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Etruscan society is mainly known through the memorial and achievemental inscriptions on monuments of
Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roug ...
, especially tombs. This information emphasizes family data. Some contractual information is also available from various sources.See under
Etruscan language Etruscan () was the language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria (modern Tuscany, western Umbria, northern Latium, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy and Campania). Etruscan influenced Latin but was eventua ...
.
The Roman and Greek historians had more to say of Etruscan government.


Aristocratic families


Society of the tombs

The population described by the inscriptions owned the tombs in which their relatives interred them and were interred in turn. These were the work of craftsmen who must have gone to considerable expense, for which they must have been paid. The interment chambers also were stocked with furniture, luxury items and jewelry, which are unlikely to have been available to the ordinary citizen. The sarcophagi were ornate, each one a work of art. The society of the tombs therefore was that of the aristocrats. While alive they occupied magistracies recorded in the inscriptions. Their magisterial functions are obscure now, but they were chief men in society. The Etruscans did not always own sufficient wealth to support
necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...
es for their chief men and stock them with expensive items to be smashed and thrown away. People of the
Villanovan culture The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BC), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfiel ...
lived in poor huts concomitant with subsistence agriculture and owned plain and simple implements. Their simple ware is known as
bucchero Bucchero () is a class of ceramics produced in central Italy by the region's pre-Roman Etruscan population. This Italian word is derived from the Latin ''poculum'', a drinking-vessel, perhaps through the Spanish ''búcaro'', or the Portuguese ' ...
, plain black undecorated pots. In the 8th century BC, the orientalizing period began, a time of influx of luxuriously living Greeks. They brought their elegant pottery styles and architectural methods with them. Yet the rise of Etruscan civilization cannot entirely be explained by immigrants from Greece. The Etruscans became a maritime power. By the 7th century they had imported methods and materials from the eastern Mediterranean and were leaving written inscriptions. Groups of Villanovan villages were now consolidated into
Etruscan cities Etruscan cities were a group of ancient settlements that shared a common Etruscan language and culture, even though they were independent city-states. They flourished over a large part of the northern half of Italy starting from the Iron Age, and ...
. Elaborate tomb cities began to appear.


Rise of the family

The princely tombs were not of individuals. The inscriptional evidence shows that families were interred there over long periods, marking the growth of the aristocratic family as a fixed institution, parallel to the
gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...
at
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
and perhaps even its model. It is not an Etruscan original, as there is no sign of it in the
Villanovan The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BC), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfield ...
. The Etruscans could have used any model of the eastern Mediterranean. That the growth of this class is related to the new acquisition of wealth through trade is unquestioned. The wealthiest cities were located near the coast. The Etruscan name of the family was . At the center of the was the married couple, . The Etruscans were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing. The lids of large numbers of sarcophagi (for example, the "
Sarcophagus of the Spouses The ''Sarcophagus of the Spouses'' (Italian: ''Sarcofago degli Sposi'') is considered one of the great masterpieces of Etruscan art. The Etruscans lived in Italy between two main rivers, the Arno and the Tiber, and were in contact with the Ancien ...
") are adorned with sculpted couples, smiling, in the prime of life (even if the remains were of persons advanced in age), reclining next to each other or with arms around each other. The bond was obviously a close one by social preference. It is possible that Greek and Roman attitudes to the Etruscans were based on a misunderstanding of the place of women within their society. In both Greece and Republican Rome, respectable women were mostly confined to the house and mixed-sex socialising did not occur. Thus the freedom of women within Etruscan society could have been misunderstood as implying their sexual availability. A number of Etruscan tombs carry funerary inscriptions in the form 'X son of atherand other, indicating the importance of the mother's side of the family.


Development of names

Etruscan naming conventions are complex and appear to reveal different stages in the development of names. The stages apply only to aristocratic names, attested in the inscriptions. Whether the ordinary people followed suit or were perhaps in the earliest stage remains unknown.


Praenomen

Everyone at all times had a
praenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bir ...
, or first name, which was a simple descendant of an ancient name, or a compound comprising a meaningful expression. They were marked for gender: ''aule/aulia, larth/lartha, arnth/arntia''. There is no evidence that girls were named for males, as in Roman society; that is, a girl did not take her father's or husband's name. Some names were entirely female.


Patronymic and matronymic

As in
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
, individual males were further distinguished by a
patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, which could be formed in a few different ways: *the
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
: , "Larth son of Arnth." *the genitive case with ''clan'', "son": . *the
nominative case In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...
formed from the genitive with a patronymic suffix: ''-isa, -sa, -sla'', which the Bonfantes regard as a suffixed
demonstrative pronoun Demonstratives ( abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular fram ...
: ''arnth larthal-isa''. Females were further identified with either the husband's name (gamonymic) or the son's name in patronymic construction. Unlike the Indo-Europeans, the girls had a matronymic, same construction. Sometimes males are identified with a matronymic, thus leaving some doubt as to whether early Etruscan society was
patrilinear Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
. The men were perhaps dominant (
patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...
); there was a word for "wife", ''puia'', which ties a woman to her husband conceptually, but none for husband. These names and conventions must have prevailed in the
Villanovan culture The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BC), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfiel ...
.


Nomen gentile

The
nomen gentile The (or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expande ...
, or family name, dates to the orientalizing period. Recorded names are minimally binomial: ''Vethur Hathisna, Avile Repesuna, Fasti Aneina''. Patronyms and other further specifications are added after it: ''Arnth Velimna Aules'', "Arnth Velimna son of Aule." In those contexts double patronymics can be used, naming the father and grandfather: ''Arnth Velimna Aules clan Larthalisla'', "Arnth Velimna son of Aule son of Larth." The nomen gentile was formed in a number of ways, most often with a ''-na'' suffix, ''-nas'' in south Etruscan (possibly the
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
). The suffixed nomen might refer to an individual of the family: ''Arnth/Arnth-na, spure/spuri-na''; or it might be a mythological figure: ''usil/usel-na''; or a geographic location: ''Velch/Vels-na''. The nomen gentile was an
adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
and could be used alone as a noun, the name in this case, as though it were a
praenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bir ...
. In that case male and female forms appear, perhaps the closest linguistic feature to agreement of gender: a male would be in the ''vipina'' family, named after a previous individual, ''Vipi'', but a female in the ''Vipinei'', or a male in the ''Velthina'', named after ''Vel'', and a female in the ''Veliana''. The male and female names refer to the same family. Probably in deference to Italic, the nomen gentile could also be formed with ''-ie'' for males or ''-i'' and ''-a'' for females, perhaps from Italic ''-ios'' or its later form ''-ius'', which can be made feminine: ''-ia''. Typically of Etruscan both suffices can be used together: ''-na-ie''. The serious study of nomina gentilia is just beginning, due to the accumulation of sufficient names on which to base hypotheses. A family might be concentrated at one location or appear in a number of cities, and be spelled in as many as a dozen different ways. The Romans themselves identified a good many gentes at Rome that were originally Etruscan and since then scholars have spotted more. It is not unlikely that much of the
patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
class, which was most powerful under the Etruscan kings, was or was derived from an Etruscan model, which dated to no earlier than the 8th century BC.


Kinship

Kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
is defined with relation to the ego, or "I". I then may state whatever "I" am or you are to me. Females could state that they were the daughter of a father, ''sec'' or ''sech'', and the wife of a husband, ''puia''. Conversely, a man was never described as a husband of a woman. Etruscan society therefore was
patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...
and probably
egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
. Kinship among the Etruscans was vertical, or generational. They kept track of six generations. In addition to the ''mi'' (“I”) an individual recognized a ''clan'' (“son”) or a ''sec'' (“daughter”), a (“grandson”), and a (“great-grandson”). Every self had an ''apa'' and ''ati'' (“father” and “mother”) and relatives older than they. A division of relatives as maternal or paternal seems to have existed: the ''apa nachna'' and the ''ati nachna'', the grandfather’s and grandmother’s relatives. On the level of the self, the lack of any words for aunt, uncle or cousins is notable. Very likely, ''apa'' was a generational word: it meant father or any of father’s male relatives. Similarly, ''ati'' would have meant any female relative of mother’s age or generation. ''Ruva'' (“brother”) is recognized, but no sister. It is possible, though hard to determine, that ''ruva'' had a broader meaning of "any related male of the self’s generation". This horizontal telescoping of relatives applies indirectly to the self as well. The ''telals'' are the grand offspring, either male or female, of the grandmother, and the ''papals'' of the grandfather. It is difficult to determine whether ''neftś'' means "grandson" or "nephew" although there could be cross-cultural contamination here with Latin ''nepōs'' (< IE ''*nepōts'') which derives from a kinship system anthropologists call the Omaha type. In the Omaha type, the same word is used for both nephew and grandson but this kinship type does not typically exhibit terminology used for "kin of a particular generation" as suspected in Etruscan kinship terms. The Etruscans were careful also to distinguish status within the family. There was a stepdaughter and stepson, and (although this may in fact mean "first son" based on the root ''thun-'' "one"), as well as a stepmother, (literally "little mother"), an adopted son, , and the universal mother-in-law, . Other terms were not as high or democratic in status. The system was like that of the Roman. The ''etera'' were slaves, or more precisely, foreign slaves. When they had been freed they were (male) or (female), freed men or women, who were closely connected to the family and were clients of it in return for service and respect. Of the several formal kinship classifications, the Etruscan is most like the Hawaiian kinship system, which distinguishes sex and generation, but otherwise lumps persons in those classes together. The lack of a sister does not fit; however, construction of the Etruscan dictionary is still in progress.


Government

The historical Etruscans had achieved a
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
system of society, with remnants of the
chiefdom A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...
and
tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...
forms. In this they were ahead of the surrounding Italics, who still had
chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...
s and
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
s. It is believed that the Etruscan government style changed from total
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...
to
oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
(as the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
) in the 6th century BC. It is important to note this did not happen to all the city states. The Etruscan state government was essentially a
theocracy Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs. Etymology The word theocracy originates fr ...
. The government was viewed as being a central authority, over all tribal and clan organizations. It retained the power of life and death; in fact, the
gorgon A Gorgon ( /ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ ''Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ'') is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the te ...
, an ancient symbol of that power, appears as a motif in Etruscan decoration. The adherents to this state power were united by a common religion. Political unity in Etruscan society was the city-state, which was probably the referent of ''methlum'', “district”. Etruscan texts name quite a number of
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
s, without much of a hint as to their function: the ''camthi'', the ''parnich'', the ''purth'', the ''tamera'', the ''macstrev'', and so on. The people were the ''mech''. Initially the ''methlum'' were ruled by kings, known as '' lucumons'' (the infinitive of verb "to rule" is ''lucair''). These kings were associated with the use of ''
fasces Fasces ( ; ; a '' plurale tantum'', from the Latin word '' fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian sym ...
'' and other regal insignia. The ''lucumons'' were later replaced by annual magistrates known as ''zilath''. All the city-states of the Etruscans were gathered into confederacies, or “leagues”. The sources tell us there were three. A league for unknown reasons, likely religious, had to include 12 city-states. The word for league was . Once a year the states met at a ''fanu'', or sacred place (Latin ''
fanum The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...
'') to discuss military and political affairs, and also to choose a head of confederation, , who held the office for one year. The Etrurian confederacy met at the ''fanum Voltumnae'', the "shrine of Voltumna". Their league was called the “''duodecim populi Etruriae''” or the “twelve peoples of Etruria”. In the case of danger the league could appoint a
dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...
(''macstrna/mastarna'') to lead them, a practice that was later copied by the Romans. The relationship between Rome and the Etruscans was not one of an outsider conquering a foreign people. The Etruscans considered Rome as one of their cities, perhaps originally in the Latian/Campanian league. It is entirely possible that the
Tarquins The gens Tarquinia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, usually associated with Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the fifth and seventh Kings of Rome. Most of the Tarquinii who appear in history are connected in some way ...
appealed to
Lars Porsena Lars Porsena (or Porsenna; Etruscan: ) was an Etruscan king (lar) known for his war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium ( Etruscan: ; modern Chiusi). There are no established dates for his rule, but Roman sources often ...
of
Clusium Clusium ( grc-gre, Κλύσιον, ''Klýsion'', or , ''Kloúsion''; Umbrian:''Camars'') was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi ( Tuscany) partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The R ...
(Clevsin), because he was the head of the Etrurian commonwealth for that year. He would have been obliged to help the Tarquins whether he liked it or not. The Romans attacked and annexed individual cities between 510 and 290 BC. This apparent disunity of the Etruscans was probably regarded as internal dissent by the Etruscans themselves. For example, after the sack of Rome by the
Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...
, the Romans debated whether to move the city en masse to
Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...
, which they could not even have considered if Veii was thought to be a foreign people. Eventually Rome created treaties individually with the Etruscan states, rather than the whole. But by that time the league had fallen into disuse, due to the permanent hegemony of Rome and increasing assimilation of Etruscan civilization to it, which was a natural outcome, as Roman civilization was to a large degree Etruscan.


See also

*
Roman naming conventions Over the course of some fourteen centuries, the Romans and other peoples of Italy employed a system of nomenclature that differed from that used by other cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, consisting of a combination of personal and ...
*
Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roug ...


Notes


References

* * * * Preview Google Books. *. View at Google Books. *


External links


Etruscology at Its Best
the website of Dr. Dieter H. Steinbauer, in English. Covers origins, vocabulary, grammar and place names. {{Etruscans