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" 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 arise with such a high state culture, culture, which has been developed over many centuries, is not easy to develop, and has not been 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 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 in different time. 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 a high degree of commonality of the 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, since the population lived much more compactly due to the uniqueness of the peninsula and its geographical location 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 area 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 rise 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 social-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, the official language of 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 Etruscan gods 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. Everyone demonstrates the stability of grammar 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)
Does Etruria have its own history? A dozen cities allied to each other, the development of which did not proceed simultaneously, and which had completely different, and sometimes opposite destinies, could they have a common and unified history? Without a doubt, it would be more correct to talk about history Etruscan civilization, about the history of people who used the same language and who were united by a common religion.
In fact, these cities, at the same time so different and so similar, united in the consciousness of their belonging to the same nation and celebrated this unity every year by choosing a god in the temple Voltumny, located on the territory of Volsinia, the head of the union - rex Etruriae, a symbol of their cultural and religious ties. The Romans, however, considered this somewhat differently, they spoke of Etruscan domination in Italy, without singling out the dominance of this or that city.
The question of the origin of the Etruscans is not central today.
Since ancient times, three versions have been put forward regarding the origin of the Etruscans: the version of eastern origin, the version of their arrival from the northern Alpine countries, and the version of their local origin.
After opening in Villanova(a village located near Bologna) In the middle of the 19th century, the tomb, which was considered by archaeologists to belong to a culture immediately preceding the Etruscan, the entire period stretching from the beginning of the formation of Etruria to the end of the 8th century BC, began to be called villanovian. This term means, therefore, all early history Etruscans.
The burials found at Villanova are associated with the earliest practice in Italy of cremation of the dead, a practice also known in central Europe under the name urn field cultures, did not exist on the Apennine Peninsula in the Bronze Age. Burials of this "Apennine culture" are found ubiquitously in all regions where Italic languages of Indo-European origin were spoken, concurrently with the so-called "pit burial" culture (where the dead were buried in pit graves in an outstretched position, along with objects of their daily life).
Thus it is tempting to identify the emergence of the Etruscan civilization with the rite of cremation in Tuscany. However, this in no way solves the question of the origin of the Etruscans.
There are two things to remember important dates associated with the formation of the Etruscan civilization: 1200 BC. and 900 B.C. The first date corresponds to the emergence of this new culture and possibly to the arrival of groups of people who emerged from the East, although nothing can prove this. Late 13th century BC was marked by serious upheavals, especially in the east of the Mediterranean: the fall of the Hittite empire, acts of piracy and attempts to conquer, especially in Egypt, the "peoples of the sea"
If there were once migratory movements of people who came from the East to join the population of Tuscany in order to change the culture and bring the foundations of a new civilization, then they should be dated to the beginning of the 12th century.
Second date, 900 B.C. (beginning of the Iron Age, after the gradual expansion of the practice of cremation to all that would later be Etruscan territory), marks the beginning of pre-urbanization, which marks the new growth and apogee of the Villanovian culture.
as far as cities are concerned, during this period there is a regrouping of scattered habitat areas into places that will become large cities in the future - Veii, Caere, Volsinia, Vulci.
Let's take an example Tarquinius, the sacred city of Etruria. Excavations of numerous necropolises located on all its hills have revealed several habitats scattered at heights, in particular, on the Monterozzi plateau.
Approximately in 750-720. BC. all these habitats were abandoned in favor of a single site where the city of Tarquinia was created, while Monterozzi became the necropolis of the new city. Here, as in Rome, the choice of a single place of residence was determined by the place intended for the burial of the dead. Archaeologist Mario Torelli compares these two famous cities and notes the commonality in the process of regrouping the surrounding inhabitants and in the process of their founding.
The same in the formation of cities was observed almost throughout Etruria, with some differences in different eras and regions.
Etruscans in Italy
A study of the influences and confrontations in the Apennine peninsula before the advent of Rome allows us to note the enormous role that the Etruscans played not only in Italy, but throughout the Western Mediterranean. It is obvious that they occupied a dominant position there, in contrast to the Greeks and Carthaginians. Relations between these three peoples were constantly becoming more complicated.
It can be said, therefore, that the Etruscans played a major role in the formation of Italy.
Italy began to transform under the Greek model. Contacts, especially trade, of the cities of Magna Graecia with Campania, Latium and Etruria favored the evolution of these regions and contributed to their development. However, it should be noted the absence of Greek colonies on Etruscan soil. At the same time, Etruria, fertile and rich in metals, had everything to attract the Greeks. But the Etruscan cities, which had already formed by this time, themselves showed colonial inclinations. They competed with the Greeks on Italian soil.
7th century BC this is the time when Carthage also decided to establish itself in the Western Mediterranean. In the 6th century BC, the Greek presence intensified even more: the Greek colony-polises intended to block the Etruscans from reaching Sicily.
The appearance of Greek colonists in southern Italy greatly influenced the customs of the Etruscans. This period was marked by the most a high degree sophistication of the Etruscan civilization and the prosperity of such large cities. Rome's position became even more strategic, and the Etruscan cities began to squabble over the possession of this point.
But the brilliance and sophistication of the Etruscan culture of this period hid the reality of the decline that was already emerging in the life of Etruria. In 545 BC. a victory was won over the Phocians at Alalia, but she put the Etruscans in an even more difficult position. The Carthaginians, united with the Etruscans in the fight against, gave Alalia to their Etruscan allies, and they themselves gained control over a much larger part of the island. At the same time they settled in Western Sicily and began
there is a war against the Greeks. At the same time, the Carthaginians constantly relied on their Etruscan allies, with whom they had an agreement of friendship. However, this notorious treaty seems to have imposed on the Etruscans something like a Carthaginian protectorate.
To these foreign policy problems, one should add internal upheavals in the Greek colonies, which began at the end of the 6th century BC, which could not but affect the Etruscans.
Tarquinius the proud ruled in Rome like a tyrant, causing the hatred of the Romans. Ultimately, Rome rebelled and the tyrant and his family were expelled. It is believed that Tarquinius was expelled from Rome in 509 BC.
However, the struggle did not end with the expulsion of Tarquinius. Tarquinius fled to Porsenne, king of the Etruscan city of Chiusi. Porsenna, considering it useful for the Etruscans to restore the power of Tarquinius, went to Rome. According to some versions, he captured the city.
After that, the Etruscan detachment, led by the son of Porsenna Arunta moved against the Latins, but was defeated by the Greek army under the command Aristodeme.
Some time later, in 474 BC, a new tyrant Hieron, having united the Greek coalition, defeated the Etruscans near Kum, allies of the already thoroughly weakened Carthaginians. The Etruscans, they were forced to retreat beyond their original borders, and it is from this defeat that the time must be counted when they finally left Rome.
Etruscans in Rome
It is believed that the Etruscans invented a legend that could justify their presence at the head of Rome from the moment it was founded. We know that the "official" legend about Romulus appeared gradually and was formalized only in the 4th century BC... According to the legend, the Etruscan king Taphetius was the grandfather of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
Tarhetius reigned in Alba Lonra and was obviously considered a descendant of Aeneas, that is, ultimately, Zeus himself. A magical phallus suddenly appeared in the hearth of his house, which supposedly happened to the Roman twins, fed by a she-wolf.
The presence of Tuscan merchants in Rome long before the reign of Tarquinius is undeniable, but Etruscan domination would change the city so profoundly in so many areas that it would take too long to compile an exhaustive list.
The Etruscan influence was most clearly manifested in the area of improvement. The skill of hydraulic engineers made it possible to drain the swampy land of the Forum, create the first drain and, in fact, a new urban landscape. The Capitol was equipped and the temple of Jupiter was built on the model of the Etruscan temples, stone buildings covered with tiles were built. They were decorated with painted terracotta products, the remains of which were found in all important places of the center (Forum, Capitol), the Great Circus (Circus Maximus) was equipped, several streets were laid on the territory of the Forum, including the famous Vicus Tuscus(Tuscan street) with a statue of a god Vertumnus.
The Etruscan kings were not content with changing the urban landscape. They also introduced some ceremonies (triumphs, games), established a calendar, and, mainly through Servius Tullius, carried out important reforms, creating new social and military structures. All the citizens of Rome were divided into classes according to their condition, and these classes became represented in the army by different units with different levels weapons.
To these basic changes can be added a number of innovations of a legal and cultural order, which for a long time took root in the manners and customs of the Romans, to such an extent that they themselves began to forget about their origin. Most important:
of these innovations was, no doubt, the alphabet, which the Etruscans themselves borrowed from the Greeks.
All this means that, despite the desire of the Romans themselves to downplay the Etruscan influence, the presence of the Etruscans in Rome was real and left a very deep impression.
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow as much as a meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
How it works?
1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp “spears”;
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierce into the skin of the martyr and sprout through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.
2. Iron Maiden
Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the defendants, after which they confessed to anything. The "iron maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How it works?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the "iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from blood loss;
5) In some models of the “iron maiden”, spikes were provided at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek "skafium", which means "trough". Skafism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae that were not indifferent to human flesh and blood.
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed with large amounts of milk and honey, which causes the victim to develop copious diarrhea that attracts insects.
3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.
4. Terrible pear 
“There is a pear - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European tool for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the tormentor put the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
How it works?
1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;
2) The executioner slowly turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves”-segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. Copper bull 
The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or to be more precise, the coppersmith Perill, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.
Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person.
So
Falaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;
3) The victim is roasted alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull's roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand ..
6. Torture by rats 
Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy.
How it works?
1) The naked martyr is laid on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened with a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
7. Cradle of Judas 
The Cradle of Judas was one of the most painful torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died from the infection, due to the fact that the peaked seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered "loyal", because it did not break bones and did not tear ligaments.
How it works?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;
3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) Torture continues for several hours or even days, until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
8. Elephant trampling 
For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. The elephant is very easy to train and to teach him to trample the guilty victim with his huge feet is a matter of several days.
How it works?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the head of the martyr;
3. Sometimes before the "control in the head" animals squeeze the victims' arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack 
Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.
How it works?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, on which ropes were wound, holding the wrists and ankles of the victim. When the rollers rotated, the ropes stretched in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe.
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the actual use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled out by hand into a thin sausage, which was injected through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where it began to precipitate solid salts and other filth.
3. The victim soon developed kidney problems and died of acute kidney failure. On average, death occurred in 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave with a terrible torture - by putting Shiri on the head of the victim. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.
How it works?
1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.
2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.
4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking cries, and they were thrown there in an open field, with hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved. .
7. The one who was subjected to such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture-execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How it works?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was sutured.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor fellows tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a hoodie woven from lianas, and he is stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After that, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; this operation stops the bleeding and prolongs the life of the upper part of the person.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade "Justine, or the successes of vice." This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of manias, so this torture, like some others, could be a figment of his imagination. But the field of this is not worth referring to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, a person is drugged with painkillers before this (opiates, alcohol, etc.), so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflation with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Russia even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed in this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed the ears, nose and mouth of the poor fellow with it.
3. Bellows were inserted into his anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into a person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed under great pressure.
5. Sometimes connected person they put him naked on the roof of the palace and shot him with arrows until he died.
6. Prior to 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
The Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture "polledro" - "colt" (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their native city. Although history did not preserve the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to pacify his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of mocking people turned the horse breeder's device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbeams of which had very sharp corners so that when a person is put on their back, they crash into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, in which, like a cap, they put their heads.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “bonnet”, ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for especially stubborn ones, the number was increased.
2. With special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they dug into the bones.
16. Dead man's bed (modern China) 
The "dead man's bed" torture is used by the Chinese Communist Party mainly on those prisoners who try to protest their illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience who went to prison for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The hands and feet of a naked prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, ropes are tightly tied to the bed and the body of a person so that he cannot move at all. In this position, a person is continuously from several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, the police still place a hard object under the victim's back to increase the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and for 3-4 days a person hangs, stretched by the limbs.
4. Force-feeding is added to these torments, which is carried out with the help of a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is done mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by health workers. They do it very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing more serious damage. internal organs person.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Collar (Modern China) 
One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is put on a prisoner, which is why he cannot walk or stand normally.
The collar is a board from 50 to 80 cm long, from 30 to 50 cm wide and 10 - 15 cm thick. There are two holes for the legs in the middle of the collar.
The shackled victim is difficult to move, must crawl into the bed, and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only presses on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night, the prisoner is not able to turn around, and in winter, a short blanket does not cover his legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called "crawling with a wooden collar." The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, fingers, toenails and knees bleed profusely, while the back is covered with wounds from blows.
18. Impaling 
Terrible wild execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A person was inserted into the anus with a stake, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper, and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture 
In order to best perform the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the varieties of the rack or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's hands and feet were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner went to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was that the victim was forced to swallow a large amount of water with a funnel, then beaten on the inflated and arched stomach. Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used torture cold water. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table for hours under a jet of icy water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torture was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.
20. Chinese water torture
The person was seated in a very cold room, they tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripping on his forehead. After a few days, the person froze or went crazy.
21. Spanish chair 
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were enclosed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he was in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly roast, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne, to which the victim was tied and a fire was made under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The well-known poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such an armchair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grate for torture by fire) 
Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as a simple metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set horizontally on legs so that a fire can be built under it.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral 
Pectoral in ancient times was called a breast adornment for women in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often strewn with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and fastened with chains.
By a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1885, the pectoral was red-hot and, taking it with tongs, put it on the chest of the tortured woman and held until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral, cooled by the living body again, and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman's breasts.
24. Tickle Torture 
This seemingly harmless influence was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person’s nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch caused at first twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles arose and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
In the simplest version of torture, sensitive places were tickled by the interrogated either simply with hands or with hairbrushes and brushes. Rigid bird feathers were popular. Usually tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often used with the use of animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated. A goat was often used, because its very hard tongue, adapted for eating herbs, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a form of beetle tickling, most common in India. With her, a small bug was planted on the head of the penis of a man or on the nipple of a woman and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of the legs of an insect over a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything.
25. Crocodile 
These tubular metal tongs "Crocodile" were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often performed by women), or with a tight bandage, they achieved a stable hard erection and then the torture began.
26. Serrated crusher 
These serrated iron tongs slowly crushed the testicles of the interrogated.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. A terrible tradition. 
Actually, this is not torture, but an African rite, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls from 3-6 years old without anesthesia were simply scraped out the external genitalia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This rite is done “for the good” of women so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husband
28. Blood Eagle 
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, the ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. In Scandinavian legends, it is stated that during such an execution, salt was sprinkled on the wounds of the victim.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses convicted of treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend. 
Before becoming a world power, Rome waged wars for its own survival with its closest neighbors in Italy for five centuries. On these "home" fronts, the Romans repeatedly suffered defeat. However, while losing battles from time to time, they never lost a war. In the end, all of Italy submitted to Roman arms. The Etruscans were the first to feel the heavy hand of Rome.
Etruria and its inhabitants
The Etruscan settlement area was located in northern Italy, between the right bank of the Tiber and the Apennine mountains, roughly corresponding to the territory of modern Tuscany. The origin and language of this people are still a mystery to scientists.
Their closest neighbors and competitors were the Greeks. Some of them, like Herodotus, considered the Etruscans to come from the east, from Asia Minor. Others, like Thucydides or Diodorus, pointed to their kinship with the Pelasgians, the oldest pre-Greek population of the Balkan Peninsula and the islands of the Aegean Sea. Still others, like Dionysius of Halicarnassus, leaned towards their autochthonous Italic origin. The Romans as a whole followed in line with the same hypotheses, most often assuming the Etruscans to be the original inhabitants of the places they occupied, or deducing their origin from the lands because of the Alps, and at the same time pointing out their kinship with the Rets. Among modern archaeologists, the hypothesis of the origin of the Etruscans from the Neolithic population is most widely shared. central Europe. The emergence and development of the society and civilization of the Etruscans are associated with the archaeological culture of the early Iron Age of Villanova, which itself, in turn, is rooted in the Terramar culture of the late Bronze Age.
During the VIII-VII centuries BC. Numerous city-states arose on the territory of Etruria, each of which was the center of an independent region. The twelve largest cities - Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci, Vetulonia in the coastal part of the country, Veii, Volsinia, Clusium, Perusia in the territories adjacent to the Tiber valley, Volaterra, Arretius, Cortona, Fezuly in the Arno valley in the northern part of Etruria - created a political union, the so-called Etruscan twelve-city, which was a form of political organization of the country.
At the head of the union was an elected zilate ruler, whom the Romans called the praetor. Representatives of all cities gathered in the sanctuary of Voltumna, somewhere near Volsinia ( modern city Orvieto). The sanctuary was erected in honor of Tinia, the Etruscan analogue of Jupiter, and solemn religious ceremonies and sports games took place here every year. This union remained more of a religious than a military-political association. Despite its existence, ties between individual Etruscan cities remained fragile. For the most part, in international politics, the Etruscans acted as separate, separate city-states.
In ancient times, the Etruscan cities were ruled by Lukomon kings, whose power was eventually replaced by elective government. The Etruscan names of a number of elected positions have survived to our time, but the nature of their power and the principles of its implementation are still unknown. Such attributes of power as a scepter, an embroidered toga, a curule chair made of Ivory, the Romans inherited fascia with axes stuck in a bundle of rods from the Etruscans.
Etruscan society itself had a pronounced aristocratic character. To know, ethera, owned great wealth acquired through wars and long-distance trade, and led a luxurious lifestyle. Its elements were feasts, sports games and other entertainments. Aristocrats performed burials in underground family crypts, accompanied by luxurious offerings, including weapons, jewelry, bronze and ceramic vessels, often of imported origin. The common people were in land and personal dependence on the nobility, from among which a large clientele of wealthy aristocrats was recruited. In Etruscan society, slavery was known, which was of a patriarchal nature.
Etruscan burial vault of the 5th century. BC, modern reconstruction
Etruscan expansion in Italy
In the representation of the Greeks and Romans, the Etruscans were a people of warriors, merchants and sea robbers who carried out large-scale expansion in all directions. It reached its peak in the middle - second half of the VI century BC. During this time, the Etruscans colonized the Po Valley in northern Italy. Here their new twelve-city arose, the center of which was founded around 525 BC. Bononia.
Two ports, Spina and Adria, also founded by the Etruscans, provided them with access to the Adriatic Sea and allowed them to establish trade relations with the western Greek cities and their colonies in Italy. The results of the excavations show that at the turn of the VI-V centuries BC. the volume of Greek imports imported into Etruria increased sharply. Through the Alpine passes, Etruscan traders entered the territory of Southern Germany and eastern France, where they established strong and mutually beneficial contacts with the ancestors of the Celts who lived here. In exchange for wine, bronze and ceramic painted vessels, jewelry and weapons, the Etruscans received gold and silver from them, as well as tin and, of course, slaves.
Fresco of the 6th century BC depicting two officials. Both are dressed in purple togas and red shoes, both sit on curule chairs. National Etruscan Museum of Tarquinia
Another direction of Etruscan expansion was the route to the south, which led them first to Latium, and then to Campania. Around 616 B.C. Lucius Tarquinius the Ancient (616-579 BC) opened a gallery of Etruscan kings who ruled Rome for three generations. At this time, Rome from a group of villages that grew on the tops of the hills bordering the Tiber valley turned into a real city with a single political center in the Forum, the sanctuary of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, the regular layout of the streets, the wall surrounding the city, etc. Under the rule of the Etruscan rulers, the Roman social order was formed. King Servius Tullius (578-535 BC) divided the people into property classes and distributed rights and obligations between them. He also reformed military affairs, introducing hoplite weaponry and the phalanx formation.
The last king, Tarquinius the Proud (535-509 BC), led an active policy of conquest. He subjugated most of Latium to his power and established the Latin Union, which included 30 urban communities. The allies undertook to implement a joint policy and send their soldiers to participate in campaigns. Rome, as the most powerful and Big City Lacia, became the hegemon of the union.
Rome around 500 BC
Etruscans and Greeks
The main opponents of the Etruscans in Italy were the Greeks. Their colonies appeared not only on the eastern and southern, but also on the western coast of the Apennine Peninsula. Around 750 B.C. The Chalcidians founded their trading colony of Cuma on the shores of the Gulf of Naples. This city was the most important conductor of their economic and cultural influence in the region. Around 600 B.C. The Phocian Greeks founded Massalia on the southern coast of Gaul, from where they penetrated into the depths of the country up the Rhone. At first, the Phocians peacefully coexisted with the Etruscans, but then their interests began to diverge.
After the conquest of Phocaea by the Persians in 546 BC. a significant part of the Phocians preferred to move out of their city to the west. They replenished the population of Massalia and attempted to establish a new colony at Alalia in Corsica. The activity of the Phocians in the region and their pirate attacks on the ships and coast of Etruria extremely angered the Etruscans, and they concluded an agreement with Carthage. The Carthaginians also suffered from attacks by the Phocians and feared for their colonies in Sardinia. In 535 BC. the combined fleet of the Etruscans and Carthaginians defeated the ships of the Phocians in naval battle near Corsica and destroyed the Alalia founded by them here.
In 524 BC. The Etruscans, who lived in Campania, gathered a huge army and, together with their allies, the Oscans and the Dawns, tried to attack the Kuma from land. Against their army, numbering, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, half a million people, the Greeks put up only 4,500 infantry and 600 horsemen. The Etruscans were defeated in a battle on the Volturnus River. Their infantry took to flight before the clash began. Only the cavalry fought courageously, inflicting considerable damage on the Greeks. In this battle, for the first time, the star of Aristodemus from Qom rose, who accomplished glorious deeds and gained wide popular support.
Terracotta figurines depicting Etruscan warriors. Battle group on a temple frieze from Chiusi, 5th century BC Glyptothek, Copenhagen
Twenty years later, in 504 BC, the inhabitants of the Latin city of Aricia turned to the Cumans for help, who were besieged by a large Etruscan army. Aristodemus, at the head of 2,000 people, came to the aid of the Latins and in a fierce battle near the walls of the city again defeated the Etruscans. Their leader Arrunt fell in battle. Many of his soldiers died, the rest fled. Together with a large number of captives and rich booty, Aristodemus returned to Kumy. But then, relying on the help of the captured Etruscans, he carried out a coup d'état and became a tyrant. For 15 years, Aristodem brutally ruled over the Kumans. The Etruscans, fearing his harsh temper, preferred to keep their distance all these years.
After the death of Aristodemus in 493 BC. Etruscan attacks on Kuma resumed. This time the tyrants of Syracuse came to the aid of the Greeks. In 474 BC. Hieron I brought his ships to the Gulf of Naples and defeated the Etruscan fleet in the naval battle of Cum. An Etruscan helmet, taken as booty, with a dedicatory inscription on behalf of Hiero, was found during excavations of Olympia in Greece and is now on display in the windows of the British Museum. The ships of the Syracusans reliably blocked the Strait of Messana for the Etruscans, blocking their path to the shores of Sicily and southern Italy.
Etruscan helmet with the inscription of Hieron I, after the battle of Cum, as part of other military booty, dedicated by him to the temple of Zeus at Olympia. British Museum, London.
antoniorandazzo.it
In 452 B.C. the Syracusans again defeated the Etruscans at sea, expelled them from the island of Ephalia and ravaged the coast of Etruria. Finally, in 384 BC. the tyrant Dionysius I again brought ships into the Tyrrhenian Sea, captured and destroyed the Etruscan harbor of Pirgi. These victories of the Syracusans ended the maritime power of the Etruscans, who were forced to forever give power over the sea to the Greeks.
Etruscans and Romans
The most serious consequences for the Etruscans were the events that led in 509 BC. to the expulsion from Rome of Tsar Tarquinius the Proud and the establishment of a republican government in the city. Together with the king, his supporters went into exile, including the Etruscans living in the city. Tarquinius turned to their fellow tribesmen for support. The inhabitants of Wei and Clusium provided him with help, and mercenaries were recruited in other cities. With these forces, Tarquinius marched on Rome. An army under the command of the consuls Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius Poplicola came out to meet him.
Both armies met on February 28, 509 BC. near the forest of Arsia on the right bank of the Tiber. At the beginning of the battle, the son of Tarquinius Arrunt challenged Brutus to a duel, in which they both died. The battle between the main forces of the opponents lasted all day, and with the onset of darkness, both troops returned to their original positions. The losses on both sides were enormous. And suddenly at night from the sacred grove a voice louder than a man was heard, exclaiming: “The Etruscans have one more fallen. Victory for the Romans!. The Etruscans retreated in fear. Valery Poplicola entered the city in triumph, riding a chariot drawn by four white horses.
The fight between Eteocles and Polyneices. Battle scene on an Etruscan sarcophagus, 2nd century BC Louvre, Paris
Defeated, Tarquinius turned to the king of Clusius, Lars Porsenna, for help. In 507 B.C. he laid siege to Rome, and the attack was so sudden that the townspeople in a hurry did not even have time to destroy the pile bridge across the Tiber. Then Publius Horace Cocles, with two companions, stood on the bridge and single-handedly held back the Etruscans at its beginning, while the Romans at the other end broke the piles. When the bridge collapsed, Horace, as he was in armor and with weapons, rushed into the Tiber and got out alive to its other side. Two of his comrades died in the process. Another legend tells of the courage of the young man Gaius Mucius Scaevola, who single-handedly made his way to the royal headquarters, where he tried to kill Porsenna, but mistakenly hit his clerk. When they seized him and brought him to the king, Muzzio honestly told who he was and why he made his way to the camp. In response to the threat of torture, he himself put his right hand and kept it on fire until his hand was charred. Amazed by his courage and self-control, Porsenna allegedly immediately ended the siege and concluded a peace treaty with the Romans.
Contrary to the presentation of the patriotic Livy and other Roman historians, traces of a tradition less favorable to Rome are found in the sources. Porsenna, apparently, still managed to capture the city and impose on its inhabitants the difficult terms of the peace agreement. However, he, apparently, was in no hurry to install Tarquinius in Rome, and soon the circumstances for the exiled king himself changed in an unfavorable direction.
Lars Porsenna sieges Rome, Peter Connolly's reconstruction
Porsenna's son Arrunt wanted to create his own kingdom. In 504 BC. he took half of his army from his father and laid siege to Latin Aricius. As we know, the Greeks from Kum came to the aid of the Latins, at whose hands the Etruscans were defeated, and Arrunt himself died. After this defeat, the Latin cities hastened to finally separate from the Etruscans and create their own hostile alliance, led by Tuskul. The power in it belonged to the dictator Tuskul Octavius Mamilius, the former son-in-law of Tarquinius. Convinced that Porsenna was not going to return power over Rome, Tarquinius left him for Tusculum. Here he was warmly welcomed by a relative.
Fearing that Octavius Mamilius would try to restore Tarquinius to the royal throne, the Romans refused to join the rebellious Latins and remained faithful to the agreement with Porsenna. They even received in their city the remnants of the Etruscan army retreating from Aricius. Contrary to their fears, eight whole years passed before Octavius Mamilius decided to act. In 496 BC. the Latin communities united against the Romans and gave them battle at Lake Regilla. On their side in the battle fought a detachment of Roman exiles, commanded by the last son of Tarquinius Titus. After a stubborn battle, the Romans won a dearly won victory. Octavius Mamilius and Titus Tarquinius fell in battle. The aged king, wounded, fled to Kuma to Aristodem, who ruled there, and died a year later at his court. The Romans, in turn, the victory made it possible to conclude a Cassian alliance with the Latins.
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- Nemirovsky, A. I. Etruscans. From myth to history / A. I. Nemirovsky. - M.: Nauka, 1983.
- Burian Y. Mysterious Etruscans / Y. Burian, B. Moukhova. - M.: Nauka, 1970.
- Nechay, F. M. Formation of the Roman state / F. Nechay. - Mn., 1972.
- Zalessky, N. N. Etruscans in Northern Italy / N. Zalessky. - L .: Publishing house of Leningrad State University, 1959.
- Zalessky, N. N. On the history of the Etruscan colonization of Italy in the 7th–4th centuries BC. / N. Zalessky. - L .: Publishing house of Leningrad State University, 1965.
- Ridgway, D. Etruscan // Cambridge History ancient world. - Vol. IV: Persia, Greece and Western Mediterranean circa 525–479 BC e. - M., 2011. - S. 754-808.
- Ergon, J. Everyday life of the Etruscans / Jacques Ergon; per. from French A. B. Ovezova. - M.: Young Guard, 2009.
- Lighthouse, I. L. Rome of the first kings. Genesis of the Roman policy / I. L. Mayak. - M.: Moscow University, 1983.
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-Gyuyuk, and a whole priestly area of \u200b\u200bthis ancient settlement. 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. It sounds the same Russian word"day".
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.
