Home » History » Roman Empire » Did the Etruscans come from Greece?

Did the Etruscans come from Greece?

© Ted Garvin

The Etruscans provided a dynasty to Rome that presided over its Etruscanization. Legend says that the successful merchant Demaratus migrated to Tarquinii from Corinth as a political refugee just before the middle of the seventh century BC and married a noblewoman there.

He had one surviving son, Lucumo, who moved with his followers to Rome, where he won the favor of the king Ancus Marcius, eventually succeeding him on the throne (traditionally 616 BC), with the assistance of his wife Tanaquil. Thereafter he was known as Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. He and his son or grandson (Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, "the proud") together with another ruler, Servius Tullius, between them, were believed to have ruled over Rome for nearly one hundred years. At which time, Lucius Decimus Brutus in favor of a newly declared Republic was deposed by Superbus.

To dismiss the culture of the Etruscans as a mere provincial variant of Greek civilization would be an error. Their artwork has marked differences. The humanism of Classical Athens, as displayed in the Attic "red-figure" vases, evoked little response from leading Etruscan artists. Their religion told them that they were totally under the thumb of the Gods. Far from requiring the delineation of the human body, whether idealized or realistic, the Etruscans' own conception of art involved highly formalized, dream-like patterns and sometimes grotesquely caricatured exaggerations and elongations.

Their women were readily distinguishable by their long, un-Greek braids of hair that extended down their backs. They enjoyed greater freedom than their Greek counterparts.

The Etruscans' religious devotions also assumed very un-Greek forms. In contrast to Greece, their religion centered on sacred writings that allegedly originated from supernatural sources. Their view of the afterlife -- that death was not a real break in continuity, but a prolongation and perpetuation of earthly life -- had no comparison with that of the Greeks.

The biggest difference between Greece & Etruria was linguistics. Greek is Indo-European, like Latin or English. Etruscan is not. No Etruscan literature has survived, nothing except inscriptions. At least their letters were adapted from a Greek alphabet (so we have some chance of deciphering them). The language must have bristled with clicks and hisses. We do not know the linguistic class to which it belongs and which, if any, is related to it.

It's not really possible to determine conclusively the origin of the Etruscans, with the above differences in mind. One thing is clear. They did not come from Greece.

* Reference was made to Michael Grant's book "The Etruscans".

The copyright of the article Did the Etruscans come from Greece? in Roman Empire is owned by Ted Garvin. Permission to republish Did the Etruscans come from Greece? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.