It has been left to the archaeologists and art historians of today to part some of the veils of time obscuring Etruscan culture and restore these enigmatic people to their proper place in pre Roman history. The Etruscans who occupied much of north-central Italy in the first millennium B.C. traded far and wide in the Mediterranean. Their prosperity and taste for luxury supported a long trading chain leading north to the Baltic Sea for prized amber. That, some experts speculate, may account for the migration of a common Etruscan man's name Lars, to Scandinavia. Of more enduring importance, the Etruscans were a conduit for the introduction of Greek Culture and its Pantheon of Gods to the Romans. The Etruscans developed a version of the Greek alphabet, a step that influenced Roman letters and thereby northern Europe's script. They built the first cities in Italy, when the hills of Rome stood barren of promise. Their influence shows up in later Roman works of architecture and engineering. If the Etruscans were once considered a "lost" society, they were now being found in new excavations and a closer examination of the wealth of artefacts that have been uncovered over the last century. The ruins of settlements and cities, especially in the Maremma, are revealing the social landscape from huts to houses to palaces. At places around Grosseto, Roselle, Pitigliano, Vetulonia, etc. excavators are uncovering remains of fortification walls, artisan's workshops and kilns, temples and grids of streets. Some cities were laid out in separate demarcated zones for residences, industry and public buildings. Roads had ruts paved with stone, like trolley tracks, for a smoother ride in spring-less carriages and chariots. Etruscan settlements began evolving from collections of thatched huts to that of tile-roofed rectangular houses on stone foundations, then to real cities as early as the seventh century B.C. in which an Etruscan society, with wealthy elite, controlled a large population of slaves and serfs. Still no-one knows when the Etruscan came to Italy and where they came from. They spoke a language unlike any other known in Europe; Etruscan ancestors may have crossed the Alps from the North, or lived for so long that their origins were of little relevance. Etruscan customs and traditions have been seen as an intriguing amalgam of those of others, possibly people from Asia Minor (Turkey) and particularly the Greeks. Aristotle wrote of a trade alliance signed by the Etruscans and Carthaginians. Scenes from Greek mythology are depicted in Etruscan art. Their fine metal working and commerce show a sophisticated society. Etruscan power and grip on the Italian peninsula began to decline in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. One of the main reasons they weren't successful in the long run was that their society was static, it didn't change with time. Etruscan civilization was governed as a loose federation of city states, each controlled by oligarchies of the wealthy and guided by the gods. "This is a difference between the Romans and the Etruscans" Seneca once wrote. "We believe that lightning is caused by clouds colliding, whereas they believe that clouds collide in order to create lightning. Since they attribute everything to the gods; they are led to believe not that events have a meaning because they have happened but that they happen in order to express a meaning."

Extract from International Herald Tribune, 15 April 2003