A heartland between two rivers
Picture the boot of Italy and put your finger on its western shin. The Arno, the river of Florence, closes Etruria to the north; the Tiber, the river of Rome, runs along its southern and eastern edge; the Apennines rise behind it; the Tyrrhenian Sea washes its coast. Beyond the Tiber lived other Italic peoples, the Umbrians and the Picenes, strong enough to stop the Etruscans from crossing. Within those limits the Etruscans built their cities, each independent, each with its own territory, port or mines; Roman tradition counted twelve.
They liked high ground. Most cities stood on plateaus that were easy to defend, and at Tarquinia the cemetery covers the ridge facing the city. Orvieto still shows the type: the town sits on an isolated rock about 195 metres above the junction of two rivers.
The southern cities, close to Rome and the sea
The richest cities lay in the south, in today’s northern Lazio, a few kilometres from the coast. Veii was the closest to Rome, about 16 km to the north-west, less than a day’s walk, which explains why the two were rivals for so long. Cerveteri, ancient Caere, had its harbour at Pyrgi, where its ruler dedicated a sanctuary in two languages; its necropolis is laid out like a town. Tarquinia, the Etruscan Tarchuna, stood on a hill about 3 km north-east of the modern town, which is itself 7 km from the sea. Further north, Vulci lay about 16 km from the sea and grew rich on trade, bronze workshops and the minerals of nearby Monte Amiata; so many Greek vases came out of its tombs that much of its pottery is now in the Louvre, in Munich and in the British Museum.
The north: metal and hill towns
Northern Etruria, in today’s Tuscany, had the metals. Populonia, on the Monte Massoncello peninsula, was the only large Etruscan city right on the sea, and it existed because of the island of Elba across the water: ore from Elba was smelted there, leaving vast heaps of slag, and Populonia was the first city in Etruria to strike silver coins, in the second half of the fifth century BCE. Inland, Volterra, the Etruscan Velathri, counted among the twelve cities of the Etruscan league; its walls were enlarged in the fourth and third centuries BCE and two of its gates survive. Vetulonia, in the same region, is another of the great excavated sites.
Beyond Etruria: the Po valley and Campania
Expansion came city by city, probably without a common plan, and peaked in the sixth century BCE. To the north, the Etruscans crossed the Apennines, made the old settlement of Bologna, which they called Felsina, their capital in the Po valley, and founded Marzabotto on the river Reno. Its Etruscan name was Kainua, and its streets are laid out on a grid: a wide north-south street crossed by three east-west streets, with long, narrow blocks of houses and workshops between them. On the Adriatic coast Spina, Ravenna and Rimini traded with the Greek world. To the south, Capua became the main Etruscan city in Campania, with Nola second, while the coast stayed Greek. Out at sea, Corsica fell under Etruscan and Carthaginian influence after the battle of Alalia, around 535 BCE.
None of these outposts lasted. The south was cut off when the Etruscans lost Latium at the end of the sixth century, and Marzabotto was abandoned in the fourth, when the Celts moved into the Po valley.
Where to see it on the ground
From Rome, Veii is about 16 km away, and Cerveteri and Tarquinia, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, lie to the north-west near the coast, each with its necropolis and museum. In Tuscany, the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum in Volterra holds more than 600 cinerary urns. At Marzabotto, the Museo Nazionale Etrusco Pompeo Aria stands at the entrance to the excavated town; check opening times before you travel.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Etruscan”, “Veii”, “Tarquinia”, “Vulci”, “Populonia”, “Volterra”, “Orvieto”.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia” (1158).
- Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, record of the Pyrgi tablets.
- Città metropolitana di Bologna, museum guide: Museo Nazionale Etrusco Pompeo Aria and the Etruscan city of Kainua.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline: C. and S. Hemingway, “Etruscan Art” (2004).
