Thier priesthood
was the guardian of the doctrine and stood as intermediaries between men and the gods.
This caste played a very important role in the civil and religious guidance of the
Etruscan communities.
The priests had a particular costume, including a high semi-conical hat, and carried a
stick curved at one end. They were divided into counsels and took part in all public
activities, which for the Etruscans had a strong sacred significance.
The scriptures consisted of books containing a complex and codified system of ritual
rules. The main ones concerned: the interpretation of the entrails of animals,
carried out by the Haruspices, the interpretation of lightning, carried out by the Augurs
and the rules of behaviour to be followed in daily life.
At the basis of Etruscan religious discipline was the division of the heavens into sixteen
compartments: the dwelling-places of the gods. The favourable gods were in the east and
the unfavourable ones in the west.
Thus, as far as divination is concerned, every atmospheric event could be translated into
a message from the divinity who dwelled in that place. Depending on the event, it could be
an order, a good or an evil omen, or a sign of anger or discontent.
This system of compartments was also reproduced on the livers of sacrificed animals, of
which bronze models have come down to us: the will of the gods was deduced from the
observation of their physical characteristics. The prime of Etruscan civilization (from
the 8th century to the 5th century BC)
From the 8th century BC onwards, the Etruscans represent the first Italic civilization
with the necessary energy to undertake a policy of expansion, generated more by the frenzy
of economic growth than by a conscious desire for power.
Without meeting any organized opposition, between the 7th and 6th century BC, the growth
of Etruscan influence covered a vast area of the Italian peninsula, from the plain of the
Po in the north to Campania in the south. With their products, Etruscan merchants reached
all the Mediterranean ports and were everywhere rivals, and not always peacefully, with
the Greeks and Phoenicians.
The Etruscans achieved the peak of their military and commercial strength around the
middle of the 6th century when, after having occupied the ports of eastern Corsica, they
became the acknowledged masters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
During this phase of territorial expansion, the Etruscans came into conflict with the
Carthaginians, their traditional allies, and the Greeks of the colonies of southern Italy,
fiercer adversaries, whilst in the north, the Celts, divided into tribes and culturally
backward, did not represent any real threat.
The glory and the decline (from the second half of the 5th to the 3rd century BC)
Allies of Carthage, the Etruscans had been able to dominate the Greek colonies in the
south of Italy, successfully opposing their expansion both on land and at sea.
From the second half of the 5th century BC onwards however, the situation changed
radically. Whilst the Etruscan cities had reached the peak of their economic development,
the Greek colonies were undergoing a period of overwhelming cultural and political growth.
On the border between Etruria and Latium, a new and consistent danger had also appeared:
the city of Rome which, once dominated and ruled by an Etruscan dynasty, had gained its
independence, and gone on to the attack.
The decline of the Etruscans began at sea in 474 BC, when the Greeks of Italy, led by the
city of Syracuse, defeated them at Cuma in a decisive defeat. After this, they lost
control over the Tyrrhenian Sea.
On land as well, the situation rapidly deteriorated, and in less than a century Etrurian
Campania was conquered by local populations, whilst the Etrurian plain of the Po was
invaded by Celts from the northern side of the Alps.
From the mid 4th century BC, the once flourishing commercial and military power of the
Etruscans was thus reduced to city-states which retreated into their original territories
in central Italy.
In the end, they also participated in the final struggle against the newly born Roman
power during the 3rd century BC. The proud city-states, lacking a strong national
identity, were not able to co-ordinate any real resistance and were thus defeated one by
one.
With the loss of political independence, the cycle of an ancient people who for centuries
had been the cultural and economic leaders of the western Mediterranean came to an end.
Bonfante, L., Etruscan Dress, Baltimore
(1973)
Bonfante, L., "Human Sacrifice on an Etruscan
Urn," American Journal of Archaeology no. 88 (1984) 531-539
Bonfante, L., Etruscan Life and Afterlife, Detroit (1986)
Larissa Bonfante, "Etruscan Women," in Women in
the Classical World edited by E. Fantham, H. P. Foley, N. B. Kampen, S. B. Pomeroy and H.
A. Shapiro: Oxford University Press (1994) 243-259
Larissa Bonfante, "Etruscan Sexuality and Funerary
Art," in Sexuality in Ancient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy edited by N.
Kampen, Cambridge (1996)
Larissa Bonfante, "Etruscan couples and their
aristocratic society," in Reflections of Women in Antiquity edited by H. Foley (1981)
323-341
Bonfante-Warren, L., "Roman Costumes: A Glossary and
Some Etruscan Derivatives," ANRW no. 1.4 (1973) 584 614
Bonfante-Warren, L., "Roman Triumphs and Etruscan
Kings. The Changing Face of the Triumph," Journal of Roman Studies no. 60 (1970)
49-66
de Grummond, N., "Rediscovery," in Etruscan
Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies edited by L. Bonfante, Detroit (1968)
142-159
Birgitte Ginge, "Women in Etruria: The Case of
Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa,," AJA 97 (1993) 338ff.
Guarducci, M., Il conubium nei riti del matrimonio
etrusco e di quello romano, Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Communale di Roma
no. 55 (1929) 205-24
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(1969) 25-44
Hanfmann, G. M. A., "Daedalos in Etruria,"
American Journal of Archaeology no. 39 (1935) 189-94
Holliday, P. J., "Processional Imagery in Late
Etruscan Funerary Art," American Journal of Archaeology no. 94 (1990) 73-93
Marcadé, Jean, Roma Amor: Essay on Erotic Elements
in Etruscan and Roman Art, Geneva (1965)
Marshall, F. H., Catalogue of the Finger Rings: Greek,
Etruscan, and Roman, Oxford (1968)
Marshall, F. H., Catalogue of the Jewellery: Greek,
Etruscan, and Roman, Oxford (1969)
Marjatta Nielsen, "Women and Family in a Changing
Society: A Quantitative Approach to Late Etruscan Burials," AnalRom (1989) 17-18
Marjatta Nielsen, "Sacerdotesse e associazioni
cultuali femminili in Etruria: testimonianze epigrafiche ed iconografiche," AnalRom
19 (1990) 45-62
Richardson, E. H., "The Etrusacan Origin of Early
Roman Sculpture," MAAR no. 21 (1953) 110-116
Richardson, E. H., The Etruscans: Their Art and
Civilization, Chicago (1964)
Andrew Stewart, "Mirrors of Desire," in
Sexuality in Ancient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy edited by N. Kampen,
Cambridge (1996)
Anthony S. Tuck, "The Etruscan Seated Banquet:
Villanovan Ritual and Etruscan Iconography," AJA 98.4 (1994) 617
Vermeule, C. C., and A. Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The
Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Museums, Cambridge, Mass.
(1990)
Larissa Bonfante Warren, "The Women of
Etruria," Arethusa 6 (1973) 91-102
Here is a Etruscan reading
list which contains important books on Etruscan and Strega topics. These are the best
introductory texts available:
Cles-Reden, Sibylle. The buried people;
a study of the Etruscan world. Translated from German by C.M. Woodhouse.
London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955. Cles-Redden discusses the afterlife and its
religious aspects in Chapter 12. She specifically discusses Christianity, and the facets
of it that she suggests are Etruscan in origin, specifically the role of demons and other
creatures of Hell. She argues that the Etruscan presence was felt by the Church well into
Medieval times. It is fairly unique discussion. Davis and Undergraduate Libraries:
DG223 .C614 
