Editing Etruscan civilization (section)

====Ancient sources====
[[File:Exekias Dionysos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2044.jpg|thumb|The [[Dionysus Cup]], a {{Lang|grc|[[kylix]]}} painted by the Athenian [[Exekias]] ca. 530&nbsp;BCE, showing the narrative of Dionysus's capture by Tyrrhenian pirates and transfiguration of them into dolphins in the seventh ''Homeric Hymn''{{Sfn|Strauss Clay|2016|pp=32–34}}]]
[[File:Urna cineraria biconica con coperchio a elmo crestato, da pozzo cinerario a monterozzi, loc. forse fontanaccia.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Biconical cinerary urn with crest-shaped helmet lid, 9th–8th century BC, from Monterozzi (Fontanaccia), [[Tarquinia]], [[Tarquinia National Museum|Museo archeologico nazionale]]]]
[[File:Urne cinéraire imitant une habitation traditionnelle. Attribuée à l'atelier de Vulci (Etrurie). Impasto et plaque de bronze découpée. 8e siècle av. J.-C..jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Urn in the shape of a hut, which represents the typical Etruscan house of the Villanovan phase, 8th century BC, from [[Vulci]], [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva)|Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève]]]]
[[File:Etruscan pendant with swastika symbols Bolsena Italy 700 BCE to 650 BCE.jpg|thumb|right|[[Etruscan art|Etruscan]] pendant with a large equilateral cross of concentric circles flanked by four small right-facing [[swastika]]s among its symbols from [[Bolsena]], [[Italy]], 700–650&nbsp;BC. [[Louvre]]]]

Literary and historical texts in the Etruscan language have not survived, and the language itself is only partially understood by modern scholars. This makes modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman and Greek sources. These ancient writers differed in their theories about the origin of the Etruscan people. Some suggested they were [[Pelasgians]] who had migrated there from Greece. Others maintained that they were indigenous to central Italy.

The first Greek author to mention the Etruscans, whom the Ancient Greeks called [[Tyrrhenians]], was the 8th-century BC poet [[Hesiod]] in his work the [[Theogony]]. He mentioned them as residing in central Italy alongside the Latins.<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 1015.</ref> The 7th-century BC ''Homeric Hymn'' to Dionysus<ref>Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, 7.7–8</ref> referred to them as pirates.<ref name=Brown545560>John Pairman Brown, ''Israel and Hellas'', Vol. 2 (2000) p. 211</ref> Unlike later Greek authors, these authors did not suggest that Etruscans had migrated to Italy from the east and did not associate them with the Pelasgians.

It was only in the 5th century BC, when the Etruscan civilization had been established for several centuries, that Greek writers started associating the name "Tyrrhenians" with the "Pelasgians", and even then some did so in a way that suggests they were meant only as generic, descriptive labels for "non-Greek" and "indigenous ancestors of Greeks" respectively.<ref>[[Strabo]]. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 Geography]''. Book VI, Chapter II. Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220902170714/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 Archived] from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.</ref> The 5th-century BC historians [[Herodotus]],<ref>6.137</ref> and [[Thucydides]]<ref>4.109</ref> and the 1st-century BC historian [[Strabo]],<ref name="5.2, citing Anticlides">[[Strabo]]. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+5.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 Geography]''. Book V, Chapter II. Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University.[https://web.archive.org/web/20220902165216/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+5.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 Archived] from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.</ref> did seem to suggest that the Tyrrhenians were originally Pelasgians who migrated to Italy from [[Lydia]] by way of the Greek island of [[Lemnos]]. They all described Lemnos as having been settled by Pelasgians, whom Thucydides identified as "belonging to the Tyrrhenians" ({{lang|grc|τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον Πελασγικόν, τῶν καὶ Λῆμνόν ποτε καὶ Ἀθήνας Τυρσηνῶν}}). As Strabo and Herodotus told it,<ref name="1.94">1.94</ref> the migration to Lemnos was led by [[Tyrrhenus]] / Tyrsenos, the son of [[Atys of Lydia|Atys]] (who was king of Lydia). Strabo<ref name="5.2, citing Anticlides" /> added that the Pelasgians of Lemnos and [[Imbros]] then followed Tyrrhenus to the [[Italian Peninsula]]. According to the logographer [[Hellanicus of Lesbos]], there was a Pelasgian migration from [[Thessaly]] in Greece to the Italian peninsula, as part of which the Pelasgians colonized the area he called Tyrrhenia, and they then came to be called Tyrrhenians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |title=Roman Antiquities |at=1.28–3}}</ref>

There is some evidence suggesting a link between Lemnos and the Tyrrhenians. The [[Lemnos stele]] bears inscriptions in a language with strong structural resemblances to the language of the Etruscans.<ref name=Morritt545560>{{cite book |first=Robert D. |last=Morritt |title=Stones that Speak |year=2010 |page=272}}</ref> The discovery of these inscriptions in modern times has led to the suggestion of a "[[Tyrsenian languages|Tyrrhenian language group]]" consisting of Etruscan, Lemnian, and the [[Raetic language|Raetic]] spoken in the [[Alps]].

But the 1st-century BC historian [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], a Greek living in Rome, dismissed many of the ancient theories of other Greek historians and postulated that the Etruscans were indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria and were different from both the Pelasgians and the Lydians.<ref name=Dionysius>{{cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |title=Roman Antiquities |at=Book I, Chapters 30 1}}</ref> Dionysius noted that the 5th-century historian [[Xanthus of Lydia]], who was originally from [[Sardis]] and was regarded as an important source and authority for the history of Lydia, never suggested a Lydian origin of the Etruscans and never named Tyrrhenus as a ruler of the Lydians.<ref name=Dionysius/>

{{blockquote|For this reason, therefore, I am persuaded that the Pelasgians are a different people from the Tyrrhenians. And I do not believe, either, that the Tyrrhenians were a colony of the Lydians; for they do not use the same language as the latter, nor can it be alleged that, though they no longer speak a similar tongue, they still retain some other indications of their mother country. For they neither worship the same gods as the Lydians nor make use of similar laws or institutions, but in these very respects they differ more from the Lydians than from the Pelasgians. Indeed, those probably come nearest to the truth who declare that the nation migrated from nowhere else, but was native to the country, since it is found to be a very ancient nation and to agree with no other either in its language or in its manner of living.}}

The credibility of Dionysius of Halicarnassus is arguably bolstered by the fact that he was the first ancient writer to report the [[endonym]] of the Etruscans: Rasenna.

{{blockquote|The Romans, however, give them other names: from the country they once inhabited, named Etruria, they call them Etruscans, and from their knowledge of the ceremonies relating to divine worship, in which they excel others, they now call them, rather inaccurately, Tusci, but formerly, with the same accuracy as the Greeks, they called them Thyrscoï [an earlier form of Tusci]. Their own name for themselves, however, is the same as that of one of their leaders, Rasenna.}}

Similarly, the 1st-century BC historian [[Livy]], in his ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri]]'', said that the Rhaetians were Etruscans who had been driven into the mountains by the invading Gauls; and he asserted that the inhabitants of Raetia were of Etruscan origin.<ref>{{cite book |first=Titus |last=Livius |author-link=Livy |title=Ab Urbe Condita Libri |trans-title=The History of Rome |at=Book 5|title-link=Ab Urbe Condita Libri }}</ref>

{{blockquote|The Alpine tribes have also, no doubt, the same origin (of the Etruscans), especially the Raetians; who have been rendered so savage by the very nature of the country as to retain nothing of their ancient character save the sound of their speech, and even that is corrupted.}}

The first-century historian [[Pliny the Elder]] also put the Etruscans in the context of the [[Rhaetian people]] to the north, and wrote in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' (AD&nbsp;79):<ref>{{cite book |last1=Plinius Secundus |first1= Gaius |title=Naturalis Historia, Liber III, 133 |language=Latin}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Adjoining these the (Alpine) [[Noricum|Noricans]] are the Raeti and [[Vindelici]]. All are divided into a number of states. The Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the [[Gaul]]s, their leader was named Raetus.|source=}}