The Etruscans
The Etruscans were an enigmatic race that populated much of Italy between the rivers Po and Tiber. The Etruscans were seen as a strange, different people in antiquity and had little or no similarities in culture or traditions with there neighbours. Historians believe that the Etruscan civilization was established between the tenth and eleventh century BC. There has been evidence from archaeological digs that the Etruscans were living in Italy from at least the time of the Iron Age and it is also believed that the Etruscans ended up laying the foundation of Rome. However most historians are still uncertain about the origin of the Etruscan development and culture.
Of the well-known Etruscan cities, the majority are virtually unexplored, and some of them are now buried underneath new towns that arose before the archaeologists could find out where these cities were. Others have been found by accident and had only a brief and limited excavation time. There were seven major centres in the Etruscan territory. They were: Tarquinii, Caere, Vulci, Vetulonia, Volaterrae, Clusium and Veii.
Tarquinii was the first Etruscan centre to respond to an external desire for its metals by completing the process of urbanization. It was positioned on the southwest tip of the territory. It was surrounded by land on three sides, and water on the other. It controlled much of the mining in Etruria and was one of the major port centres for the empires naval ships.
Caere was strategically located at the junction of the coastal plains and the hills, and history suggests that it may have also had access to the mines of Tarquinii. The people of Caere were very strong on the sea. They were very involved in importing ...
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...ennium. Fifteen hundred years after the decline of the gifted Etruscans and the place they lived the Renaissance started and another great era began.
Bibliography:
Bibliography
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The two cities, Tiryns and Mycenae, were both built in the Mycenaean Period, and became the two greatest cities of Mycenaean Greece. They became cultural epicentres for the Greeks because of the beautiful architecture and temples. The two cities lay very close to each other, not more than twenty kilometres away on the Argolid Plain in the North East of the Peloponnese. Tiryns lay on top of a hill, over looking the marshy Plain of Argolis and was situated three miles from the sea. This allowed Tiryns to have good farming, good trade, from the sea and road as the Argolid was a key trade route and an easily defendable city. Mycenae also lay on top of a naturally defendable hill, over looking a fresh water supply. To both sides of the city, lay large mountains, providing more fortifications for the city. Both cities' walls were surrounded by fertile soil suitable for farming, with good irrigation because of the slopes. The geographical specifics of the two cities are very alike, allowing both cities to become very prosperous through farming and trade. This is what allowed the two cities to develop into the two greatest cities of Mycenaean times.
ed. Rostand, Edmond. The "Rostand, Edmond The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 22nd ed. of the book. 1994.
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Boëthius, A., Ling, R., & Rasmussen, T. (1978). Etruscan and early Roman architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Damrosch, David, and David Pike. The Longman Anthology of World Literature. The Ancient World. Volume C. Second Edition. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2009. Print.
Tylor, Edward B. (1977). Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. London:John Murray