Inland Etruria and the Etruscan nation
Inland Etruria, located in modern-day Tuscany, Umbria and
northern Lazio, can be divided into two areas. The first and
northern part had a hilly landscape and was rich in water
and vegetation whilst the second was also rich in water and
vegetation, but characterized by volcanic lakes surrounded
by volcanic lakes. The coasts of both these regions are a
series of sandy shores, rocky promontories, lagoons and marshes.
The twelve cities, which according to tradition, made up the
powerful twelve-city Etruscan league, stood in this territory.
The historically most important cities were, from south to
north: Veio, Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci, Roselle, Vetulonia,
Populonia, Volterra, Volsinii, Chiusi, Perugia, Cortona, Arezzo
and Fiesole. The Etruscans were a culturally homogeneous group
of independent city-states which, during the various historical
periods, succeeded one another in leading the process of commercial
and territorial expansion. The different cities often made
pacts of a military or economic type but there was no lack
of conflicts and jealousy.
The
reasons for the military defeats of the Etruscans against
neighbouring peoples are to be found in this scarce capacity
for coordination. These defeats led to economic decline in
the first place and subsequently to the disappearance of the
Etruscans as a political entity. Once a year the representatives
of the Etruscan peoples met at the Fanum Voltumnae, a sacred
place, the exact location of which is still unknown, in the
territory of the city of Volsinii (modern-day Orvieto). Here
the representatives of the twelve cities dealt with political
and economic affairs and worshipped their common gods. An
important market was held at the same time as the religious
celebrations and the political meetings, attracting people
from all the surrounding territories.
Etruscan
Campania
The territory controlled directly by the Etruscans included
vast properties in Campania from very remote times. This region
was in fact a natural point of passage on the commercial routes
to Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean, as well as a point
of departure for military expeditions. The strategic significance
of dominating this region was therefore considerable: possessing
this region meant controlling access to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Etruscan
settlers colonized the area from the 7th century BC, first
of all along the coast of the Gulf of Salerno and then they
expanded their control to the whole of the plain of Campania,
at the rear of the Greek colonies of the Gulf of Naples. Enriched
by commercial trade, prosperous cities gew up, the most important
of which was Capua. The
commercial and military confrontation with the Greek colonies
of the south of Italy lasted for a long time without either
side emerging either victorious or defeated, until the Syracusan
fleet inflicted a harsh defeat on the Etruscans in 474 BC
near Cape Miseno. Having lost control of the sea, the trade
of the Etruscan cities of Campania rapidly collapsed, and
with it their economic wealth.
Furthermore,
Syracuse, the most powerful rival, had come into possession
of the key to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was thus that in 453
BC, a fleet from the Sicilian city devastated, with no opposition,
the commercial ports of Etruria; Etruscan power was now in
full decline. Shortly after that, Etruscan Campania was to
be definitively crushed by the local Sannitic populations.
In 430 BC, with the fall of Capua, Etruscan domination of
the region came to an end.
The Etruscan plain of the Po
Under the impetus of economic growth and following commercial
routes, the Etruscans, in the 6th century BC, crossed the
Appennines going north and began the colonization of the plain
of the Po. According to legend, twelve cities gew up in the
region, the first being Felsina (modern-day Bologna). Already
familiar with the region through trade, the Etruscan colonizers
did not encounter any rivals capable of offering resistance.
The
fertile plain of the Po represented very favourable land for
the advanced methods of Etruscan agriculture and a major point
of passage to reach markets lying on the other side of the
Alps. This prolific ramification of the Etruscan kingdom was
to last only a short period of time. As early as the first
decade of the 4th century BC, Celtic populations continued
to arrive from north of the Alps looking for fertile lands
where they could settle. They gradually chased out the Etruscans
from the territories the latter had occupied and destroyed
their cities. By
mid-century, only a few small centres on the Adriatic coast
resisted, but by then Etruscan control in the plain of the
Po had waned forever.
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