Etruriaregion, Italy

...though large, island. Herodotus described one such trader from the later Archaic period, Sostratus of Aegina, a man of fabulous wealth. Then in the early 1970s a remarkable inscription was found in Etruria—a dedication to Apollo in the name of Sostratus of Aegina. This discovery revealed that the source of his wealth was trade with Etruria and other parts of Italy. Aegina is an island...

In the west the rise of Rome in the 3rd century introduced a new factor into the history of Greek coinage. The first coinage to disappear was that of Etruria—a silver issue curiously always left blank on one side—after a life of two centuries. Rome’s early intercourse with the Greek cities of Italy is reflected in the Romano-Campanian coinage. In the south the Italian campaign of...

Cultural development came later to Italy than to the Aegean area. The Greeks colonized southern Italy and Sicily from the later 7th century bce, but it was the Etruscans who introduced a high standard of civilization, in the previous century, to the central region of the peninsula. They called themselves the Rasenna, though in Latin they were known as the Etrusci or Tusci. It is believed that...

Ancient Etruria lay in central Italy, bounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea (recognized early by the Greeks as belonging to the Tyrrhenoi), on the north by the Arno River, and on the east and south by the Tiber River. This area corresponds to a large part of modern Tuscany as well as to sections of Latium and Umbria. The chief natural resources of the region, undoubtedly playing a crucial...

In 217 the campaign opened in Etruria, into which the invading army, largely reinforced by Gauls, penetrated via an unguarded pass. A rash pursuit by the Roman field force led to its being entrapped on the shore of Lake Trasimene (Trasimeno) and destroyed with a loss of at least 15,000 men. This catastrophe left Rome completely uncovered; but Hannibal, having resolved not to attack the capital...

In Etruria, to a much greater extent than elsewhere, the stimulus provided by the jewelry imported by the Phoenicians led to emulation that soon had imposing results. Alongside imported objects and mechanically repeated Oriental motifs, original forms, techniques, and styles developed that were the result of Etruscan taste. There was an entirely new concept, in which the goals of magnificence,...

The Etruscans used bronze for cast and beaten work; and although few large works remain, the museums of Europe display a marvellous variety of admirably formed small bronzes. A masterpiece of bronze Etruscan sculpture is the “Chimera” (a mythological beast with a goat’s body, a lion’s head, and a serpent’s tail) from Arezzo, a 5th-century bc ex-voto from a sacred building, found...

At the beginning of the Iron Age (c. 900 bc), the most characteristic vessel of the Villanovan culture is the cremation urn. It is usually biconical in shape but sometimes takes the form of a primitive hut, decorated with quasi-architectural ornament in relief.