Episode 21 The Etruscan World Falls Apart

The Mysterious Etruscans

Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)

Film Review

Rome conquered Etruria in gradual steps:

• 396 BC – Rome conquers Veiji
• 358-51 BC – brutal war between Rome an the other major Etruscan cities, followed by 40-year truce.
• 311 BC – Central Italy’s Samnites, Umbreites and Celts assist the Etruscan cities in resisting Roman military aggression.
• 294 BC – Rome defeats Tarquinia
• 293 BC – Rome defeats Orvieto
• 280 BC – Rome defeats Vulchi
• 273 BC – Rome elects to occupy Cheveteri, Vulchi and Orvieto instead of relying on treaties and puppet Etruscan aristocrats to subdue hostile lower class Etruscans and pay duty.
• 264 BC – Rome forcibly exiles the resident of Orvieto to Bulsenna and razed it to the ground.* Opposition to Roman rule prompt a cultural renaissance in the other  Etruscan league cities who continue to thrive in their trade with Greek colonies.
• 218-204 During Rome’s wars with Carthage, the Etruscan cities ally with Hannibal during his invasion of Italy.
• 211 BC – Rome conquers Capua and executes all Etruscan rebels who supported Hannibal. Roman aristocrats create vast estates of conquered Etruscan land and worked it with (Greek and Etruscan) slave labor. Unable to compete, the Etruscan rural poor are forced to move into the cities.
• 91-88 BC – Rome’s refusal to grant their Soqui allies Roman citizenship leads to the Social War. Some of these Soqui cities (like Pompei) were old Etruscan communities.
• 83-82 BC During his coup against the Roman consul Marus, the Roman general Sulla occupies and sacks the remaining Etruscan league cities.
• 41 BC – During the Perusian War, Octavia (the future Augustus) besieges and sacks the Etruscan City of Perusia, which was occupied by his adversary Mark Antony.

Etruscan religious, cultural and (some) political institutions continued long after Roman conquest. The Etruscan league continued to elect annually a judicial officer known as the Praeter Etruriae until the Goth invasion in the 4th century AD. Etruscan divination schools also continued until 410 AD. The emperor Claudius, known for lecturing the Roman senate about the Etruscans, restored the Harupuces, the Etruscan college of divination.

The Etruscan language persisted in Tunisia where it was used for boundary stones until the first century AD. There is also evidence of an Etruscan colony in Thebes (in Egypt), where an ancient Etruscan linen document was used to wrap a mummy. Tuck believes Rome may have exiled Etruscans to North Africa when it resettled their cities.

*During the period 327 -218 BC, Rome also conquered and occupied all the Greek colonies in southern Italy.

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/239710/239651