This article is about the ancient Italian country. Etruria, Staffordshire is also a place in England.

Etruria — usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia — was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium and Umbria. The inhabitants of Etruria are labelled Etruscans and their complex culture was centered on numerous city-states that rose during the Villanovan period in the ninth century BC and were very powerful during the Orientalizing and Archaic periods. The Etruscans were a dominant culture in Italy by 650 BCE and their influence may be seen beyond Etruria's confines in the Po River Valley and Latium, as well as in Campania and through their contact with the Greek colonies in Southern Italy.

Rome was influenced strongly by the Etruscans, with a series of Etruscan kings ruling at Rome until 509 BCE when the last Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was removed from power and the Roman Republic was established. The Etruscans are credited with influencing Rome's architecture and ritual practice; it was under the Etruscan kings that important structures such as the Capitolium, Cloaca Maxima, and Via Sacra were realized.

The Etruscan civilization (q.v.) was responsible for much of the Greek culture imported into Republican Rome, including the twelve Olympian gods, the growing of olives and grapes, the Latin alphabet (adapted from the Greek alphabet), and architecture like the arch and sewage and drainage systems.

The classical name Etruria was revived in the early 19th century, applied to the Kingdom of Etruria, an ephemeral creation of Napoleon I of France in Tuscany which existed from 1801 to 1807.

External link

• Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, by George Dennis, an overview of Etruscan civilization

Former countries in Europe | Etruria | Etruscans | History of Italy

Etrurien | Etruuria | Etruria | Étrurie | 에트루리아 | Etruria | אטרוריה | Etruria | Etruria | Etrurië | エトルリア | Etruria | Etruria | Etruscos | 伊特魯里亞 | Этрурия