This civilization flourished between 950 and 300 BC in the northwestern part of the Apennine peninsula between the Arno River, which flows through Pisa and Florence, and the Tiber, which flows through Rome. Since ancient times, this area has a historical name - Tuscany (in ancient times - Tuscia), named so by the indigenous Italian tribes after the people who inhabited and ennobled it - the Tusks.

Etruria was located in an area with a wonderful mild climate, wide valleys, fertile soil, as if prepared for agriculture by nature itself. There were enough forests and mineral resources, which the Etruscans skillfully exploited, having established the production of wonderful metal products, especially bronze sculptures, which were unparalleled in the entire Mediterranean. Etruscan wines, wheat, flax were also famous. Before others on the Apennine Peninsula, they were engaged in trade, establishing links with all the major trading centers of the Mediterranean, successfully competing with the Phoenicians and Greeks. Their sailors quite often engaged in piracy, which, however, was almost synonymous in those days. And they did it on such a grand scale that the Greeks even formed a legend that the god Dionysus himself, during his wanderings, was captured by the Etruscan pirates. The sea itself was named Tyrrhenian after them, for the Greeks called them Tyrrhenians. The Romans later began to call them Etruscans, they themselves called themselves races or races.

And who, besides the Greeks, equally glorious sailors, could give a name to the sea? But it was the Etruscans who became true thalassocrats - the masters of everything Western Mediterranean.

But they were not only sailors and merchants - the Etruscans founded many cities and colonies in Corsica, Elba, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and Iberia. They also subjugated important areas along the western coast of Italy - Latium and Campania. The Etruscans penetrated into northern Italy, founding a number of cities there as well. They were engaged in draining swamps, erecting stone walls around cities, laying sewers. Representatives of the aristocracy in the Etruscan cities, united in leagues of twelve cities, already lived in stone houses, more like palaces, when the inhabitants of neighboring Rome still lived in primitive buildings.

But it was in Rome, which arose on the hills among the swamps, that the future threat to Etruria was born. A century later, the Etruscans made considerable efforts to subdue the growing Rome - according to legend, the last three Roman kings were representatives of the Etruscan dynasty and did a lot to "cultivate" both the city and its inhabitants. The influence of Etruria spread to almost all of Italy. However, happiness turned away from the Etruscans and failures began to pursue them one after another. At first, the Greeks defeated in a large naval battle their once invincible fleet. Then, outraged by the inappropriate behavior of the king's son, the Romans expelled the entire royal family from the city. Then the Samnites rebelled, after which there was an invasion of the Gauls. Rome, on the other hand, was so strong that it no longer wanted to obey anyone. They learned the lessons of the Etruscans well, adopting a lot in military affairs. Time for Etruria seemed to run faster. The golden age is over: the already former rulers of Rome, still recent allies, had to surrender their cities one by one in heavy battles. But the Romans were insatiable - endless wars required more and more new means. Resistance was brutally suppressed. The last Etruscan city fell in 406 BC. The Romans generously used the distribution of privileges to win over the recalcitrant to their side. The Etruscans reconciled, eventually even switched to Latin.

However, the worst, as it turned out, lay ahead. During the terror of the dictator Sulla, the last Etruscans were destroyed.

The Etruscans gave the Romans a lot - in addition to the already mentioned skills in various crafts and arts, they gave them the alphabet and numbers (the so-called Roman numerals, which we still use today, were actually invented by the Etruscans), even the symbol of Rome - the famous she-wolf - and the one of Etruscan work.

Much is known about the Etruscans. Many, but not all...

Who were they and where did they come to the lands of Italy? Some sources report that they clearly stood out among the surrounding tribes with their stocky figures with large heads and thick arms.
This people was formed by three waves of migration: from the Eastern Mediterranean (Anatolia); because of the Alps (Rezia); from the North Caspian steppes (Scythia).

This theory is supported by the works of Herodotus, which appeared in the 5th century BC. e. According to Herodotus, the Etruscans are natives of Lydia, a region in Asia Minor - Tyrrhens or Tyrsenes, forced to leave their homeland due to catastrophic crop failure and famine. According to Herodotus, this happened almost simultaneously with the Trojan War. Hellanicus from the island of Lesbos mentioned the legend of the Pelasgians who arrived in Italy and became known as Tyrrhenians. At that time, the Mycenaean civilization collapsed and the Hittite empire fell, that is, the appearance of the Tyrrhenes should be dated to the 13th century BC, or a little later. Perhaps this legend is connected with the myth of the escape to the west of the Trojan hero Aeneas and the founding of the Roman state, which was of great importance to the Etruscans. Herodotus' hypothesis is supported by genetic analysis data.

Titus Livy gives a semi-legendary version of the northern origin of the Etruscans from the Alpine tribes. The penetration of migrating northern tribes - carriers of the Protovillanova culture into the Apennine Peninsula is accepted by most experts. Within the framework of this hypothesis, the Etruscan-Rasenians were related to the Alpine Rhets, and in this case it is permissible to consider them as an autochthonous, pre-Indo-European population Central Europe, which absorbed at different times alien cultural and ethnic elements from Sardinia and, possibly, Asia Minor.

And the attitude of the Etruscans towards women shocked the Greeks and Romans so much that they called it immoral. It was unacceptable to them that Etruscan women enjoyed an independent social position and had influence in such important matters as matters of worship.

The origin of the Etruscans remains a mystery to this day. Some archaeologists believe that they migrated from the Aegean region, others that from Northern Europe. Some believe that their culture originated directly in Tuscany, suddenly receiving an impetus for rapid development.

The Etruscans themselves believed that they were the descendants of Hercules.

In the XVI century. Noah was said to have founded twelve cities in Etruria after the Flood, and that his body rests in the vicinity of Rome. Added to this that Hercules of Libya was the founder of Florence. These ideas were very common in the Florentine Academy.

Another mystery is the language of the Etruscans. Despite the fact that about ten thousand different Etruscan texts are known, and we can even read them, no one has yet been able to convincingly prove that he understands what these records mean. Because no one knows what language the Etruscans spoke.

Etruscans(ital. etruschi, lat. tusci, other Greek τυρσηνοί, τυρρηνοί-Tyrrenes, self-named Rasenna, Rasna or Raśna ) - the ancient Aryan tribes of the Hittite-Proto-Slavic tree, inhabited in the first millennium BC. e. northwest of the Apennine Peninsula (region - ancient Etruria, modern Tuscany) and created an advanced civilization that preceded the Roman one and shaped it. Often what is attributed to the Romans is the remains of the Etruscans. The Roman triumphal arch is nothing more than the city arch of the Etruscans. The Capitoline she-wolf was created in Etruria.

Who and where were the Slavs before they were called that? Archaeological discoveries of the last century on the Apennine Peninsula and the Balkans became revolutionary for the historiography of Europe: they led to the emergence of a new field of historiography - Etruscologists, affecting not only ancient and early Roman times. The information obtained provided exhaustive material that made it possible to fully identify the culture of the Etruscans, including language, religion, traditions, rituals, and way of life. These signs of culture made it possible to trace the history of the development of the Etruscan-Roman civilization up to our time. They shed light on many "blank spots" of history and "dark times" of historical literature. They provided answers to fundamental questions concerning the prehistory of the Slavs. The general conclusion is that the Etruscans are Proto-Slavs: big number material data demonstrate the identity of the cultures of the Etruscans and the ancient Slavs, and there is not a single fact that contradicts this. All the fundamental features of the cultures of the Etruscans and the ancient Slavs coincide. In addition, all the fundamental features that unite the cultures of the Etruscans and Slavs are unique and different from other cultures. There is no other nation that would have at least one of these characteristics. In other words, the culture of the Etruscans is not like anyone other than the Slavs, and vice versa, the Slavs are not like anyone in the past, except the Etruscans, i.e. the Etruscans have no other descendants than the Slavs. This is the main reason why the Etruscans are persistently trying to "bury".
Reliable data show that the south of Europe is the homeland of the peoples who are now called Slavs. There are two fundamental authentically confirmed facts of the history of Byzantium: firstly, the population of the European part of Byzantium from the 5th century gradually began to be called Slavs as well; on the other hand, before the formation of the Slavic principalities of the territory of the Roman and Byzantine empires: from the Black Sea to the Alps and the Apennines, the Adriatic coast is the only reliably established territory of the permanent presence of the culture of the ancient Slavs. The name "Slavs" was neither the original name of the people, nor their self-name. This name, going back to the word "glorious", developed in the Middle Ages as a common name for a part of the Byzantine and former Byzantine population, who steadfastly professed the pagan monotheism of the god Perun, and in whose names the ending "glory" was common (Miroslav, Rostislav, etc. ). We are talking about a developed sedentary people with a state social culture, a people whose language structure, pre-Christian religion and traditions date back to the ancient times of Rome. How did this people come into being with such a high state culture - a culture that has been developed over many centuries, is not easy to develop, and was not achieved by all the peoples of the past? Where are the origins high level development of the Slavic principalities in X-XII centuries? What is the prehistory of the Slavs, or, in other words, the pre-Slavic history of the people named by this name (the term "Slavs" appeared only in the 10th century AD). Who really and where were the ancestors of the Slavs? What are myths, hypotheses, and what is reality?
Unfortunately, the historiography of the Slavs cannot be based on reliable written sources. The problem of non-survivability and unreliability of surviving historical written sources is common, but in the case of the prehistory of the Slavs, it is critical - the prehistory of the Slavs on the basis of information alone from the few surviving and repeatedly rewritten monuments of historical literature that managed to survive cannot be reliably reconstructed. The surviving literature of the Middle Ages about the Slavs is scarce and reflects only the confrontation between emerging Christianity and the monotheistic paganism of the god Perun, who was preached by the ancient Slavs (the commitment of the emperors of Byzantium to Christ-Radimir and Perun also fluctuated, some of the emperors were pagans, some were Christians).
But the absence of truthful written information is not the end of historiography. After all, the people are identified not by what the author or the later scribe of the monument of historical literature said about those who are now commonly called the ancient Slavs. There are objective signs of the people and criteria for its identification.
The people are identified by their culture (all its parts), that is, by what has been developed over many centuries. The three fundamental features of culture that are self-sufficient for identifying a people are: language, its structure, pre-Christian religion, traditions, rituals and customs. In other words, if these fundamental signs of culture coincide in two peoples of the present and the past, then this is one and the same people at different times. Culture is incomparably more than just the name of a people. The names of many peoples of Europe were different, changed over time, and this was a source of confusion in written and sources and the subject of speculation at a later time. Only self-name has objective value. For the historical identification of the people, the fourth fundamental feature is also important - the level of social culture: sedentary state, semi-nomadic, nomadic.
In the first millennium BC. Etruscans occupied most of the territory of the Apennine Peninsula, the southern part of the Alps and the Adriatic coast. They determined the development of this region in the last millennium BC. and in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. During the period of the emergence of Rome, the territory of the Etruscan cities stretched from the Alps, from the Veneto-Istrian region to Pompeii. It was one of the most advanced ancient civilizations. The unique features of the Etruscan culture - the presence of writing in a modern alphabetic form, the presence of a full-fledged developed religion, as well as the unique social and federal organization of society - determined the development of this region and all of Europe for many centuries.
Archeology testifies to high degree community culture of the population of the Apennine Peninsula, the Alps and the Adriatic. The degree of this community was, in a number of ways (at least in socio-political development), higher than the community of scattered Greek cities of that time. This is not surprising, because the population lived much more compactly due to the uniqueness of the peninsula and its geographical position and had closer ties than the population of Greek cities scattered over thousands of kilometers along the coasts of various seas.
Rome, as a real stable settlement, arose as one of the cities of the Etruscan federation - the league of cities and, like all other Etruscan cities, was originally ruled by kings. During the reign of Servius Tullius and Superbus Tarquinius, Rome becomes a self-governing, although still economically dependent city. Etruscan religion, writing, numbers, calendar, holidays operated in Rome. After the change in the political structure of Rome - the transition to republican rule, which gave some rights to the plebeians ("latum pedes") - the city became more independent, but this had economic consequences. Not having its own area, Rome experienced difficulties with food. Bread and other products were imported from the sea, through Ostia (Ustia) at the mouth of the Tiber. Rome needed its own agricultural area. As a result of negotiations with the Etruscan kings and military campaigns, mainly with the Samnites, a small area southeast of Rome was annexed to it. The annexed region included some Etruscan cities (Tusculum, Praeneste, Rutula), as well as part of the adjacent lands of the Sabines, Mars, Samnites, Volsci. This "international" region began to be called "Latium" - it is translated from Latin as "extension, environment". In ancient, pre-Roman times, the population of this area were Etruscans, Sabines, Mars, Samnites, Oscans, Umbrians. Of the tribes, only the tribes of Pomptinii, Ufentinii, Guerniki are known. Among the ancient peoples living here, the Latins were not listed. Archaeological evidence shows that Latia was also dominated by Etruscan culture. On one of the picturesque White Hills of this area near the Etruscan city of Tusculum, in which such famous Etruscans as Cato Priscus and Cicero were born, one of the statues of the main ancient god of the Etruscans, Jeova (Jupiter), was installed. Rome proposed a new political system - a republic, which, after several centuries, established itself in the entire Etruscan federation. Wearing an Etruscan tunic (toga) was a sign of Roman citizenship.
It has been established that the basis of the written language of Rome is the Etruscan alphabet and writing. No one, except the Etruscans, had alphabetic writing during the period of the emergence of Rome. The Etruscans were in intense contact with the Phoenicians (Carthage), who are known to have transmitted their alphabet to the Greeks. The earliest known alphabetic text in history - an inscription on the "cup of Nestor", was found in the territory of the Etruscans. The Roman alphabet (Latin alphabet) is the (Roman) variant of the Etruscan alphabet. Just as, say, Ionic, Athenian, Corinthian and others are variants of the Greek alphabet. In Rome, the font of ornate Etruscan letters was changed to simpler and easier to type. The Etruscan script continued to be used by priests on special occasions as well. The language of Rome has the structure of the Etruscan language. The vocabulary of the Latin language was formed on the basis of the Etruscan language and the language of other ethnic groups that arrived in Rome, mainly the Sabines. The pantheon of the ancient gods of Rome was made up of the ancient gods of the Etruscans. Service in the temples of Rome was held according to ancient Etruscan books. Not only kings, but also some of the future Roman emperors and many prominent figures were Etruscans by origin.
In modern historiography, there is an insoluble problem, which consists in the fact that there is no reliable historical data, either written or archaeological, confirming the reality of the ancient tribes of the "Latins"; they were not known before the rise of Rome, nor for three or five centuries after the founding of the city. It is necessary to distinguish between the terms "ancient Latins" and "Latins" (late). In early Roman times, the ancient population of the territory of the future Latia consisted of various peoples, among which the ancient tribe of "Latins" was not known. They were not known to the very first ancient authors - contemporaries of the emergence of Rome and the authors Greek mythology Hesiod, Homer, nor the later historians Thucydides and Herodotus, who wrote already 300 years after the founding of the city. There are no words with the basis "latin", "latin" and in the first published code of laws of Rome "XII tables", written two centuries after the city was founded. The first literary use of the term "Latin society" appeared only more than five centuries after the rise of Rome and denoted usually incomplete citizens of the republic. There is also no archaeological data confirming the existence of the ancient tribe of the "Latins", there is nothing that could be somehow connected with them. Broad and massive attempts to find any real evidence of the existence of the tribe of "Latins" in the territory of Latia were undertaken again in the second half of the last century. But they again did not give the desired result: several more Etruscan cities were discovered in Latia.
Thus, history does not have any data, either written or archaeological, confirming the reality of the existence of the ancient tribes of the "Latins". The terms "Latin", "Latius", "Latins" arose 3-5 centuries after the emergence of Rome. These terms are not directly related to each other, but have a common linguistic root - the Latin word "latum", meaning "broad, general". The word "Latin" can be translated from the "Latin" language as "broad, general", and does not require anything additional to explain its meaning and origin. Such a neutral name for the language is not unique in history - the same name arose for the first common Greek language; it was called "koine dialectos", which in Greek has the same meaning as "Latin" in Latin - that is, " mutual language". The Koine people also never existed. Subsequently, this first name of the Greek language ceased to be widely used, and the question of the possible existence of the Koine tribes disappeared by itself. But this did not happen with the name of the language of Rome, it was preserved and gave rise to the hypothesis of the ancient Latins Something similar is observed today in the process of assimilation of English language backward population of the Pacific islands. The resulting hybrid received the contemptuous name "Pidgin English", or simply "Pidgin", i.e. literally: "pig English". And it is possible that in two thousand years historians will insist on the existence of a separate "pidgin" people.
The language called "Latin" was formed in the Roman Republic several centuries after the emergence of Rome as a result of the mixing of several languages. A similar "Latin" name was given to the small agricultural region of Latium, which is translated from Latin as "extension surrounding". The socio-legal term "Latins" was not ethnic and referred to any inhabitant of the Roman Republic who did not have full Roman citizenship and did not possess all "Roman" rights. A Roman, for example, could not be in bondage to another Roman; at the same time, a Roman could have a Latin slave.
Two centuries after the transition to the republic official language Rome and the language of the army began to be called "Latin", but the republic itself, its citizens, law, then the empire, emperors, all power structures remained "Roman". The terms "Roman" and "Latin" are not equivalent, they have different origins and different content.
The terms "Latin", "Latium", "Latins" are not the only terms whose etymology goes back to the common root "latum". The supreme god of the ancient pantheon of the gods of the Etruscans Jeova (Jupiter) in the Roman Republic was also called "Latiar" (another altar to Jeova was at the same time in Macedonia); "latus fundus" meant "large economy, latifundia", "lati-clavus" means "broad band" and is famous for the fact that senators wore it on their togas, "latum pedes" - plebeians and the bulk of the Roman army, etc. In other words, all Latin words with the stem lati (n) come from one common root - the adjective "wide, general". And history does not have any data that speaks in favor of any ethnic content of these words.
The main linguistic fact of the history of Europe is that Latin and Slavic languages have a common genetic root. The origin of a language cannot be established simply on the basis of the coincidence of certain words, since many words as a result of the development of contacts moved from one language to another. In all modern languages There are a large number of words borrowed from Latin.
The genetic root of a language is the structure of its grammar. Words can easily change, borrow and move from one language to another, but the grammatical structure, structure of the language, its morphology, syntax do not change. The structure of the language, unlike the vocabulary and phonetics, is conservative and does not change, as history shows, for millennia. Grammar stability is demonstrated by all known languages ​​with a long history. Examples are Greek and Latin. The grammar of the Greek language has not changed in 2800 years. All the principles of grammar, categories have been preserved, only some endings in several types of declensions and phonetics have changed. (Phonetics may differ at the same time in different places of residence.) At the same time vocabulary The Greek language has changed almost completely, and it has changed more than once.
The grammar of the Latin language demonstrates the same stability: the structure of grammar, all its categories, principles, forms, constructions have been preserved. Only a few endings have changed. At the same time, the vocabulary of the Latin language was changing. In general, any living language is an example of how much its vocabulary has changed in a relatively short period of time. Every European language currently has a so-called. " old language" - its predecessor, which was used only 7-8 centuries ago. But what unites each language with its "old language" is the structure of the language and grammar.
(to be continued)

The Etruscans, the ancient inhabitants of Central Italy, once called Etruria (modern Tuscany), are one of the most mysterious peoples that I knew.

They had a written language, but modern scientists have managed to decipher only a small part of the records that have come down to us. The rich literature of the Etruscans has been lost, apart from isolated passages, and all that we know of their history has come down to us only through the unflattering comments of Greek and Roman authors.

Ancient Etruscans

Etruria, an area that roughly coincided with the territory of the modern Italian province of Tuscany, was rich in iron and copper ores.

Chimera from Arezzo. Bronze statue of the 5th century. BC e.

Its coast abounded with natural harbors. So the Etruscans were good sailors and were well versed in the art of metalworking.

The basis of their wealth was the maritime trade in ingots, bronze and other goods along the entire coast of Italy and the South.

Around 800 BC e., when Rome was still a cluster of miserable huts clinging to the top of a hill, they already lived in cities.

But Etruscan traders faced fierce competition from the Greeks and Phoenicians.

Around 600 BC. e. the Greeks founded the trading colony of Massilia (modern Marseille) in southern France. With this stronghold, they were able to take control of an important trade route that led along the Rhone River to Central Europe.

The source of the wealth of the Etruscans was the development of mineral reserves; in particular, they owned the largest deposits of copper and iron in the entire Mediterranean. Etruscan artisans made wonderful works of art out of metal, such as this bronze statue of the Chimera, a monster with a lion's head and a snake instead of a tail.

To protect their interests, the Etruscans entered into an alliance with Carthage. The Etruscans owned all the advanced technologies of their time; they built roads, bridges and canals.

From the Greeks they borrowed the alphabet, painted pottery and temple architecture.

In the VI century. BC e. the possessions of the Etruscans expanded north and south of their original region of Etruria. According to Roman authors, at that time 12 large Etruscan cities formed a political union - the Etruscan League.

Founding of the Roman Republic

For some time the Etruscan kings ruled in Rome. The last king was overthrown by a group of Roman aristocrats in 510 BC. e. - this date is considered the moment of the emergence of the Roman Republic (the city of Rome itself was founded in 753 BC).

Since that time, the Romans began to gradually take away power from the Etruscans. At the beginning of the III century. BC e. the Etruscans disappeared from the historical scene; they were swallowed up by Rome's steadily expanding sphere of political influence.

The Romans adopted many ideas from the Etruscans in the field of culture and art, construction, metalworking and military affairs.

Etruria was glorified by skillful artists and artisans, especially since militarily the Etruscans could not compete with the Romans.

Etruscan cities of the dead

The Etruscans buried the dead in spacious necropolises that resembled cities in appearance. In the south of Etruria, they carved tombs from soft tuff rocks and decorated them inside as housing.

Often statues were placed in the tombs, depicting the deceased husband and his wife, sitting sprawled on a bench, as if during a feast.

The ancestral home of the Etruscans occupied part of modern Tuscany. They grew rich through the maritime trade in metal ores and, with the help of wealth, expanded their influence in the northern part of Italy.

Other tombs were decorated with frescoes, also depicting feasts, the participants of which were entertained by musicians and dancers.

Etruscan art

A significant part of the tombs was looted by thieves, but archaeologists managed to find many untouched tombs.

As a rule, they contained many Greek vases, as well as chariots, items made of gold, ivory and amber, testifying to the wealth of the Etruscan aristocrats buried there.

Main dates

The Etruscans, as one of the most highly developed civilizations of antiquity, plays an important role in history. Below are the main dates Etruscan civilization.

Years BC	Event
900	In northern Italy, the Villanova culture arises, whose representatives used iron.
800	Etruscan ships sail along the western coast of Italy.
700	The Etruscans begin to use the alphabet.
616	The Etruscan Lucius Tarquinius Priscus becomes king of Rome.
600	Twelve Etruscan cities are united in the Etruscan League.
550	The Etruscans take possession of the river valley. By north of Etruria and build cities there.
539	The combined Etruscan-Carthaginian army in a naval battle breaks the Greek fleet and drives the Greeks out of Corsica, which is taken over by the Etruscans. Greek colonization of the Western Mediterranean is suspended.
525	The Etruscans unsuccessfully attack the Greek city of Kuma (southern Italy).
525	The Etruscans found settlements in Campania (southern Italy).
510	The Romans expel Tarquinius II the Proud, the last Etruscan king of Rome.
504	The Etruscans are defeated in the battle of Aricia (southern Italy).
423	The Samnites take the city of Capua in Campania from the Etruscans.
405-396	The Romans, after a 10-year war, capture the city of Veii.
400	Gauls (Celtic tribe) cross the Alps, invade northern Italy and settle in the valley of the river. By. The power of the Etruscans over the region is weakening.
296-295	After a series of defeats, the Etruscan cities make peace with Rome.
285-280	The Romans put down a series of uprisings in the Etruscan cities.

Now you know who the Etruscans are and how they ancient civilization so interested in historians.

The Romans are called the teachers of Western Europe. Indeed, Western European civilization adopted from Roman culture a huge number of its achievements, starting with alphabetic writing and ending with sewerage. But the Romans themselves had their teachers. For at the cradle of Roman civilization stands another, more ancient one, created by the Etruscans, a people who remain mysterious to this day. And it’s not for nothing that we called our book “The Etruscans – Mystery Number One”. Indeed: shouldn’t the “first issue” of modern historical science studying the origin of ancient civilizations be the question of the “teachers of teachers” of Western European culture, a culture that, after the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, spread to all parts of the world, including the current wintering stations in Antarctica?

On the the globe there are many peoples whose origin, history, language, culture are mysterious. And yet, the Etruscans are rightfully called the "most mysterious" people. After all, they did not live in distant exotic lands, but in the very heart of Europe, their study began in the Renaissance, when Europeans did not know anything about America, Australia and Oceania, and their information about Africa and Asia was very fantastic, but our knowledge about the "teachers of teachers" is less than about the Pygmies of the Congo, the Indians of the Amazon, the Polynesians of Oceania and other peoples who are called "mysterious". The riddle of the Etruscans is really “mystery number one”.

This mystery cannot but excite our Soviet scientists who study the origins of the cultural heritage that we use along with other European peoples.

The symbol of Rome is the Capitoline she-wolf, who nursed Romulus and Remus. Romulus is considered the legendary founder of the city, from whose name the very name Rome, or rather Roma, is produced (it is we, the Slavs, who call it Rome). Of course, this is just a widespread myth. The name of the "eternal city" is given by the river on which it stands. After all, the ancient name of the Tiber sounds like Ruma. This word, most likely, comes from the language of the Etruscans. But not only the name, but also the creation of the city itself, the Romans owe to their mysterious predecessors. Yes, and the sculpture of the Capitoline she-wolf, personifying Rome, was made by the hands of an Etruscan master, only later, by the Romans, statuettes of babies Romulus and Remus were attached to it. And for us, unlike the ancient inhabitants of Rome, it takes on a different meaning: the “eternal city” was founded by the Etruscans, and then the Romans took over from them.

Not far from the outskirts of modern Bologna, archaeologists were lucky to find a small Etruscan city, more or less spared by time. It can be used to judge the layout of the Etruscan cities. They were built on the hills, step by step. In the center, at the top, temples were erected, below the residential part of the city was geometrically correct. Its obligatory affiliation was a water pipe ... Isn't it an exact copy of ancient Rome, standing on seven hills, each of which is crowned with temples, and equipped with a water supply system (which, by the way, still operates to this day!)?

The oldest houses of the Etruscans were round; they were covered with thatched roofs. But very early, rectangular houses began to appear, in the central room of which a hearth burned. Smoke escaped through a hole in the roof. The aristocrats and military nobility who dominated the Etruscan cities lived in houses with an atrium, that is, with an open area inside the house, on which the hearth was placed. All this we find later in the "Roman" type of residential building. It is more correct to call it "Etruscan".

From the Etruscans, the Romans also adopted the design of temples, whose roofs and entablature - the part of the structure between the roof and the columns - were decorated with sculptures and clay reliefs. However, sometimes there was not even continuity or imitation here: many of the famous temples of Rome were erected by Etruscan masters.

The Capitoline she-wolf is a symbol of Rome; the symbol of his eternity and power is the grandiose temple on the crest of the Capitoline Hill, which was decorated with the famous she-wolf, as well as many other statues and reliefs. Their author was the Etruscan sculptor Vulka from the Etruscan city of Veii.

Temple on the Capitol Hill; dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, was commissioned by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius the Proud, an Etruscan by birth, and its architecture is typically Etruscan. The front of the temple is a hall with a colonnade; back - three halls located parallel to each other; rooms: the central one, dedicated to the supreme god Jupiter, and two side ones, dedicated to Juno and Minerva.

Etruscan were not only proportions, decorations, designs, but also the material from which the Capitoline temple was made. Along with stone, the Etruscans also used wood. To protect the wooden walls from rotting, they were lined with mud slabs. These plates were painted various colors. This, of course, gave the temple a festive and cheerful look.

The Capitoline Church was destroyed by fire several times, but each time it was rebuilt. Moreover, in the very original form in which it was built by the Etruscan architects, because, according to the soothsayers, “the gods are against changing the shape of the temple” - it was only allowed to change its size (although in size the first Capitol was not inferior to the largest temples of Ancient Greece).

Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote about the plumbing, "worked by the slaves of Rome." In fact, this is not entirely true: the construction was carried out by the Romans themselves on the orders of the Etruscan king Tarquinius Priscus, who ruled Rome.

"Cloaca maxima" - "great cloaca" - this is how the ancient Romans called a huge stone pipe that collects excess moisture and water from showers and carries it to the Tiber. “Sometimes the Tiber drives the waters back, and various streams collide inside, but despite this, a strong structure withstands the pressure,” Pliny the Elder reports and adds that it is “so spacious that an arba loaded with hay could pass through it.” But not only a load of hay, but also the huge weights that were transported on top of this covered canal, could not do anything with it - “the vaulted building does not bend, fragments of buildings fall on it, which themselves suddenly collapsed or were destroyed by fires, the earth oscillates from earthquakes, but nevertheless it has endured it for seven hundred years since the time of Tarquinius Priscus, being almost eternal, ”writes Pliny the Elder.

Another two thousand years passed. But to this day, the “cesspool of maxim” is included in the sewer system of the “eternal city”.

Actually, the creation of this building made Rome Rome. Until then, there were villages here, on seven hills, and between them there was a swampy place - pasture for cattle. Thanks to the "cesspool of maxim" it was drained and became the center of the city - a forum. First, the central square, then the center of Rome, then the Roman Empire, which covered almost the entire civilized world of the ancient era, and, finally, it became a symbolic name ...

Thus, the Etruscans created the "authentic Rome", even if we assume that not only they lived in the villages on the hills, but also other tribes, which the legends of the Romans speak of.

As early as the 18th century, the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi noted that the Etruscans had a strong influence on the "Romanesque style of architecture" - a style that dominated medieval art in Europe for several centuries, when, in the words of the chronicler Raul Glubner, author of the Five Books of History, who lived in the 11th century, “Christian nations seemed to compete with each other in splendor, trying to surpass each other in the elegance of their temples,” and “the whole world unanimously threw off the ancient sackcloth to put on the snow-white clothes of churches.”

It turns out that these “snow-white robes of churches” nevertheless appeared under the influence of “ancient rags”, and not even “Romanesque”, that is, Roman, but even more ancient - Etruscan!

Not only the art of urban planning, but also the management system was adopted by the Romans from the Etruscans. Thus, Strabo reports that "triumphal and consular decorations, and in general the decorations of officials, were transferred to Rome from Tarquinia, as well as fasces, axes, trumpets, sacred rites, the art of divination and music, since the Romans use it in public life." After all, the rulers of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia, as the legends unanimously assert, were also the kings of Rome. And those attributes that we always associate with Roman domination are in fact Etruscan. For example, bundles of rods with axes stuck in them, a toga trimmed with purple, an ivory chair, etc.

More than one hundred articles and books have been written about the art of Roman sculptural portraiture. It owes its origin again to the Etruscans. “Having adopted the funeral customs from the Etruscans, the Romans began to preserve the appearance of the deceased in the form of a wax mask. The masks conveyed the individual features of a relative who enjoyed the veneration of his descendants. Subsequently, sculptural images made of hard metal (bronze, stone) followed this artistic realistic tradition,” writes Professor A. I. Nemirovsky in the book “The Thread of Ariadne”, dedicated to ancient archeology.

The Romans were also students of the Etruscans in the manufacture of bronze statues. As we have already said, the Capitoline she-wolf was cast by Etruscan masters. No less magnificent is the bronze figurine of a chimera, found in one of the Etruscan cities - the personification of malice and revenge. Her hidden tension before the jump is conveyed with extraordinary skill and realism. Both the she-wolf and the chimera are examples of the traditional style of Etruscan cult art; their eyes were once made of. precious stones. Later, in Roman temples, bronze statues were placed along with terracotta statues.

The Etruscans acted as teachers of the Romans not only in the field visual arts. For example, according to Titus Livius, the performing arts of Rome owe their origin to them. In 364 BC. e., he reports, to save from the plague in honor of the gods, stage games were arranged, for which “gamers” were invited from Etruria, who performed various dances. Interested in their game, the Roman youth also began to dance in imitation of the Etruscan "games", and then accompany the dance with singing. Later, the Romans learned about the Greek theater... “Although T. Livy’s presentation suffers from some inconsistency, the combination of three elements in the Roman drama - Latin, Etruscan and Greek, remains indisputable,” states S. I. Radtsig in his textbook “Classical Philology”.

The Etruscan influence on the Romans was reflected not only in the field of urban planning, architecture, fine arts and art in general, but also in the field of science. Wealthy Romans sent their children to Etruria to study the "Etruscan discipline" - the Etruscan sciences. True, the main achievement of this science was considered the ability to predict the future. More precisely, even one of the varieties of this ancient “futurology” is the so-called haruspicy, predictions from the entrails of sacrificial animals (however, sometimes another “science” was called haruspicy - the prediction of fate through the interpretation of signs in the form of lightning sent by the gods during a thunderstorm).

The main object of study for haruspex predictors was the animal's liver, less often the heart and lungs. A divination process is engraved on an Etruscan bronze mirror found in the city of Vulci. The Haruspex is bent over a table on which the trachea and lungs lie, and in his left hand he holds the liver. The slightest changes in the color and shape of the liver received a "strictly scientific" interpretation. Moreover, at the suggestion of the Roman emperor Claudius, an attempt was made to turn haruspicy into a "state doctrine". Haruspices played a huge role in the life of Ancient Rome and the entire Roman Empire. At first they were all Etruscans, then the Romans adopted this "science". Their collegium, whose center was traditionally located in the Etruscan Tarquinia, was addressed not only on personal, but also on state issues. And although the political independence of the Etruscans at that time was lost a long time ago, the "ideological" influence persisted for many centuries.

In the IV century. n. e. Emperor Constantine, the "benefactor" of the Christians, issues a strict order for the haruspex to stop sacrificing at altars and in temples. But the activity of the Etruscan priests and their Roman students continues. When Constantine is in fear death penalty generally prohibits the activity of haruspices. But this also cannot stop the priests - divination on the liver and entrails of sacrificial animals does not disappear. Even in the 7th century n. e., when there are no traces of the ancient Etruscans left in the memory of the peoples who inhabited the expanses of the former Roman Empire, decrees continue to be issued that the haruspices stop their prophecies!

... So, art and architecture, urban planning and plumbing, the creation of the "eternal city" and the "science of divination" - all this was the work of the Etruscans, and not the Romans, their heirs. As well as the creation of the "Roman" system of government. The Romans themselves admitted that they learned a lot from the Etruscans in military affairs. The art of building and driving ships was completely adopted by the "land" Romans from the Etruscans - one of the best sailors in the Mediterranean, rivals of the Greeks and allies of the Carthaginians ...

Who are they, the Etruscans? What is this people? These questions have been of interest for a very long time, even in the era of antiquity. And even then the “Etruscan problem” was born, because the opinions of scientists of that time diverged sharply. The dispute about the Etruscans began almost two and a half thousand years ago. An argument that continues to this day!

Who and where

Initially, in the X-IX centuries. BC e., the Etruscans lived in the northern part of present-day Italy, in Etruria (later it became known as Tuscany, because the Etruscans were also called “Tosks” or “Tusks”). Then their dominion extended to the whole of Central Italy and part of the Mediterranean. Their colonies also appear in the south of the Apennine Peninsula, in Corsica and other islands, in the foothills of the Alps. The Etruscan state was not centralized: according to the Romans, it was a federation of 12 cities of Etruria (a number of them have already been excavated by archaeologists, and a number have yet to be discovered). In addition, there is information about the "12 cities of Campania", south of Etruria, and about the "new twelve-city in the North", in the Po valley and the Central Alps. The famous enemy of Carthage, Senator Cato even claimed that the Etruscans once belonged to almost all of Italy. The Etruscan kings ruled Rome.

But now the “eternal city” is freed from the dominion of the Etruscan kings and becomes a city-republic ... And after that, a slow but inevitable decline of Etruscan domination begins. Greek colonists in southern Italy close their ports and the Strait of Messina to Etruscan ships. Then they, in alliance with the ruler of Syracuse, inflict a crushing defeat on the Etruscan navy. The maritime glory of the Etruscans is waning. They take away the island of Elba, then Corsica. The Etruscans are losing their colonies and cities in the most fertile Campania in the south and the "new twelve-city" in the north. It is the turn of the loss of land in Etruria itself.

Rome's longtime rival was the Etruscan city of Veii, a neighbor and competitor in trade, art, and fame. Bloody skirmishes between the Romans and the Etruscans ended with the fall of Veii. The inhabitants of the city were killed or sold into slavery, and its territory was transferred to the possession of the citizens of Rome. After that, the slow penetration of the Romans into Etruria begins, which is replaced by a sudden invasion of the Gallic tribes.

The Gauls first capture northern Italy, devastate Etruria, and then defeat the Roman troops. Rome was also captured by hordes of aliens, its buildings were destroyed and burned, only the temple on the Capitoline Hill, the famous Capitol built by the Etruscans, survived (remember the legend about how "the geese saved Rome" by warning the defenders of the Capitol?).

The Gauls, having devastated and received tribute, left the land of Rome and Etruria. Rome managed to recover from their invasion and began to gain strength again. Etruria, on the contrary, received a mortal blow from the Gallic invasion. On its territory, the Romans arrange their colonies. One by one, the Etruscan cities fall under the rule of Rome. And gradually Tuscany no longer becomes a "country of the Etruscans", but a Roman province, where not Etruscan, but Latin speech sounds. True to the principle of "divide and rule", the Romans widely grant citizenship to their former rivals. Along with Roman citizenship come Roman customs. Native language the former religion and culture are forgotten, the former religion and culture are forgotten, and, perhaps, by the beginning of our era, only the art of divination still remains Etruscan. In all other respects, the Etruscans are already Latins, Romans. Having fertilized the culture of Rome with its achievements, the Etruscan civilization disappears ...

The end of the Etruscans, as well as the heyday of Etruria, are well known. The birth of the Etruscan civilization, the Etruscan people is unknown. "Father of history", Herodotus gives the most ancient evidence of the origin of the Etruscans, called the Tyrrhenians by the Greeks. According to him, they come from Asia Minor, more precisely, from Lydia (by the way, the female name Lydia has conveyed to this day the name of this ancient country located in the center of the western tip of the peninsula of Asia Minor).

Herodotus reports that “during the reign of Atys, the son of Maneas, there was a great need for bread throughout Lydia. At first the Lydians endured the famine patiently; then, when the hunger did not stop, they began to invent means against it, and each one came up with his own special one. It was then, they say, that the games of cubes, dice, ball, and others were invented, besides the game of chess; Lydians do not attribute the invention of chess to themselves. These inventions served as a remedy for them against hunger: one day they played continuously so as not to think about food, the next day they ate and left the game. In this way they lived for eighteen years. However, the hunger not only did not weaken, but was intensified; then the king divided the whole people into two parts and cast lots so that one of them would remain in their homeland, and the other would move out; he appointed himself king of the part that remained in place by lot, and appointed his son, named Tyrrhenus, over the evicted. Those of them who had the lot to emigrate went to Smyrna, built ships there, put on them the things they needed, and set sail to look for food and a place to live. Passing through many peoples, they finally arrived at the Ombrics, where they founded cities and live to this day. Instead of the Lydians, they began to be called by the name of the son of the king who forced them to emigrate; they took his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians.

Herodotus lived in the 5th century. BC e. Many of his stories have been confirmed in the light modern discoveries, including some reports about the Etruscans. So, Herodotus says that the Etruscans, in honor of their victory over the Greeks, regularly organized gymnastic competitions, a kind of "Etruscan Olympiad". During excavations of the famous Etruscan city of Tarquinia, archaeologists discovered colorful frescoes depicting sports: running, horse racing, discus throwing, etc. - like illustrations for the words of Herodotus!

The stone tombs of the Etruscans bear a resemblance to the stone tombs discovered in Lydia and neighboring Phrygia. The sanctuaries of the Etruscans, as a rule, are located near the springs, as well as the sanctuaries of the ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor.

According to many experts, Etruscan art, if we discard the later Greek influence, has a close connection with the art of Asia Minor. They believe that the multicolored Etruscan painting comes from the East, like the custom of erecting the most ancient temples on high artificial platforms. In the figurative words of one of the researchers, “through the elegant Greek clothes thrown over Etruria, however, the eastern origin of this people shines through.”

Some historians of religion join this opinion of art historians, who believe that although the main gods of the Etruscans had Greek names, they, in principle, were closer to the deities of the East than the Greek Olympus. In Asia Minor, the formidable god Tarhu or Tarku was revered. Among the Etruscans, one of the most common names came from this name, including the names of the Etruscan kings who ruled Rome, the Tarquinian dynasty!

The list of similar arguments in favor of the testimony of the "father of history" could be continued. But all these arguments are indirect, by analogy. The similarity of customs, names, monuments of art may be accidental, and not due to deep ancient kinship. As for the story of Herodotus about the “starving Lydians”, who, fleeing from hunger, spent 18 years playing games, you yourself probably noticed a lot of fabulous, legendary things in it. Moreover, who lived, like the "father of history", in the 5th century. BC e. the Greek author Hellanicus of Lesbos told us a completely different story related to the origin of the Etruscans.

According to Hellanic, the territory of Hellas was once inhabited by the ancient people of the Pelasgians - up to the Peloponnese peninsula. When the Greeks came here, the Pelasgians were forced to leave Hellas. First they moved to Thessaly, and then the Greeks drove them across the sea. Under the leadership of their king Pelasg, they sailed to Italy, where they began to be called in a new way, and gave rise to a country called Tirsenia (i.e. Tirrenia-Etruria).

Other authors of antiquity say that the Pelasgians were forced to flee from Thessaly by a flood that was under King Deucalion, even before the Trojan War. They report that part of the Pelasgians settled on the islands of Lemnos and Imbros in the Aegean Sea; that the Pelasgians originally landed near the Spinet River on the coast of the Ionian Gulf, and then moved inland and only then came to their current homeland, Tyrrhenia or Etruria ...

These versions are contradictory, but they all agree on one thing: the Etruscans are the descendants of the predecessors of the Hellenes in Greece, the Pelasgians. But besides this and Herodotus' "theory of the origin of the Etruscans" there are two more, also dating back to antiquity. Rome at the end of the 1st century BC e. lived a native of the Asia Minor city of Halicarnassus named Dionysius, an educated person and well acquainted with both the traditions of his homeland and Roman-Etruscan traditions and traditions.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote a treatise "Roman Antiquities", where he strongly objects to Herodotus' assertion that the Etruscans are descendants of the Lydians. He refers to the fact that a contemporary of the "father of history", Xanthos, wrote a four-volume "History of the Lydians", specially dedicated to this people. And it does not say a word about the fact that half of the Lydians moved to Italy and gave rise to the Etruscans. Moreover, according to Xanthus, the son of King Atys was not called Tyrrhenus, but Thoreb. He separated from his father part of Lydia, whose subjects became known as Torebians, and by no means Tyrrhenians or Etruscans.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus believes that the Lydians and the Etruscans have nothing in common: they speak different languages, pray to different gods, observe different customs and laws. “Therefore, it seems to me, those who consider them to be the local population, and not aliens at all,” concludes Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a native of Asia Minor who lived in Rome, once founded by the Etruscans. And this point of view is shared not only by Dionysius himself, but also by many modern scientists.

"Newcomers from the East or Aborigines?" - so, it would seem, one can summarize the long-standing dispute about the origin of the Etruscans. But let's not rush. We have already quoted Titus Livius, an ancient Roman historian. Let us quote another curious remark made by him: “And the Alpine tribes, no doubt, are also of Etruscan origin, especially the Rheti, who, however, under the influence of the surrounding nature, have grown wild to such an extent that they have not retained anything from the old customs except the language, but even the language they failed to preserve without distortion.

The Rhaetians are the inhabitants of the area stretching from Lake Constance to the Danube River (the territory of present-day Tyrol and part of Switzerland). The Etruscans, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, called themselves racens, which is close to the name of retia. That's why back in the middle of the XVII! in. the French scientist N. Frere, referring to the words of Titus Livy, as well as a number of other evidence, put forward the theory that the homeland of the Etruscans should be sought in the north - in the Central Alps. This theory was supported by Niebuhr and Mommsen, two of the greatest historians of Rome in the last century, and in our century it has many supporters.

For a long time, Herodotus' message about the Etruscans was considered the most ancient. But now the inscriptions carved on the walls of the ancient Egyptian temple in Medinet Habu were deciphered, which spoke of the attack on Egypt by the "peoples of the sea" in the XIII-XII centuries. BC e. “No country has resisted the right hand,” the hieroglyphs say. - They advanced on Egypt ... The allies were united among them prst, chkr, shkrsh, day and vshsh. They laid hands on countries to the ends of the earth, their hearts were full of hope and they said: "our plans will succeed." Another text speaks of tribes shrdn, shkrsh and finally trsh.

As you know, the Egyptians did not convey vowels in writing (we will refer the reader to our book “The Riddle of the Sphinx”, published by the Znanie publishing house in the “Read, comrade!” series in 1972, which tells about Egyptian hieroglyphics). Therefore, the names of peoples for a long time could not be deciphered. Then the people prst managed to identify with the Philistines, who are spoken of in the Bible and from whom the name of the country of Palestine comes. People day, most likely, these are the Danaans or the Achaean Greeks, those who crushed Troy. People shrdn- these are Sardis, people shkrsh— sikuly, and the people trsh- tyrsenes or tyrrhens, i.e. Etruscans!

This message about the Etruscans in the texts of Medinet Habu is many centuries older than the evidence of Herodotus. And this is not a tradition or a legend, but a genuine historical document, compiled immediately after the Egyptians managed to defeat the advancing armada of the "peoples of the sea", acting in alliance with the Libyans. But what does this message say?

Supporters of the "Asia Minor address" of the homeland of the Etruscans saw in the indication of Egyptian inscriptions a written confirmation of their correctness. After all, the "peoples of the sea", in their opinion, moved to Egypt from the east, from Asia Minor, through Syria and Palestine. However, nowhere in the texts does it say that the "peoples of the sea" attacked Egypt from the east, it only says that they crushed the countries lying east of the country of the pyramids.

On the contrary, many facts indicate that the Sea Peoples attacked Egypt from the west. For example, the biblical tradition indicates that the Philistines came to Palestine from Caphtor, that is, the island of Crete. The headdresses of the "peoples of the sea" depicted on the Egyptian frescoes accompanying the inscriptions are surprisingly similar to the headdress imprinted on the head of the pictorial sign of a hieroglyphic inscription also found on the island of Crete. The Danaan-Achaeans lived in Greece almost a thousand years before the appearance of the "peoples of the sea", and Greece also lies to the west of Egypt. The name of the island of Sardinia comes from the name of the Sardinian tribe, the ancient inhabitants of Sicily were called Sicules ...

Where, then, did the Tirsenes, the allies of all these peoples, come from? From Greece, home of the Pelasgians? And then Hellanicus of Lesbos is right? Or maybe from Italy, along with sards and siculi? That is, they were natives of the Apennine Peninsula, as Dionysius of Halicarnassus believed, who raided to the east? But, on the other hand, if this is so, then maybe the Alpine theory of the origin of law? At first, the Etruscans lived in the Central Alps, the Retes remained in their ancestral home, and the Tyrrhenians founded Etruria and even, having entered into an alliance with other tribes living in the neighborhood in Sicily and Sardinia, moved far to the west, right up to Egypt and Asia Minor ...

As you can see, the deciphering of the Medinet-Habu inscriptions did not clarify the long-standing dispute about the Etruscans. More than that: it gave rise to another "address". They began to look for the homeland of the mysterious people not to the north or east of Etruria, but to the west of it - at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea and even the Atlantic Ocean! For in the "peoples of the sea" some researchers tend to see the last wave of the legendary Atlanteans, the inhabitants of the sunken mainland, which Plato told mankind about in his "Dialogues". The Etruscans, therefore, were considered the descendants of the Atlanteans, and the riddle of Atlantis, if it can be solved, should become the key to solving the Etruscan riddle!

True, other researchers believed that it should not be about searching at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, but much closer, at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There, according to a number of researchers, there is a sunken land - Tyrrenida. Its death occurred already in the historical period (and not millions of years ago, as most geologists believe), and there it was the homeland of the Etruscans. After all, they find the ruins of Etruscan buildings and cities at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea!

And the latest finds of archaeologists and "excavations" of linguists force us to add one more address to the list of candidates for the Etruscan ancestral home - and what! The legendary Troy, sung by Homer and destroyed by the Achaean Greeks!

The Romans considered themselves descendants of Aeneas, a fugitive from the burning Troy. The legends about this have long been considered a "propaganda gimmick". Indeed, the Romans have nothing in common with the inhabitants of ancient Troy. But, as you yourself have perfectly seen, a lot of "Roman" actually turns out to be Etruscan. And, as archeological excavations of the last twenty years show, the cult of Aeneas was also borrowed by the Romans from the Etruscans! In February 1972, Italian archaeologists discover an Etruscan tomb, or rather a cenotaph, a “false tomb” or a monument tomb dedicated to the legendary Aeneas. Why did the Etruscans worship a hero who came from distant Troy? Perhaps because they themselves come from those places?

About a hundred years ago, the outstanding etruscologist Karl Pauli compared the name of the inhabitants of ancient Troy, the Trojans, with the name of the Etruscans (among the Romans) and the Tirsenes (among the Greeks). The name of the Etruscans is decomposed into three parts: e-cowards-ki. The initial "e" does not mean anything, it is an "auxiliary vowel" that made it easier for the Romans to pronounce the loan word. "Ki" is a Latin suffix. But the root "coward" is similar to the root underlying the name of the Trojans and Troy.

True, for a long time this comparison of Pauli was considered incorrect and was cited as a curiosity. But here linguists penetrate the secret of the languages ​​of the inhabitants of Asia Minor, the neighbors of the Trojans. And they contain the same root "true" or "tro" - moreover, it is included in the composition of proper names, names of cities and even nationality. It is quite possible that the Trojans also spoke a language related to other ancient languages ​​of Asia Minor - Lydian, Lycian, Carian, Hittite.

If this is so, then the language of the Etruscans must be related to the Trojan! And again, if not so, then perhaps Herodotus is right, and the Lydian language, well studied by scientists, is the language of the Etruscans? Or the relatives of the Etruscans - Alpine retii, speaking "spoiled" Etruscan? And if Dionysius of Halicarnassus is right, then the Etruscan language should not have any relatives at all, at least in Asia Minor, in the Alps, and nowhere else except Italy ...

As you can see, the key to riddle number one, the riddle of the origin of the Etruscans, lies in the juxtaposition of Etruscan and other languages. But the fact of the matter is that the Etruscan language itself is a mystery! Moreover, it is even more mysterious than anything else related to the mysterious people. If the Etruscans themselves and the civilization they created are the “number one riddle” of modern historical science, then the Etruscan language is the “mystery of the riddle”, or rather “mystery number one of the riddle number one”.

But, what is most surprising, you can learn to read Etruscan texts in a few hours. To read without understanding the words of a foreign language, or rather, even knowing the meaning of individual words ... And yet, for about five centuries, scientists have been trying in vain to penetrate in the secret of the Etruscan language.

Language unknown

How many Etruscan letters do you know? If you can read English, French, German - in a word, any language that uses the Latin alphabet, then you can easily read about half of all Etruscan letters. Yes, and owning only a “Russian letter”, you will also read a few letters. Our "a" is both written and read like the letter A in Etruscan texts. Our “t” is also the Etruscan T. The letter K was written by the Etruscans in the same way as our “k”, only it was turned in the other direction. The same goes for the letter E.

The letter I of the Latin alphabet and in the letter of the Etruscans conveyed the vowel "and". The Latin and Etruscan letters "M", "N", "L", "Q" are identical (capital letters, the so-called majuscules; lower case- minuscules - appeared only in the Middle Ages). A few more Etruscan letters have the same form and the same reading as the letters of the ancient Greek alphabet. It is not surprising that people learned to read Etruscan inscriptions a very long time ago, back in the Renaissance. True, some letters could not be read immediately. And the entire Etruscan alphabet was deciphered only in 1880, when it was established what phonetic reading all the letters of this alphabet have. That is, its deciphering stretched out for several centuries, despite the fact that the reading of most Etruscan letters is known from the very beginning, the first texts written by the Etruscans were hardly found, or rather, as soon as Renaissance scientists became interested in them (the inscriptions made by the Etruscans on various subjects, vases, mirrors, etc., have been found before, but they did not arouse anyone's interest).

Of course, the styles of Etruscan letters have different options: depending on the time of writing (they cover about six or seven centuries, from the 7th to the 1st century BC) and the place where this or that inscription was found. Just as there are different dialects in a language, so there can be variations in writing, depending on the "schools of writing" in a particular province or region.

Etruscan inscriptions are made on a variety of objects and, of course, differ from the typographic font familiar to us. The Etruscan texts that have come down to us were written by both experienced scribes and people who were not very good at writing. Therefore, again, we are faced with different handwritings and, which makes reading especially difficult, with different spellings of the same word. The Etruscans have strict spelling rules, however, like many other peoples ancient world, did not exist. And here's the same name ARNT we find in writing: A, AT, AR, ARNT(and in two versions, because for the sound T, in addition to the usual T, there was another letter, in the form of a circle crossed out in the middle with a cross, and in later texts it turned into a circle with a dot in the middle). Another common name among the Etruscans VEL spelled like VE, VL and VEL.

We know these names. What about words we don't know the meaning of? Here it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to figure out what is in front of us: either the same word in different spellings, or all the same different words. At the same time, in many texts, the Etruscans did not put signs separating words (usually they separated one word from another not with a space, as we do, but with a special word division icon - a colon or a dash).

Try to understand a text written in a language you do not know, where all the words are written together, where many vowels and sometimes consonants are missing, and the text itself is inscribed on some stone or vessel and many of its parts are so damaged that it is difficult to distinguish one letter from another - and then you will understand the difficulties that confront the researcher when he takes only the first step in the study of Etruscan texts - he tries to read them. But the most important thing, as you know, is not reading, but translating texts, the task is much more difficult!

We began the chapter by showing that you know how to read a whole range of Etruscan letters, although you have never specifically studied Etruscology. Now let's say more: you know the meaning of several Etruscan words, despite the fact that the Etruscan language is perhaps the most mysterious in the world.

The familiar words “cistern”, “tavern”, “ceremony”, “person”, “litera” (and, therefore, “literature”) come from the Etruscan language. Do not be surprised, there is no miracle here: these words came into our language (and into most of the world's cultural languages) from Latin. The Romans borrowed all these concepts - "cistern" and "liters", "ceremonies" and "taverns" - from the Etruscans, as well as the words for them. For example, the central part of the Roman house, as you know, was called atrium. It is borrowed from Etruscan architecture, along with the Etruscan word ATRIUS.

Many words, on the contrary, got into the Etruscan language from the Romans. So, wine in Etruscan was called VINUM. This is a borrowing from Latin. There were even more borrowings in the Etruscan language from ancient Greek, because this mysterious people was associated with the great civilization of Hellas for many centuries. And since many words from Greek got into our Russian language, many words of the Etruscan and Russian languages ​​are similar in sound and meaning. For example, in the Etruscan ELEIVA has the meaning "oil, oil, ointment" and is related to our "oil", the Greek word.

The kilik, a drinking vessel used by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Etruscans, is called KULIKHNA in Etruscan inscriptions. The Etruscans adopted the Greek name along with the vessel itself. As well as ask, the vessel and its name (among the Etruscans it is called ASKA). The names kilik and aska may be familiar to you from books on the history of ancient culture. But the ancient Greeks also had several dozen special names for vessels of various capacities and shapes (after all, we also have goblets, glasses, glasses, glasses, jugs, bottles, damask bottles, quarters, half-liters, mugs, etc., etc.). P.). The names of these vessels are known to specialists in Greek and history of ancient culture. And it turned out that there are about forty names in Etruscan texts. Greek culture undoubtedly influenced the culture of the Etruscans. The Etruscans borrowed vessels from the Greeks along with their Greek names, slightly changing them, as is almost always the case when borrowing words from one language to another, unrelated to it.

But not only in material culture the Greeks influenced the Etruscans. Perhaps they had even greater influence in the “ideological”, spiritual sphere. The Etruscans worshiped many gods of Olympus and the heroes of Ancient Hellas, however, like the Romans. The pantheon of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans was in many ways similar. Sometimes each of these peoples called the same god their own, "national" name. For example, the Greeks called the god of trade, the patron of travelers, merchants and shepherds Hermes, the Romans called Mercury, and the Etruscans called him TURMS. But often the name of the Etruscan god coincides with its Greek or Roman name. The Greek Poseidon and the Roman Neptune are known to the Etruscans under the name NETUNS. Roman Diana and Greek Artemis are called by the Etruscans ARTUME or ARITIMI. And the god Apollo, called by both the Greeks and the Romans alike, is called by the Etruscans in the same way, only in the Etruscan manner: APULU or APLU.

The names of all these gods (and there is also Minerva, called in Etruscan MENRVA, Juno, called by the Etruscans UNI, Vulcan - among the Etruscans VELKANS, Thetis-Tetis, known to the Etruscans under the same name - TETIS, ruler of the underworld Hades - in Etruscan AITA and his wife Persephone-Proserpina, in Etruscan called PERSEPOI) are probably well known to you. And even more so they were familiar to connoisseurs of antiquity, who studied Etruscan texts. And, having met in them the names Apulu or Tethys, Netuns or Menrva, they easily determined which gods they were talking about. Moreover, very often the Etruscan text was accompanied by images of these gods with their characteristic attributes, in situations familiar from ancient myths.

The same is with the names of the heroes of these myths. Hercules was called the Etruscans HERKLE, Castor - KASTUR, Agamemnon - AHMEMRUN, Ulysses-Odysseus - UTUSE, Clytemnestra - KLUTUMUSTA or KLUTMSTA, etc. Thus, you, without specifically studying the Etruscan language, and indeed, perhaps, reading a book for the first time about the Etruscans, being a cultured and inquisitive person, you can understand a decent number of words in Etruscan texts, especially the names of their own gods and heroes.

However, not only them, but also mere mortals. After all, the names of many Etruscans are well known from the history of ancient Rome. The kings of the Tarquinian dynasty sat on the Roman throne. The last king was expelled by the Roman people, says the legendary story of the "eternal city", and settled in the Etruscan city of Caere. Archaeologists have found the ruins of this city near modern Cerverteri. During the excavations of the burial ground in Tsere, a burial was discovered, where there was an inscription "TARKNA". Obviously, this is the tomb of the Tarquinian family, who once ruled Rome.

An equally amazing “meeting” took place during the excavation of a grave near the Etruscan city of Vulci, discovered by a resident of Tuscany Francois and named after the discoverer “Francois’ Tomb”. There were frescoes depicting the battle between the Romans and the Etruscans. They were accompanied by brief inscriptions, or rather, the names of acting characters. Among them was this one: “KNEVE TARKKHUNIES RUMAKH”. It is easy to guess that "Rumakh" means "Roman", "Tarkhunies" - "Tarquinius", "Kneve" - ​​"Gnaeus". Gnaeus Tarquinius of Rome, ruler of Rome! This is how the text is translated.

According to the legends about the early history of Rome, the kings of the Tarquinian family, who ruled the city, more precisely, Tarquinius Prisk (i.e., Tarquinius the Elder), fought against the rulers of the Etruscan city of Vulci, the brothers Gaius and Aulus Vibenna. Episodes of this war are depicted on the frescoes of the "Graves of Francois". The burial dates back to later times than the reign of the last Roman kings (6th century BC), and the frescoes obviously depict legendary history Rome and the Etruscans.

But the famous Italian archaeologist Massimo Pallotio is excavating the sanctuary of the Etruscan city of Veii. And then he finds a vase - obviously, a sacrifice on the altar - on which the name of the donor is inscribed. This name is AVIL VIPIENAS, that is, Avl Vibenna in Etruscan transcription (the Etruscans did not have letters in the alphabet to convey the sound B and they wrote it through P). The vase dates from the middle of the 6th century. BC e., the era of the reign of the Etruscan kings in Rome. Most likely, the brothers of Vibenna, like the kings of Tarquinia - historical figures - drew the conclusion of Pallotino, and a large number of Etruscologists agree with him.

Be that as it may, these names, known to us from Roman sources, are also inscribed on the Etruscan writing monuments. We know many Etruscan names and not legendary, but quite real. For example, the Etruscan was a famous politician and patron of the arts Maecenas, whose name has become a household name. An Etruscan who lived in the 1st century. n. e. the satirist-fabulist Avl Persius Flakk and Cicero's friend Avl Cetina, who initiated him into the "science of prediction", haruspicy... urns or crypts that we are talking about a person bearing the name Avl, common among the Etruscans.

Thus, starting to study Etruscan texts, the researchers knew the reading of most of the letters of the alphabet in which they are written, and had a certain stock of Etruscan words and proper names, as we could see for ourselves (after all, you know them!).

However, this list does not exhaust the list of Etruscan words whose meaning is known. In the writings of ancient authors, one can find references to the Etruscan language. True, none of them compiled either a dictionary or a grammar of this language. Just in connection with this or that case, some Roman historians or writers give the meaning of individual Etruscan words.

For example, explaining the origin of the name of the city of Capua, one ancient author writes: “It is known, however, that it was founded by the Etruscans, and the appearance of a falcon, which in the Etruscan language is called KAPUS, served as a sign, hence Capua got its name.” From other sources we learn that the monkey was called AVIMUS in the Etruscan language, from the third - the names of the months in Etruscan: ACLUS - June, AMPILES - May, etc. (although the names of the months have come down to us in a dictionary in Latin, compiled in the VIII century and, of course, underwent a "deformation" no less strong than that to which the Etruscans subjected the names of the gods and Greek words).

Suetonius, author of the "Biography of Caesar Augustus", tells that before the death of the emperor, lightning struck his statue and knocked down the initial letter C in the word "CAESAR" ("Caesar"). The interpreters of omens (haruspex, fortunetelling by lightning) stated that Augustus had one hundred days left to live, because "C" in the writing of the Romans also meant the number "100", but after death he will be "ranked among the gods, since AESAR, the rest of the name Caesar, in Etruscan means god. Another author, Cassius Dio, writes that the word AISAR among the Tyrrhenians, that is, the Etruscans, means god, and the compiler of the dictionary Hesychius also writes that the word AISOI has the meaning of "gods" among the Tyrrhenians.

All Etruscan words, the meaning of which is given by ancient authors, were collected together in early XVII in. Thomas Dempster, Scottish Baron and Professor of Pisa and Bologna universities(True, his work "Seven Books on the Kingdom of Etruria", which gave a list of these words, was published only a hundred years later). And they, of course, were able to lighten the meaning of the Etruscan texts, if ... If only in these texts there were words explained by ancient authors. But, alas, apart from the word "god", the rest of the words, all these "falcons" and "monkeys", are known to us only from the works of scientists of antiquity, and not from the texts of the Etruscans. The only exception is the word "aiser", i.e. "god". And here, too, among scientists there is no agreement on what it means - singular or plural, that is, "god" or "gods."

What's the matter? Why can't we understand Etruscan texts that are well read and include words whose meaning we know? This question should be formulated somewhat differently. After all, you can also read not only individual words, but also entire texts, without being an etruscologist and without specifically deciphering. Moreover, there will be a huge number of such texts.

Here is a burial urn in front of you, on which one word is inscribed: "VEL" or "AULE". It is clear that you can easily read and translate such a text: it says that a man named Vel or Avl is buried here. And there are many such texts. Even more often, this kind of inscriptions consist not of one, but of two or sin words. For example, "AULE PETRUNI" or "VEL PETRUNI". It is also easy to guess here that the name of the deceased and his “surname” are given, or rather the genus from which he comes (real surnames appeared in Europe only in the Middle Ages).

The Etruscans created wonderful frescoes. Many of them depict gods or mythological scenes. Here, for example, is a fresco from the "Monster's Grave". You see a picture of the underworld, sitting on the throne of his lord Hades and his wife Proserpina. They are accompanied by signatures: "AITA" and "PERSEPOI". It is not difficult to translate them: "Hades" and "Proserpina". Another fresco from the same crypt depicts a terrible demon with wings. Above it is the signature: "TUHULKA".

This name is not familiar to you, but you can easily guess that this is a proper name: after all, their names are also inscribed above Hades and Proserpina. The meaning of this monster, which is among the mourning people, is also clear: it is the demon of death. So, the signature "TUHULKA" conveys his name... You have translated another Etruscan text!

True, it consists of only one word .... But here is a longer inscription. In the Leningrad Hermitage there is a bronze mirror, on the reverse side of which five figures are depicted, and above them - five words inscribed in Etruscan. Here they are - "PRIUMNE", "EKAPA", "TETIS", "TSIUMITE", "KASTRA". The word "Tethys" is well known to you: that was the name of Thetis, the mother of Achilles. The elder "Priumne" is Priam. Obviously, the rest of the characters are connected with the Trojan War. "Ekapa" is Hekaba, the wife of Priam - on the mirror she is depicted standing next to the elder. Castra is the prophetess Cassandra. It remains "Tsiumite". Instead of "b", as you already know, the Etruscans wrote "p"; they also deafened other voiced vowels. "D" was written by them through "t" and even through "c". "Tsiumite" should be transcribed "Diumide". The Etruscans did not have the letter O, they usually transmitted it through U. So: “Diomede” is the hero of the Trojan War, inferior in courage only to Achilles, Diomedes. So, the whole text is translated as follows: "Priam, Hekaba, Thetis, Diomedes, Cassandra."

As you can see, the task is not too difficult - to read an Etruscan text of one, two, three, five words ... But these are proper names, you don’t need to know any grammar or vocabulary. Well, what do you say, for example, about such a passage: “KHALKH APER TULE APHES ILUKU VAKIL TSUHN ELFA RITNAL TUL TRA ISWANEK KALUS…”, etc., etc.? In the inscription, where there are no drawings and nothing at all, what could be a “fulcrum”?

The first thing that comes to mind when we start reading a text in a language unknown to us is to look for similar consonances with our own language. Or with some other, foreign, but known to us. This is exactly what the first researchers of Etruscan texts began to do.

This technique is used in deciphering ancient writings and languages ​​not for the first time. And it very often brings success to the researcher. So, for example, scientists were able to read the mysterious texts found in the south of the Arabian Peninsula and dating back to the time of the legendary Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The written signs of the "South Arabian" scripts were mostly read in the same way as well famous signs Ethiopian letters. The language of South Arabian writing was close to classical Arabic, and even closer to Ethiopian and the "living" languages ​​of South Arabia and Ethiopia: Socotri, Mehri, Amharic, etc.

Excellent knowledge of the language of Egyptian Christians or Copts, used only in worship, but former descendant the language of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, allowed the brilliant Francois Champollion to penetrate the secret of the hieroglyphs of the country of the pyramids (the book “The Riddle of the Sphinx” tells more about this).

... In a word, the method of comparing a known language with a related unknown has justified itself in deciphering many scripts and languages.

But where he brought the Etruscologists, you yourself will understand after reading the next chapter.

World Wanted

In 1444, in the city of Gubbio, located in the ancient Italian province of Umbria and once the ancient city of Iguvia, nine large copper plates covered with inscriptions were discovered in an underground crypt. Two boards were taken to Venice, and since then no one has heard of them. The rest were placed in storage in the city hall. Two of the seven remaining boards turned out to be written in Latin with letters of the Latin alphabet. Five of the boards were written in an unknown language and in letters similar to Latin, but in many ways different from them.

A dispute broke out: whose writings are these, whose language do they hide? The letters were called "Egyptian", "Punic" (Carthaginian), "the letter of Cadmus", that is, the oldest variety of Greek writing, according to legend, was brought to Hellas by the Phoenician Cadmus. Finally, they decided that the letters were Etruscan, and their language was "forever lost." And only after long discussions and painstaking research it turned out that these letters are still not Etruscan, although their letters are related to the letters of the Etruscan alphabet. And the language of these texts, called the Iguvian Tables, has nothing to do with the Etruscan language at all.

In Italy in the 1st millennium BC. e., in addition to the Latins-Romans, there lived several other peoples related to them in culture and language: Samnites, Sabels, Osci, Umbras. In the language of the Umbrians, the Iguvian tables are written. This was proved about a hundred and fifty years ago by the German researcher Richard Lepsius, who later became famous for his most valuable contribution to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Well, what about the writings of the Etruscans? In the same 15th century, when the Igouvian tables were found, only not in its middle, but at the very end, in 1498, the work of the Dominican monk Annio de Viterbo “Seventeen volumes on various antiquities with comments by brethren” was published. John Annio de Viterbo. Here are excerpts from the writings of various ancient authors, which are commented on by de Viterbo. And besides that, he publishes Etruscan texts. And even deciphers them using the language of the biblical Old Testament- Hebrew...

A little time passes - and now it turns out that de Viterbo owns not only comments, but also ... some texts. He wrote them himself! The credibility of the Seventeen Volumes on Various Antiquities has been lost. But here is the key with which he tried to penetrate the secret of the Etruscan language - the Hebrew language - was considered correct for a long time. The logic here was simple: the Etruscans are the most ancient people of Italy; Hebrew is the most ancient language in the world (after all, the hieroglyphs of Egypt were not read at that time, the “clay books” of Mesopotamia were not opened at all, and the Bible was considered the most ancient book in the world).

In the middle of the XVI century. Vincenzo Tranquilli and Justa Lipsia publish the first collections of Etruscan inscriptions. At the same time, Pietro Francesco Giambullari, one of the founders of the Florentine Academy, translated some of them, of course, using the Hebrew language.

But Thomas Dempster, already mentioned by us, publishes an extensive collection of Etruscan inscriptions. And after him, in 1737-1743. in Florence, the three-volume work "Etruscan Museum" written by A.F. Gori is published, which also contains many texts written in Etruscan. And it becomes clear that the language of the Bible cannot be the key to the language ancient people Italy.

Perhaps this key will be given by other ancient languages ​​of Italy, called Italic - Oscan, Umbrian, Latin? Many researchers of the XVIII-XIX centuries. believed that the Etruscan language is related to Italian. This is precisely what the best etruscologist of the 18th century, the Italian Luigi Lanzi, proved, who published in 1789 in Rome a three-volume study on the Etruscan language, reprinted in 1824-1825.

And three years after the reprint of Lanzi's work, a voluminous two-volume work by the German scientist K. O. Müller (which has not lost much of its value to this day) comes out, in which it is shown that Lanzi, considering the Etruscan language to be related to Latin, was on the right track.

At the time of Luigi Lanzi, comparative-historical linguistics had not yet been created. Müller released his work at the time when its foundations were already laid and it was shown that there is a huge family of related languages, called Indo-European, which includes Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, Greek, Indian, Iranian, Romance (Latin, French, Spanish, Italian and many others) languages, that between these languages ​​there are certain sound correspondences that obey strict laws. And if you seriously prove that the language of the Etruscans is Italian, you need to show the "correspondence formulas" of the Etruscan words of Latin and other Italic languages. And the fact that some Etruscan words and names of gods are related to Latin does not prove anything. The Romans could borrow them from the Etruscans or the Etruscans from the Romans, because they were the closest neighbors and were in close contact for many centuries (for example, there are a lot of Slavic words in the Romanian language, but this language is Romance, a descendant of the language spoken by the Romans). legionnaires; and not the language of the Slavs, with whom there were only close and long-term contacts).

Müller called for a "comprehensive comparison of languages" before concluding which of them is closest to the language of the Etruscans, whose relative it is. The researcher himself believes that the Etruscans were Pelasgo-Tyrrhenians, distant relatives of the Greeks. Other researchers believed that the Etruscan language is a direct relative of the Hellenic language. Still others, mainly Italian researchers, remained true to Lanzi's views, only began to prove his correctness using the methods of comparative historical linguistics: to identify the laws of correspondence between the sounds of the Etruscan and Italic languages, the laws of changes in the sounds of the Etruscan language itself over time, etc.

In 1874-1875. a well-known connoisseur of the Latin language, German professor W. Korssen, publishes a two-volume book called "On the Etruscan Language." In it, he, it would seem, convincingly proves that this language is related to Italian dialects, although many words in it are Greek. For example, the word TAURA in the Etruscan language means “bull” (Greek “taurus” - remember the Minotaur, the bull of the Cretan king Minos), the word LUPU or LUPUKE means “sculpted” (Greek “glipe” - “carve, sculpt”; hence our "glyptics"). We have already said that the name Avl (or Aule) was very widespread among the Etruscans. Korssen found that there is another similar sounding name - AVILS. And it was also used very often. Moreover, on sarcophagi and burials scattered throughout Etruria, moreover, in combination with the word “loupe” or “lupuke”, that is, “sculpt”, “carve”.

Korssen concluded that Ávile is the generic name of a dynasty of sculptors and sculptors whose talents served Etruria and whose names, like a “factory mark” or “quality mark”, were put on the work of their hands - funerary urns and sarcophagi, in which were representatives of the most noble Etruscan families were buried ...

But as soon as the second volume of the monograph of the venerable scientist was published, in the same year, a small, 39-page brochure by his compatriot Wilhelm Deeke leaves no stone unturned from Korssen's constructions with his Avils, Greek words in Etruscan and the latter's kinship with Italian languages.

Deeke convincingly shows that TAURA, which Korssen thinks is the Greek word for "bull" borrowed by the Etruscans, actually means "grave". The word LUPU or LUPUKE is not "sculpt" or "carve", but the verb "died"; the word AVILS means "year" and not a proper name. "Lupu" and "avil" very often form a stable combination, and the number of years is indicated between them in Latin numerals. Here is the “dynasty of sculptors” discovered by Corssen as a result of many years of painstaking study of Etruscan texts!

Deeke himself believed, like K. O. Müller, that the Etruscan people “belong to the family of Greek peoples, although it was, without a doubt, a distant member of it.” However, not everyone agreed with this. Back in the 18th century it was hypothesized that the Etruscans were the first wave of Celtic tribes that invaded Italy (followed by another Celtic tribe, the Gauls, who inflicted a mortal blow on the Etruscans). In 1842, a book (in two volumes) entitled "Celtic Etruria" was published in Dublin, Ireland's capital. Its author, V. Betham, argued that the Etruscan language is related to the extinct Celtic languages, such as the language of the Gauls, and also modern - Irish, Breton, Welsh.

In the same 18th century it has been suggested that the Etruscans are not the first wave of the Celts, but the ancient Germans, who many centuries later invaded the Roman Empire, reached Italy and crushed Rome. In the 19th century The relationship of the Etruscan language with the German ones was proved by many scientists: the German von Schmitz, the Englishman Lindsay, the Dutchman Maak, the Dane Niebuhr.

In 1825, the scientist Ciampi returned to his homeland in Italy from Warsaw, where he had been a professor for several years. He immediately urged his colleagues to abandon the search for the key to the Etruscan language with the help of Greek and Latin words. In his opinion, it is necessary to turn "to other ancient languages ​​descended from the original, namely, to the Slavic ones." This was followed by Kollar's book "Ancient Slavic Italy" (1853) and A. D. Chertkov "About the language of the Pelasgians who inhabited Italy, and its comparison with ancient Slovene". According to Chertkov, the Slavs "come, in a straight line, from the Pelasgians", and therefore it is the Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bthat can provide the key to reading the Etruscan inscriptions. Later, the Estonian G. Trusman clarifies the work of Kollar and Chertkov. Not the Slavs, but the Balto-Slavs are relatives of the Etruscans. That is, not only Slavic languages ​​​​(Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Polish, Serbian), but also Baltic ones (Lithuanian, Latvian and Prussian, which disappeared as a result of German colonization) can give the key to the Etruscan language. Publishing his work in Reval (now Tallinn), Trusman noted that he was "refused to publish the work in an academic publication, so the author publishes it himself."

Why academic publications in the XX century. (Trusman's book was published in 1911) were they denied publication of works on the Etruscan language, and the authors had to publish them themselves? Yes, because by this time the search for the key to the Etruscan writings had greatly undermined the credibility of any attempts to find it, especially if they were undertaken by non-specialists. “All these failures, which often occurred due to insufficient linguistic training of amateurs and because of naive claims to the appearance of success in “translation”, states the etruscologist Reymond Blok in this connection, “brought upon etruscology the unjust distrust of some sensible minds.” For it was not so easy to draw a line between work in the field of etruscology, trying to find a key among known languages world, and the writing of the "Etruscan", who by all means wants to "translate" Etruscan texts, without having sufficient knowledge.

“I visited the secretary of a Parisian weekly,” says one of the Etruscan enthusiasts. He was a serious young man with excellent manners. And then I told him point-blank that I was working on deciphering the Etruscan text. He staggered as if I had stabbed him in the jaw. For a fraction of a second, the ground shook under his feet, and he had to lean against the fireplace. I looked at him impassively. Finally, raising his head like a diver emerging from under the water, he said with a wide smile: “Ah! You are studying the Etruscan language!“. It was necessary to hear this “Ah!”. It was a whole symphony of sympathy and pity. He did not place me, of course, on straight line AB, where point A is occupied by the seeker of the philosopher's stone, and point B is occupied by the counterfeiter. In order to talk seriously about deciphering the Etruscan language, he needed the author of the Ancient History in three volumes, or at least the head of the department. But to hear an ordinary person talking about this, and even wanting to place a small article in his journal, was a blow to him! I understood this and was not offended. Indeed, it was a dangerous undertaking.”

Remember Corssen's mistakes. The venerable scientist composed a whole story about the “family of sculptors” Avils, made thoughtful conclusions, although all this was based on an absolutely wrong understanding of the word “avils”. One can imagine where errors and misinterpretations led people who did not have the academic training and caution that Corssen certainly had.

Here is a short list. One researcher finds similarities between the Etruscan language and the language of an Indian tribe living in the Orinoco jungle. Hence the conclusion: it was not Columbus who discovered America, but the Etruscans! Another discovers, after "reading" the Etruscan texts, evidence of the death of Atlantis. They are trying to decipher the Etruscan language with the help of Ethiopian, Japanese, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, the extinct Urartian, and finally, Chinese!

This list is far from complete. For example, here is how they tried to connect the Etruscans living in Italy with the inhabitants of distant India. In 1860, Bertani published a book in Leipzig entitled “An attempt to decipher several Etruscan inscriptions” - deciphering is carried out on the basis of the sacred priestly language of India, Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is an Indo-European language, it is related to Slavic and other languages. And if the Etruscan language is really related to Sanskrit, then it would be reasonable to expect that between Italy and Hindustan there will be other Indo-European languages ​​that will be even closer to Etruscan. For example, in 1909 S. Bugge publishes a book where he proves that the Etruscan language is a special branch in the family of Indo-European languages ​​and Greek, Armenian and Balto-Slavic languages ​​are closest to it.

However, very many scientists resolutely rebelled against the fact that the Etruscan language was included in the great Indo-European family. In addition to Indo-European languages ​​(ancient Sanskrit, modern Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and many others), languages ​​of another family, Dravidian, are spoken in Hindustan, mainly in the south of the peninsula (Tamil, Malayali, etc.). In 1904, the Norwegian philologist Sten Konov published a work, and in such a respectable publication as the Journal of the Asiatic Royal Society, under the title "Etruscans and Dravidians". It compares individual Etruscan and Dravidian words that have a similar meaning and sound.

Following this, another researcher, J. Yadzini, compares the Etruscan letters with the icons on clay products found in Central India and dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. e.

True, it is not known whether these icons are letters and in general written signs.

In the 20-30s. of our century in the Indus Valley discover a great civilization, modern ancient egypt, Sumer, Crete. Hieroglyphic inscriptions have been found. In 1933, the Italian etruscologist G. Piccoli published a table. In it, he compares the hieroglyphs of Hindustan and the icons found on some Etruscan inscriptions - at their very beginning, as well as placed on some funerary urns. Piccoli finds that about fifty of these icons are similar to the hieroglyphs of Hindustan ... So what? After all, the hieroglyphs of Hindustan have not been deciphered, and, according to the author of the comparison, practically nothing is known about Etruscan badges. One unknown - this is already known! - you can not decide through another unknown.

The prominent Italian scholar and polyglot Alfredo Trombetti decided to abandon the comparison of the Etruscan language with one language or family. He believed that the languages ​​of our planet are related to each other, in them it is possible to identify a certain common layer, words that have the same meaning and very close sound. And if any Russian word sounds similar to those that belong to the universal layer, therefore, it should have the same meaning.

For example, in Etruscan there is the word TAKLTI. Trombetti believes that this is some kind of case of the word "taka". Then he finds the “universal” meaning of “roof”, which in the ancient Persian language is expressed by the word “teg” (house), in Sanskrit - “stkhagati” (to close), in Chechen - “tchauv” (roof), in Arabic - “dag” (to close), in Latin “tego” (I close), hence “toga”, in Greek - “stege” (roof), in the African language of Bari - “lo-dek” (roof). And Trombetti concludes: the word "taka" in the Etruscan language means "roof" (that is, "closing").

But, firstly, it is not clear whether the word "taklti" is really a case form of the word "taka". Secondly, the possibility of error in the "Trombetti method" is even greater than in the usual comparison of "language with language." And thirdly, no one has yet been able to prove and even give any serious arguments in favor of the fact that there really is a certain layer in all languages ​​​​of the world (and if they come from the same universal root, then the separation of languages ​​​​and peoples began many thousands of years before there was a roof over people's heads and the word for it!).

With the help of universal laws, linguistic universals, Academician N. Ya. Marr also tried to penetrate the secret of the Etruscan language. He used a method he called "paleontological analysis".

According to Marr, any word in any language consists of only four elements. On these elements he "quartered" the words of the most different languages, from Abkhazian to Basque. The Etruscan words were also subjected to Marrov's "quartering". But etruscology did not benefit from this.

In 1935, summing up the results of the centuries-old search for Etruscologists, F. Messerschmidt wrote: "The problem is now even more confused than before." In 1952, the monumental monograph "Languages ​​of the World" was published, summarizing the results of the work of linguists in the study of the relationship of languages. And it was written in it: "Until now, the Etruscan language has not been attributed to any linguistic group."

In 1966, Soviet readers get acquainted with the translation of Z. Mayani's book "The Etruscans Begin to Talk", published by the Nauka publishing house. And in it they read that finally “the Etruscan Bastille has been taken… Yes, the key exists, and I just found it. It is very effective, and I leave it in the hands of all Etruscologists ... I think that if the decipherment of the Etruscan language goes on a wider and fresher road, Etruscologists will feel strong and better protected from their true and imaginary sorrows. And then they can finally break out of the vicious circle in which they are now. To this end, I am doing my bit."

So the key is really found?

Alexander Kondratov

From the book "Etruscans. Mystery number one", 1977

Konstantin Milyaev

As a boy, reading a children's encyclopedia, I drew attention to the history of the mysterious people - the Etruscans. And when I read that the Etruscan language still cannot be translated, despite the numerous examples of writing that have survived, I already thought: “Etruscans ... The root of the word is Russian ... This is very similar to the word “Russians.” Why not try to decipher Etruscan language Old Russian language?And already as an adult, having become acquainted with the works of the writer Vladimir Shcherbakov and a number of other Etruscan researchers, I returned to this topic again.

Descendants of the sons of the leopard

The Roman historian Titus of Livy wrote about the Etruscans of the first millennium BC as follows: “The Etruscan Empire before the Roman Empire covered significant areas by land and sea ... They dominated the upper and lower seas that wash Italy ... One of them is called Tussky by the Italian peoples , by the name of the people, the other - by the Adriatic, from Adria, the colony of the Etruscans ... ".
Fifty-oared Etruscan ships 25 meters long plowed the Mediterranean expanses both near Etruria and very far from it. The Etruscan warships were equipped with an underwater metal ram, which the Romans called the rostrum (the word is undoubtedly the Etruscan "sprout").
On the coins of Vetulonia and other Etruscan city-states, you can see the image of an improved anchor with two metal paws. It is not difficult to understand the advantages of such an anchor: before its invention, anchor stones, baskets with stones were used.
The most famous of the Etruscan cities - Chatal-Gyuyuk and Chayenu-Telezi - were found by archaeologists in Asia Minor. The inhabitants of Chatal-Gyuyuk built houses from raw bricks in the 7th millennium BC. They knew 14 species of cultivated plants. Scraps of fabrics of that period cause amazement even among modern weavers. The technique of polishing obsidian mirrors was unique. Holes in beads made of semi-precious stones were drilled thinner than the eye of a needle. The craftsmanship and artistic taste of the ancient Etruscans far surpass anything known to other regions of our planet. Judging by some signs, this ancient human civilizations could in many ways compete with the legendary Atlantis.
Sanctuaries and temples were found in Chatal-Guyuk, and a whole priestly region of this ancient settlement was found. The mother goddess, who gives life to a child (one of the main deities of Chatal-Gyuyuk), sits on a throne, the handles of which are decorated in the form of two leopards. Eastern Atlantis, as Etruria was called, is millennia older than the pyramids and other ancient monuments, including the Sumerian ones.
One of the oldest Etruscan frescoes depicts a leopard motif. Two lead the horse by the bridle. On a horse is a boy, behind him is a leopard or a cheetah. The beast trustingly put its paw on the boy's shoulder. The fresco was found on the territory of modern Italy, but the homeland of the Etruscans is still Asia Minor. In the language of the Khatgs, who inhabited Asia Minor five or six thousand years ago, one can find the root "ras" in the name of the leopard. The Etruscans called themselves races.
In ancient times, a single proto-language developed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Its bearers are the most ancient tribes who worshiped the leopard - the race: races, russes, rusits. It was they who at one time withstood the blow of the great Atlanteans, who intended to enslave the entire Mediterranean.

The mystery of Etruscan letters

Unfortunately, there are still many difficulties with the decipherment of Etruscan letters. One of the reasons for this is the use of Latin transcription to "sound" Etruscan inscriptions. But the Latin alphabet cannot convey the features of the Etruscan language, and therefore cannot lead to a correct understanding of Etruscan words. This was and is the main obstacle that did not allow Western specialists to approach the goal. Most translations from Etruscan are incorrect, only a small part of them conveys the approximate meaning of individual texts. And even the found parallel texts in the Etruscan and Phoenician languages ​​​​do not help the cause.
If we proceed from the fact that the Russian language retains an organic relationship with the language of the Rasen-Etruscans, we finally get the key to deciphering the ancient inscriptions.
The Etruscans, figuratively speaking, are a large branch of the Hitto-Slavic tree. In this regard, we can recall the Ruthenians who lived in the south of France. And in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" it is not Venetians, as the translators interpret, but "Veneditsi" - Venedichi, Wends. Evidence of this can also be found in the Book of Veles, which speaks of the Wends who went west. The Etruscan verb "vende" - to lead, to lead away - confirms this. Lamentation for "take away the princes to Rostislav" is also an Etruscan trace. The name of one of the goddesses of Etruria is Una, "young". Then they said "unosha", not "young man". This root has left a deep mark in the modern Russian language. The suffixes "onok", "yonok" owe their origin to him. The little lynx is literally "young lynx".

"Mini muluvanetse avile vipena" - this is how one of the Etruscan inscriptions looks like. The inscriptions on the products of ancient masters often begin with the pronouns "I", "me". In the given example, the translation into Russian should be as follows: "The artist Avil (performed) me." Muluvanets (muluvanets) is an artist, something like the corresponding verb sounds in modern Ukrainian. However, in special works one can find a different translation: "I was initiated by Aulus Vibenna." But this translation contradicts the already established norms of the Etruscan language itself, in which the verb always completes the phrase. So "muluvanetse" can't be a verb.
Here are a few Etruscan words (some of which are known to Etruscologists): una - young; tour - a gift; turutse - gave; turan - giver; spur - collection; tes - tes; avil - year - oval; date, goodbye - date; glory - glory; torna - road; venev - a wreath; tum - thought, thought; lepo - beautiful; rosh - rye, wheat, bread; ade, yade - poison; strength - strength; zhinace - reap, chest; tel - do; zhisi - life; tablecloths - bedspread, tablecloth; zusle - must; rastoropevi - quickness; apex - vigilance; ais, yais - the beginning, god, egg; puya, poya - wife; puin, puinel - intoxicated, violent; karchaz, karchazhe - wild boar (cf. "uproot" from the habit of wild boars to pull out roots from the ground); titmouse - titmouse; arel - eagle; ali - or; ita—this; an, en - he; mi - I; mini me; ti - you; eni - they.
There is a difficult word "lautni" in the Etruscan language. Its translation means a dependent group of people, slaves for example. There are other interpretations of this term: a household member, a freedman, a family member, etc. Let's pay attention to the sound of the word. Lautni - laudni - people - people. Much later, this word, as it were, returned in the expressions "people of the count such and such", "human", etc. Zilak in Etruria is an official. The chain helps to understand its sound: "zilak - strongman - strongman". The meaning of the word itself is: "powerful", "strongest", "leader".

However, another analogy is also possible. "Sun" in Etruscan sounds like "strength". One of the most ancient roots, preserved in the word "shine", must be hidden in it. “Strength”, “asserted”, as it were, bring together strength and radiance.
In the complex term "zilak mehl rasenal" one can catch already familiar consonances. The translation, apparently, should sound like this: "leader of the Rasen force."

Tin - the main god of the Etruscans, the god of day, light. The Etruscan word for "day" sounds the same way.
The sons of the leopard were once a force capable of overturning the Atlanteans.
The catastrophe, which the Earth did not yet know, destroyed all the cities of Eastern Atlantis - the birthplace of the universal proto-language. Only after a millennium did the first settlements begin to rise - mainly on the continent, away from the coast. This is how Chatal-Gyuyuk (modern name), Jericho, arose.
But even four thousand years later, the coastal areas have not reached their former prosperity. The most ancient tribes only partially recovered from the terrible losses. They preserved the language and the cult of the leopard. Later they were called Pelasgians. In the ancient Phoenician, Cretan, Asia Minor, Aegean settlements, they spoke the same parent language. At the turn of the second or third millennium BC, the Achaean Greeks came from the continental regions, whose tribes in ancient times suffered less from the catastrophe, since their habitats were not connected with the sea and were not devastated by the elements.

Genuine barbarian Greeks seized the territory of present-day Greece, destroyed the cities of the Pelasgians, their fortresses, razed the Pelasgikon fortress to the ground, on the site of which the Parthenon was built only one and a half thousand years later. Many of the Pelasgians crossed over to Crete to escape the invasion. Before that, the cities of the Pelasgians-Minoans flourished in Crete. Their writing has been read, but still not understood. Their language is unknown to linguists, although this is the parent language spoken by the Lydians, Libyans, Canaanites, Cimmerians, Trypillians, Etruscans, the inhabitants of Troy and many, many others.
In the middle of the second millennium BC, the Greeks reached Crete. The full-blooded art of the Minoans-Pelasgians gives way to a dry and lifeless stylization. The motifs traditional for Minoan painting - flowers, starfish, octopuses on palace-style vases - disappear or are reborn into abstract graphic schemes.

And yet the Achaean culture of the Greeks was able to borrow a lot from the Minoans. Including linear syllabics, religious rites along with the gods themselves, plumbing, fresco painting, clothing styles and much more.
Approximately seven hundred years later, the Achaean Mycenaean culture flourished. But a new invasion of the Greek barbarians, known as the Dorians, fell upon the lands of Greece and the surrounding regions. After it began new period Greek history - Homeric, as it is customary to call it. The Dorian conquest set Greece back several centuries. Palaces, citadels and entire cities lay in ruins.

The Philistines were also Pelasgians (from their name comes the very word "Palestine"). The Philistines arrived on the Palestinian coast at about the same time as the first nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes from the East. The Pelasgians and the Philistines are the closest relatives of the Etruscan Rasenians.
Much of their culture became the property of other peoples, including the Greeks, nomads who came to Palestine, etc. Both the Pelasgians, and many tribes of the so-called peoples of the sea, and the Trypillians - the creators of the Trypillian culture on the Dnieper - were ultimately the sons leopard, that is, the Russians, the Russians of Asia Minor.

Etruscan "qi" means "three". "Tsipoli" literally means "three pains". That's what they called the onion. After all, his throat hurts, his nose hurts, his eyes hurt.

The Ukrainian "cibulya" and the Italian "cipollo", "cipollino" testify to the Etruscan roots. And the Russian word for "chicken" is literally "three-fingered".
There is evidence that at the turn of our era, Etruscan was still spoken in the Alpine valleys. Later, the rutens made the transition to the Dnieper, "to their homeland." Perhaps the descendants of the Etruscans from the northern regions participated in this campaign.
What did Etruria give Rome? Here is a short list: musical instruments, anchor, theatre, mining, ceramics and metalworking, herbalism, land reclamation, cities in Italy, the art of divination, the Capitoline she-wolf. The first kings of Rome were the Etruscans. The eternal city of Rome itself was founded by the Etruscans. Almost everything that the Etruscans built in the eternal city, the Romans later identified with the epithet "greatest." The Etruscan canal system is still part of the urban economy of Rome today.

In the city of Nikonia (Dniester region) a figurative vessel was found, on which one can read the Russian inscription in Greek letters: "Keep your wife with agodos." Translation: "Keep yourself a wife with his daughter (dosh - daughter)." The figurine vessel depicts a man and a woman. The woman's face is wrapped in a scarf, under the scarf is a child. It matches the inscription. It turns out that Russian texts are a common phenomenon on the Black Sea coast of the first millennium BC. e. and first centuries AD. e. The inscriptions from Nikonia are more than two thousand years old, Al-Khwarizmi once named the Black Sea cities in his book: Rastiyanis, Arsas, Arusinia. Now we can say with confidence: these are the cities of the Rus, the descendants of the legendary sons of the leopard.