The Etruscan Religion

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The origin of the Etruscans is a mystery, still unsolved by modern man. Ancient peoples held an almost unanimous opinion on the subject, based on the account of the first great Greek historian, Herodotus, who wrote in about 800 B. C. as follows: In the reign of Atys, son of Manes, a great famine is said to have occurred in the whole of Lydia. For some time, the Lydians persisted in carrying on their usual life; then as the famine did not abate, they sought remedies and some thought of one thing and some thought of another. It is said that is was then that the game of dice, the game of knuckles, games of ball and other games were invented but not the game of draughts, the invention of which the Lydians do not claim. And this is how they made their inventions serve them in combating hunger. On any two days they played throughout one whole day, so as to distract their attention from the search for food. The next day they stopped playing and ate. They lived in this manner for eighteen years. But as the evil, instead of subsiding, continued to grow in violence, the king divided the Lydian people into two groups; and he drew lots for one of them to stay, the other to leave the country. He put himself at the head of the group which was to stay, and at the head of the group which was leaving, he put his son Tyrrhenos. Those Lydians who were designated by lot to leave the country went town to Smyrna, built ships, loaded these ships with all the valuable objects they possessed, and set sail to seek a territory and a means of livelihood until, after skirting the shores of many lands, they reached the land of the Umbrians. There they founded towns, in which they live until this day. But they changed their name of Lydians for anot... ... middle of paper ... ...786; 9-65; 10-99; 12-736, 838; 13-743; 16-948; 18-343; 19-397, 402, 464, 475, 490, 493, 789, 791, 995; 21-995; 22-227, 678; 23-50, 118, 157 9. World Book Encyclopedia, Field Enterprises, Incorporated, 1957, Volume 5, Pages 2398-2399 10. Bloch, Raymond, The Etruscans, Thames and Hudson, 1958, Pages 51-254 11. Greenough, James B.; D’Ooge, Benjamin L.; Daniell, M. Grant, Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Ginn and Company, 1900, Vocabulary page 25 12. MacArthur, John Robertson, Ancient Greece in Modern America, Caxton Printers, 1943, Page 81 13. Randall-Maciver, David, The Etruscans, Clarendon Press, 1927, Pages 1-150 14. Showerman, Grant, Rome and the Romans, Macmillan Company, Pages 20, 23, 227, 310 15. Treble, H. A.; Wertz, A. E., Everyday Life in Rome, Oxford University, 1936, Pages 13, 22 16. Bloch, Raymond, “In Search of the Etruscans,” Horizon, May, 1960, Pages 56-79

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