ETRURIA

etruria, an ancient district of italy, the extent of which varied considerably, and, especially in the earliest periods, is very difficult to define (see section language). the name is the latin equivalent of the greek [greek: turrenia] or [greek: tursenia], which is used by latin writers also in the forms _tyrrhenia, tyrrhenii_; the romans also spoke of tusci, whence the modern tuscany (q.v.). in early times the district appears to have included the whole of n. italy from the tiber to the alps, but by the end of the 5th century b.c. it was considerably diminished, and about the year 100 b.c. its boundaries were the arnus (arno), the apennines and the tiber. in the division of italy by augustus it formed the seventh _regio_ and extended as far north as the river macra, which separated it from liguria. _history_.--the authentic history of etruria is very meagre, and consists mainly in the story of its relations with carthage, greece and rome. at some period unknown, prior to the 6th century, the etrurians became a conquering people and extended their power not only northwards over, probably, mantua, felsina, melpum and perhaps hadria and ravenna (etruria circumpadana), but also southwards into latium and campania. the chronology of this expansion is entirely unknown, nor can we recover with certainty the names of the cities which constituted the two leagues of twelve founded in the conquered districts on the analogy of the original league in etruria proper (below). in the early history of rome the etruscans play a prominent part. according to the semi-historical tradition they were the third of the constituent elements which went to form the city of rome. the tradition has been the subject of much controversy, and is still an unsolved problem. it is practically certain, however, that there is no foundation for the ancient theory (cf. prop. iv. [v.] 1. 31) that the third roman tribe, known as luceres, represented an etruscan element of the population, and it is held by many authorities that the tradition of the tarquin kings of rome represents, not an immigrant wave, but the temporary domination of etruscan lords, who extended their conquests some time before 600 b.c. over latium and campania. this theory is corroborated by the fact that during the reigns of the tarquin kings rome appears as the mistress of a district including part of etruria, several cities in latium, and the whole of campania, whereas our earliest picture of republican rome is that of a small state in the midst of enemies. for this problem see further under rome: _history_, section "the monarchy." after the expulsion of the tarquins the chief events in etruscan history are the vain attempt to re-establish themselves in rome under lars porsena of clusium, the defeat of octavius mamilius, son-in-law of tarquinius superbus, at lake regillus, and the treaty with carthage. this last event shows that the etruscan power was formidable, and that by means of their fleet the etruscans held under their exclusive control the commerce of the tyrrhenian sea. by this treaty corsica was assigned to the etruscans while carthage obtained sardinia. soon after this, decay set in. in 474 the etruscan fleet was destroyed by hiero i. (q.v.) of syracuse; etruria circumpadana was occupied by the gauls, the campanian cities by the samnites, who took capua (see campania) in 423, and in 396, after a ten years' siege, veii fell to the romans. the battle of the vadimonian lake (309) finally extinguished etruscan independence, though for nearly two centuries still the prosperity of the etruscan cities far exceeded that of rome itself. henceforward etruria is finally merged in the roman state. etruscan antiquities the large recent discoveries of etruscan objects have not materially altered the conclusions arrived at a generation ago. it is not so much our appreciation of the broad lines of the manners and arts of the etruscans that has altered as our understanding of the geographic and social causes which made them what they were. one great difficulty in the study of the remains is that a very large portion of them have been found by unofficial excavators who have been naturally unwilling to tell whence they came, and that certain other excavations, such as those carried out by comm. barnabei for the villa giulia museum, have been carried out under conditions which help but little towards increasing our knowledge.[1] the increase has, however, been steady, even if not all one could wish. _ethnology_.--the origin of the etruscans will most likely never be absolutely fixed,[2] but their own tradition (tacitus, _ann._ iv. 55) that they came out of lydia seems not impossible. herodotus (i. 94) and strabo (v. 220) tell of lydians landing at the mouth of the po and crossing the apennines into etruria. thus it seems certain that though the earliest immigrants, known to the later etruscans as the _rasena_, may have come down from the north, still they were joined by a migration from the east before they had developed a civilization of their own, and it is this double race that became the etruscans as we know them in tradition and by their works. to give a date to the migration of the rasena from the north, for which the only evidence is the fact that the etruscan language is found in various parts of north italy,[3] is impossible, but we can perhaps give an approximate one to the coming of the lydians or tyrrhenians (thuc. iv. 109; herod. i. 57). we know that there was a great wave of migration from greece to italy about 1000