Review of The Etruscans. A Very Short Introduction.

Rasenna: Journal of the Center for Etruscan Studies Volume 4 | Issue 1 Article 3 2014 Review of The Etruscans. A Very Short Introduction. Larissa Bonfante New York University, Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/rasenna Recommended Citation Bonfante, Larissa (2015) "Review of The Etruscans. A Very Short Introduction.," Rasenna: Journal of the Center for Etruscan Studies: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/rasenna/vol4/iss1/3 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the CES Electronic Resources at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rasenna: Journal of the Center for Etruscan Studies by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact . The   Etruscans.   A   Very   Short   Introduction,   by   CHRISTOPHER   SMITH.   Oxford:   Oxford   University  Press,  2014.  ISBN:  978-‐0-‐19-‐954791-‐3;  148  pages;  17  illustrations.                        Reviewed  by  LARISSA  BONFANTE,  New  York  University     The  very  successful  series  of  Very  Short  Introductions  now  includes  a  booklet  on   the  Etruscans  written  by  a  Roman  historian  who,  as  Director  of  the  British  School  at   Rome  and  next-‐door  neighbor  of  the  Etruscan  Museum  at  Villa  Giulia,  is  in  a  favored   position   to   keep   up   with   the   latest   conferences,   controversies,   lectures,   and   discoveries.  The  series  format  calls  for  extreme  brevity,  a  bit  of  Further  Reading  and   an  Index.  In  this  volume  the  author  was  allowed  to  have  illustrations  –  there  are  17  of   them,   including   useful   maps   of   Italy   and   Etruria   and   of   some   of   the   cities,   all   of   them   in  sober  black  and  white,  but  important  in  that  they  remind  the  reader  that  most  of   the  evidence  for  the  Etruscan  past  is  archaeological  and  visual.   The   book   is   organized   into   twelve   brief   chapters,   the   first   dealing   with   the   question  of  the  origin  of  the  Etruscans,  and  the  second  on  the  closely  related  subject   of  the  language.  The  origin  of  the  Etruscans  has  gained  new  strength  since  a  study  of   the  DNA  of  Turkish  populations  was  said  to  bring  a  new  kind  of  evidence  to  bear  on   the  subject.  The  recent  book  edited  by  Vincenzo  Bellelli  (2014)  includes  a  great  deal   of  modern  discussion.   The  origin  of  the  people  who  lived  in  central  Italy  between  the  Arno  and  the  Tiber   is   not   a   mystery   for   archaeologists,   who   can   trace   the   development   of   settlements   into  great  cities  for  over  a  thousand  years,  1200–100  BCE.    In  the  course  of  time,  there   was   also   much   interchange   of   ideas   and   technologies   with   their   closest   neighbors,   the  Latins  and  other  neighbors  in  Italy.  But  for  linguists  the  fact  that  their  non-‐Indo-‐ European   language   and   religion   were   quite   different   from   those   of   any   one   else’s   remains   a   problem.   The   area   may   have   been   left   as   an   island   when   the   Indo-‐ Europeans  came  down  from  the  north,  bringing  with  them  their  male  weather  gods,   their   language   and   a   certain   social   structure   (Latin   rēx   ‘king’   and   Sanskrit   rājā   ‘king’).     It   may   also   mean   that,   as   in   America,   there   were   different   peoples   that   came   together,  and  the  language  finally  adopted,  for  historical  reasons  no  longer  clear  to   us,   was   that   of   a   foreign   elite.   The   Basques,   too,   kept   their   own   language;   but   the   Etruscans  were  not  hidden  in  the  mountains  –  they  had,  and  kept,  vast  fertile  fields   and  some  of  the  best  harbors  in  the  Mediterranean.  In  antiquity,  as  Smith  reminds  us,   there   were   different   theories   about   the   origin   of   the   Etruscans.   According   to   Herodotus’  Lydian  theory  they  came  from  the  East,  in  huge  boatloads  like  the  later   Greek   colonization.   According   to   Dionysius   of   Halicarnassus,   who   was   anxious   to   show   that   the   Romans   were   not   barbaroi,   but   indeed   a   Greek   city,   the   Etruscans   Review  of  The  Etruscans.  A  Very  Short  Introduction     2   were  autochthonous.  As  Elias  Bickerman  noted  (1952:  65–81;  cf.  Gabba  1987:  10,  34,   135),  each  of  these  historians  had  his  own  agenda.   The  chapter  on  language  packs  a  great  deal  of  information  in  a  mere  five  pages,   which   include   a   table   of   alphabets   and   a   muddy   grey   photo   of   the   Pyrgi   tablets   (drawings,   which   would   be   more   useful,   could   perhaps   be   substituted   in   future   editions).   An   important   paragraph   briefly   discusses   recent   work   on   names   and   the   development  of  the  gentilicial  system.1  After  the  eighth  century  BCE  and  the  move  to   urbanized  foundations,  individuals  no  longer  had  only  one  name  (to  which  could  be   added  their  father’s  name  or  patronymic).  Men  –  and  women,  but  not  slaves  –  had   both   a   praenomen   and   a   family   name   to   distinguish   them   socially,   and   to   facilitate   recording   family   relationships   and   inheritance   of   property.   A   glance   at   the   most   interesting   of   the   28   Etruscan–Latin   bilingual   epitaphs,   in   which   Laris   Cafatius,   son   (...truncated)