In Latium (Lazio today),
the dominant tribes were the Latins, who later would come to dominate
the entire peninsula. Most of central Italy was inhabited by a group of
tribes (including the Marsi, Acqui, Volsci, Sabines, Umbrians and
Samnites) often collectively known as the Umbro-Sabellians. The south
was dominated by the Oscans, except in Apulia, which was populated by
various tribes together know as the Iapygians (later Apulians). Before
the arrival of the Greeks, Sicily was dominated by the Siculi, while
Sardinia was populated by the descendents of Neolithic tribes.
THE ETRUSCANS
Historians differ on the
origins of the Eturscan people and when they reached the Italian
peninsula, although it is widely agreed that they migrated from the
Aegeo-Asian area at the end of the 12th century BC. It is known that the
Etruscans created a flourishing civilisation between the Arno and Tiber
valleys, with other important settlements in Campania, Lazio and the Po
Valle (Pianura Padana).
The earliest evidence of
the Etruscan people in Italy dates from the Villanovan culture (around
the 9th century BC), centred around present-day Bologna and
characterised by the practice of cremating the dead and burying their
ashes in urns.
From the 7th to the 6th
century BC, Etruscan culture was at its height. Etruria was based on
large city-state, among them Cacre (Cerveteri), Tarquinii (Tarquinia),
Veli (Veio), Volsinii (believed to be either Bolsena or Orvieto),
Felsina (Bologna), Perusia (Perugia), Volaterrae (Volterra), Faesulae
(Fiesole) and Arretium (Arezzo), which were collectively known as the
Etruscan League. The Etruscans were predominantly navigators and
traders, competing against the Phoenicians and Greeks for markets to the
Mediterranean.
A good deal of what is
known about Etruscan culture has been learned from the archaeological
evidence unearthed at the sites of their tombs and religious
sanctuaries, many of which can be visited today. Their belief in life
after death necessitated the burial of the dead with everything they
might need in afterlife. This included such items as food and drink,
clothing, ornaments and weapons. Painted tombs depicting scenes of
everyday life, notably those discovered at Tarquinia near Rome, provide
important information about how the Etruscans lived.
The long period of
Etruscan decline began in 533BC when the Greeks of Campania defeated an
Etruscan war fleet in the battle of Cumae. By the 4th century BC battle
they had lost their northern territories to invaders from Gaul and
settlements in Campania to the Samnites, confining Etruria to its
original territories in central Italy. Etruscan civilisation continues
to flourish but its development was increasingly determined by its
relationship with the growing power of the Latin city of Rome.
The Romans had long been
profoundly influenced by Etruscan culture and three of the seven Roman
kings who ruled before the Republic (see Romulus, Kings & the Republic
later) were Etruscans, known as the Tarquins.
The Etruscan and Roman
civilisations coexisted relatively peacefully until the defeat of Veii
and its incorporation into Roman territory i 396 BC. During the ensuing
century, Etruscan cities were either defeated or entered into peaceful
alliances with the increasingly powerful Romans. However, they
maintained a fair degree of autonomy until 90BC - when the Etruscans
(along with all the Italic peoples of the peninsula) were granted Roman
citizenship.
The separate Etruscan
culture and language rapidly disappeared, partly because scholars of the
day attached little importance to their preservation and few
translations into Latin were made. No Etruscan literature survives and
the only remaining samples of the written language are related to
religious and funerary customs.
