The Etruscans
The scholars agree that the roots of Etruscan culture were indigenous. The people of Central Italy during the Bronze Age, about 3000-1000 BC, were the ancestors of the people in the Iron Age, about 1000-1 BC, who inhabited this area which the Romans called Etruria. Etruscan sites are found from north of Bologna to south of Rome. Etruria proper was roughly the territory between the rivers Arno and Tiber, including Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Latium. The city of Rome itself was founded by Etruscans, the myth of Romulus and Remus was created in the 3rd century BC and perpetuated during the reign of Augustus to hide that fact. Even the legend of the she-wolf has Etruscan origins.
Around 700 BC, borrowing Greek letters, the Etruscans wrote down their own language. We are left with many myths because Etruscan literature didn't survive through Roman conquest and medieval upheavals. What we have is the limited vocabulary of inscriptions found in tombs and on art objects. They provide evidence of an advanced culture that included all aspects of civic, religious, economic and social life. And because the writings of Greeks and Romans tell us very little about the Etruscan history, we must shift for clues in the vast remains of Etruscan art.
Etruria was never a nation-state. There was a federation of 12 cities whose common meeting place was a sanctuary in Velsna, presumed to be modern-day Orvieto. There is no archeological evidence of this site and even which 12 cities were included is uncertain.
Etruria wasn't colonized by the Phoenicians or Greeks, unlike Southern Italy, Sicily, Corsica and the French Riviera. However, the Etruscan culture was heavily influenced by the Greeks. Etruscans visited Greek shrines and shared their own temples. They adopted Greek customs, like the symposium (the formal drinking party), but developed their own rules such as including women. The Etruscan "aristocracy" shared many other values with their Greek counterparts: literacy, enjoyment of epic poetry and the ownership of finely crafted luxury items.
Much of Etruscan art was actually produced by Greek artists. We can tell this not only by the style but also by the signatures of individual artists who had been settling in Etruria since the 7th century BC. Greek painters, sculptors, bronze-smiths, and also carpenters, architects and masons were in great demand for their skills all around the Mediterranean. The oldest reference to the famous Greek mythological craftsman, Daedalus, who lost his son Ikaros on the flight westward, comes from an Etruscan clay jug from the c. 650 BC tomb in the city of Cerveteri. Among the art historians, the highest value is usually given to Greek art, particularly Athenian of the classic period during 5th and 4th centuries BC. It does appear that Etruscan art in some areas was behind the quality and technique produced in Athens, like with vase painting and marble sculpture, but ahead of the Athenians in gold jewelry and terra cotta figures.
The largest archeological sites are at Cerveteri and Tarquinia. Other sites include Tuscania, Veii, Pygri, Perugia, Talamone, Vulci, area around Viterbo, Murlo, Chiusi, Orvieto, Volterra and Marzabotto. Many cities in the Etrurian area have great archeological museums. The most extensive collection of artifacts, and some of the most famous objects, can be found at the Villa Guilia museum in Rome. The museum in Chiusi is smaller but newly remodeled and provides a very interesting and user-friendly experience, highly recommended for people vacationing in Tuscany and Umbria.
The Etruscan Tarquin dynasty ruled Rome until 509 BC. The building of the city continued with Etruscan and Greco-Etruscan artists and craftsmen. The Augustan historian Livy tells us that for the building of the temple of Jupiter on Capitoline hill, artisans came from all over Etruria. With the growth of Rome, Etruscan cities were conquered and absorbed. The first was the city of Veii in 396 BC. Etruscans became increasingly Romanized, their language replaced and eventually in the year 90 BC the rights of Roman citizenship were extended throughout Etruria. Many famous Romans, such as Cicero, were proud of their Etruscan heritage and the emperor Claudius, studied the language and wrote a history of the Etruscans.