Among the most interesting aspects of the Etruscans are their mysterious origins. Language, the most reliable method for tracing the migrations of peoples in prehistoric times, offers no clue. The linguistic evidence makes it clear that the Etruscans were not part of the Indo-European migration.
Herodotus wrote that the Etruscans came from Lydia. This seems to be correct, though it does not solve the riddle of their background because they do not appear to have been related to the Lydians either.
The idea of an Etruscan migration from Asia Minor, however, does offer two interesting points to ponder. First, such a migration seems to fit with the Aeneas legend and may have been its source. It is more likely, though, that such a migration would have taken place across land, rather than by sea. Second, the probable date of the Etruscans' move from Asia Minor to the Italian peninsula—some time between 1200 and 1100 b. c.—fits well with a pattern of upheaval at about the same time. The Dorians overwhelmed the Mycenaeans after 1200 b. c., an invasion that resulted from movements of population in the north of Greece. Of even greater significance was the appearance, in about 1200 B. C., of the mysterious "Sea Peoples" who destroyed the Hittites, ransacked the port of Ugarit, and menaced Egypt. Could the migrations of the Sea Peoples have ultimately led to those of the Dorians and the Etruscans?
By shame that she killed herself. This act led to a revolt that overthrew Tarquinius.
As always with early Rome, it is difficult to sort out legend from fact, though it is certain that the Etruscans began a slow, steady decline. Two years after the removal of Tarquinius (the date is not entirely certain, though traditionally it has been identified as 507 b. c.), the triumphant Romans founded the Roman Republic, which was to last for more than 400 years.
World History
