Historical Overview

A Timeline from The Emergence of Man: The Etruscans

Map of Etruria
Evidence of human presence in what would become Etruria dates back to the Copper Age, with a burial from this time period having been found in the Fiora Valley. The earliest evidence of regular human habitation in this area, however, hails from the Bronze Age, in the second millennium BC. Evidence of the “semi-nomadic, pastoral [1]” groups of this time period has been found in both the Fiora Valley and the Tolfa and Apennine mountain ranges, respectively, but little else is known about the earliest of the Etruscans. By the end of the Bronze Age, villages had established themselves throughout Western Italy, sowing the seeds of the future cities of Etruria.
Burials pre-dating 1000 BC have been found in the quondam Etruscan city-state of Vetulonia. Even more impressive are the signs of metalworking in Clusium and Volaterrae from roughly this same period. Etruria’s geographical location meant that precious metals were readily available in most places, and this would come to define its role in Mediterranean trading. Before any of these territories had found their footing as organised political powers, however, Tarquinia contained the “earliest and most prosperous pre-urban settlements in Etruria [2]”, owing largely to Tarquinia control of both Mt. Tolfa and the Tiber river. The Tarquinia set a precedent for mining, manufacturing, and trading precious metals on a large scale, so much so that the ninth and tenth centuries has been referred to as a period of “Tarquinian civilization”. There is even evidence that Tarquinia had contact with Southern Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean in the form of Greek skyphoi and tripods found in tombs built during the early first millennia, BC.
The seventh and eighth centuries saw Etruria at its largest and most wealthy. As one of the few Etruscan civilizations without access to precious metals, and due to its position at the southernmost point of Etruria, Veii came into its own as an agricultural and trading hub at this time, serving as a premiere trading post along with its northern counterpart, Bologna. Clusium’s prosperity increased exponentially as it, too, invested in agriculture and reaped profit, but its true power lay in its ability to urbanize, having razed many agricultural villages circa 700 BC in favor of new cities such as Volsinii and Faelsulae.
At this point in their history, the city-states functioned under monarchical governments and adopted many habits of their Greek trading partners. Etruscan art, in particular, harkens back to the “matchstick figures” and more “fantastical [3]" aspects of this period in Greek art. This period also saw the first Etruscan inscriptions, whose script appears to be derived from Greek settlers. This Etruscan script would eventually spread to northern Italy, and then from the Alps to Germanic peoples. Tombs from this period become more elaborate than their predecessors, containing bronze vessels, weapons, and armor, as wells as jewelry in some cases. This change in inhumanization patterns denotes the development of social classes based on wealth, warrior status, and gender. The seventh century saw a larger influx in Greek immigrants, reflected in everything from architecture, which boasts quintessentially Greek decor, to the names of deities, many of whom experienced changes in their names, to an amalgamation of Greek and Etruscan.
In the fifth century, Rome’s desire to expand resulted in armed conflict with Veii. By the mid-fourth century, Rome had been beaten back, but the Etruscans had suffered heavy casualties. Despite forming a coalition which included the Gauls, Umbrians, and Samnites circa 300 BC, Rome continued to expand and by the mid- third century BC Etruria was an ally of Rome in battle, soon afterwards becoming a part of what would be the Roman Empire.
[1] Michael Grant, The Etruscans (New York: Scribner, 1980), 9.
[2] Grant, The Etruscans, 21.
[3] Grant, The Etruscans, 56.