Though they left no literature and their identity was obliterated, the mysterious Etruscans left evidence proving they enjoyed a vibrant, artistic and remarkable culture.
I’ve always considered the Etruscan culture an intriguing and mysterious one. In college I read Rachel DuPlessis’ essay “For the Etruscans” with immense interest. Though it’s written in a free style difficult to decipher, I felt that its rhythms and images held special meaning for me --
Crash. MOM! WHAT! “You never buy what I like! Only what YOU like!
Sheepish….for me it was always the herding. The herding, the bonding the way you can speak their language but also have a different language or different needs so hard to say this…
I am watering cattle, who are thirsty…
The wife, lost…no one knows what happened to her, when they became the Romans. She became the Etruscans?...
Years ago I used to tell my beginning composition students that one reason to study writing is to prepare to leave behind your personal narratives as a sort of record of family history to your children and grandchildren. I used the Etruscans as an example. We know little about these people because they left no body of literature. We know about them only from the writings left by their contemporaries.
Now I know this is not entirely true. The Etruscans have an alphabet and a written language but we don’t have many examples of it left to us. We haven’t been entirely able to decipher their language, their grammar, the meaning of their writings.
But the uniqueness of their artwork, the totality of their demise, and the mystery of their origin remain an intriguing enigma.
