ETRURIA, e-troo'ri-a (Greek Tyrrhenia), the name anciently given to that part of Italy which corresponded with the greater part of modern Tuscany and part of Umbria, and was bounded by the Mediterranean, the Apennines, the river Magra and the Tiber. The name Tus cia, for the country, came into use in late times, while Tusci, as well as Etrusci, was used by the Romans as the appellation of the people from an early period. The oldest inhabitants of the country belonged, according to the accounts of the ancients, to the Umbrian stock and were dispossessed by the Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians, a people who came by sea and who were gen erally believed to be Lydians. These again were in early times subjected by another race who called themselves Rasena and who finally became incorporated with the Tyrrhenians proper, the whole nation then being called Tus cans or Etruscans. These Rasena, by ancient writers usually confounded with the Tyrrhe nians, entered Italy at a very early period from the north and gradually took possession of the whole country from the Alps, Ticino and lower Adige on the south.
To what race the Etruscans belonged is un known and our ignorance is equally great with regard to their language, remains of which still exist in numerous inscriptions mostly on tombs. It appears to have been quite distinct from the languages of the rest of Italy, but attempts to conncct it with the Greek, Celtic, Germanic or Semitic languages have had little or no success. The characters used are essentially the ancient Greek and were either introduced from Magna Gra-cia or possibly from Corinth. Etruria was very early a confederation under the rulers of the 12 principal cities, each of which formed a republic by itself. The chiefs of these republics were styled lucumones, who were also the priests and generals and held their meetings in the temple of Voltumna, where they deliberated to gether on the general affairs of the country. In all the cities there appears to have been an aristocracy, toward which the mass of the com mon people stood in the relation of clients, though there would no doubt be a body of en tirely free men resembling the plebeians at Rome. The religion of the Etruscans offers a subject of great difficulty, but it is at least cer tain that it had many points in common with the religious systems of the Sabines and Latins, while in some respects it shows evidences of an Eastern origin. Among the deities may be men tioned Tina or Tinia, corresponding to the Latin Jupiter; Cupra, corresponding to Juno; Menerfa (Minerva) ; Sethlans (Vulcan) ; Turms (Mercury); and Aplu or Apulu (Apollo).
What may be called the Etruscan Era com menced about 1044 B.C. They became the domi nant race in northern and central Italy and Rome itself fell under their rule and was ruled by Etruscan kings. In the maritime wars they were in alliance with Carthage against Greece. The zenith of their power was in the 6th cen tury B.C., when with the Greelcs and the Phceni cians they shared the maritime supremacy of the Mediterranean. Their naval power was shattered in 474 ac. by Hiero I of Syracuse and after this their decline was rapid. The Gauls swarmed over the Alps in 396 ac.; in 351 the southern Etruscans made submission to the Romans; and the process of conquest was com pleted by the subjugation of the northern Etruscans in 282 ac. After this they became
merged in their conquerors, on whom they ex ercised a considerable influence in religious, social and political life.
The chief occupations of the Etruscans were agriculture and commerce, both maritime and overland. Grain, wine, timber, cattle and wool seem to have been the principal articles of trade. The staple food of the common people was pulse, but the upper classes were notorious for extravagance in their diet as well as in dress and in furniture. Their knowledge of the arts and sciences is said to have been derived mainly from Greece and in a less degree from Egypt. The iron mines and copper mines in the interior of Etruria were worked at a very remote pe riod and the metallurgical skill shown by the Etruscans was obviously connected with their proficiency in the art of worlcing in bronze, silver, gold, etc. Of Etruscan architecture our knowledge is limited; but their cities were laid out on a quadrangular plan and strongly forti fied. The so-called Tuscan order seems to be little else than a modification of the Doric. Of their temples there exist no traces; the theatres have been more fortunate, that at Fiesole show ing how much in this form of construction they owed to the Greeks. The sepulchres, which were always subterranean, but frequently having superstructures of an architectural character surmounting them, present many varieties of construction.
For articles in terra-cotta the Etruscans were especially celebrated. These were not restricted to small objects, but embraced statues and figures of large size, with which the exteriors and interiors of their temples were adorned Closely related to this branch of art was the Etruscan pottery, in the manufacture of which they excelled; but the only extant productions of this class that can be said to be genuine are the red ware of Arretium and the black ware of Clusium ornamented with figures in relief, many of them of a grotesque and strongly-marked Oriental character. On the other hand, numbers of the painted vases popularly known as Etrus can vases are undoubtedly productions of Greek workmen, the subjects, the style and the inscrip tions being all Greek. The skill of the Etrus cans in works of bronze is attested by many ancient writers, and also by numerous extant specimens. The style of art characteristic of these works is stiff and archaic, having some resemblance to the early Greek, though some of the existing specimens exhibit more freedom of design and great beauty of execution. The bronze candelabra, of which many examples have been preserved, were eagerly sought after both in Greece and Rome. Another branch of art which seems to have been peculiar to this people was that of the engraved bronze mirrors, a considerable number of which has been dis covered, some quite recently. These mirrors were polished on one side, and have on the other an engraved design, taken in most cases from Greek legend or mythology. Consult Dennis, 'The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria' (1892) ; Seymour, 'Up Hill and Down Dale in Ancient Etruria' (1910).