Bogucki P., Crabtree P. Ancient Europe 8000 B.C.-A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World. Volume 2

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THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

ETRUSCAN ITALY

■

The Etruscans originated in central Italy around

900

B.C. and were absorbed into the Roman Empire

in the 80s

B.C. During the ﬁrst millennium B.C., they

developed the earliest complex society in Italy. In

common with other Mediterranean civilizations of

their time, the Etruscans lived in city-states, had a

specialized agricultural and craft economy, and ex-

changed goods and ideas with their neighbors. Dis-

tinctive to the Etruscans was their religion, social

and political structure, and language. There is a

wealth of archaeological evidence for Etruscan set-

tlements, economy, society, and culture, including

the remains of cities, towns, cemeteries, and every-

day objects.

IRON AGE

The traditional Etruscan territory in central Italy is

delineated by the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, the

Apennines in the east, and the Arno and Tiber Riv-

ers to the north and south. The Etruscan civilization

arose out of the culture and society that developed

in this area during the Late Bronze Age (1300–900

B.C.) and Iron Age (900–700 B.C.). During the Iron

Age, the roots of Etruscan cities, economy, religion,

and language were established.

Settlements.

Most of the great Etruscan cities of

later times originated as villages in the Iron Age. In

southern Etruria, Iron Age villages usually were sit-

uated on volcanic tufa plateaus (Veio, Cerveteri,

Tarquinia, Vulci, and Orvieto). In central and

northern Etruria, villages more often were built on

isolated hilltops dominating the sea or inland water-

ways—Populonium (modern-day Populania), Ve-

tulonia, Volterra, Chiusi, Cortona, and Arezzo.

Small farms and hamlets surrounded Iron Age vil-

lages. Excavations at Volterra, in northern Etruria,

provide archaeological evidence for early settlement

patterns in one Etruscan city. During the Iron Age

many small villages coexisted on the Volterran hill-

top, placed wherever there was relatively ﬂat land

and a spring to provide water. Roadways leading

into the countryside radiated out from the hilltop in

every direction. Along these routes several burial

areas developed.

Excavations at Tarquinia, in southern Etruria,

have recovered evidence for Iron Age dwellings.

Two kinds of huts were found in the Iron Age vil-

lage: larger oval or rectangular huts, approximately

13 by 7 meters, that could have housed an extended

family and smaller huts, approximately 5 by 4 me-

ters, that could have housed a nuclear family. The

area between the huts may have been used for grow-

ing small cottage gardens and keeping animals and

poultry. Drainage channels carried rainwater away

from the dwellings and into a central cistern.

Iron Age huts were built on foundation

trenches cut into soil or rock. Exterior timber posts

were set into holes in the foundation, to support the

thatched roof. Walls were made of wattle screens

woven from reeds and branches and covered with

daub (clay). The door usually was placed at the

short end of the structure and sometimes was pro-

tected by a small porch. Inside the hut was a central

hearth, circular in shape. The interior may have

been divided by a screen into a front and a back

room.

260

ANCIENT EUROPE

Cemeteries.

Iron Age cemeteries were located out-

side villages, usually on surrounding hillsides. Dur-

ing the ninth century

B.C., most individuals were

cremated and their ashes placed into decorated pot-

tery urns. The urns were buried, along with modest

grave goods, in tombs cut into soil or rock. Toward

the end of the Iron Age new burial customs

emerged in central Italy, interpreted as evidence of

the development of an aristocracy. By the eighth

century

B.C., a few rich burials appear among many

more common ones, distinguished by their more

numerous and expensive grave goods, especially

ﬁne metalwork.

Language and Religion.

During the Iron Age a

common culture developed among the residents of

Etruria. The Etruscan language and religion were

among the most signiﬁcant elements in the culture.

Etruscan is not an Indo-European language and is

not related to the languages of neighboring Italic

peoples. The Etruscans learned the alphabet from

Greeks who settled in southern Italy and used it to

write down their own language. The ﬁrst texts writ-

ten in Etruscan date to the end of the Iron Age,

around 700

B.C.

The Etruscan religion, as we know it from the

historical period, incorporated early cult practices

from the Iron Age. The Etruscans believed that di-

vinities determined the course of events in the

human world. Etruscan worship took place in sa-

cred groves, caves, and springs, where divinities

were thought to reside. The role of Etruscan priests

was to learn the will of the gods and then to follow

the appropriate rituals and sacriﬁces. Individual

worshippers asked for divine favor by sacriﬁcing ani-

mals for the gods, offering them food or drink, or

giving them other gifts. A spring at Banditella, near

Vulci, was a sanctuary as early as the Middle Bronze

Age (seventeenth century

B.C.) into Etruscan times,

indicating the continuity of religious practices from

prehistory into the historic era.

Economy.

The Iron Age economy was largely self-

sufﬁcient: each Etruscan village produced every-

thing it needed. Agriculture was the foundation of

the economy. Farmers grew cereals, legumes, fruits,

nuts, and vegetables and raised sheep, goats, and

pigs. Villagers also hunted, ﬁshed, and gathered in

nearby woods and waters. Most tools, utensils,

clothing, and other goods were made by each

household for its own use. Certain specialized and

luxury items were produced in Etruria and distrib-

uted throughout central Italy, the Mediterranean,

and north of the Alps. By the Iron Age, a specialized

metal industry already existed in Etruria. Metals

were mined from the Colline Metallifere, or “metal-

bearing hills,” and fashioned into metal objects in

nearby Populonium and Vetulonia. In exchange,

luxury objects were imported from Greece, Phoeni-

cia, and Sardinia.

Society.

By the end of the Iron Age Etruscan society

probably included several classes, linked through

patron-client ties. Farmers met their own needs and

also produced goods and labor for petty chiefs. In

exchange, the petty chiefs provided their clients

with protection, communal works, and foodstuffs.

The petty chiefs, in turn, were clients of paramount

chiefs, who redistributed foodstuffs and prestige

goods regionally.

ORIENTALIZING PERIOD

The Etruscan period begins around 700 B.C., when

the ﬁrst surviving historic documents were written

in the Etruscan language. Etruscan society evolved

directly from the prehistoric Iron Age. Many of the

most characteristic features of Etruscan society—

settlement in towns, distinctive cultural customs,

production of goods for regional and long-distance

trade and exchange—were present in incipient form

during the Iron Age. Early Etruscans also were in-

ﬂuenced by the Greeks, Phoenicians, and other con-

temporary Mediterranean societies.

The Orientalizing period (700–575

B.C.) is

named for the imported goods and foreign styles

adopted by the Etruscans during this time. The

early Etruscans’ economic power was based on min-

eral and agricultural resources, which they trans-

formed into goods for exchange. They cut a dashing

ﬁgure across the Mediterranean, renowned for their

seafaring skills as traders and pirates. As reﬂected in

their art, monuments, and historical documents,

Etruscans of the Orientalizing period were prosper-

ous and cultured.

Settlements.

The Orientalizing period saw the

transition from village to town life in Etruria. Exca-

vations in Etruscan towns of this period have re-

vealed signs of urban planning and public works,

such as streets, drainage channels, reservoirs, retain-

ETRUSCAN ITALY

ANCIENT EUROPE

261

ing walls, fortiﬁcations, and sanctuaries. Volterra, in

northern Etruria, became a small, fortiﬁed settle-

ment at this time. In the seventh century

B.C., the

numerous villages on the Volterran hilltop agglom-

erated into a single town. In the sixth century a cir-

cuit of walls was built to enclose the town, and sanc-

tuaries were demarcated throughout the city (ﬁg.

1). Differences among dwelling and burial types

were accentuated, indicating that an aristocracy of

prominent families had formed. A similar type of

urban development occurred in many other cities in

Etruria and Latium (modern-day Lazio), including

Roselle, Veio, Vetulonia, and Tarquinia.

Across Etruria there was a signiﬁcant change in

domestic architecture during the Orientalizing peri-

od. Stone houses, presumably elite residences, ap-

Fig. 1. Etruscan city gate, Volterra, late fourth to early third century B.C. © COPYRIGHT ALINARI/ART RESOURCE, NY. REPRODUCED BY

PERMISSION

peared among the thatched huts. Excavations at

Poggio Civitate, near Murlo, have uncovered the

remains of a princely residence built during the sev-

enth century

B.C. The complex at Poggio Civitate

was built of rubble foundations, earthen walls coat-

ed with lime plaster, and beaten-earth ﬂoors. The

roof was tiled and decorated with terra-cotta sculp-

ture. The buildings were placed in a U shape around

a central courtyard. Two wings of the complex were

residential, while the third served as a workshop for

crafts made of metal, glass, pottery, wool, and other

materials.

A ﬁre destroyed the Orientalizing period resi-

dence, and a second complex was built at Poggio

Civitate in the early sixth century

B.C., or the begin-

ning of the Archaic period of Etruscan history

6: THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

262

ANCIENT EUROPE

(575–470 B.C.). The early Archaic building sur-

rounded a central courtyard, with colonnaded

porches on three sides. At least twenty-three statues

stood on the peak of the roof, including the famous

seated “cowboy” ﬁgure, with his distinctive hat.

Watchtowers were located at two corners of the

complex.

Cemeteries.

Cemeteries surrounded Etruscan

towns. Early cemeteries were placed next to hilltop

settlements; as town populations grew during the

Orientalizing period, burial areas spread down the

hill. The rock-cut Tomb of the Five Chairs at Cer-

veteri, dating to the second half of the seventh cen-

tury

B.C., provides some insight into burial rites of

the time. The main chamber of the tomb held two

bodies, while a side chamber provided space for

mourners to worship an ancestor cult. Five chairs

were carved from rock to hold terra-cotta statues

representing ancestors, two women and three men.

The ancestor statues sat before rock-carved tables

laden with food offerings. A nearby altar held their

drinks. Two empty chairs allowed the buried couple

to join their ancestors at the feast.

By the seventh century, burials show clear evi-

dence of status differentiation according to gender,

socioeconomic status, and region. While existing

burial traditions continued, during the Orientaliz-

ing period the elite classes began building elaborate

chamber tombs covered with tumuli (mounds).

Chamber tombs were carved out from soft volcanic

rock faces or built from stone slabs or blocks. Their

mounds could be as large as 30–40 meters in diame-

ter and 12–15 meters high. A particularly grand ex-

ample is the Tomb of the Chariots, Populonium,

from the middle of the Orientalizing period (mid-

seventh to early sixth century

B.C.). Under a tumu-

lus 28 meters in diameter, the tomb contained fu-

nerary beds for four occupants. At least one woman,

with gold jewelry, was buried in the tomb. She was

accompanied by men, who were provided with a

chariot and two-wheeled carriage.

Religion.

Traditional Etruscan worship in open-air

sanctuaries continued during the Orientalizing peri-

od, but new religious practices also arose. Inﬂu-

enced by Greek ideas, Etruscans began using en-

closed structures for worship and representing gods

in human form. The earliest known temple in Etru-

ria, built around 600

B.C., was excavated at Veio. It

took the form of a large house; a distinctive archi-

tectural form would not be developed for Etruscan

temples until the Archaic period.

Economy.

By the Orientalizing period the Etruscan

agricultural system was specialized and intensiﬁed,

allowing farmers to support the growing town pop-

ulation. Drainage and irrigation techniques im-

proved poor land, and new farming technologies,

such as ironclad wooden plowshares, allowed farm-

ers to work more efﬁciently. Farmers exchanged

their surplus subsistence and luxury foodstuffs for

craft goods.

Craft production became increasingly special-

ized and intensiﬁed during the Orientalizing peri-

od. Etruscans were adept at numerous arts and

crafts, including pottery, metalworking, and sculp-

ture. Technological improvements, learned from

the Greeks, transformed Etruscan pottery produc-

tion. Potters puriﬁed clay, built vessels on the fast

wheel, and ﬁred them at high temperatures in

closed kilns. As production became more special-

ized and intensiﬁed during this period, pottery

forms were increasingly standardized and distribut-

ed in a wide area. Bucchero, a kind of tableware with

a distinctive gray core, glossy black surface, and

stamped or molded decoration, was a famous Etrus-

can pottery product of the Orientalizing period.

Other ﬁne pottery wares included black ﬁgure vase

painting, produced locally after eastern Greek

models.

Metalworking remained an important industry

at this time. Bronze was worked into vessels, uten-

sils, armor, furniture, chariots, and carriages. Metal-

work ornamentation was inspired by eastern styles,

incorporating ﬂoral patterns, animals, humans, and

divine ﬁgures. Etruscan bronze products were ex-

ported widely, throughout the Mediterranean and

beyond the Alps. Etruria also was famous for jewelry

production, particularly ornaments decorated with

gold granulation (using ﬁne beads of gold) and ﬁli-

gree (using ﬁne spiral gold and silver wire). Etrus-

cans probably learned these techniques from the

Syrians or the Phoenicians.

Trade grew steadily. Beginning in the eighth

century, Etruscans had extensive trade contact with

eastern Mediterranean cultures, notably Greece and

Phoenicia. Recovered shipwrecks were loaded with

Etruscan trade goods: pottery and other crafts and

ETRUSCAN ITALY

ANCIENT EUROPE

263

amphorae ﬁlled with agricultural products, such as

pine nuts, wine, and olives. In exchange, the Etrus-

cans imported the eastern luxury goods found in

such abundance in aristocratic graves. Etruscan

trade was not administered centrally. Instead, many

small political units, controlled by the elite, compet-

ed on more or less equal terms. The Greeks also es-

tablished trade towns on the coast of southern Etru-

ria, and Greek craft producers settled permanently

to work in Etruria.

ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIODS

The Etruscan civilization reached its greatest politi-

cal and economic signiﬁcance during the Archaic

and Classical periods (575–470

B.C. and 470–300

B.C., respectively). During the sixth and ﬁfth centu-

ries

B.C., the powerful Etruscan city-states devel-

oped and allied themselves in the League of Twelve

Cities. The most important Etruscan cities were

Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci, Roselle, Vetulonia,

Populonium, Veio, Bolsena, Chiusi, Perugia, Cor-

tona, Arezzo, Fiesole, Volterra, and Pisa. (The

number of cities in the league varied through time.)

Etruscan city-states were autonomous and had their

own sociocultural institutions, spheres of inﬂuence,

and political and economic institutions. Etruscan

political organization was generally oligarchic, with

important families controlling the territory of indi-

vidual city-states. A patron-client system linked

families within cities and between cities and the

countryside.

During the Archaic period the Etruscans ex-

panded beyond their traditional boundaries, in

order to establish new commercial bases. They colo-

nized land as far south as Campania, as far north as

the Po valley, and east to the Adriatic coast of Italy.

Roman annalists report that the Tarquin dynasty of

Etruscan kings was established in Rome throughout

much of the Archaic period, from 616 to 509

B.C.

Many of these colonized lands were lost during the

Classical period.

Settlements.

During the Archaic and Classical peri-

ods, Etruscan towns developed into city-states—

urban centers surrounded by regional territories. In

Volterra the process of urbanization is visible in in-

creasing settlement density and in the expansion

and reorganization of urban space, including the

development of public works, places, and cults. A

great wall circuit was begun during the Classical pe-

riod, with a perimeter of 7 kilometers enclosing an

area of 116 hectares. Traces of the wall are still visi-

ble at numerous points, including the city gates of

Porta all’Arco and Porta Diana. A network of roads

connected the foothills and valley bottom to the

city.

Excavations at Acquarossa, in southern Etruria,

provide evidence for domestic architecture during

the Archaic period. Houses were rectangular, built

on stone-block foundations. The walls usually were

built of sun-dried mud bricks, supported by a

wooden framework, covered with plaster, and

painted. Roofs were made of terra-cotta tiles and

decorated with statues and other terra-cotta orna-

ments. The ﬂoor plan often included a larger central

room in front and two or three smaller rooms in the

back. Sometimes a porch protected the doorway.

The house interior was used for sleeping, protection

from bad weather, and storage of tools and food-

stuffs. The adjacent outdoor courtyard was where

most daily activities took place. Storage spaces and

shelters for cattle were carved into rock outcrops

next to the houses. Archaic Acquarossa also includ-

ed one monumental residential building complex

constructed after the mid-sixth century: two build-

ings laid out in an L-shaped plan, with a large court-

yard. The complex boasted a portico in front and re-

vetment plaques on the facade, with scenes of

banquets, dancing, warfare, and mythical events.

Marzabotto, an Etruscan colony established in

northern Italy at the beginning of the ﬁfth century,

was laid out on a regular plan—similar to that of

Greek colonial towns and quite different from the

plans of settlements that developed through time,

such as Volterra and Acquarossa. Four main streets,

each 15 meters wide, deﬁned the habitation area of

Marzabotto. One north-west street ran the length

of the town, and three east-west streets crossed it.

Minor streets, each 5 meters wide, ran parallel to the

main north-south axis, creating rectangular blocks.

Marzabotto’s city blocks were ﬁlled with mud-

brick houses and workshops. Craft workshops—

including pottery and tile kilns, iron smithies,

bronze foundries, and smelting furnaces—faced the

street. Living quarters were located in interior

courtyards, reached through narrow passageways.

Each courtyard had a cistern to collect rainwater

running off the tiled roofs.

6: THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

264

ANCIENT EUROPE

Cemeteries.

Archaic period cemeteries reﬂect the

development of new “middle” classes. Whereas

cemeteries of the previous period comprised many

humble tombs and a few dominating tumuli, Archa-

ic period cemeteries consisted of many simple, uni-

form tombs laid on streets. Examples of Archaic

cemeteries include the Banditaccia at Cerveteri and

Croceﬁsso del Tufo at Orvieto, both from the sixth

century

B.C. The streets of Croceﬁsso del Tufo were

laid out in a grid during the later sixth century, and

the cemetery was used throughout the ﬁfth century

B.C. The small, rectangular tombs were constructed

from tufa stone blocks. Their chambers usually have

two stone benches for deposition of the dead. The

roofs are made of stone slabs and covered with a

modest mound and small stone markers (cippi). A

view down one of the streets gives a sense of how

a residential neighborhood in an Etruscan town

might have looked.

A Classical period house interior is re-created in

the Tomb of the Reliefs, from the Banditaccia ne-

cropolis at Cerveteri, built at the end of the fourth

century

B.C. The underground tomb was carved

from tufa stone; then a stucco surface was applied

to the walls and painted. The original owners, a

married couple, were represented lying side by side

in bed. They are surrounded by relief stucco repre-

sentations of everything they might need to keep

house: utensils, tools, vessels, and even a gaming

board. The power of the husband, a magistrate, is

indicated by his ivory folding chair, trumpet, and

weaponry.

Religion and Temples.

During the Archaic period

Etruscans continued their own distinctive religious

practices, although Etruscan divinities were assimi-

lated with the Greek Olympian gods. Again inﬂu-

enced by the Greeks, Etruscans also began building

monumental temples. The Temple of Minerva at

Portonaccio, Veio, was constructed in the mid-sixth

century

B.C. and rebuilt at the end of the century.

The Tuscan-style temple is oriented to the east, fac-

ing a paved piazza. It has a square plan, each side ap-

proximately 18.5 meters. The temple was built on

a low podium. Steps at the front of the temple led

to a deep porch, or pronaos. The pronaos had two

columns with Tuscan capitals; beyond it was placed

the sacriﬁcial altar and a sacred pit where libations

to the underworld divinity were poured. At the back

of the temples were three cellae, or rooms, side by

side.

The foundation, walls, and columns of the

Temple of Minerva were built of tufa stone blocks.

The wooden roof was decorated with terra-cotta

sculpture, a famous product of Veio. The revet-

ments were graced with ﬂoral ornamentation; the

anteﬁxes included heads of nymphs and masks of

the Gorgons, the snake-haired sisters of Greek

myth. Painted terra-cotta statues, larger than life

size, were placed on the roof ridge. The famous stat-

ue of Apollo (now in the Etruscan Museum of Villa

Giulia, Rome) probably aimed his bow at Heracles,

representing the Greek myth of their conﬂict over

the golden-horned hind of Ceryneia.

Sculpture.

Etruscan monumental sculpture typi-

cally was executed in terra-cotta or bronze. The

Etruscan city of Cerveteri was famous for its terra-

cotta sculpture during the Archaic period. One

well-known example is a sarcophagus depicting a

married couple reclining on a bed, placed in a cham-

ber tomb beneath a tumulus in the Banditaccia ne-

cropolis around 525

B.C. (now in the Villa Giulia

museum, see ﬁg. 2). The husband lies behind his

wife, placing his hand on her shoulder. She pours

scented oil onto his palm, a rite for the deceased.

The statue of the Chimera (now in the Archaeo-

logical Museum, Florence), is a ﬁne example of

Etruscan bronze sculpture. The Chimera was a

mythological ﬁre-breathing creature with the body

of a lion and heads of a lion, goat, and snake. In this

representation, the creature is wounded, suggesting

that the statue may have been part of a group that

included the hero Bellerophon and his winged

horse Pegasus. The statue (or group) probably was

created as a votive offering in the late ﬁfth century

or early fourth century

B.C.

Painting.

Tarquinia was the main center of tomb

painting during the Archaic period. The rock-cut

tombs from the Monterozzi necropolis are small,

rectangular chambers with shallow ridge roofs.

After about 530

B.C. brightly colored paintings cov-

ered entire walls of the chambers. The paintings

showed mythological scenes, funerary games and

ceremonies, banqueting and entertainment, sports,

and scenes of the underworld. The Tomb of the

Leopards, from the early ﬁfth century

B.C., is a vi-

brant example.

ETRUSCAN ITALY

ANCIENT EUROPE

265

Fig. 2. Sarcophagus of a married couple, Cerveteri, 530–520 B.C. © ARALDO DE LUCA/CORBIS.

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.

Economy.

The Etruscan economy became increas-

ingly specialized and intensiﬁed during the Archaic

period. New socioeconomic classes emerged, based

in the great city-states and trading towns: manufac-

turers, crafts producers, and merchants. Internal

trade throughout Etruria was effected via coastal

waters, rivers, and roads. Long-distance trade was

completed in emporia, or trade towns, along the

Etruscan coastline. Bronze ingots dating to the

early Archaic period probably were used as currency

in long-distance trade.

Pottery and metalworking remained important

Etruscan industries during the Archaic and Classical

periods. Early in the Archaic period the Etruscans

created their own versions of red ﬁgure pottery,

modeled after the famous Greek products. Begin-

ning in the fourth century

B.C. a distinctive Etruscan

product dominated the pottery industry: tableware

coated with a glossy black slip, and decorated with

stamped and modeled (relief) motifs. Workshops at

Vulci and other Etruscan cities worked bronze into

chariots, weapons, armor, vessels, and other uten-

sils. Precious metals, such as gold, were made into

jewelry.

Society.

Etruscan society changed greatly during

the Archaic period. Cities and trade towns sup-

ported the growth of new socioeconomic classes—

merchants, manufacturers, foreigners—that were

not bound by traditional patron-client relation-

ships. These new groups shared common political

and economic interests that were at odds with the

interests of the established Etruscan aristocracy.

Their growing inﬂuence and power contributed to

the dissolution of the traditional Etruscan social

system.

CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC

PERIODS

During the Classical and Hellenistic periods (470–

300

B.C. and 300–31 B.C., respectively), the Etrus-

cans’ economic power, political autonomy, and dis-

tinctive cultural identity gradually eroded, until the

Etruscans no longer existed as a separate people.

During the Classical period the Etruscan cities en-

gaged in a series of conﬂicts over sea and land,

which ultimately weakened their economic and po-

litical signiﬁcance in Italy.

At the end of the Classical period, the Roman

Republic emerged as the preeminent threat to the

6: THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

266

ANCIENT EUROPE

autonomy of the Etruscan city-states. In 396 B.C.

the ﬁrst Etruscan city, Veio, fell to the Romans after

a brutal ten-year siege. With the Battle of Sentinum

in 295

B.C., between Rome and the Quattuor

Gentes (an alliance of Samnites, Gauls, Umbrians,

and certain Etruscans), Rome gained supremacy

over the entire Italian peninsula. After 270

B.C. rela-

tions were largely peaceful between the Etruscans

and Romans. Rome began to colonize southern

Etruria in the third century

B.C. During the second

century

B.C. the Romans built the via Aurelia, via

Clodia, and via Cassia, roads that provided them

with communication and control over all of Etruria.

By the ﬁrst century

B.C. Etruria was no longer a sep-

arate entity, politically or culturally; instead, it was

part of the growing Roman state. In 89

B.C. all resi-

dents of Etruria were given Roman citizenship and

registered in Roman tribes for bureaucratic and vot-

ing purposes. By the end of the ﬁrst century

B.C.

Etruria for the most part was Latin speaking and as-

similated into Roman culture.

Settlements and Cemeteries.

The conﬂicts of the

Classical and Hellenistic periods (the ﬁfth to ﬁrst

centuries

B.C.) affected the Etruscan city-states dif-

ferently. Whereas many Etruscan cities in the south

were hurt by the maritime and territorial wars, other

cities in the north continued to thrive. Volterra was

minimally affected by the upheaval during late

Etruscan times. The Hellenistic period was, in fact,

a time of great urban development and renovation.

Public works—including roads, agricultural ter-

races, city walls, and religious and civic structures—

allowed settlement in the Volterra on a far greater

scale than before. The city walls, begun during the

late Classical period, were completed during the

Hellenistic period. The city also was provided with

terracing walls, a sewer, and a drainage and canal

system. Hellenistic period Volterrans created lavish

tombs for their dead in the cemeteries surrounding

the city. The Inghirami Tomb from the Ulimeto ne-

cropolis, in use from the early second century to the

mid-ﬁrst century

B.C., includes several elaborately

carved alabaster ash urns, a local artisanal product.

The tomb is reproduced in the garden of the Ar-

chaeological Museum in Florence.

Etruscan Legacy.

Although the Etruscans ceased

to exist as a distinct culture in the ﬁrst century

B.C.,

their people and ideas remained essential to life in

central Italy. Etruscans—now Roman citizens—

were integrated into the politics, economics, cul-

ture, and society of Rome. A few speciﬁcally Etrus-

can contributions to Roman institutions remind us

of their presence in later times. The symbols of

Roman ofﬁce—the fasces (bundled and tied rods

with a projecting axe) and the curule (a folding

chair)—are derived from Etruscan examples. The

Romans adopted rituals of military triumph from

the Etruscans. The Roman toga originated as the

Etruscan mantle. And many of the most famous ar-

chitectural and engineering feats of the Romans—

houses, temples, tombs, roads, bridges, and sew-

ers—were ﬁrst achieved in Italy by the Etruscans.

See also The Italian Bronze Age (vol. 2, part 5); Iron

Age Germany (vol. 2, part 6).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Banti, Luisa. Etruscan Cities and Their Culture. Translated

by Erika Bizzarri. Berkeley: University of California

Press, 1973.

Barker, Graeme, and Tom Rasmussen. The Etruscans. Ox-

ford: Blackwell, 1998.

Boëthius, Axel. Etruscan and Roman Architecture. Har-

mondsworth, U.K.: Penguin, 1970.

Bonfante, Giuliano, and Larissa Bonfante. The Etruscan

Language: An Introduction. 2d ed. Manchester, U.K.:

Manchester University Press, 2002.

Bonfante, Larissa, ed. Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Hand-

book of Etruscan Studies. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State

University Press, 1986.

Brendel, Otto J. Etruscan Art. New Haven, Conn.: Yale

University Press, 1995.

Carratelli, Giovanni Pugliese, ed. Rasenna: Storia e civiltà

degli etruschi. Milan: Libri Scheiwiller, 1986.

Cornell, T. J. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from

the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, c. 1000–263

BC. Lon-

don: Routledge, 1995.

Haynes, Sybille. Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History.

Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000.

Lawrence, D. H. Etruscan Places. London: Secker, 1932.

Macnamara, Ellen. The Etruscans. Cambridge, Mass.: Har-

vard University Press, 1991.

Pallottino, Massimo. The Etruscans. Translated by J. Cremo-

na and edited by David Ridgway. Harmondsworth,

U.K.: Penguin, 1975.

Ridgway, David, and Francesca R. Ridgway, eds. Italy before

the Romans: The Iron Age, Orientalizing, and Etruscan

Periods. London: Academic Press, 1979.

Spivey, Nigel J. Etruscan Art. New York: Thames and Hud-

son, 1997.

ETRUSCAN ITALY

ANCIENT EUROPE

267

Spivey, Nigel, and Simon Stoddard. Etruscan Italy: An Ar-

chaeological History. London: B. T. Batsford, 1990.

Sprenger, Maja, and Gilda Bartoloni. The Etruscans: Their

History, Art, and Architecture. Translated by Robert

Erich Wolf. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1983.

Torelli, Mario, ed. The Etruscans. New York: Rizzoli, 2001.

AE OSTMAN

6: THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

268

ANCIENT EUROPE

THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE, C. 800 B.C.– A.D. 400

PRE-ROMAN IRON AGE SCANDINAVIA

■

The Iron Age in Scandinavia lasted for about ﬁfteen

hundred years and archaeologists have divided it

into a number of distinct chronological phases. The

Early Iron Age, also called the pre-Roman Iron Age

or the Celtic Iron Age, spans the ﬁrst ﬁve hundred

years of the period, from 500

B.C. to 1 B.C. It was

during this time that a technological revolution

took place that brought the Bronze Age to an end.

Bronze was replaced by iron in most tools and

weapons. Like the use of bronze, the use of iron was

introduced from central Europe; but iron, unlike

bronze, did not need to be imported. Known as

bog-ore or lake-ore, it precipitated in small clumps

below the peat in marshy pools and was a readily ac-

cessible raw material. Plentiful resources existed in

southern Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The ore

contained many impurities and was not of very high

quality, but the Scandinavians developed efﬁcient

techniques for extracting serviceable iron by smelt-

ing it in simple furnaces. As the skill developed over

the centuries, so did the complexity of the tools and

weapons, until they were comparable to many oth-

ers made elsewhere in Europe.

NECK RINGS

During the pre-Roman Iron Age, society was orga-

nized by rank. Neck rings were a marker of elite sta-

tus. Large bronze neck rings, especially the so-called

crown neck rings and individual rings with trans-

verse molded bands, are a characteristic element of

the set of ﬁnds dating to the pre-Roman Iron Age.

Altogether, there are forty-seven such rings from

Denmark with clear provenances. There are also

three Celtic rings. The majority of the bronze neck

rings are bog ﬁnds; a few are dry-land ﬁnds, but

none is a grave ﬁnd. All are individual ﬁnds, that is,

they are found without any associated goods. Some

arm rings and simple neck rings have also been

found. They are also bog ﬁnds and occasionally ap-

pear in cremation burials. The looped ring, another

traditional object of this period, was made either of

bronze or iron. The majority of the recovered ob-

jects that have been fashioned in this way are made

of iron. Large iron looped rings are known only as

grave ﬁnds; such rings would presumably have rust-

ed away in bogs. Looped rings, with a few excep-

tions, are known only from Jutland. Small and large

looped rings are contemporary to each other, and

can be seen in the large ring hoards.

BOG OFFERINGS

When land was drained for modern farming, a num-

ber of bog burial grounds were found. Bog offer-

ings are archaeologically recorded as early as Neo-

lithic times and into the pre-Viking period. These

votive offerings or sacriﬁces included weapons and

even warships as well as human bodies, animals, and

assorted artifacts. It is postulated, based on the vari-

ety and type of offerings, that they were of a cere-

monial nature, part of a fertility ritual or a ritual to

ensure success in battle. The earliest bog offerings

in the Neolithic period consisted primarily of stone

and ﬂint weapons. In the Bronze Age, there were

more elaborate sacriﬁces. Collections of personal

items and household objects, such as cauldrons,

were recovered as well. Weapons—swords in partic-

ular—have also been found. Very often the blades

of these swords have been bent back or otherwise

ANCIENT EUROPE

269