Etruskey

Welcome to the Etruskey podcast, where we will be taking you on a journey to discover one of the most fascinating of the ancient cultures. In this first episode, “Terra dei Re”, or “Land of Kings”, we will be taking a path that will not only show us the cultural heritage of a truly unique area, but also the importance of what it has left us and why, we are still able to call ourselves “Etruscans” today.

The Etruscans used the word “Rásna” or “Rasénna” to refer to themselves, but we have evidence of the fact that the ancient Greeks knew them as “Tyrrhenói/Tyrsenói”, while the Romans called them “Etrusci” or “Tusci”.
Their legacy is still visible in different areas today. If we just think of the different place names, it is easy to see that the Etruscans gave a name to the two seas that bathe our peninsular: the Tyrrhenian, which comes from the Greek name for the Etruscans, and the Adriatic, which comes from Hàdria/Hàtria, an Etruscan port that was the point of arrival for the trade routes from the East.
The names of many Italian towns and cities come from Etruscan, such as Tarquinia, which was then known as Tarchna, and Cervéteri, once pronounced Khàire/Khàsra, to name but a few. Even Italian as a language still contains various Etruscan words, which come to us via Latin: the word “Persona”, meaning both mask and human being, originates from Phérsu, the cruel masked demon portrayed on the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia in the act of setting his ferocious dogs against prisoners of war.
The suffix “-erna” comes to us from Etruscan and when we use words like “taverna”, “cisterna” or “lanterna”, we are paying tribute to the Etruscans without even knowing it.

The Etruscans lived in the period between the 9th and the 1st century BCE, in an area known as Etruria, which corresponds to the modern-day Tuscany, western Umbria and northern and central Lazio. Much has been written about where they originated and since ancient times, it was thought that the Etruscans were a population of migrants from the Near East, sometimes confused with the mythical Pelasgian people. But in actual fact, we know them to be an autochthonous culture.
In 396 BCE, the Roman victory in Veio, now known as Formello, marked the start of a long period of struggles and political and territorial upheaval, which, in a period of some 150 years, brought all Etruscan towns and cities under the Roman State. Luckily for us, there are still traces of “uncontaminated” Etruscan culture and traditions, to be seen in the Necropolis of Cerveteri.

The Banditaccia Necropolis is the oldest and largest burial ground in the whole Mediterranean area. It takes its name from the fact that in the late 19th century, the different areas in the zone were “banditi”, meaning they were leased to the local population, by the landowners of Cerveteri.
The archaeological site is unique, so much so that in 2004, together with the Tarquinia site, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Necropolis covers
some two kilometres, which includes one of the largest tomb structures with around 20 thousand tombs. Now it is part of the Archaeological Park of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, a nationally important institute with special autonomy.
The whole area covers flat tuff-rich terrain, running parallel to the urban area. There are different types of tomb here, from different periods, ranging from the 7th to the 1st century BCE.

The oldest tombs date back to the Iron Age and are simple pits that were used to bury the dead, while others - more widely used - consist of holes dug in the tuff and these were used to hold terracotta urns.

The importance of Cerveteri’s Etruscan Necropolis is not only due to its size, but also to the fact that it gives us clues about the lives of the Etruscans and the way in which they built their houses. The tombs in fact imitate the homes of the “living”, with different rooms and shaped doors and windows, columns and pillars, furniture, and crockery made out of precious metal. The Etruscans believed that there was an afterlife and they imagined that their loved ones would have been comforted to find objects linked to happy moments, such as banquets, feasts, games and sporting competitions, which could accompany the deceased into eternity.

As well as the extraordinary archaeological relics, what makes the Banditaccia site unique is also the charming view that embraces both the sea and the flourishing vegetation that is so characteristic of the area. And to continue this journey into the habits and customs of the Etruscan people, we need to look at their funeral monuments. One of these is the Tomba degli Scudi e della Sedie [Tomb of the Shields and Chairs], which represents the most important example of imitation of an aristocratic home in the 6th century BCE.
What is so particular about this tomb, which belonged to a noble family, is that six beds and two thrones, with curved backs and foot rests have been dug out of the walls.
The Tombe del Comune [Tombs of the commune] are tombs built by important families in the 4th century BCE. Among these, perhaps the most important is the large tomb of the Tamsnie family, where two sarcophagi were found, of which one with a lid in the form of a roof and belonging to a magistrate of “Càisri”. This is one of the few graphic documentations of the Etruscan name Caere, i.e., Cerveteri.

Thanks to these noble families and to the relics we have today, we have better knowledge of the habits and customs of Etruscan women. Women are often shown on the lids of funeral urns, either in the arms of their husband or alone. Looking at their faces, we wonder what these women were really like. Literary sources mention women who were extremely emancipated compared to the Greeks or Romans of the same period, to the extent they were strongly criticised by Greek and Roman writers for their freedom and the roles they had in public life.
As far back as the 6th century BCE, Etruscan women began to leave their homes, moving away, in part, from their roles as simply caring for home and family.
They would join their husbands in welcoming guests, they ate and drank together with men and took part in sporting competitions, without this being considered strange in the community.
Burial items are an incredible source of information on the daily habits of Etruscan women. Findings have included weaving and spinning tools, which were considered women’s activities at the time. Other findings show great focus on beauty and in particular, hair care. Looking at the tombs, it is also possible to believe that Etruscan women travelled alone, without needing to be accompanied by their husband or father, something that was not permitted to the women of Greece or Rome.
Unfortunately, findings to date only allow us to reconstruct the personality and everyday life of noblewomen, leaving us in the dark about women of a lower class, who have not left us with sufficient traces.

The Etruscans were a people who loved sports, as can be seen in different depictions, even if their preference was to be spectators rather than participants.
Boxing, running, long jump, wrestling, discus, and horse riding are just some of the sports still popular today, which were already practised by the Etruscans more than two thousand, five hundred years ago.
Boxing seems to have been the most popular sport, but even so, we ought to point out that we know much less about it than we do from the Greeks and Romans. This is for a simple reason: the Etruscans left us with very little written evidence.
What we do know about Etruscan sports is the public dimension of the events. Competitions and races are depicted in various ways in Etruscan art and it is possible also to see the spectators at the events. Of course, in the ancient world, members of higher social classes frequently organised sporting competitions for a small number of spectators, perhaps as entertainment during a banquet. Games, however, were often more of a public event.
In the frescoes in the Tomba delle Bighe [Tomb of the Chariots] in Tarquinia, for example, the group of spectators - men and women - are easy to see as they watch sporting competitions, including scenes of wrestling, athletes, and horses.
Like in modern sports, the Etruscans would award prizes to the winners, which involved substantial rewards. These rewards were a good deal more modern than we might have imagined: if we present winners with a cup today, in Etruscan times they might have received a tripod, an item that served as a stand for a container used to store food, which would also have been of great artistic worth.
At this point, we should mention a particular Etruscan game we have already mentioned. The game of Phersu, where a masked person - Phersu - would set a dog, tied to a rope, on a half-naked man, armed with a stick, but whose head was covered with a sack.
Many depictions show the person seriously injured by the dog, although we do not know if the sport ended with the death of the contestant, who was often a prisoner with a death sentence. We also do not know if it was just a violent spectacle. Some evidence refers to the fact that a sporting competition had the power to remove curses. In any case, scholars have seen the game of Phersu as an ancestor of the gladiator games in ancient Rome.

As well as having noble traditions and sporting events, the Etruscans were also experts in hydraulic engineering. Using extremely innovative technology for the period, they were able to use their knowledge to improve conditions in the areas they inhabited. They intervened by reclaiming areas of marshland, safeguarding the area against possible flooding, and making it easier to navigate the waterways and divert water courses. They also built irrigation canals, aqueducts in the rocks, and rainwater flow systems.
One example that we can still see is the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world’s earliest sewage systems, and still working today, a great testament to their skills. We also have historic evidence that the Etruscans, together with the Greeks, taught the Romans how to divide and measure plots of land.

The Etruscans were not only skilled engineers, but also great painters, excellent ceramists and jewellers. Proof of their flourishing, uninterrupted pictorial traditions can be found in Tarquinia, in the Necropolis of Monterozzi to be precise, where this enormous heritage, both historic and artistic, gives us a good view of Etruscan life. In 2004, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The Necropolis is located on a plateau known as Monterozzi, due to the burial mounds there, which look like little mountains of earth - “monterozzi”, as they are called in the local dialect. The area of the Necropolis runs parallel to the Tyrrhenian coast for some six kilometres and it is about three kilometres wide.
When it comes to making decorations, the Etruscans were a people of highly skilled goldsmiths with excellent levels of craftsmanship. They used a wide range of techniques and instruments, which varied according to the required decorative effect, demonstrating techniques such as filigree, embossing, printing and engraving.
Granulation was the technique most used on Etruscan jewellery, and as well as being one of the most complex, fascinating decorative techniques in the goldsmith’s art, it is still in use today. It consists of welding small balls or grains to a base, usually a foil, to create set motifs or designs. One example of their skill is the great golden buckle from the Tomba Regolini - Galassi di Cerveteri, which we might define as an ancient version of the safety pin, now on display in the Gregoriano Etrusco Museum in the Vatican.
The Etruscans developed the technique of reduction firing for ceramics, since it allowed them to make splendid examples of Bucchero pottery, the type that is most representative of Etruscan ceramics, a type of pottery that is black and shiny, all the way through and not just on the surface. This innovative technique was used to make less-expensive pieces that looked similar to the more “noble” pieces in metal.

With these engineering works, splendid ceramics and jewellery, we end our journey into Etruscan culture, but only for the moment. We will be back soon with a new episode that looks at Etruscan food and wine, seen as a distinctive feature of local hospitality and culture, and together, we can discover the excellent cuisine of southern Etruria. Together, we’ll be travelling the traditional taste trails.