The Etruscans were a people of sophisticated culture and technology who lived in the area between Florence and Rome. Their civilization flourished for nearly a thousand years before being subsumed by the Roman Empire, but they left a substantial legacy to western civilization. In antiquity they were known as a wealthy, luxury-loving people, fond of banqueting and music and deeply religious. They were highly literate, but their literature has not survived, so we turn to Etruscan art to tell us about their mythology and beliefs. Their plentiful, spontaneous art also tells us a great deal about their lives and about the importance of women in their aristocratic society. Most informative of their own distinctive and colorful beliefs are their interpretations of scenes from Greek mythology, reflecting the importance of goddesses and demons in their religion, as well as scenes of the human sacrifice they practiced. This book serves as an excellent introduction to the world of the Etruscans and their mythology and is plentifully illustrated from the vast collection of the British Museum and other international museums.

Etruscan Myths (Legendary Past Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Swaddling, Judith

Bonfante, Larissa

Social Sciences

University of Texas Press

The foundation of the American Academy in Rome dates back more than one hundred years to the early decades of the last century. Over the years, the Academy has acquired a study collection of material goods from antiquity, including coins, statues and figurines, lamps, stucco and other architectural fragments, jewelry, and inscriptions. While most are Roman in origin, some pieces are Greek or Etruscan. Some were gifts, others come from long-ago excavations, a few were bought. The Collection of Antiquities of the American Academy in Rome, the latest addition to the Supplements to the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome series, focuses on highlights of the collection. Sections of the work are written by area specialists, with introductory material contributed by volume editors Larissa Bonfante and Helen Nagy, both of whom have published widely in archaeology and art history.

The Collection of Antiquities of the American Academy in Rome (Supplements To The Memoirs Of The American Academy In Rome)

Arts & Photography

Nagy, Helen

History & Criticism

University of Michigan Press

Professor Larissa Bonfante’s great gift was the ability to evoke, in a fresh, immediate, and convincing way, the experiences, beliefs, and thoughts of people living more than two thousand years ago. Her final publication, Images and Translations: The Etruscans Abroad, communicates the sensations of other times and places, from the day-to-day to the solemnly ritualistic. 
The world of the Etruscans, sophisticated and pleasure-loving, radiated throughout a vast area of the ancient world – a world very different from our own. Relying on a wealth of creative works, Images and Translations examines the expertise and productions of the artists who made them, the tastes of those who used them, and the sometimes surprising results of the exchanges between creators and buyers. Just as the French demand for Chinese ceramics in the seventeenth century gave birth to the unprecedented famille colors, so the production of Greek ceramics for the Etruscan market produced singularly expressive depictions. Humorous, pious, or erotic to the buyers, they could be shocking to the culture that made them. Images and Translations explores areas in much closer economic and cultural contact than is usually recognized. The volume finds threads of connection not only between Italy and Greece, but between Italy and northern Europe—today’s France and Germany—as well as between Italy and the Near East. Etruscan influence runs through Western history, into the Renaissance, and emerges in imagery still evocative today.

Images and Translations: The Etruscans Abroad (Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures)

History

Ancient Civilizations

Before the rise of Rome, the Etruscans dominated central Italy commercially and culturally. Significantly, it was the Etruscans who passed the alphabet on to the Romans. But in the first century B.C., when they had become Roman citizens and begun to speak Latin, their own language died out. Being of non-Indo-European origin, Etruscan is extremely difficult to interpret, and the difficulty is increased by the fact that no Etruscan literature survives. A certain amount has, however, been reconstructed from inscriptions. Here Dr. Bonfante sets out the rudiments of pronunciation and grammar as they are understood so far. Analyzing inscriptions on a wide variety of objects, including mirrors and gems, vases, sarcophagi and coins, she shows what these fragmentary writings contribute to our knowledge of this still largely mysterious people. The book also contains a list of Etruscan personal names and a glossary of Etruscan vocabulary. A final chapter discusses the Agnone Tablet, an important inscription in Oscan, which was spoken in central Italy at the same time as Etruscan.

Etruscan (Reading the Past)

University of California Press

Etruscan Myths /anglais

Religion & Spirituality

Religious Studies

BRITISH MUSEUM

This well-illustrated volume provides the best collection of Etruscan inscriptions and texts currently in print. A substantial archeological introduction sets language and inscriptions in their historical, geographical, and cultural context. The overview of Etruscan grammar, the glossary, and chapters on mythological figures all incorporate the latest innovative discoveries.

The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Revised Edition

Reference

Bonfante, Giuliano

Words, Language & Grammar

Manchester University Press

A revised, updated and expanded edition of the first concise introduction to the study of the Etruscan language in English. The standard historical reference and a popular textbook for students of languages, linguistics, ancient civilization and Etruscan studies. Provides the best collection of Etruscan inscriptions and texts currently in print. A substantial archeological introduction sets language and inscriptions in their historical, geographical and cultural context. The overview of Etruscan grammar, the glossary and chapters on mythological figures all incorporate the latest scholarship and innovative discoveries.

The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Revised Editon

In this study Larissa Bonfante traces the development of Etruscan dress from the eighth to the fifth century B.C.E., using as evidence actual remnants of costumes, sculptures and other artistic representations, and literary passages dealing with the subject. Bonfante explores Near Eastern influences on Etruscan dress as well as the relationships of Greek and Roman styles to Etruscan styles. She also addresses the problem of determining which garments were actually worn and which were only artistic conventions. In addition, by tracing the origin of each style of dress, she provides a chronology of Etruscan relations with the Near East and the cities of Greece.
For this paperback edition, an updated bibliographical essay discusses the latest research and discoveries in the field.

Etruscan Dress

Johns Hopkins University Press

This well-illustrated volume provides the best collection of Etruscan inscriptions and texts currently in print. A substantial archeological introduction sets language and inscriptions in their historical, geographical, and cultural context. The overview of Etruscan grammar, the glossary, and chapters on mythological figures all incorporate the latest innovative discoveries.

Etruscan Language

Foreign Language Study & Reference

New York University Press

Mitos etruscos/ Etruscan Myths (Spanish Edition)

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