The Mysterious Etruscans

by Steven L. Tuck

How much do you know about the Etruscans? Many people, even those who are fascinated by ancient history, are less familiar with this intriguing culture than with the history of Greece and Rome—but the story of the Etruscans is equally captivating and far more important than you may have known. This ancient civilization prospered in the region of modern-day Tuscany, maintaining extensive trade networks, building impressive fortified cities, making exquisite art, and creating a culture that, while deeply connected to the Greeks and Romans, had striking contrasts.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Archaeology, Ancient History, Roman, European History

13 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 8, 2016

About the author

Steven L. Tuck is Assistant Professor of Classics at Miami University of Ohio.

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Etruscans may have been a fully indigenous people of the Italian Peninsula. They are generally considered mysterious because we don’t know very much about them, but after reading this Great Courses book, you’ll realize that we actually know an awful lot about them. They were major influencers of Rome and the modern world. In fact, a considerable amount of what we think of as Romans were actually Etruscan innovations such as the bridges and the roads, divination, gladiatorial games, and quite probably, living in city states, getting rid of kings, and so much more. In fact, much of what we think of as the great works of the Renaissance were actually building on Etruscan culture, not Roman. And much of modern society that we think was influenced by Rome was actually derived from their Etruscan neighbors and subjects. This is a very good book.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the past couple years I've been really fascinated by the Etruscans, probably because we know so little about them. This course proved that we actually know a lot more than I thought we did! It's fascinating how much they've been able to deduce from tombs.

[Cristobal Peña · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading about early Rome for a while, I was curious to hear about the Etruscans.
The three kings of Rome were supposedly Etruscan, and their influence over Rome was seemingly profound. How could I not be interested in learning more about how they connect and about their history?

Enter Steven L Tuck, making this mostly about the material culture (of what remains of it). He brings up the same things over and over that I lost count of how many times he brought up togas, how many times is enough Steven? Steven also commits the genetic error of assuming that because certain icons that represent certain concepts are from Etruscan Origin then that must also mean that the ideas are of Etruscan Origin. Steven, bronze statues are just a footnote to the renaissance and not "what made it great".
It is all not so negative, there are certain moments where Steven will guide you through some Etruscan archeological sites. Which even though enjoyable ends up as a gimmick as these things are always shown disconnected from a grander context.

I would not recommend this, and If I had to I would recommend maybe skipping to the parts you might potentially be interested in.

[Jay Waghray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating people. Give credit where it’s due, Ancient Rome!

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75? Kinda repetitive. I like what I learned but sometimes I learned it three times. Professor Tuck's voice also does not have very much dynamic range, which as I said in an earlier comment, would probably be great to listen to as one fell asleep.

[Ocean G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the Etruscans, which had been very hard for me to find, whether in English or Italian.

There seemed to be a couple times where he was overreaching and exaggerating a bit. I understand that the evidence is limited, so we have to guess and surmise quite a bit, but sometimes it just seemed taken a tad too far (No, the Romans would not have been going around in fig leafs if the Etruscans hadn't given them togas).

But I shouldn't overemphasize the fact. It doesn't detract (too much) from the overall story of the Etruscans.

Some of my notes:
Ostrich eggs were signs of international trade. Some were engraved by Phoenicians, others by Etruscans.
Warfare: Etruscans were very courageous, but bad at overarching strategies (just charge in for personal glory/machismo, with no real macro strategy)
Women had more power than Greece. Portrayals of childbirth and child rearing. Also literature aimed at women. Also portrayals of women at games and religious rites.

"The Etruscans are almost completely responsible for for the western notion of family, and they originated the very idea of the Family name in Europe."

"Tuscany" comes from the Latin for 'Etruscan'. "Tyrrhenian" comes from the Greek for 'Etruscan'. "Rome" comes from 'Rumon', the Etruscan word for the Tiber river.
Etruscan games were always religious in nature, so bleeding (although not necessarily death) was required in fights as an offering, unlike in Greek games. This then led to Gladiator fights of Ancient Rome.
More things we got from the Etruscans: togas, and aqueducts and stone archways were Etruscan inventions. Agrippa was Etruscan too.
Etruscan was still being used (at least in temples) up to the 4th century (so pretty much to the end of the Roman empire).
Capua (Etruscan city) sided with Hannibal, since he was fighting the Romans.

[Koit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this an enlightening series, mostly based on the fact that everyone knows so little about the Etruscans. I mostly knew--beforehand--about the voluminous work by Claudius which is lost to us and some minor facts: Mr Tuck's thorough review was definitely a good pointer on this civilisation.

However, the structure of this work was something I cannot get behind. I am in favour of explaining every topic thoroughly once and not jumping between these at random -- I would have very much appreciated the final comments on the Etruscan peoples' origins in the beginning where their lands and other stories were treated. In my book, this half-hearted treatment of every topic also means that the observer cannot get a thorough understanding. Piecing together five or six facts instead of providing these as a narrative does not help comprehension.

I was also undone a bit by the author's (understandable) need to continuously fault the Romans, and one of the chapters which essentially had us walk through Rome, removing items which were of mildly Etruscan origin. It is my belief that an ingenious people can discover things on their own, so the Romans could have well thought of roads without the Etruscans (as somehow the Persians also managed).

Overall, however, if the author's feelings on these topics can be ignored, this story gives a pretty decent overview of old Etruria even if some questions do not get answered as well as one could hope.

Originally posted here.

[EB · Rating 4 out of 5]

(An aside: I finished this at 12:10 a.m. so *technically* it was on 6/17/24 but...)

@ Ep 4 - The focus of this lecture series, so far (or maybe it’s just Dr. Tuck’s interest / passion) seems to be architecture + city planning. Which, now that I’ve written it down, makes a lot of sense in an archeological study since buildings and roads are a significant portion, at least by size, of extant cultural artifacts. Unfortunately for me, it turns out that *I’m* not especially interested in either. Which means maybe it’s a good thing I’m not an archeologist. It’s a bad thing, tho, for making headway in this class.

Some of the building interiors he’s shown pictures of look straight out of a “Star Trek Next Gen” set! I wonder how much TNG drew inspiration from these ancient sites. Also, so many of the stories Dr. Tuck tells - and the stories Dr. Aldrete told in the “Roman Empire” course - reappear at least thematically in TNG and almost wholesale in Futurama. It’s satisfying to connect those dots!

Finally - last comment for now - b/t Dr. Tuck’s morphology, mannerisms, and personality he reminds me of a combo of Corey Rusk and Joey Gladstone (“Uncle Joey” in Full House - Dave Coulier). Which are similarities that are amusing AND ALSO distracting.

@ Ep 9 - It turns out I have ZERO interest in architecture. Altho I appreciate and enjoy how excited Dr. Tuck gets about it! I wonder if that’s 1 way I assess how trustworthy an instructor is - how passionate they are abt their subject, or how much genuine joy it seems to bring them. I think I tune into this b/c I assume that b/c joy is personal, they have a personal investment in the topic, which means they devote a more careful kind of attn to what they share. I also assume that joy means less ego (they’re after personal satisfaction rather than glory or acclaim) which feels more solid and trustworthy to me. Altho as I think this thru a *personal* motivation - or a personal *identification* - could create other, problematic kinds of bias… Maybe it’s not abt the accuracy of the material at all but rather if they’re ppl I want to spend hour upon hour with. Ppl who are joyful and passionate abt sharing a topic are more pleasant to be around than ego-driven megalomaniacs. Dr. Tuck, for example, is sometimes positively GIDDY abt architectural details. Dr. Aldrete had the same “spark” abt some of his topics. Not so w/ Dr. Garland.

Back to architecture - I *might* be more interested if they showed more images of what Dr. Tuck describes. Either diagrams or real-world examples. I don’t think they’re using the video medium particularly effectively - this series is mostly a “talking head” which is too bad b/c images and examples would reinforce and demonstrate the ideas. Re: architecture, tho, I think if I could SEE what he’s talking abt it would make more sense to me which would then make the lectures easier to follow. I would have concrete (LOL) pics in my head instead of trying to dream it up in the abstract.

@ Ep 10 - I preferred the chronological organization of the “Roman Empire” course to this one. Chronology established a clear roadmap, so even when Dr. Aldrete took time to explore Roman culture, etc., I knew he would come back to the story’s “beginning / middle / end” trajectory. These lectures are organized around topic, and then cover multiple centuries within each topic area. I’m realizing, too, that chronological organization provides built-in forward momentum - “What’s going to happen next?!” - that this series is lacking.

@ Ep 16 - Something I appreciate abt Dr. Tuck’s lectures is that he presents multiple hypotheses and then examines each, ultimately demonstrating why he finds the evidence for one more compelling than the others. This challenges the viewer to move beyond “sit-n-get” to use some critical thinking skills. It also demonstrates archeological methodology; i.e., what questions do archeologists ask? What constitutes persuasive data / conclusions? Etc. It also makes his conclusions more memorable.

In addition to not showing enuf images / diagrams (discussed above) I wish they’d also show more names, dates, and vocabulary on the screen. They’re really missing out :(

I Googled him (b/c curiosity!) and watched this vid from a PBS show that aired earlier this year: https://www.pbs.org/video/professor-t... The older version of Dr. Tuck looks like Jonathan Lithgow!

@ Ep 21 - There *IS* a book that accompanies the videos! Just like there was for the “Roman Empire” (which was physical DVDs + physical book). The “book” is provided thru Kanopy as a PDF but only via the website, not the app. I’d only used the app until now. I wish I’d had this from the beginning tho! I would have been able to follow along SO. MUCH. BETTER. Now I know, tho, and will look for a PDF “book” (Kanopy calls it “supplemental material”) when I start the next lecture series.

Something I noticed starting in the first episode and haven’t mentioned here is that he handles the awkwardness of looking at a different camera every few sentences with a lot of ease - better than any of the other lecturers I’ve seen. I appreciate that! I also appreciate his approach to discussing the roles of men / women. He’s not sexist. If anything he’s someone who *I* could learn from abt what rights women ought to be afforded - I get the feeling he has a more generous attitude toward “equality” than I allow myself to imagine. He just seems like a genuinely kind human.

@ Ep 24 - I don’t feel the same grief that I’ve come to the end as I did at “Roman Empire” episode 24. It’s more RELIEF than anything. Really fascinating info / material but also really difficult for me to stay interested. Not sure why. I *did* go back, tho, to find a topic I wished I’d written down when first presented - conservatism. Totally new idea for me, re: cultural studies. ‘Cultural conservatism’ refers to the components of a culture that change very slowly. Examples from episode 5: funerals and burials. He says that cultures need EXTREMELY compelling reasons to change their approach to practices like these. The vocabulary word I *really* was after, tho, was ‘conservatism of use,’ which I found at 1:58 in episode 2. This refers to a conservatism not for practices / behaviors but for things like streets, walls, and buildings. Which is to say - as time passes and different groups inhabit the same physical space they tend to repurpose existing infrastructure within the same genre. For example, once a street is built, it’s likely to STAY a street. Another example: constructing a Christian church on a site that *originally* was a pagan temple. ‘Conservatism of use.’

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a ton from this lecture series. I knew so little about the Etruscans going into the series - that almost every minute I was learning something new.

Delivery was clear, concise, and interesting.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. This is a college level lecture series which covers the political, religious, social, economic and military aspects of society but also sports and public banquets, among other interesting subjects. I found it fascinating but the depth may not be to every one's taste. There are some missing visual elements of the lectures because it is a purely audio format; it would have been particularly helpful for the sections on Etruscan art and burials to have that included.

Far fewer archaeological finds exist for the Etruscan culture than the Romans and the Greeks. There are very little written documents that have survived. Many of the written descriptions of Etruscan culture come from Greeks and Romans who disapproved of things in Etruscan society, i.e. women's role. So it is amazing what has been deduced from the artifact, pictures, statues and the necropolises. At times, Tuck pushes his argument about how much Roman society is indebted to the Etruscans without enough proof. He is also a bit repetitive in some places.

Overall, it reminds me of what I miss about college history courses. Of course, without the papers.

[Igor Mendonça · Rating 4 out of 5]

The etruscans are a fascinating people, and definitely misterious, as the course's name indicates. It is worthwhile to reflect how much they took part in Rome's cultural and political formation, specially how they connected the Romans, Greeks and the Phoenicians: a largely ignored gap in our history lessons.

The teacher is very good, speaking slowly and clearly, taking care about biases and how to interpret evidences.

The biggest issue with this course is that, since the Etruscans are too difficult to study, leaving few written testimonies and being in the center of a cosmopolitan Mediterranean period, it's too hard to describe much about them. So the course is heavily based in descriptions of paintings, architecture, tombs descriptions, etc. Thus it's content is not a good one for an audio only course. During much of the time I got lost because of excessive description, vocabulary that I don't know in English and subjective reasoning.

This is a real big issue, but if you are curious enough to study Etrsucan history, I guess you are already prepared for that!

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huh, I picked this at random to listen to while doing some chores and I thought I'd only listen for a little bit, but I ended up listening to the whole audio book (mmmkay, sped through some of the detailed descriptions on architecture and whatnot but still.)

Really interesting info on how they studied entrails, divided the cosmos into what sounds like an astrological birth chart, stories on their gods and goddesses, and how their writing influenced tons of other languages.

Also, lots of dad jokes.

[Rik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh it's alright. The information is interesting but the lecturer is a bit flat and can be repetitive. This is definately more a cultural/social history and aims to be as indepth as it can be but with the Etruscans some more political/military framework would be helpful and you end up a little lost - these approaches are great but you usually find them for the romans/greeks/ tudors etc where there's hundreds of books available for to fill that in, not so much in this case. The second half was an improvement on the first though.

[Deirdre E Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh... for a series of Steven L Tuck's lectures with a bottomless coffee :-)
The sneaky Romans have been implicated in the purloining of credit for life style choices,
...and rightly so too,
since anyone enjoying life on the banks of the beautifully blue Mediterrean Sea can thank the
Etruscans for being effective, efficient and elusive, enabling the Romans to take the bow.
Thoroughly enjoyable listen as always, thank you Steven L Tuck, much appreciated. :-)

[Lamadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize we knew even this much about the Etruscans. This was a really interesting look at the most Italian of Italian people, and there was way more info than I expected. I was particularly interested to find out how much of what I associated with Roman culture originally came from the Etruscans before them.

[Robin Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the Great Courses series, this entry has hits on many varied issues of the society. The Etruscans provided a lot of sexual equality between men and women. There were also major structural problems in the society. This was a good entry marred by a lot of repetition throughout the course. Not a huge amount of visuals. This is good but not great.

[Jason Baldauf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised just how good this is. It contains a wealth of information on all aspects of Etruscan life, more than I imagined existed. If you are interested in the Etruscans specifically or on the Romans and how they were influenced by their northern neighbors, their is a ton of good stuff here.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually watched the DVD version of this work, but that doesn't see to be a listed edition.

Although fairly interesting and relatively informative, it should have been half as long as it is. There is a reason the Etruscans are mysterious, and part of that is there just isn't enough material about them. Time and again in the lectures we see the same tomb paintings and decorations, the same urns and sculptures presented to illustrate different aspects of the culture. But much of the information presented is obviously speculation, especially in regards to mythology; one of the three sources cited in the guidebook on that topic is described as using examination of artwork to come to conclusions about Etruscan mythology and world-view.

Despite the over reliance on limited sources, we somehow also don't see enough of them. Frequently in the lectures there are places where an artwork is described, the details of which are supposedly illustrative of an important point, but we never get to see the art. And annoyingly it frequently shows one wall of a tomb painting, and the describes but does not depict the other wall.

In addition to overreaching in places--mythology is just the most egregious example--there are places where the professor's argument are self-contradictory. For example, he claims that myth shapes and/or reflects culture and simplifies Greek myth to being about self-centered heroic individuals practicing autonomous violence and contrasts it with a (largely speculative) version of Etruscan myth as emphasizing cooperation and consensus; yet in discussions of military history it is the Etruscans who exhibit self-interested warriors acting without coordination and the Greeks who have well-trained phalanxes that require placing the needs of the group over the individual (though I believe the Greek myths largely reflect an earlier cultural period where warfare focused on the heroic individual, while their interactions with the Etruscans were during a later period where military tactics had improved and changed). He also weirdly ignores the fact that the Romans appear to have had an almost animistic religion with gods as similarly vague as the Etruscans before they developed standard representations based on Greek models. Also, it is presented as strange that the Etruscans didn't rally together in defense of common culture, even though it is acknowledged that they primarily saw themselves as members of a city-state, and ignores that the Greeks likewise were primarily loyal to their city-state, the main exception being the coordinated defense against the Persians. Of the Etruscans, Romans, and Greeks, it is the Romans who were the most unusual for their expansionism and eventual assimilation of other peoples.

This was a decent introduction into a topic I know little about, but the errors and overreaches from limited knowledge were a bit annoying and leave me questioning how much I can trust any of the information in the work.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A peaceful lecture series. I would have liked more lectures on the Etruscan language and more on domestic culture (cooking utensils and things like that). I was in general surprised by how much is known about the Etruscans, and how disimilar they are to the Romans.

[Loren Shultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good history

[Joshua Dew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a video lecture series that was converted to audiobook format. The lectures were decent but I found myself often having to google images of the art, architecture, jewelry, etc.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Some of it was interesting but a lot of repeats.

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Michelle McDaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried so hard to like this book! I wanted to know about the Estruscans. But, I couldn’t get past the 3rd or 4th chapter before my attention would drift.

[Enrico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as engaging and fascinating as i had hoped in the beginning. Nevertheless learned some interesting stuff about the Etruscans and their influence on Rome and the Western World.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-4 stars - I found the material enlightening, but somehow not so compelling at times - but was glad I did it though!

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched. Learned about the ties the Etruscans had to the Greeks and Romans.

[Stèf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and informative. I'm shocked at how influential the Etruscans have been. I learnt far more than I expected.

[Lori Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and thorough. I learned a lot. It was a little tedious at times.

[Juan Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

What society would you think should win?

One where women are equal to men or where women are despised and treated as objects?

One where art and sport are valued or where they are not valued?

One where there was democracy as a form of government or one with a despotic and authoritarian government?

If you're like me you say that the first in all cases. But I wonder, do you know something about the Etruscans?

They were "oddball" in the context of the years 700-300 BC. And they were completely wiped out as a people and history by the Romans. Although many of their customs survive to this day and survived long in Rome, their society was completely destroyed by those with a way of thinking inferior to them.

If you want to know more I recommend this book.