishing; hunting; involved in sports - live and rejoice in the other world. Among them there are frescoes and the god Fufluns - the Etruscan Dionysus, who is endowed with special power to grant immortality. It is interesting that, for example, in the tomb of the “leopards” (about 520 BC) in Tarquinia, the god Fufluns is depicted not in human form, but as a huge crater in the center of one of the wall frescoes. Elsewhere in the same tomb, Fufluns is represented as a pillar worshiped by leopards, hence the name of the tomb. All this suggests that the painting of Etruscan tombs cannot be perceived only as “pictures from life”. They contain a strictly built complex religious and mythological system, which is still largely unclear. The murals of the Etruscan tombs are close in their technique to the Greek, of the archaic period. The same outline of lines, performed in different colors. The contour of the Etruscan drawing is not as elegant and thin as that of the Greeks, but still quite expressive. But the rest of the Etruscans are much inferior to the Greeks. Their painting is devoid of that sense of proportion, which was famous for the art of Greece. The frescoed figures of the Etruscan tombs are either visible on the light colors of the wall plaster, or suddenly someone’s attire “jumps out” as a bright spot from the whole composition. With Etruscan artists, images of human figures do not come to life. For the Etruscans, this task proved insoluble. Their figures either freeze in eternal rest, or tense up in an imaginary action.

pottery

The Etruscans decorated their ceramics with plastic and molding. The Etruscans decorated the burial vessels intended for the ashes of the deceased, the so-called canopy, with lids in the form of human faces, in all likelihood, not devoid of portrait features - “facial” urns. The Etruscan canopy is a complex combination of a vessel and a human figure. The master of the canopy sought to humanize the vessel, that is, to turn it into a monument to a dead person, hence such a strange mixture of forms. Etruscan ceramics were also special. Vessels of a very complex shape with stucco handles, stucco or engraved decor and a surface that gives the impression that we have a vessel made of metal have survived to our time. In fact, the Etruscans owned a special technique for making ceramic vessels, they turned out to be black with a matte surface, this style was called bucchero. Even more ancient was the method when the ceramics had a dark red color with the same matte sheen. This technique was called impasto.

Sculpture

The Etruscan temple had sculptural decorations. The pediments of the temple were filled with figures of deities, but they were made not in stone, but in clay (terracotta). The edges of the roof were decorated with terracotta masks: Medusa Gargona; Satyrs, Selenes and Maenads, constant companions of the god Fufluns. They were brightly colored and were designed to protect the interior of the temple from the invasion of evil gods and demons.

Etruscan sculptors loved to work in bronze and clay. Their work often had a functional, that is, practical value. They decorated mirrors, high figured lamps - candelabra, tripod-vessels, stands for anything with a base in the form of three legs. It is known that in the art of the Etruscans the technique of bronze casting reached a high level of perfection. The best monument of Etruscan sculpture - “Capitoline

she-wolf”, which became a symbol of the “eternal city” - Ancient Rome. The legend of the she-wolf who nursed the twins Remus and Romulus, the founders of the city of Rome, served as a theme for the sculptural group. The Etruscan master managed to embody in this image both a formidable animal and a merciful mother who nursed a person. The she-wolf has retracted sides and ribs protruding through the skin, an expressive muzzle with a bared mouth and alert ears, the front paws are elastically tense. An ornamental pattern of a mane is applied with fine chasing, conveying curls of wool. But the main thing is that the master was able to show the spiritual power of the wild.

Etruscan sculptors sought not only to convey the structural features of the human body, but to emotionally influence the viewer, which was facilitated by the bright contrasting coloring of the statues. Terracotta figures - a warrior, Apollo from Vey, the torso of Hercules, a sculptural image of a married couple on the lid of the sarcophagus - amaze with their vitality and inner dynamism. Apparently, the characteristic smile on the faces of Etruscan statues was borrowed from the Greeks - it strongly resembles the “archaic” smile of early Greek statues. And yet, these painted terracottas retained the facial features inherent in Etruscan sculptors - a large nose, slightly slanting almond-shaped eyes under heavy eyelids, full lips. A joyful look, smiles on faces, liveliness of the whole figure - these are the features that distinguish the work of Etruscan sculptors during the heyday of the art of Etruria. Life was full of joy and confidence in the future happy existence, and this was reflected in the works of Etruscan masters, even decorating the tombs.

Sculpture was widespread, performing the function

architectural decor. An example is the terracotta statue of the god Apollo, which adorned the upper corner of the roof of the temple in Veii, which, presumably, was made by the master Vulka in 520-500. BC. This is the only name of a famous Etruscan sculptor that has come down to us. The statue of Apollo shows a man with an athletic build, which can be seen through thin clothes. The master managed to convey the rapid movement. The figure of Apollo is full of strength, energy and youth, his facial expression is filled with bright joy, a smile froze on his lips.

An unknown master made of limestone in the middle of the 5th century. BC work, called "Master Matuta". It is an eternal theme - mother and child, the brightest and most penetrating theme of the world. However, this image is fanned by deep melancholy. The Etruscan mother has no more vitality and no interest in life, she has a dead child in her arms. "Master Matuta" is not just a group, it served as an urn for the ashes. The thought of the afterlife among the Etruscans turned from joyful to sad.

3 in. BC - the time of an unprecedented flowering of the portrait art of the Etruscans. The attention of the sculptors focused on the man himself and his character, mood, uniqueness of facial features. The plastic works that adorn the Etruscan tombs of the outgoing era amaze with their ugly faces and weak-willed poses, swollen bodies. But the art of portraiture has risen to such a high level that in these works, repulsive by their external forms, there were unique and highly artistic faces, in each of which a unique spiritual world was conveyed, in the views one felt not only personal

the doom of a particular person, but also the doom of the existence of Etruria itself.

The last centuries were coming not only of the ancient world - the predictions of the Etruscan soothsayers about the decline of the Etruscans were visibly confirmed. But Roman veterans thrived on their lands, peoples mixed, the Etruscans became Latinized and forgot their language. Over time, the Etruscans resigned themselves to their fate, ceased to perceive the Romans as conquerors, and became for each other simply fellow citizens of one country. An example of this is the portrait of the orator Aulus Metellus, which was made in bronze by an unknown master after 89 BC. Avl Metellus crosses the border of epochs and peoples. He testifies that now there are no vanquished and winners, from now on the Apennines are inhabited by a single Roman people.

Conclusion

Culture of the Etruscan people, one of the most mysterious peoples of the world, became the basis for the development of a new nation - the Romans. Etruscans

died, they disappeared among the aliens, but taught the Romans how to build and defend, forge weapons and build aqueducts (a multi-tiered or single-tiered bridge with a tray or pipeline through which water is transmitted through ravines, gorges, roads, river valleys).

The fine art of the Etruscans revealed to us the rich soul of this amazing people, who were attentive to reality, strove for its accurate, concrete transfer. Therefore, the famous portrait art of the Romans has roots of Etruscan origin, it originates from the small heads of funerary canopies and plastic portraits, lids of sarcophagi.

The customs, rituals and beliefs of the Etruscans were also adopted by the Romans and later reworked, according to the new time and new conditions of existence. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Etruscans disappeared from the face of the earth, they live in geographical names, and in the monuments left behind, and in the history of the Great Roman Empire.

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The Etruscans are rightfully considered one of the most amazing mysteries in history. Scientists do not know exactly where they came from and what language they spoke. The question of a possible connection between the Etruscans and Russians has not yet been clarified.

Under the veil of secrets

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. on the territory of Italy between the rivers Tiber and Arno stretched the legendary state - Etruria, which became the cradle of Roman civilization. The Romans learned avidly from the Etruscans, borrowing from them the system of government and gods, engineering and mosaics, gladiator fights and chariot races, funeral rites and clothing.

Despite their fame, the Etruscans are one big mystery for us. A lot of evidence has been preserved about the Etruscans, but they do not give us a convincing and reliable picture of the life of this people. Scientists do not know for certain how the Etruscans appeared and where they disappeared. Until now, the exact boundaries of Etruria have not been established and the Etruscan language has not been deciphered.

The Roman Emperor Claudius I, who ruled in the 1st century AD, left to his descendants a 20-volume History of the Etruscans, as well as a dictionary of the Etruscan language. But fate would have it that these manuscripts were completely destroyed in the fire of the Library of Alexandria, depriving us of the opportunity to lift the veil of the secrets of the Etruscan civilization.

People from the East

Today there are three versions of the origin of the Etruscans. Titus Livius reports that the Etruscans entered the Apennine Peninsula from the north, along with the Alpine Rets, with whom they were related. According to the hypothesis of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Etruscans were natives of Italy, who adopted the achievements of the previous culture of Villanova.

However, the "Alpine version" does not find any material evidence, and modern scientists increasingly associate the Villanova culture not with the Etruscans, but with the Italics.

Historians have long noticed how the Etruscans stood out from their less developed neighbors. This served as a prerequisite for the third version, according to which the Etruscans settled the Apennines from Asia Minor. This view was held by Herodotus, who claimed that the ancestors of the Etruscans came from Lydia in the 8th century BC.

There is a lot of evidence of the Asia Minor origin of the Etruscans. For example, a way to create sculptures. The Etruscans, unlike the Greeks, preferred not to carve the image from stone, but to sculpt it from clay, which was typical of the art of the peoples of Asia Minor.

There is more important evidence of the eastern origin of the Etruscans. At the end of the 19th century, on the island of Lemnos, located not far from the coast of Asia Minor, archaeologists discovered a tombstone.

The inscription on it was made in Greek letters, but in a completely unusual combination. What was the surprise of scientists when, after comparing this inscription with Etruscan texts, they discovered a striking similarity!

The Bulgarian historian Vladimir Georgiev offers a curious development of the "Eastern version". In his opinion, the Etruscans are none other than the legendary Trojans. The scientist bases his assumptions on the legend, according to which the Trojans led by Aeneas from the war-torn Troy fled to the Apennine Peninsula.

Georgiev also supports his theory with linguistic considerations, finding a relationship between the words "Etruria" and "Troy". One could be skeptical of this version if, in 1972, Italian archaeologists had not unearthed an Etruscan monument tomb dedicated to Aeneas.

genetic map

Not so long ago, scientists from the University of Turin, using genetic analysis, decided to test Herodotus' hypothesis about the Asia Minor origin of the Etruscans. The study compared Y-chromosomes (passed on the male line) of the population of Tuscany and residents of other regions of Italy, as well as the island of Lemnos, the Balkan Peninsula and Turkey.

It turned out that the genetic patterns of the inhabitants of the Tuscan cities of Volterra and Murlo are more similar to those of the inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean than the neighboring Italian regions.

Moreover, some genetic characteristics of the inhabitants of Murlo absolutely coincide with the genetic data of the inhabitants of Turkey.

Researchers from Stanford University decided to use computer simulation to reconstruct the demographic processes that have affected the population of Tuscany over the past 2,500 years. This method initially involved the data of anthropological and genetic expertise.

The results were unexpected. Scientists managed to exclude a genetic link between the Etruscans, the ancient inhabitants of central Italy and the modern inhabitants of Tuscany. The data obtained suggest that the Etruscans were wiped off the face of the earth by some kind of catastrophe, or that they were a social elite that had little in common with the ancestors of modern Italians.

Anthropologist Joanna Mountain, leader of the Stanford project, notes that "the Etruscans differed in every respect from the Italians and even spoke a language of a non-Indo-European group." "Cultural and linguistic features have made the Etruscans a real mystery to numerous researchers," concludes Mountain.

"Etruscan is Russian"

The phonetic proximity of the two ethnonyms - "Etruscans" and "Russians" - gives rise to hypotheses among researchers about the direct connection of the two peoples. Philosopher Alexander Dugin understands this connection literally: "Etruscan is Russian." The plausibility of this version is also given by the self-name of the Etruscans - Rasenna or Raśna.

However, if the word "Etruscan" is compared with the Roman name of this people - "tusci", and the self-name "Rasen" is associated with the Greek name of the Etruscans - "Tyrsene", then the proximity of the Etruscans and Russians no longer looks so obvious.

There is enough evidence that the Etruscans could leave the territory of Italy.

One of the reasons for the exodus may have been climate change, accompanied by drought. It just coincided with the disappearance of this people in the 1st century BC.

Presumably, the Etruscan migration routes should have extended to a more favorable north for farming. Evidence of this, for example, are the urns found in Upper Germany for storing the ashes of the deceased, which are similar to Etruscan artifacts.

It is likely that part of the Etruscans reached the territory of the current Baltic states, where they could assimilate with the Slavic peoples. However, the version that the Etruscans laid the foundations of the Russian ethnos is not confirmed by anything.

The main snag in the absence of the sounds "b", "d" and "g" in the Etruscan language - the structure of the larynx did not allow the Etruscans to pronounce them. This feature of the vocal apparatus is more reminiscent of not Russians, but Finns or Estonians.

One of the recognized apologists of Etruscology, the French scientist Zachary Mayani, turns the vector of Etruscan settlement immediately to the east. In his opinion, the descendants of the Etruscans are modern Albanians. Among the justifications for his hypothesis, the scientist cites the fact that the capital of Albania, Tirana, carries one of the names of the Etruscans - "Tyrrhens".

The vast majority of scientists believe that the Etruscans simply disappeared into the ethnic group of the peoples who inhabited the Roman Empire. The speed of assimilation of the Etruscans may well be a consequence of their small number. According to archaeologists, the population of Etruria, even at the time of its heyday, did not exceed 25 thousand people.

Difficulties in translation

Etruscan writing has been studied since the 16th century. What languages ​​were not taken as a basis to decipher the Etruscan inscriptions: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Celtic, Finnish, even the languages ​​of the American Indians. But all attempts have not been successful. “Etruscan is not readable,” skeptic linguists said.

However, scientists still achieved certain results.

They found that the Etruscan alphabet originates from the Greek and consists of 26 letters.

Moreover, the alphabet borrowed from the Greeks did not correspond much to the peculiarities of the phonetics of the Etruscan language - some sounds, depending on the context, had to be denoted by different letters. Moreover, the late Etruscan texts sinned with the omission of vowel sounds, which created an almost insoluble problem in their decipherment.

And yet, some linguists, in their words, managed to read some of the Etruscan inscriptions. Three scientists of the 19th century at once - the Pole Tadeusz Volansky, the Italian Sebastiano Ciampi and the Russian Alexander Chertkov - stated that the key to deciphering Etruscan texts lies in the Slavic languages.

In the footsteps of Volansky, the Russian linguist Valery Chudinov followed, who proposes that the Etruscan language be considered the successor of the “Slavic runic writing”. Official science is skeptical about Chudinov's attempts to "ancientize" Slavic writing, and his ability to read inscriptions where an inexperienced person sees the "play of nature."

Modern researcher Vladimir Shcherbakov tries to simplify the problem of translating Etruscan inscriptions by explaining that the Etruscans wrote as they heard. With this method of deciphering, many Etruscan words from Shcherbakov sound completely “Russian”: “ita” - “this”, “ama” - “pit”, “tes” - “forest”.

The linguist Petr Zolin notes on this occasion that any attempt to read texts of such antiquity with the help of modern words is absurd.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrey Zaliznik adds: “An amateur linguist willingly plunges into a discussion of written monuments of the past, completely forgetting (or simply not knowing anything) that in the past the language he knew looked completely different from what it is now.”

Today, most historians are convinced that the Etruscan inscriptions will never be deciphered.

Description: My little work

Note: This article is an abbreviated part of my term paper. Please do not judge strictly, this is my first term paper.

Brief description of the Etruscan civilization

This people went down in history under different names. The Greeks called them tyrsenes or tyrrhens, and the Romans - Tusks or Etruscans. As you already understood, the Etruscans are quite mysterious peoples. Their main mystery lies in their origin. The written monuments of the Etruscans themselves cannot help us in unraveling this mystery, since their language is practically not deciphered. Therefore, scientists have to build various hypotheses, which are based on some archaeological finds, as well as on the evidence of the Greeks and Romans. All theories about the origin of the Etruscans (except the most implausible) can be reduced to four hypotheses.
1) Eastern hypothesis- the oldest of all hypotheses. It is based on the works of Herodotus and some other ancient authors. In their opinion, the Etruscans are from Asia Minor. The reasons why they had to leave their original homeland are called the Trojan War and the campaigns of the “peoples of the sea”. This theory is also supported by some features of the political structure (“federation” of 12 cities, division into 3 or 30 tribes) and other features that make the Etruscans related to the peoples of the Hitto-Luvian group. Opponents of this theory doubt that a whole nation could have migrated from Asia Minor to Italy precisely during the period of the Trojan War and the campaigns of the “peoples of the sea”. In addition, the Etruscan language is not similar to the Hittite or other related languages.
2) "Theory of formation" According to this theory, the Etruscans as an ethnic group were formed in Italy (or before direct resettlement to it) from representatives of several different peoples. Nowadays, it is the most common. It is followed, in particular, by A.I. Nemirovsky, A.I. Kharchenko and other Russian scientists.
3) Northern hypothesis According to her, the Etruscans came to Italy because of the Alps. Based on the message of Titus Livy about the similarity of the language of the Etruscans and the Retes (the people who lived between the Alps and the Danube), as well as the similarity of the Germanic runes with the letters of the Etruscan alphabet. Today it has no adherents, since it has been established that both the Germanic runes and the language of Retes come from Etruria, and not vice versa.
4) Autochthonous hypothesis: The Etruscans are the original (pre-Indo-European) inhabitants of Italy. This theory is most popular among Italian scientists.

One way or another, the Etruscans became one of the peoples of Italy. The first archaeological sites associated with the Etruscans (dated to the end of the 8th century BC) appeared in one region of Italy, which was called Etruria (by the way, the modern name of this region is Tuscany, it comes from one of the names of the Etruscans - Tusci)

Etruria is a swampy plain, which simply becomes unsuitable for agriculture without land reclamation, and a coast with shallow harbors that are easily covered with sand without proper care. So, in order to make these lands habitable, the Etruscans had to make great efforts. And they put them on. Even at the dawn of their history, the Etruscans, with the help of the labor of the conquered peoples, were able to carry out huge drainage work. And Etruria became an extremely fertile region.

Economy
In agriculture, the Etruscans were dominated by agriculture: the cultivation of cereals and flax. An important source of the country's wealth was the extraction of metals - copper and iron. On it, the Etruscans made a huge fortune, since metals and products made from them were needed by all peoples from Spain to the Middle East. The Etruscans also achieved quite a lot of success in pottery. In the VIII-VII centuries BC, Etruscan craftsmen produced very original "buccero" ceramics, which were in great demand throughout Middle-earth.
Vase "bucchero" style

The trade relations of the Etruscans were very great. They traded with almost all of Europe. Items of Etruscan origin are found not only in Italy, but also in Spain, France, Greece, Turkey and on the coast of North Africa. In the countries of the Middle-earth (especially in Greece), the Etruscans exported metals in ingots, metal products (especially used
metal mirrors with carved patterns on the back), ceramics, and they imported mainly luxury items - elegant Greek ceramics, glass from Egypt, purple fabric from Phoenicia. The peoples that lived beyond the Alps, the Etruscans sold wine, weapons and household utensils, acquiring furs, amber and slaves in return.

Society
The main force in Etruscan society was the nobility. All power in the Etruscan cities was concentrated in her hands, and most of the lands also belonged to them. Only representatives of the nobility could bear a surname. No less powerful priests. They were the main custodians of knowledge. She also turned to them when it was necessary to conduct fortune-telling (as a rule, they were guessing on the insides of animals). Priests were also involved in the interpretation of the results of fortune-telling. And taking into account the fact that the Etruscans were a very superstitious people and the results of divination were very important for them, the priests could easily interpret the results of divination as it was beneficial for them. So the priests, to some extent, had even more power than the nobility.
We know almost nothing about the "middle class" of Etruscan society. What was its composition, and whether the representatives of this class owned the land, we also do not know.
Dependent people in Etruscan society were divided into 3 categories: lautney , ethera and slaves. The attitude towards slaves in Etruscan society practically did not differ from how slaves were treated in Greece and in the East. They were the property of their master, and not infrequently they were perceived not as people, but as cattle. However, unlike the Greeks, the Etruscans did not limit the ability of a slave to redeem himself from his master.

Category lautney in its position, a bit like the Spartan helots. They were connected with their patron by patriarchal ancestral ties, since they were part of their patron's family. Basically, this category was completed from freedmen and those free people who fell into debt bondage. The position of the Lautni was hereditary: their children and grandchildren remained in this estate.

Etera, unlike the lautni, were associated with the patrons not by patriarchal ancestral ties, but by a voluntary oath of allegiance. They received from their patron a small plot of land (part of the crop from which went to the patron) or acted as artisans, doing for their patron what he needed.

State
The main political unit of the Etruscans was the city-state. Each such city, as a rule, had several cities under its control, which enjoyed a certain autonomy. At the head of the city-state, either the king ( lukumon ), or magistrates, who were chosen from the nobility.

It is not yet known if he had lukumon real power or it was limited by the council of elders. It is known that the king led troops during wars and that he was the high priest in his city. His personality was considered sacred, he was considered as the embodiment of the patron god of this city. Perhaps the position of the king was selective (although it is not known whether they were elected for life or for a certain period).

Starting from the 6th century BC, in many Etruscan cities, the power of the Lucumons was eliminated, and they were replaced by selective magistrates. Most often mentioned zilk , or zilat . It is known that this position could be held by young people under the age of 25, so the powers of this magistrate were not great. The names of some other magistrates are known (marnux, purth), but nothing is known about their functions.

The city-states of the Etruscans united in unions - twelve cities (the number 12 was sacred). There were 3 such unions in total - in Etruria proper (it was the main union), in the Pad (Po) river valley in Northern Italy (appeared in the middle of the 7th century BC) and in Campania in Southern Italy (appeared in the 6th century BC). .n.e) In the event of the departure of one of the members of the union, another city-state was immediately chosen to replace it (as a rule, it was chosen from those cities that were subordinate to the city that had left the union). Every spring, the heads of all the cities of the union gathered in the religious capital of Etruria - Volsinia, where they chose the head of the union. The chosen head of the union did not seem to have any real power. In general, the Etruscan twelve-city was only a religious union. Members of the union achieved unity in their actions extremely rarely. Basically, they fought, reconciled and concluded their agreements independently of each other.

Such disorganization ruined the Etruscans. Their cities could not give a unified rebuff to their numerous enemies. And alas, a sad fate awaited this amazing people. In the 4th century BC, the union of Etruscan cities in the Pad Valley was destroyed by the Celts, and the union of cities in Campania submitted to the Greeks, and by the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Romans were able to conquer the Etruscan cities in Etruria (the last in 265 BC). AD Volsinius submitted) But the history of the Etruscans did not end there. Even for 200 years after the conquest by Rome, the Etruscans retained their identity. But over time, they became less and less. And the civil wars that began in Rome finally sent the Etruscans to the "dump" of history. From their great people, only a couple of noble families remained (for example, Spurins and Tsilnias), who no longer remembered the language and culture of their ancestors, and the union of 12 cities (which, however, was expanded to 15 cities)

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