Etruscan

Etruscan refers to the civilization of the ancient Etruscans who inhabited Etruria in central Italy, and to their language. The homeland covered much of what is now Tuscany and parts of western Umbria and northern Lazio. The Etruscan civilization grew out of the earlier Villanovan culture in the early first millennium BCE and flourished between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE, before being absorbed by the expanding Roman Republic in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

Etruscan city-states such as Veii, Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Populonia and Orvieto developed sophisticated urban planning, metallurgy, trade networks around the Tyrrhenian Sea, and distinctive art including painted tombs and bucchero pottery. Religion and divination (haruspicy and augury) played a central role; their priestly and ritual practices influenced early Roman religion and ritual.

Language and script: Etruscan is a non-Indo-European language, part of the proposed Tyrsenian language family that also includes Raetic and Lemnian, though connections remain debated. The Etruscan alphabet, a variant of the early Greek script, was used for inscriptions from the 7th to 2nd centuries BCE. The surviving corpus is modest, and only a portion is understood; the best-known long text is the Liber Linteus. Most vocabulary remains undeciphered, and the full grammar is not settled.

Legacy: The Romans adopted and adapted many aspects of Etruscan culture, including religious practice, temple architecture, and the Latin alphabet, which was derived from the Etruscan script. By the mid-1st century BCE, Etruscan political independence had ended, and the region became integrated into Roman Italy. Modern archaeology and linguistics continue to study Etruscan origins, society, and language.