The Origin, Identity and Contributions of the Etruscans to Roman Civilization

Abstract

The people known as Etruscans is actually an important folk group formed by the mingling of Anatolian Trojans and Scythians of Turkish origin in Italy and transforming the existing village culture in Italy into urban culture. While Greeks called them Tyrsenes or Tyrhenes, Romans called this people Tuscanians or Etruscans. However, the Etruscans called themselves Rasenna. The Trojans who emerged as the representatives of the Eastern Block in the Trojan War, which is regarded as the first great struggle of the Eastern and Western worlds in human history, were defeated by the Achaeans representing the West at the end of a ten-years struggle. After a while, the Trojans, who had to participated in the Sea Peoples Migration, found themselves at the gates of Egypt. The Trojans, who participated in both the first and second stages of the Sea Peoples Migration, unfortunately lost their struggle against the Egyptian Pharaohs. Having to return to their homeland in Çanakkale region, the Trojans, seeing that their homeland had become uninhabitable, migrated to the İzmir region. However, because of the Achaean immigrants who migrated to this region from Greece, they left Anatolia completely at the beginning of the 10 th century BC and migrated to the Toscana region of Italy by sea. About two centuries after this event, we come across two Turkish tribes who entered Anatolia over the Caucasus. These are Scythian and Cimmerian tribes. The Cimmerians, who established hegemony over Anatolia for about 80 years, also abolished the Phrygian Kingdom in Central Anatolia. According to Herodotos, the Scythians, who entered Anatolia after the Cimmerians and ruled Eastern Anatolia for 28 years, invaded the Southern Russia lands emptied by the Cimmerians and established the Great Scythian Empire there. But, some groups of the Scythians continued their march in the west direction and reached the West Anatolia shores and immigrated to Italy from here by ships. This group of the Scythians and the Trojans, who had previously immigrated to Italy, mingled and merged and paved the way for the formation of a new community in Italy where the Turkishness features predominated, who are called the Etruscans or Tursacanians. In this study, we will try to reveal what role the Etruscans played in the formation of Roman civilization in the light of written and archaeological sources.