The dawn of the Etruscans.
The Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 31578 |
| Format | 15 x 21.5 |
| Détails | 502 p., paperback |
| Publication | Paris, 2025 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251456638 |
In this book, Bernard Sergent first recalls an often-forgotten fact: the Etruscans had cousins around the Aegean Sea, and it was from some of them that they descended. The Greeks called them Tyrsenes, then Tyrrhenians. The author then studies their cultural kinship with the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, Anatolia, and, even further back, with Mesopotamia, because the Etruscan civilization has many points in common with that of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
During this journey, Bernard Sergent attempts to resolve several mysteries surrounding the Etruscans. He challenges the most widespread and least convincing theory: the Etruscans were already Italian since an indefinite prehistoric time... He also distances himself from a minority, but very widespread, theory of an initially Indo-European origin of the Etruscan language, and he shows that it is in fact related to the languages (forming a family of their own) of the eastern Caucasus.
The journey allows us to meet the most famous of the Tyrsenes, Pythagoras, and to bring the story of Aeneas to the Etruscans – coming from Troy, he would have reached the coasts of central Italy, where archaeology shows that the very first Etruscans arrived, near the island of Elba, at the end of the 9th century BC. And, along the way, the enormous influence of the Etruscans on the first Rome is underlined: through it, we are partly the sons of the Etruscans.
In this book, Bernard Sergent first recalls an often-forgotten fact: the Etruscans had cousins around the Aegean Sea, and it was from some of them that they descended. The Greeks called them Tyrsenes, then Tyrrhenians. The author then studies their cultural kinship with the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, Anatolia, and, even further back, with Mesopotamia, because the Etruscan civilization has many points in common with that of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
During this journey, Bernard Sergent attempts to resolve several mysteries surrounding the Etruscans. He challenges the most widespread and least convincing theory: the Etruscans were already Italian since an indefinite prehistoric time... He also distances himself from a minority, but very widespread, theory of an initially Indo-European origin of the Etruscan language, and he shows that it is in fact related to the languages (forming a family of their own) of the eastern Caucasus.
The journey allows us to meet the most famous of the Tyrsenes, Pythagoras, and to bring the story of Aeneas to the Etruscans – coming from Troy, he would have reached the coasts of central Italy, where archaeology shows that the very first Etruscans arrived, near the island of Elba, at the end of the 9th century BC. And, along the way, the enormous influence of the Etruscans on the first Rome is underlined: through it, we are partly the sons of the Etruscans.