If the most painful thing in the world is to watch a disaster happen and there is nothing he can do about it, then Riverino is now one of the most miserable people in the world.
For the Etruscans, this was an absolute disaster – their civilization was in decline. As an ordinary Etruscan, Rivilino also foresaw the fate of the nation that was about to be eliminated by history, but he could only be painfully powerless. Not because he has passed the age of flower armor, but because he has experienced too many vicissitudes and changes in the world, has seen through all this, and can only accept helplessly.
Statue of the Etruscans
Rivelino deeply felt that the demise of the Etruscans was a tragedy that no one could recover. But how did all this come about? How did that seemingly incomparably powerful nation get to where it is today?
The mystery of the source
In the 9th century BC, a new people emerged on the present-day Apennine Peninsula: the Etruscans. Since then, they have taken root and lived here, creating their own empire, civilization and splendor.
The ancients believed that the Etruscans came from Anatolia in the East, and some archaeological discoveries today confirm this. From their origins, they do not seem to be ancient Italians, and just as their languages are not Indo-European, their civilization is a mixture of factors from east and west.
Preserved Etruscan architecture to this day
Where did the Etruscans come from? This is a mystery that no one can solve. Ancient Greek historians have proposed that the Etruscans came from Lydia (present-day Anatolia, Turkey) in Asia Minor. They were originally a people who loved their homeland, but then there was a great famine in the country. They emigrated abroad and came to Italy via the Mediterranean.
In the 1st century AD, some historians put forward different views. He believes that the Etruscans are not "outsiders", but are native to the Italian peninsula and are the earliest indigenous peoples of Italy.
By the 18th century, a third opinion was put forward by scholars. They believed that the Etruscans did not come from Asia Minor or by ship from the sea, but crossed the Alps south from Central Europe into Italy.
Of course, Rivelino had never heard of these views. However, even if he knew about these arguments, he would not care very much, because where he came from was not important to him. What he is most proud of is the highly brilliant civilization that his people have created.
From the architecture of the Etruscan people, you can faintly see the glory of the past
The mystery of the "Book of Heaven"
In the 8th century BC, the Etruscans established 12 cities from the north to the center of the Apennine Peninsula, known as the "Etruscan Empire". They established contacts with Greece, West Asia, and some countries in North Africa by land and sea, and traded overseas.
In the 6th century BC, the social prosperity of the Etruscans reached its peak. Centered on Tuscany in what is now northern Italy, they actively expanded to the central and western parts of the peninsula, conquering not only the city of Rome, but even corsica.
Tuscany's location in Italy
In the process of foreign exchanges, the Etruscan people absorbed and borrowed from the civilizations of Greece, North Africa and other places, and reached a new stage of their own prosperity.
The Truscans created a new level of civilization, but in the written records they left behind, it is difficult to appreciate it, and their writings only exist in the inscriptions of some epitaphs. Archaeologists and linguists have examined the inscriptions on these epitaphs and found that some of the letters are very similar to the Greek alphabet, but they are difficult to understand. At present, people cannot decipher it.
The Etruscan script is an unreadable "book of heaven" for modern people. People can only feel the history and glory of the Etruscan people through the ancient buildings, murals and other ethnic historical materials they left behind.
Riverino must not have imagined that a text that he could read at will would bring such a great mystery to future generations.
Tuscany is famous for its winemaking
The mystery of decline
During the glorious period of the Etruscans, their politics, culture, army, agriculture, industry and commerce all developed to a fairly mature height. They had a huge influence on the Romans, who were still villagers at the time.
But how did such a highly developed civilization decline? Although it is said that everything will go from bud to development, to prosperity, then decline, and finally to perish, there is little record of the decline of the Etruscan people in the historical records.
This makes people wonder - what is the truth of history?
Beautiful Tuscany
Most historians believe that in the 4th century BC, it was the invasion of foreign tribes that caused them to lose their center of activity on the peninsula and then tended to decline; in addition, the rise of the Southern Romans was also one of the reasons. The Romans first broke away from the rule of the Etruscans, and later conquered them in turn.
Other historians believe that the Etruscans ruled too broadly, and their poor governance caused revolts among the local population and led to their own decline.
……
Tuscan steppe
The real history has vanished with the passage of time. This is a question that Riverino can't quite understand, and what way do we have to recreate history thousands of years later?