DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0042
xlii CONNECTION OF ETRURIA WITH LYDIA. [introduction.
was of Lydian origin.7 The eagle, which Rome bore as her
standard, and which she derived from Etruria, was also the
military ensign of Persia.8 The young women of Etruria are
said, like those of Lydia, to have obtained their dowries by
prostitution.9 The singular custom of the Lycians, of tracing
their descent by the maternal line, obtained also among the
Etruscans, alone among the nations of antiquity.' And another
custom which essentially distinguished the Etruscans from the
Greeks, and assimilated them to the people of Asia Minor, was
that they shared the festive couch with their wives.2 Their
language and the character in which it was written have very
marked oriental analogies. But in their tombs and sepulchral
usages the affinity of Etruria to Lydia and other countries of
the East is most strongly marked; and it is to be learned not
only from extant monuments, but from historical records.
These analogies will be pointed out in detail in the course of
this work.
The relation and connection of Etruria with the East is an
established fact, admitted on all hands but variously accounted
for.3 To me it seems to be such as cannot be explained by
robe, he says, was square ; the Etruscan of the ancients, was little valued by
toga or T?)$ei>vos, which answered to either people ; and this is a point in
it, was semicircular. which they differed widely from the
7 Tertull. de Pallio, I. ; ef. Serv. ad Greeks and early Romans. Strabo, V.
Virg. Ma. II. 781. The Romans re- pp. 532—3; Theopomp. ap. Athen.
eeived it from the Etruscans, who have XII. c. 3, p. 515, et seq. Horace com-
therefore a prior right to the title of plains of his Lyce as being much too obdu-
gens togata. Li v. I. 8; Flor. I. 5; rate for an Etruscan. Od, III. 10,11.
Plin. VIII. 74 ; IX. 63 ; Diodor. V. ! See Vol. I. p. 133, n. 3.
p. 316 ; Maerob. Sat. I. 6; Festus, % 2 See Vol. I. p. 287. Herodotus (I.
Sardi. Tertullian says the Lydians re- 172) mentions that the Caunians, a
eeived the toga from the Pelasgi, the people of Asia Minor, were accustomed
Romans from the Lydians. Perhaps he to hold symposia, or drinking-bouts,
took this tradition from some poet, who with their wives and families. Cf. 1.146.
used the word Lydian for Etruscan. 3 Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 7) asserts
8 Cf. Dion. Hal. loc. cit. and Xenoph. " the unmistakable connection between
Anab. I. 10. the civilization of Etruria and Asia
9 Cf. Herod. 1. 93, and Plaut. Cistell. Minor." Even Micali, who maintains
II. 3, 20.— the indigenous origin of the Etruscans,
non enim hie, ubi ex Tusco modo g^ forth their relation with the East
Tute tibi indigne dotem quseras corpore. m a prominent light, though explaining
Chastity, if we may believe the accounts it as the result of their commercial
was of Lydian origin.7 The eagle, which Rome bore as her
standard, and which she derived from Etruria, was also the
military ensign of Persia.8 The young women of Etruria are
said, like those of Lydia, to have obtained their dowries by
prostitution.9 The singular custom of the Lycians, of tracing
their descent by the maternal line, obtained also among the
Etruscans, alone among the nations of antiquity.' And another
custom which essentially distinguished the Etruscans from the
Greeks, and assimilated them to the people of Asia Minor, was
that they shared the festive couch with their wives.2 Their
language and the character in which it was written have very
marked oriental analogies. But in their tombs and sepulchral
usages the affinity of Etruria to Lydia and other countries of
the East is most strongly marked; and it is to be learned not
only from extant monuments, but from historical records.
These analogies will be pointed out in detail in the course of
this work.
The relation and connection of Etruria with the East is an
established fact, admitted on all hands but variously accounted
for.3 To me it seems to be such as cannot be explained by
robe, he says, was square ; the Etruscan of the ancients, was little valued by
toga or T?)$ei>vos, which answered to either people ; and this is a point in
it, was semicircular. which they differed widely from the
7 Tertull. de Pallio, I. ; ef. Serv. ad Greeks and early Romans. Strabo, V.
Virg. Ma. II. 781. The Romans re- pp. 532—3; Theopomp. ap. Athen.
eeived it from the Etruscans, who have XII. c. 3, p. 515, et seq. Horace com-
therefore a prior right to the title of plains of his Lyce as being much too obdu-
gens togata. Li v. I. 8; Flor. I. 5; rate for an Etruscan. Od, III. 10,11.
Plin. VIII. 74 ; IX. 63 ; Diodor. V. ! See Vol. I. p. 133, n. 3.
p. 316 ; Maerob. Sat. I. 6; Festus, % 2 See Vol. I. p. 287. Herodotus (I.
Sardi. Tertullian says the Lydians re- 172) mentions that the Caunians, a
eeived the toga from the Pelasgi, the people of Asia Minor, were accustomed
Romans from the Lydians. Perhaps he to hold symposia, or drinking-bouts,
took this tradition from some poet, who with their wives and families. Cf. 1.146.
used the word Lydian for Etruscan. 3 Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 7) asserts
8 Cf. Dion. Hal. loc. cit. and Xenoph. " the unmistakable connection between
Anab. I. 10. the civilization of Etruria and Asia
9 Cf. Herod. 1. 93, and Plaut. Cistell. Minor." Even Micali, who maintains
II. 3, 20.— the indigenous origin of the Etruscans,
non enim hie, ubi ex Tusco modo g^ forth their relation with the East
Tute tibi indigne dotem quseras corpore. m a prominent light, though explaining
Chastity, if we may believe the accounts it as the result of their commercial