What are the Etruscans in ancient Rome. Mysterious people (about the Etruscans)
The Etruscan problem is very old. It also appears among the Greeks and Romans. In the ancient tradition, three points of view on the origin of this mysterious people. The first is represented by Herodotus, who tells (I, 94) that part of the Lidians, due to hunger, went by sea to the west under the command of the royal son Tyrrhenus. They arrived in Italy, in the country of the Umbrians, founded cities and live there to this day.
Herodotus' opinion became almost canonical in ancient literature. Roman writers, for example, call the Tiber the Lydian River (Lydius amnis). The Etruscans themselves stood on the same point of view, recognizing their kinship with the Lidians. This was referred to, for example, by the deputation of the city of Sardis in the Roman Senate under the emperor Tiberius.
The second point of view was defended by Hellanicus of Lesbos (apparently, somewhat earlier than Herodotus). He argued that the Pelasgians, the most ancient population of Greece, being driven out by the Hellenes, sailed into the Adriatic Sea to the mouth of the Po, from there moved inland and inhabited the region now called Tirrenia.
Finally, we find the third hypothesis in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (I, 29-30). He proves that the Pelasgians and Etruscans are completely different peoples and that they also have nothing in common with the Lidians: their language, gods, laws and customs are different.
“Closer to the truth,” he says, “those who believe that the Etruscans did not come from anywhere, but that they are a native people in Italy, since this people is very ancient and does not resemble any other either in language or in customs” .
The testimony of Dionysius stands completely apart in the ancient tradition.
The further history of the Etruscans after their arrival in Italy is drawn by ancient historiography as follows. They subjugated the Umbrians, an old and powerful people who occupied Etruria, and spread along the river valley. By founding their cities. The Etruscans then move south to Latium and Campania. At the end of the 7th century The Etruscan Tarquinian dynasty appears in Rome. At the beginning of the VI century. the Etruscans found the city of Capua in Campania. In the second half of the VI century. in a naval battle near about. Corsica, they, in alliance with the Carthaginians, defeated the Greeks.
It was the highest point of Etruscan power. Then a gradual decline begins. In 524, the Etruscans were defeated near Kum by the Greek commander Aristodem. Tradition dates the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome to 510. And although the Etruscan king Porsenna defeated the Romans and imposed a difficult treaty on them, Porsenna's troops soon experienced a defeat near the city of Aricia from the Latins and the same Aristodem. At the beginning of the 5th century there was a big naval battle near Cum, in which the Syracusan tyrant Hieron inflicted a heavy defeat on the Etruscans. Finally, in the second half of the 5th c. (between 445 and 425) the Etruscans are expelled from Capua by the Samnites. By the beginning of the III century. The Etruscans were finally defeated by the Romans, and the Etruscan cities lost their independence.
Such is the historiographic tradition about the Etruscans. Let's see what the original sources give us. About 10 thousand Etruscan inscriptions are known. Most of them are located in Etruria itself. Separate inscriptions are found in Latium (in Preneste and Tusculum), in Campania, in some places in Umbria, near Ravenna. A large group of them is located near Bologna, Piacenza and in the area of Lake. Como. There are even in the Alps near the Brenner Pass. True, although the latter are Etruscan in alphabetical order, there are many Indo-European forms in them. Thus, the widespread distribution of Etruscan inscriptions seems to confirm the ancient tradition of Etruscan "expansion" in the 7th-6th centuries.
The alphabet of the Etruscan inscriptions is very close to the Greek alphabet of Campania (Kum) and is probably borrowed from there.
The Etruscan language is still a mystery. Above, we indicated that only individual words are read (in particular, proper names), and in rare cases it is possible to catch the general meaning. In any case, it can be considered established that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European, not inflectional, but rather approaches the agglutinating type. Back in 1899, Wilhelm Thomsen suggested that the Etruscan language was close to the group of Caucasian languages. This hypothesis was supported and developed by N. Ya. Marr, who attributed the Etruscan language to the Japhetic system.
The connection of the Etruscan language with the Italian dialects, in particular with Sabine and Latin, is very interesting. There are many Latin and Sabine words of a clearly Etruscan character. Etruscan origin roman male names a: Sulla, Cinna, Catilina, Perperna (Etruscan name Porsenna). A connection can be made between Etruscan personal names and some early Roman names and terms. The names of the three old Roman tribes - Ramnes, Tities and Luceres (Ramnes, Tities, Luceres) correspond to the Etruscan generic names rumulna, titie, luchre. The names "Rome" (Roma) and "Romulus" (Romulus) find a close analogy in the Etruscan rumate, the Etruscan-Latin Ramennius, Ramnius, etc.
However, the connections of the Etruscan language are not limited only to Italy, but go to the East, as if confirming the hypothesis of Herodotus. In 1885, on about. In Lemnos, an epitaph (tomb inscription) was discovered in a language that is very close to Etruscan. There are points of contact between the Etruscan language and the languages of Asia Minor.
Turning to the archaeological material, we see that the first Etruscan images appear in the graves of the early Iron Age (Villanova culture) - at the end of the 8th or beginning of the 7th century. In these graves, one can trace the gradual evolution of burials both in the type of graves (from the so-called shaft graves to luxurious graves with a crypt) and in the method of burial. There are also no leaps in the development of utensils, weapons and ornaments, which proves the internal nature of evolution without any intrusions from outside.
Among these early burials, one grave appears in Vetulonia (Etruria), on the stele of which for the first time an Etruscan epitaph is found and a warrior is depicted in a metal helmet with a huge crest and holding a double ax in his hands (images of a double ax are common in Asia Minor and in the regions of Crete-Mycenaean culture). The tomb in Vetulonia is considered the first clearly expressed Etruscan burial. In the future, the Etruscan style reaches its full development in the graves with crypts of the 7th century.
Herodotus (I, 94) tells about the origin of the Etruscans (Tyrsens = Tyrrhens) as follows: “Under King Atis, the son of Manes, a severe famine occurred throughout Lydia [due to the shortage of bread]. At first, the Lydians patiently endured the need, and then, when the famine began to intensify more and more, they began to seek deliverance, inventing various means ... The Lydians lived like that for 18 years. Meanwhile, the disaster did not subside, even intensified. Therefore, the king divided the whole people into two parts and ordered to cast lots: who should stay and who should leave their homeland. The king himself joined those who remained at home, and put his son named Tiersen at the head of the settlers. Those who had the lot to leave their country went to the sea in Smyrna. There they built ships, loaded them with all the necessary utensils and set sail in search of food and a [new] homeland. Having passed many countries, the settlers arrived in the land of the Ombrics and built a city there, where they live to this day. They renamed themselves, calling themselves after the name of the son of their king [Tirsen], who led them across the sea, tirsens” (translated by G. A. Stratanovsky).
Dionysius of Halicarnassus lived several centuries after Hellanic and Herodotus. He was well aware of all the information of his predecessors about the Etruscans. Therefore, in his essay “Roman Antiquities”, Dionysius to some extent generalized all the theories of the origin of the Etruscans that existed in antiquity and proposed his own hypothesis: “Some consider the Tyrrhenians to be the original inhabitants of Italy, others consider them aliens. About their name, those who consider them a native people say that it was given to them from the type of fortifications that they were the first living in that country to erect in their own country:
among the Tyrrhenians, as among the Hellenes, walled and well-covered tower structures are called tyrsi, or tyrrs. Some believe that their name was given to them because they have such buildings ... Others, who consider them settlers, say that the leader of the settlers was Tyrrhenian and that the Tyrrhenians got their name from him. And he himself was by origin a Lydian from the land formerly called Maeonia ... Two sons were born to Atys: Lid and Tyrren. Of these, Lid, who remained in his homeland, inherited the power of his father, and after his name the land became known as Lydia, while Tyrrhenus, standing at the head of those who left for the settlement, founded a large colony in Italy and assigned the name derived from his name to all participants in the enterprise. Hellanicus of Lesbos says that the Tyrrhenians used to be called Pelasgians, but when they settled in Italy, they adopted the name that they had in his time. The Pelasgians were expelled by the Hellenes, they left their ships at the Spinet River in the Ionian Gulf, captured the city of Croton on the isthmus and, moving from there, founded a city now called Tyrsenia ...
But it seems to me that everyone who considers the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians to be one people are mistaken. That they could borrow a name from each other is not surprising, since something similar happened among other peoples, both Hellenic and barbarian, such as, for example, the Trojans and Phrygians, who lived close to each other ... No less, than in other places where there was a mixture of names among peoples, the same phenomenon was observed among the peoples of Italy. There was a time when the Greeks called the Latins, Umbrians and Auzones and many other peoples Tyrrhenians. After all, the long neighborhood of peoples makes it difficult for distant inhabitants to distinguish them accurately. Many historians assumed that the city of Rome was also a Tyrrhenian city. I agree that there is a change of names among peoples, and then a change in way of life, but I do not recognize that two peoples can exchange their origin. I rely on this case at the same time, they differ from each other in many respects, especially in speech, and none of them retains any resemblance to the other. "After all, the Crotons," as Herodotus says, "do not speak the same language with anyone living in their neighborhood ... It is clear that they brought with them the peculiarities of the language, moving to this country, and protect their language." Does it seem surprising to anyone that the Crotonians speak the same dialect as the Placians living in the Hellespont, since both were originally Pelasgi, and that the language of the Crotonians does not resemble the language of the Tyrrhenians, who live in close proximity to them ...
Based on this evidence, I think that the Tyrrhenians and the Pelasgians are different peoples. I also do not think that the Tyrrhenians come from Lydia, because they do not speak the same language, and even about them it cannot be said that if they do not speak the same language, they still retain some turns of speech of their native land. They themselves believe that the gods of the Lydians are not the same as theirs, and the laws and way of life are completely different, but in all this they differ more from the Lydians than even from the Pelasgians. Closer to the truth are those who claim that this is a people who did not come from anywhere, but of native origin, since, moreover, it turns out that this is a very ancient people that does not have any common language, no way of life with any other tribe. Nothing prevents the Hellenes from designating it with such a name, as it were, because of the construction of towers for housing, or, as it were, by the name of their ancestor. The Romans designate them by other names, namely: by the name of Etruria, the land in which they live, they call the people themselves Etruscans. And for their experience in the performance of sacred services in temples, in which they differ from all other peoples, the Romans now call them the less understandable name of Tusks, they used to call them, clarifying this name by its Greek meaning, Tiosks ... But they themselves call themselves exactly that but ... by the name of one of their leaders - Rasennas ... ”(translated by S. P. Kondratiev).
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The Etruscans are one of the ancient civilizations that is considered the most amazing mystery of history. Even scientists cannot accurately state about the "roots" and language of the Etruscans. How are the Etruscans and Russians related? So far there is no answer to this question.
Important secrets
Even before our era, the state of Etruria was located between the Italian rivers Arno and Tiber. It is this state that is considered the cradle of Roman civilization. The management system, mosaics, engineering, funeral rites, chariot races, clothing - this and much more was borrowed by the Romans from the Etruscans.
For us, such an ancient civilization remains a great mystery. Although there is a lot of evidence about the Etruscans, we cannot now get a detailed and reliable picture of their life. Even scientists do not have accurate information about how the ancient people appeared, where they disappeared. The geographical boundaries of the state of Etruria have not been established, the unique Etruscan language has not been deciphered.
The large twenty-volume "History of the Etruscans" was left by the Roman emperor Claudius I, who ruled in the 1st century AD. e. From him, the descendants inherited a dictionary of the Etruscan language. Unfortunately, all the works burned down when there was a fire in the Library of Alexandria. Perhaps the manuscripts would "tell" us about the secrets ancient civilization.
Eastern people
There are only 3 versions of the origin ancient people. Titus Livy believed that the Etruscans were related to the Alpine Rets. These peoples together penetrated from the north to the Apennine Peninsula. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Etruscans belonged to the Italian natives, they adopted the achievements of the Villanova culture.
The "Alpine version" of the origin of the ancient people has not been materially confirmed. Modern scholars associate the Villanova culture with the Italics, but not with the Etruscan people.
Historians argue that the Etruscans were very different from their less developed neighbors. This feature became the basis of the third version of the origin of the ancient civilization. The latest version says that the Etruscans came to the Apennines from Asia (Small). Such a hypothesis was proposed by the famous Herodotus, who believed that the ancestors of the Etruscans migrated from Lydia.
It is the 3rd version that has the right to exist, because there are many facts about the Asia Minor origin of the ancient people. The way sculptures are made is just one example. The Etruscans did not carve stone sculptures, they used clay for this purpose. In this way, the peoples of Asia Minor created sculptures.
There are other proofs of the "Asia Minor version". Not so long ago (in the 19th century) on the island of Lemnos, which is located near the coast of Asia Minor, archaeologists discovered a tombstone.
The tombstone inscription was made in Greek letters, but they combined with each other in a strange way. After scientists compared this inscription with the texts of the ancient people, similarities were found between the two copies.
The development of the "Eastern version" was carried out by Vladimir Georgiev, a well-known Bulgarian historian. He believed that the Etruscans belonged to the legendary Trojans. The historian bases his conjectures on one legend, according to which the Trojans, together with Aeneas, fled from Troy to the Apennine Peninsula.
Vladimir Georgiev linguistically supports the "Eastern version". The scientist finds a certain relationship between the names "Troy" and "Etruria". People who are skeptical of this theory should reconsider their principles. In 1972, archaeologists from Italy found an Etruscan monument tomb that was dedicated to Aeneas.
Information about the genetic map
Herodotus' hypothesis was tested by specialists from the University of Turin. To do this, scientists used genetic analysis. The study compared the Y-chromosomes of the inhabitants of Tuscany and other Italian regions with the same material of the population of Turkey, the Balkan Peninsula and the island of Lemnos. The study showed that in genetic terms, the inhabitants of Tuscan cities are similar to the population of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Certain genetic data of the inhabitants of the Tuscan city of Murlo completely coincide with the genetic characteristics of the Turks.
Scientists from Stanford University used computer simulation to reconstruct the demographic processes that are relevant to the population of Tuscany. For the study, the information obtained after the anthropological and genetic examination was used.
The scientists were surprised by the results. It turned out that there is no genetic connection between the Etruscans and the ancient population of central Italy, as well as the modern inhabitants of Tuscany. Such data confirm that the Etruscans were destroyed by a terrible catastrophe. Perhaps this people represented a certain social elite, which was very different from the Italians.
Anthropologist Joanna Mountain reports that the Etruscans differed from the ancestors of modern Italians in every way. They spoke a language that does not belong to the Indo-European group. Mountain summarizes that linguistic and cultural characteristics ancient people - a mystery for research.
"Etruscan is Russian"
The ethnonyms "Etruscans" and "Russians" have a phonetic proximity. This enables the researchers of the hypothesis to talk about the connection between the two peoples. Alexander Dugin believes that "Etruscan is Russian." Rasenna or Raśna is the name of the Etruscans, which once again confirms the plausibility of the version.
"Etruscan" can be compared with the Roman name of the ancient people - "tusci". The word "races" is associated with the Greek name of the Etruscans - "tyrsenes". As a result of this, the connection between the ancient people and the Russians becomes not too obvious.
There is much evidence that the Etruscans may have left Italy. One possible reason is climate change and drought, which coincides in time with the disappearance of an ancient people.
It is assumed that the Etruscans had to emigrate to the north, which was considered a more suitable region for farming. This fact is confirmed by the urns found in Germany, designed to store the ashes of the deceased. The urns look like artifacts of the ancient people.
In part, the Etruscans could reach the territory of the modern Baltic. Here they could assimilate with the locals. This does not confirm the version that "Etruscan is Russian."
Surprisingly, in the Etruscan language there were no letters "d", "b", "g". The absence of such sounds is explained by the special structure of the larynx of the ancient inhabitants. Finns and Estonians are also characterized by this feature of the vocal apparatus.
Zachary Mayani believes that modern Albanians can be called descendants of the Etruscans. As evidence, the French scientist cites the data that Tirana (the capital of Albania) bears the name of the ancient people - "Tyrrenes".
Many scientists believe that the disappearance of the Etruscans is a consequence of their small number. Archaeologists speak of only 25,000 people who inhabited Etruria during its heyday.
Difficulties in translation
Since the 16th century, scientists have been studying Etruscan writing. To decipher the ancient inscriptions, experts used Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Finnish and other languages. Attempts did not give the desired results, and skeptic linguists said that the Etruscan inscriptions could not be read.
It is thoroughly known that the Greek became the basis for the Etruscan alphabet. The most interesting thing is that the Greek alphabet did not correspond well to the sounds of the Etruscan language. Late Etruscan texts often lacked vowels, which created problems in deciphering.
Linguists managed to decipher some of the inscriptions of the ancient people. Three scientists reported that Slavic languages became the basis for deciphering the Etruscan inscriptions.
Valery Chudinov is a linguist from Russia who considers the language of the ancient people the successor to the "runic writing" of the Slavs. Modern science does not recognize this hypothesis as correct.
Researcher Vladimir Shcherbakov explains that the Etruscan people wrote as they heard. With this method of deciphering, Etruscan words are as similar as possible to Russian names: “tes” - “forest”, “ita” - “this”.
Linguist Petr Zolin believes that modern words not suitable for deciphering ancient inscriptions. The same point of view is shared by Andrey Zaliznik, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He says that in the past the language we knew looked different than it does today.
Modern historians suggest that the Etruscan inscriptions are unlikely to be deciphered in the near future.
(1494-1559)
Argumentation of the migration version
The works of Herodotus, which appeared in the 5th century BC, speak in favor of the second theory. e. According to Herodotus, the Etruscans are from Lydia, a region in Asia Minor, - tyrrhens or tyrsenes, forced to leave their homeland due to catastrophic crop failure and famine. According to Herodotus, this happened almost simultaneously with the Trojan War. Hellanic from the island of Lesbos mentioned the legend of the Pelasgians, who arrived in Italy and began to be called Tyrrhenians. At that time, the Mycenaean civilization collapsed and the empire of the Hittites fell, that is, the appearance of the Tyrrhenes should be dated to the 13th century BC. e. or a little later. Perhaps this legend is connected with the myth of the escape to the west of the Trojan hero Aeneas and the founding of the Roman state, which was of great importance to the Etruscans. Herodotus' hypothesis is confirmed by genetic analysis data, which confirm the relationship of the Etruscans with the inhabitants of the lands currently belonging to Turkey.
Up to the middle of the 20th century. The "Lydian version" was subjected to serious criticism, especially after the decipherment of the Lydian inscriptions - their language had nothing to do with Etruscan. However, there is also a version that the Etruscans should not be identified with the Lydians, but with the more ancient, pre-Indo-European population of the west of Asia Minor, known as the "Protoluvians". With the Etruscans of this early period, A. Erman identified the legendary Tursha tribe, who lived in the eastern Mediterranean and carried out predatory raids on Egypt (XIII-VII centuries BC).
Argumentation of the complex version
On the basis of ancient sources and archeological data, it can be concluded that the most ancient elements of prehistoric Mediterranean unity took part in the ethnogenesis of the Etruscans during the period of the beginning of the movement from East to West in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e.; also a wave of migrants from the area of the Black and Caspian Seas in the II millennium BC. e. In the process of the formation of the Etruscan community, traces of Aegean and Aegean-Anatolian emigrants were found. In confirmation of this, the results of excavations on about. Lemnos (Aegean Sea), where inscriptions close to the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language were found.
Geographical position
It is not yet possible to determine the exact limits of Etruria. The beginning of the history and culture of the Etruscans was laid in the region of the Tyrrhenian Sea and limited to the basin of the rivers Tiber and Arno. The river network of the country also included the rivers Aventia, Vesidia, Tsetsina, Aluza, Umbro, Oza, Albinia, Armenta, Marta, Minio, Aro. A wide river network created conditions for developed agriculture, which was complicated in a number of places by swampy areas. Southern Etruria, whose soils were often of volcanic origin, had extensive lakes: Tsiminskoe, Alsietiskoe, Statonenskoe, Volsinskoe, Sabatinskoe, Trazimenskoe. More than half of the country's territory was occupied by mountains and hills. According to the paintings and reliefs, one can judge the diversity of the flora and fauna of the region. The Etruscans cultivated cypress, myrtle, and pomegranate brought to Italy from Carthage (the image of a pomegranate is found on Etruscan objects in the 6th century BC).
Cities and necropolises
Each of the Etruscan cities controlled a certain territory. The exact number of inhabitants of the Etruscan city-states is unknown, according to rough estimates, the population of Cerveteri during its heyday was 25 thousand people.
Cerveteri was the southernmost city of Etruria, he controlled the deposits of metal-bearing ore, which ensured the prosperity of the city. The settlement was located near the coast on a steep ledge. The necropolis was traditionally located outside the city. A road led to it, along which funeral carts were transported. There were tombs on both sides of the road. The bodies rested on benches, in niches or terracotta sarcophagi. Along with them were placed the personal belongings of the deceased.
From the name of this city (Etr. - Caere), the Roman word "ceremony" subsequently came - this is how the Romans called some funeral rites.
The nearby town of Veii was well protected. The city and its acropolis were surrounded by moats, making Veii almost impregnable. Here they found an altar, the foundation of the temple and water tanks. Vulka, the only Etruscan sculptor whose name we know, was a native of Vei. The area around the city is notable for the passages carved into the rock that served to drain water.
The recognized center of Etruria was the city of Tarquinia. The name of the city comes from the son or brother of Tyrren Tarkon, who founded twelve Etruscan policies. The necropolises of Tarquinia centered around the hills of Colle de Civita and Monterozzi. The tombs carved into the rock were protected by mounds, the chambers were painted for two hundred years. It was here that magnificent sarcophagi were found, decorated with bas-reliefs with images of the deceased on the lid.
When laying the city, the Etruscans observed rituals similar to those of the Romans. An ideal place was chosen, a hole was dug into which sacrifices were thrown. From this place, the founder of the city, with a plow harnessed by a cow and an ox, made a furrow that determined the position of the city walls. Wherever possible, the Etruscans used the lattice layout of the streets, orienting them to the cardinal points.
Story
The formation, development and collapse of the Etruscan state took place against the background of three periods Ancient Greece- orientalizing or geometric, classical (Hellenistic), as well as the rise of Rome. The earlier stages are given in accordance with the autochthonous theory of the origin of the Etruscans.
Protovillanovian period
The most important of historical sources, marking the beginning Etruscan civilization, is the Etruscan chronology saecula (centuries). According to him, the first century of the ancient state, saeculum, began around the 11th or 10th century BC. e. This time refers to the so-called protovillanovian period (XII-X centuries BC). There is extremely little data on protovillanovians. The only important evidence of the beginning of a new civilization is the change funeral rite, which began to be performed by cremating the body on a funeral pyre, followed by the burial of ashes in urns.
Periods of Villanova I and Villanova II
After the loss of independence, Etruria retained a cultural identity for some time. In the II-I centuries BC. e. local art continued to exist; this period is also called the Etruscan-Roman period. But gradually the Etruscans adopted the way of life of the Romans. In 89 BC. e. the inhabitants of Etruria received Roman citizenship. By this time, the process of Romanization of Etruscan cities was practically completed along with Etruscan history proper.
Art and culture
The first monuments of Etruscan culture date back to the end of the 9th - beginning of the 8th centuries. BC e. The cycle of development of the Etruscan civilization ends by the 2nd century BC. BC e. Rome was under its influence until the 1st century. BC e.
The Etruscans for a long time preserved the archaic cults of the first Italic settlers and showed a particular interest in death and the afterlife. Therefore, Etruscan art was significantly associated with the decoration of tombs, and based on the concept that the objects in them should remain connected with real life. The most notable of the surviving monuments are sculpture and sarcophagi.
Etruscan language and literature
Women's toilet articles constituted a special category. One of the most famous products of the Etruscan craftsmen were bronze hand mirrors. Some are equipped with folding drawers, decorated with high reliefs. One surface was carefully polished, the reverse was decorated with engraving or high relief. Bronze was used to make strigils - spatulas for cleaning off oil and dirt, cysts, nail files, chests.
The Etruscans all wore short hair, with the exception of the priests - haruspices [ ] . The priests did not cut their hair, but removed it from their foreheads with a narrow headband, a gold or silver hoop [ ] . In more ancient period the Etruscans cut their beards short, but later they began to shave them clean [ ] . Women loosened their hair over their shoulders or braided it into braids and covered their heads with a hat.
Leisure
The Etruscans loved to participate in combat competitions and, possibly, to help other people with the housework [ ] . Also, the Etruscans had a theater, but it did not become as widespread as, for example, the Attic theater, and the found manuscripts of plays are not enough for a final analysis.
Economy
Crafts and agriculture
The basis of the prosperity of Etruria was agriculture, which made it possible to keep livestock and export surplus wheat to Largest cities Italy. In the archaeological material, grains of spelt, oats and barley were found. The high level of agriculture of the Etruscans made it possible to engage in selection - an Etruscan variety of spelt was obtained, for the first time they began to cultivate cultivated oats. Flax went to sewing tunics and raincoats, ship sails. This material was used to record various texts (later this achievement was borrowed by the Romans). There is evidence from the ancients about the strength of linen thread, from which Etruscan artisans made shells (tomb of the 6th century BC, Tarquinia). Quite widely, the Etruscans used artificial irrigation, drainage, and regulation of the flow of rivers. Ancient canals known to archaeological science were located near the Etruscan cities of Spina, Veii, in the Coda region.
In the bowels of the Apennines, copper, zinc, silver, iron were deposited, on the island of Ylva (Elba) iron ore reserves - everything was developed by the Etruscans. The presence of numerous metal products in the tombs of the VIII century. BC e. in Etruria is associated with an adequate level of mining and metallurgy. The remains of mining are widely found near ancient Populonia (Campiglia Marritima region). The analysis allows us to establish that the smelting of copper and bronze preceded ironworking. There are finds made of copper, inlaid with miniature iron squares - a technique used when working with expensive materials. In the 7th century BC e. iron was still a rare metal to work with. Nevertheless, metalworking in cities and colonial centers was revealed: in Capua and Nola, the production of metal utensils was developed, in Minturni, Venafra, Suessa, an assortment of blacksmith craft items was found. Metalworking workshops are marked in Marzabotto. For that time, the mining and processing of copper and iron was significant in terms of the scale of application. In this area, the Etruscans succeeded in building mines for the manual extraction of ore.
By modern standards, Etruscan houses are rather sparsely furnished. As a rule, the Etruscans did not use shelves and cabinets, they kept things and provisions in caskets, baskets or hung on hooks.
Luxury goods and jewelry
For centuries, Etruscan aristocrats wore jewelry and acquired luxury items made of glass, faience, amber, ivory, precious stones, gold and silver. Villanovians in the 7th century BC e. wore glass beads, precious metal jewelry, and earthenware pendants from the Eastern Mediterranean. The most important local items were fibulae, made of bronze, gold, silver and iron. The latter were considered rare.
The exceptional prosperity of Etruria in the 7th century BC. e. caused the rapid development of jewelry and the influx of imported products. Silver bowls were imported from Phoenicia, the images on them were copied by Etruscan craftsmen. Caskets and goblets were made from ivory imported from the East. Most of the jewelry was made in Etruria. Goldsmiths used engraving, filigree and graining. In addition to brooches, pins, buckles, hair bands, earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, plates for clothes were widespread.
During the archaic, decorations became more elaborate. Earrings in the form of tiny pouches and disc-shaped earrings came into fashion. Semi-precious stones and colored glass were used. During this period, beautiful gems appeared. Hollow pendants or bulla often played the role of amulets, they were worn by children and adults. Etruscan women of the Hellenistic period preferred Greek-type jewelry. In the II century BC. e. they wore a tiara on their heads, small earrings with pendants in their ears, clasps in the form of discs on their shoulders, bracelets and rings adorned their hands.
Their borders converged in the area where Rome arose.
The Etruscans, who before the Romans were the most powerful tribe in Italy, lived in the country of the valleys and slopes of the Apennines, rich in olives and grapes, along the seaside of this region, and from the mouth of the Padus to the northern bank of the Tiber. They early formed a federation consisting of twelve independent cities (the Etruscan Twelve Cities). These Etruscan cities were: in the northwest of Cortona, Arretius, Clusium and Perusia (near Lake Trasimene); in the southeast of Volaterra, Vetulonia (which had Telamon as its harbor), Ruzella and Volsinia; in the south of Tarquinia, Caere (Agilla), Veii, Faleria (near Mount Sorakte, rising alone on the plain). At first, all these states had kings, but early (before the 4th century) the kingship was abolished, all spiritual and secular power began to belong to the aristocracy. There was no federal government in the Etruscan federation. During the war, some cities probably entered into alliances among themselves by voluntary agreement.
Etruria and the conquest of the Etruscans in the VIII-VI centuries. BC
The legend of Demarat testifies that the Etruscan federation was in contact with the commercial and industrial city of Corinth from an early time. She says that the Corinthian Demaratus settled in Tarquinia, that the painter Clephantus and the sculptors Eucheir (“artful-handed”) and Eugramm (“skillful draftsman”) came with him, that he brought the alphabet to Tarquinia. Written monuments and drawings that have come down to us from the Etruscans also show the Greek influence on this wonderful people. Their language shows no trace of kinship with either Greek or Italic; we have not yet learned to understand what is written on it, but we can reliably see that it did not belong to the Indo-Germanic family. The Etruscan alphabet was undoubtedly borrowed from the Greeks in very ancient times and, moreover, not through the Latins, but directly from the Greek colonists of southern Italy, as can be seen from the differences in the forms and meanings of the letters of the Etruscan alphabet from the Latin ones. Clay urns and other vessels with black drawings found at Tarquinius and Caere also show the connection of Etruscan painting and plastic art with Greek: these vases are strikingly similar to the Greek periods of the ancient style.
Etruscan trade and industry
The development of cities was facilitated by the fact that the Etruscans engaged in trade and industry. From a very old time, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Greek trading ships sailed to the Etruscan coast, which had good harbors; Agilla, standing near the mouth of the Tiber, was a convenient marina for the exchange of goods.
Judging from the shape of the Etruscan vases and the exceptional love of Etruscan artists for depicting scenes from Greek myths and tales of heroes, it must be assumed that the school of art that flourished in southern Etruria was a branch of the Peloponnesian school. But the Etruscans did not borrow the later more perfect style from the Greeks, they remained forever with the ancient Greek. The reason for this could be that the influence of the Greeks on the Etruscan coast then decreased. It weakened, perhaps because the Etruscans, in addition to honest maritime trade, were also engaged in robbery; their piracy made the Tyrrhenian name a terror to the Greeks. Another reason for the weakening of Greek influence on the Etruscans was that they developed their own commercial and industrial activities. Owning the seaside from Tarquinia and Caere to Capua, to the bays and capes near Vesuvius, which are very convenient for navigation, the Etruscans themselves soon began to export the expensive products of their country to foreign lands: iron mined on Ilva (Etaly, i.e. Elbe), Campanian and Volaterra copper, Populonian silver and reaching them from Baltic Sea amber. Bringing goods themselves to foreign markets, they had more profit than when trading through intermediaries. They began to seek to oust the Greeks from the northwestern Mediterranean. For example, they, in alliance with the Carthaginians, drove the Phocians from Corsica and forced the inhabitants of this poor island to pay tribute to them with its products: resin, wax, honey. In addition to pottery, the Etruscans were famous for foundry art and metalwork in general.
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan burial urn. 6th century to R. X
It is very likely that the Romans borrowed their instruments of military music and attire from the Etruscans, just as they borrowed their haruspices, religious rites, folk festivals, building art, land surveying rules from them. The ancient writers say that from Etruria the Romans took their religious-dramatic games, the games of the circus, the theaters of the people, in which actors, dancers and jesters played out gross farces; that they also borrowed gladiator fights from the Etruscans, magnificent processions of victors returning from the war (triumphs) and many other customs. These news of the ancients are confirmed and latest research. The development of the building art of the Etruscan civilization is evidenced by the remains of huge structures, such as, for example, the colossal walls of Volaterra and other cities, the tomb of Porsena in Clusia, the ruins of huge temples, the remains of huge mounds, roads, tombs and other underground structures with vaults, canals (for example, so called the Philistine ditches). The very name "Tyrrens", in the old form "Tyrsene", ancient writers derive from the fact that the Etruscans built high towers ("Thirs") on the seashore to repel enemy landings. Like the Cyclopean walls in the Peloponnese, the buildings of the Etruscan civilization are built from large blocks of stone, sometimes hewn, sometimes unhewn and lying on top of each other without cement.
The development of technical arts among the Etruscans was favored by the fact that in their land there were many good materials: soft limestone and tuff were easy to cut to build strong walls; greasy plastic clay well accepted all forms. The abundance of copper, iron, gold, and silver led to foundry business, to the minting of coins, to the manufacture of all kinds of metal tools and ornaments. The main difference between Greek and Etruscan art was that among the Greeks art aspired to ideal goals and developed according to the laws of beauty, while among the Etruscans it served only needs. practical life and luxury; remaining immobile in their ideals, the art of the Etruscans tried to replace their improvement with the preciousness of the material and the pretentiousness of style. It has forever preserved the character of handicraft work.
The social structure of the Etruscans
The Etruscan people were formed from a mixture of different tribes: the newcomers conquered the former population and put it in the position of a class subject to them; we can reliably see this from many facts that have been preserved in historical times. The heterogeneity of the population is evidenced in particular by the fact that the Etruscans had an estate of subject people, which the rest of the Italian peoples did not have; the subject people were, no doubt, the descendants of the former population of the country, conquered by the newcomers. The Etruscan cities were ruled by the aristocracy, which was both a military and a priestly estate: it performed religious rites, commanded the army, and conducted court; the owner of the estate was at the trial the representative of the commoner subject to him in his lawsuit; commoners were subordinate to the owners, whose land was cultivated, paid taxes to their masters or worked for them. “Without this enslavement of the masses of the people, it would hardly have been possible for the Etruscans to erect their huge structures,” says Niebuhr. About what kind of tribes were the estates of owners and subject people, scientists think differently. But in all probability the natives belonged to the Umbrian tribe, which in ancient times occupied a very wide area, or was closely related to them. It seems that the descendants of this former population remained especially numerous in the southern parts of the Etruscan land between the Tsiminsky Forest and the Tiber. The dominant, so-called Etruscan tribe, no doubt came from the north from the Po valley. The ancient writers had a very common opinion that the Etruscans moved to Italy from Asia Minor, it is also proved by modern research.
Aristocrats called lucumons ruled the cities of the Etruscans. General meeting they were probably decided by allied affairs and, in cases of need, chose an allied ruler, who had the distinction of his rank of an ivory chair, called a curule, and a toga with a purple trim, and who was accompanied by twelve police officers (lictors), who had bundles of sticks with an embedded in them with an ax (chamfers, fasces). But this elected head and high priest of the union had quite a bit of power over the cities and aristocrats. The Etruscans liked to give outward glamor to their rulers, but did not give them independent power. The twelve cities that made up the union were equal in rights, and their independence was little embarrassed by the allied ruler. Even for the defense of the country, they probably rarely connected. Early in the habit of the Etruscans, alien to the Italians, the custom of sending mercenary troops to war.
The Etruscans did not have a free middle class; the oligarchic social system had its inevitable affiliation of turmoil; therefore, in the Etruscan states, a decline in energy began early, resulting in political impotence. Agriculture and industry once flourished in them, they had many military and merchant ships, they fought with the Greeks and Carthaginians for dominion in the western Mediterranean; but the enslavement of the masses weakened the Etruscan states; townspeople and villagers had no moral energy.
The Etruscan aristocracy, which at the same time was a priestly class, left with its monopoly those astronomical, physical and other information on which worship was based. The lukumons performed public sacrifices and divination by sacrificial animals (haruspies), established the annual calendar, that is, the times of the holidays, and managed military and peaceful public affairs. They alone knew how to explain the signs and learn from them the will of the gods; they alone knew the laws and customs that had to be observed when founding cities, building temples, when surveying land, when setting up a military camp. They spread the culture of the Etruscans across the plain of Pada, brought it to the mountains, taught the wild mountain tribes the simplest crafts, gave them an alphabet. In the early days of Rome, as Livy says, noble Roman youths came to them to study sacred knowledge. The interpretation of the will of the gods could be done by the Etruscans and women. The Romans had a tradition about the soothsayer Tanakvila, the wife of Tarquinius the Elder; in the temple of Sanka, the Romans kept her spinning wheel.
The culture of the Etruscans was at a fairly high level of development; the ruins of their structures testify to the enormity and boldness of their architectural and engineering works; their painted vases, copper statues, beautiful dishes, elegant headdresses, their coins and carved stones surprise us with their fine technique; but Etruscan art and, in general, all Etruscan education did not have a popular character, they were deprived of creative power, therefore they did not have strength, they were alien to progressive development. The culture of the Etruscans soon stagnated, subjected to the numbness of a handicraft routine. Knowledge did not have a beneficial, softening effect on the Etruscans. public life. It remained the privilege of the ruling class, separated from the people by the right of birthright into a closed caste, was inextricably linked with religion and surrounded by the horrors of gloomy superstition.
The Etruscans loved to excess to enjoy the abundant gifts of nature in their country and early indulged in luxury. Twice a day they ate long and hard; this gluttony seemed strange and bad to the Greeks, moderate in food. The Etruscans loved pampered music, skillful dances, and the cheerful singing of Fescennin folk holidays, terrible sights gladiator fight. Their houses were full of patterned carpets, silverware, bright pictures, all sorts of expensive things. The servants of the Etruscans were whole crowds of richly dressed slaves and slaves. Their art did not have Greek idealism and was alien to development; there was no restraint and simplicity in their way of life. The Etruscans did not have that strict family life, like the rest of the Italian tribes, there was no complete subordination of the wife and children to the will of the householder, there was no strict sense of legality and justice.
Etruscan painting. Around 480 B.C.
Etruscan colonies
The Etruscans founded colonies, the most famous of which were: in the north of Fezuly, Florence, Pistoria, Luca, Luna, Pisa; in the south of Capua and Nola. Etruscan names are also found on the southern bank of the Tiber. Tradition says that on the Caelian hill there was an Etruscan village founded by a stranger from Volsinia, Celes Vibennoy, and after his death, which had his faithful companion, Mastarna, as its ruler; in Rome, on the lowland adjacent to the Palatine Hill, there was a part of the city called Etruscan; this name shows that there was once a colony of the Etruscans. Some scholars even believed that the tradition of the Tarquinian kings meant the period of Etruscan rule over Rome and that Mastarna was the king whom the Roman chronicles call Servius Tullius. The Etruscan colonies preserved the laws, customs, and federal structure of their homeland.
Etruscan gods
Alien to the Old Italian tribes in origin, language, way of life, character, culture, the Etruscans also had a religion significantly different from their beliefs and rituals. Greek influence, which manifests itself in the entire civilization of the Etruscans and is explained by their commercial relations with Greece and with the Italic colonies of the Greeks, is also found in the Etruscan religion; it is obvious that the Etruscans from a very long time succumbed to the attractiveness Greek culture and mythology, the distribution of which different peoples united different religions, introduced a cosmopolitan character into aesthetic ideas and into their poetry.
Etruscan painting. The feast scene. 5th century BC
The Etruscans had their own deities, which were highly respected in those cities in which they were objects of local worship. Such were in Volsinia the patron goddess of the Etruscan federation Voltumna and Norcia (Northia), the goddess of time and fate, in whose temple a nail was annually driven into the crossbar to count the years; in Tser and in the coastal city of Pyrgi, such were the forest god Silvanus and the benevolent "mother Matuta", the goddess of the day being born and every birth, at the same time the patroness of ships, leading them safely to the harbor. But besides these native deities, we find among the Etruscans many Greek gods and heroes; they especially revered Apollo, Heracles and the heroes of the Trojan War. The Etruscans respected the Temple of Delphi so much that a special treasury was built in its sacred enclosure for their offerings.
The Etruscan king of the gods, the Thunderer Tina, whom the Romans called Jupiter, corresponded to Zeus; the Etruscan goddess Cupra (Juno), the goddess of the citadel of the city of Veii, the patroness of cities and women, corresponded to Hera, and her service was accompanied by the same magnificent games and processions. Menerfa (Minerva) was, like Athena Pallas, the divine power of the mind, the patroness of crafts, the female art of spinning wool and weaving, the inventor of the flute, the game on which was accompanied by worship, and the military trumpet; the goddess of heavenly heights, throwing lightning from them, she was also the goddess of military art. Apollo (Aplu) was also among the Etruscans the god of light, the healer of diseases, the purifier of sins. Vertumn, the god of fruits, who changed his appearance according to the seasons, the correct change of which was produced by the rotation of the sky, was among the Etruscans, like the Greek Dionysus, the personification of the course of annual changes in vegetation and in field labors; the change of flowers by fruits and the diversity of vegetation are expressed by the fact that Vertumn takes different types and various emblems. Its main holiday, called by the Romans vertumnalia, took place in October, at the end of the harvest of grapes and fruits, and was accompanied by folk games, fun and fair. The Etruscans borrowed from the Greeks, and other Italic peoples borrowed from the Etruscans, the system of six gods and six goddesses, which was generally accepted in the colonies of the Greeks, as in Greece itself. These twelve deities formed a council, and therefore among the Romans, who borrowed such an idea of them from the Etruscans, were called consentes "co-sitting"; they ruled the course of affairs in the universe, and each of them was in charge of human affairs in one of the twelve months of the year. But they were lower deities; above them, the Etruscans had other deities, the mysterious forces of fate, "covering gods", not known either by name or by number, who lived in the innermost region of the sky and grouped around Jupiter, the king of the gods and ruler of the universe, who questioned them; their activity manifested itself to the human spirit only during great catastrophes.
Spirits in the religion of the Etruscans
In addition to these "protective" and lower deities, who were independent personal beings, separated from the infinite divine power, the Etruscans, other Italic peoples and later the Romans, like the Greeks, had an innumerable number of spirits whose activity, indefinite in size, supported the life of nature and of people. These were the patron spirits of clans, communities, localities; for a family, city, district, who were under the protection of famous spirits, serving them was of the greatest importance. Among the Etruscans, whose character was gloomy, prone to tormenting thoughts, the activity of these spirits, and in particular its terrible side, had a very wide scope.
The cult of death and ideas about the underworld among the Etruscans
The Etruscan religion, equally far from the clear rationalism of the Romans and from the bright, humane plasticity of the Greeks, was, like the character of the people, gloomy and fantastic; symbolic numbers played an important role in it; there was a lot of cruelty in her dogmas and rituals. The Etruscans often sacrificed slaves and prisoners of war to angry gods; Etruscan realm of the dead, where the souls of the dead wandered (manes, as the Romans called them) and mute deities, Mantus and Mania, ruled, was a world of horror and suffering; in it the dead were tormented by ferocious beings who had the form of women, called furies among the Romans; there, to suffer from beatings with sticks and being bitten by snakes, Harun, a winged old man with a big hammer, took away the souls.
Chimera from Arezzo. An example of Etruscan art. 5th century BC
Divination among the Etruscans
The Etruscans were very disposed to mysterious teachings and rituals; state divinations (divinatio, as this art was called among the Romans) developed strongly among them and passed from them to the Romans: divination by the flight of birds (auguria), by the brilliance of lightning (fulguria), by the entrails of sacrificial animals (haruspicia); the art of fortune-telling, based on superstition and deceit, was developed by the Etruscans and gained such respect from the Romans and from the Italians in general that they did not undertake any important state business without questioning the gods by means of auguries or haruspices; with unfavorable signs, rites of reconciliation with the gods were performed; extraordinary phenomena of nature (prodigia), happy or unfortunate omens (omina) influenced all decisions. This feature of the Italians came from their deep faith in fate. Borrowed from the Etruscans, the belief in oracles, in omens by which the gods give advice and warnings, was in the Italic folk religion and then in the official religion of Rome as strong as in any other, and the service to the deities of fate, Fortune and Doom (Fatum) did not was nowhere as common as in Italy.
The Romans adopted many types of divination from the Etruscans. Auguries were called fortune-telling about the future, about the will of the gods by the flight or cry of some birds, and especially eagles. The augur (“bird-reader”) stood in an open place (templum), from which the whole sky was visible, divided the sky into parts with a crooked rod, (lituus); the flight of birds from some parts foreshadowed happiness, from others - misfortune. Another way to find out from the actions of the birds whether the intended business would be successful was to give food to the sacred chickens and see if they were eating; the rules of this divination were to be known in Rome not only by the priests, but also by all the patricians who wished to hold government posts. The fulgurators observed the appearance of lightning (fulgur), by which the gods also proclaimed their will; if the lightning was unfavorable, then rituals were performed that softened the wrath of the gods; - The Etruscans considered lightning the most reliable of all heavenly signs. The place where the lightning fell was sanctified; a lamb was sacrificed on it, a tire was made on it in the form of a well covered with a log house and surrounded by a wall. Most often, the Etruscans performed divination through haruspices; they consisted in the fact that the fortuneteller, the haruspex, who produced them, examined the heart, liver, other internal parts, sacrificial animals; the rules of these divinations were worked out in great detail by the Etruscans. The art of divination - auspices, as the Romans called them, was taught to the Etruscans by Tages, a dwarf with a child's face and gray hair, who came out of the ground near Tarquinia on a plowed field; having taught the lukumons (priests of the Etruscans) the science of divination, he immediately died. The Tages books, containing the doctrine of lightning, divination, the rules that must be observed when founding cities, and land surveying, were the source of all Etruscan and Roman guides to the art of divination. The Etruscans had schools in which the art of auspices was taught by the lucumons, who knew this science well.
Etruscan literature
Zalessky N. N. Etruscans in Northern Italy. L., 1959
Richardson E. The Etruscans: Their Art and Civilization. Chicago, 1964 (in English)
Mayani Z. The Etruscans begin to speak. M., 1966
Hampton C. The Etruscans and Antiquities of Etruria, London, 1969 (in English)
Burian Yan, Moukhova Bogumila. Mysterious Etruscans. M., 1970
Pallotino M. Etruscans. London, 1975 (in English)
Kondratov A. A. Etruscans - the number one mystery. M., 1977
Nemirovsky A. I. Etruscans. From myth to history. M., 1983
Sokolov G. I. The art of the Etruscans. M., 1990
Brendel O. Etruscan art. New Haven, 1995 (in English)
Vaughan A. Etruscans. M., 1998
Haynes S. Etruscan Civilization. Los Angeles, 2000 (in English)
Nagovitsyn A.E. Etruscans: Mythology and Religion. M., 2000
Reimon block. Etruscans. predictors of the future. M., 2004
Ellen McNamara. Etruscans: Life, religion, culture. M., 2006
Robert Jean Noel. Etruscans. M., 2007
Bohr, Tomajic. Veneti and Etruscans: at the origins of European civilization: Collection of articles. M. - SPb., 2008
Ergon J. Everyday life of the Etruscans. M., 2009
Scientists-historians still really know almost nothing about when and where exactly the birth of the main ancestors of the Russian people - the Slavs - took place. The Slavs are one of the youngest peoples, historically reliable information about which appeared only in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. However, at that time the Slavs were already one of the most numerous nations Europe. Where and who were the Slavs before they were called that?
Currently, there are many hypotheses and versions about the origin of the Russian people. Which of them is true, it is impossible to say for sure. But Russian history is much more ancient than Norman historians thought. Researchers have recently begun to quite often draw a parallel between the Russians and the disappeared Etruscans. Moreover, some researchers began to call the Etruscans Proto-Slavs. Is this really so?
Archaeological discoveries made over the past century in the Balkans and the Apennine Peninsula have become revolutionary for European historiography. They affected not only the early Roman and ancient times and led to the emergence of Etruscology, a new field of historiography. The information obtained by archaeologists provided exhaustive material that made it possible to fully study the culture of the Etruscans - their way of life, rituals, traditions, religion and language. All this made it possible to trace the entire history of the development of the Etruscan civilization. They shed light on many "dark spots" in history and gave answers to the most important questions that concerned the prehistory of the Slavs. Researchers who comprehensively and deeply worked on ancient sources immediately drew attention to the ethnogenetic and ethnocultural ties between the Etruscans and Rus'.
According to the ideas of the Etruscans, which are completely identical to the Slavic ones, in the center of the world was located sacred mountain where earth and sky meet. The Etruscans believed that there was a Vedic temple on this ancient mountain. For this reason, in every city, the so-called "model" of such a mountain was considered a temple - a meeting place for earth, sky and underworld. The question of the origin of the Etruscan ideas about the world is still open. The original works of the Etruscans have not been preserved to this day - only in Roman adaptations. Therefore, modern researchers in the study of the Etruscan worldview rely mainly on sculptural images, reliefs and drawings. Thousands of Etruscan inscriptions on the walls of tombs, sarcophagi, figurines, grave steles, mirrors and vessels have survived to this day.
The evidence found during the excavation of ancient Etruria made it possible to speak of the similarity of the ancient Slavic culture with the Etruscan. The calendar, the nature of the burials, the names of the Etruscans, their traditions have the same roots with the culture of the Slavs. Particularly impressive are the data that for the first time made it possible to identify the writing and language of the Etruscans - the vocabulary and grammar of the Etruscan language has many coincidences with the Old Slavic. For example, the word "est" in the Etruscan language also meant: "to eat" and "to eat." Against the background of such discoveries, no one was shocked by the assertion that over 2000 years the alphabet used by the Etruscans has undergone the most minor changes - only two letters have been added to it. By the 10th century AD, it became known under the name "Cyrillic".
General conclusion, which archaeologists made, based on this information, is that the Etruscans are Proto-Slavs. A huge amount of material data show the identity of the cultures of the ancient Slavs and Etruscans. There is not a single fact that would contradict this. All the fundamental features of the cultures of the ancient Slavs and Etruscans coincide. Moreover, all the features that unite the cultures of the Etruscans and Slavs are unique and different from other cultures. No other nation possesses any of these attributes. In other words, the culture of the Etruscans is unlike anyone other than the Slavs. You can also say about the Slavs, who in the past are not like anyone except the Etruscans. Many historians believe that the main reason that the Etruscans are persistently trying to "bury" is that they had no other descendants than the Slavs.
In academic science, it is believed that the Etruscans lived from the 8th to the 2nd century BC, and the Slavs appeared only in the 5th-6th centuries AD, so the Etruscans could not know the Russian language and could not be Russian. But how, in this case, to explain that Moscow and Rus' are mentioned on the Etruscan mirrors? In addition, the Etruscans knew the Arabs well, Dakar in Africa, Egypt. It seems that they were simply “pushed back” a millennium ago. It is interesting that two inscriptions are made on one mirror on the head of Atlant - Rome is written on the beard, and Rus' is written on the hair. Rus' is higher than Rome, and this can be explained by the fact that Rome was founded by Russia. In Rome, everyone wrote in Russian, Russian voices sounded, and only then the Latins gradually began to come there. They slowly accumulated and eventually ousted the Slavs.
It is believed that the Etruscans lived on its territory even before the founding of Rome. It was they who cast the statue of the Capitoline Wolf, which testifies to the excellent ability to process metal. But oddly enough, leaving behind a huge amount of beautiful products, written monuments and even fortified cities such as Florence, Capue, Bologna - the Etruscans suddenly disappeared into obscurity. Entire generations of researchers worked on the texts that they left behind and could not master them in any way. It is surprising that in Russia in the 19th century they learned to read the texts of the Etruscans. This happened thanks to F. Volansky, who suggested that the Etruscan language is very close to the Slavic language. He even compiled the Etruscan alphabet. If you learn to use such an alphabet, then the inscriptions can be easily read. This may indicate that the Etruscan language is one of the variants of the Slavic language, which arose and spread even before the founding of Rome.
All this leads to a revision of the whole history, and a revision of the traditional views on the Slavs. After all, it was generally believed that the Slavs did not play any special role in world history and lived modestly in the backyards of Europe during the heyday of the greatest European civilizations. World historiography is not even able to admit the idea that the Slavs are not only the inhabitants of the swamps of the Middle Ages, but also the direct descendants of the most ancient tribe of the Etruscans, who lived in Italy as early as the 2nd century BC, and whose culture lay in foundation of ancient Rome. It must be said that many domestic researchers also act within the framework of the model of European historiography, not trying to get to the bottom of the truth.
