2. ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION
Origins:
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in an area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. Their Roman name is the origin of the names of Tuscany, their heartland, and Etruria, their wider region.
The Attic Greek word for them was Tyrrhēnioi, from which Latin also drew the name Mare Tyrrhēnum (Tyrrhenian Sea). The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna.
Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The Etruscans were influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbours in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy.
There is considerable evidence that early Rome was dominated by Etruscans until the Romans sacked Veii in 396 BC.

3. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory
The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. The main hypotheses are that they are indigenous, probably stemming from the Villanovan culture, or that they are the result of invasion from the north or the Near East.
Rome is located on the edge of what was Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome, but the settlements are now known to have preceded Rome.

4. Social Structure:
Etruscan settlements were frequently built on a hill—the steeper the better—and surrounded by thick walls.
It is believed that the Etruscan government style changed from total monarchy to oligarchic democracy (as the Roman Republic) in the 6th century. But it is important to note this did not happen to all the city states.
At right: Etruscan walled town, Civita di Bagnoregio.
Military:
The Etruscans, like the contemporary cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, had a significant military tradition. In addition to marking the rank and power of certain individuals in Etruscan culture, warfare was a considerable economic boon to Etruscan civilization. Like many ancient societies, the Etruscans conducted campaigns during summer months, raiding neighboring areas, attempting to gain territory and combating piracy as a means of acquiring valuable resources such as land, prestige, goods, and slaves. 

5. Religion:
The Etruscan system of belief was polytheistic. All visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities.
There were three levels of gods:
1. The indigenous or lesser gods of the sun, moon, love, war, death, etc.
2. Ruling over the lesser gods were the higher ones, common to many Indo-European culture such as the sky god and the Earth goddess.
3. As well, the Etruscans incorporated Greek gods into their pantheon such as Athena, Dionysus and Artemis as well as great heroes from Homer’s epics.
Architecture:
The architecture of the ancient Etruscans adopted the external Greek architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. The Etruscans also had much influence over Roman architecture.

6. Art, Music and Literature:
Etruscan art was the form of art clearly derived from real sources produced by the Etruscan civilization in northern Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly life-size on sarcophagi or temples) and cast bronze, wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors).
Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.

7. The World of the Etruscans Uncovered by Archaeologists
Close up detail on a wheel of an Etruscan chariot, c. 530 BC

8. Most examples we find now are funerary inscriptions in tombs or identification of ownership on common place items (mirrors, urns).
Unlike Greek and Latin, Etruscan, the third great ancient language of culture in Italy, does not survive in any great literary works. An Etruscan religious literature did exist and evidence suggests that there was a body of historical literature and drama as well.
There is also evidence to suggest music and plays were written in form.
Etruscans had a written language.
Partially decipherable, it contains many different dialects and interpretations.
The Pyrgi Tablets: laminated sheets of gold with a treatise both in Etruscan and Phoenician languages.

9. 6th century BC chariot

12. Marble table with Etruscan writing
The Etruscans building one of their cities on the sea coast
Reconstruction of an Etruscan ship
Etruscan walled city

13. Medical Instruments The Etruscans excelled in the therapeutic use of herbs, animal substances, minerals and special waters. They also were capable surgeons. The terracotta pot and bronze saucers were likely used to store and mix medical ointments. The bronze probes were used for surgery. These instruments date from the 6th – 2nd centuries B.C.

14. The Etruscan Afterlife
Tomb sites are most of the archeological evidence of the culture. The aristocracy were buried in rich tombs or necropolises next to cities such as Tarquinia, Caere, Vulci and Veii.
Etruscan tombs were designed as houses for the dead. They featured windows, doors and porticos. They were cozy places, really, equipped with paintings of beds, livestock, and even luxury items like slippers. For these people, death was simply a joyful continuation of life.

15. Underground tomb with typical furniture
Cart used to transport the body

18. But there was a dark side to the Etruscan afterlife
But there was a dark side to the Etruscan afterlife. This was dramatically revealed in 1985 when an Etruscan tomb was discovered that shocked archeologists. Besides the usual enchanting images normally found in Etruscan tombs, there were now paintings of a hooked-nose Blue Demon, a creature from the Etruscan underworld.
This image was intended not to reassure, but to terrify.
Something had changed for the Etruscans. By dating the tomb, archeologists reasoned their civilization was now being threatened by the rise of another Italian civilization - the Romans.
The Etruscans knew they had to resist them, so from this point on in history, their tombs became a powerful call to arms. They were a constant reminder to their warriors that if they succeeded in defeating the Romans, there was a happy afterlife for them. But if they failed -- they were dammed.
This tomb was only discovered in 1985, after being found during some road works. It is located by the side of the road, adjacent to the Calvario area of the Monterozzi necropolis, although it is not usually open to the public. It is named after the blue and black skinned demons depicted on the right hand wall. This tomb has depictions of hunting scenes and a funeral banquet with four or five couples on clines, combined with a new theme of the deceased departing on a chariot to the underworld.

19. The scenes are a departure from earlier scenes of a happy afterlife, and depict a view of the underworld inhabited by hideous demons. This is one of the few tombs which depict Charon (Etruscan Charun) as the ferryman, in the Greek tradition.
However all the demons are typically Etruscan in terms of iconography. In most cases, Charun is seen at the entrance to the underworld, carrying a large mallet. The probable use of this mallet was to open the city gates to Hades. It has been suggested that the gatekeeper at an Etruscan city would have been equipped with a similar mallet to unlock the huge wooden beams that held it secure.

20. May 26, 2003
The world's oldest multiple-page book - in the lost Etruscan language - has gone on display in Bulgaria's National History Museum in Sofia. It contains six bound sheets of 24 carat gold, with illustrations of a horse-rider, a mermaid, a harp and soldiers.
The small manuscript, which is more than two-and-a-half millennia old, was discovered 60 years ago in a tomb uncovered during digging for a canal along the Strouma river in south-western Bulgaria.
The six sheets are believed to be the oldest comprehensive work involving multiple pages.
The Etruscans - one of Europe's most mysterious ancient peoples - are believed to have migrated from Lydia, in modern western Turkey, settling in northern and central Italy nearly 3,000 years ago.
They were wiped out by the conquering Romans in the fourth century BC, leaving few written records. 

21. The Gate of Volterra: the first known Archway in history

22. “Nearly the whole of Italy was once under Etruscan Rule.”
– Cato, 2nd Century BC