"Mysterious". Any text about the Etruscans begins with this word. Whether a gray-haired scientist or a journalist with no mustache talks about a disappeared people, he inevitably uses this “definition”. And that's true: the whole history of the Etruscans is one big mystery. It is not known where they came from, spoke no language, or where they eventually disappeared. As if they fell through the ground! In all honesty, time has swallowed up more than one civilization, wiped out more than one nation from the face of the earth. Humanity has calmly forgotten about them - and as if it had not lost anything. But the Etruscans have never been consigned to oblivion. What is it about them that people just can't get them out of their heads?
REMEDY FOR HUNGER
Even Herodotus - and this is the 5th century. BC e. - wondered where the Etruscans came from and where they went later. In the historical arena, this people arose so suddenly that the father of history suspected migrants in them. In his opinion, the Etruscans, or Tyrrens, as they were called in antiquity, did not belong to the indigenous population of the Apennine Peninsula. Herodotus suspected that they came from Lydia, Asia Minor. Here's how it all happened: “During the reign of Atis, there was a great need for bread throughout Lydia. In the beginning, the Lydians endured the famine patiently; then they began to invent means against him. It was then that the games of cubes, dice, ball and others were invented. These inventions served for them as a means against hunger: one day they played continuously so as not to think about food, the next day they ate and left the game. They lived this way for eighteen years. However, hunger not only did not subside, but grew ever stronger. Then the king divided the entire people into two parts and cast lots in order for one of them to stay in their homeland, and the other to move out. He appointed himself king of the part that by lot remained in place, and over the departed he put his son, by the name of Tyrrene. Those of them who had the lot to leave, built ships, put the items they needed on them, and sailed off to find food and dwelling. Having passed many peoples, they finally arrived at the Ombriks, where they founded cities and live to this day. Instead of the Lydians, they began to be named after their king. They ascribed his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians. "which by lot remained in place, he appointed himself, and over the one who had moved out he put his son, by the name of Tyrrenus. Those of them who had the lot to leave, built ships, put the items they needed on them, and sailed off to find food and dwelling. Having passed many peoples, they finally arrived at the Ombriks, where they founded cities and live to this day. Instead of the Lydians, they began to be named after their king. They ascribed his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians. "which by lot remained in place, he appointed himself, and over the one who had moved out he put his son, by the name of Tyrrenus. Those of them who had the lot to leave, built ships, put the items they needed on them, and sailed off to find food and dwelling. Having passed many peoples, they finally arrived at the Ombriks, where they founded cities and live to this day. Instead of the Lydians, they began to be named after their king. They ascribed his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians. "Instead of the Lydians, they began to be named after their king. They ascribed his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians. "Instead of the Lydians, they began to be named after their king. They ascribed his name to themselves, and were called Tyrrhenians."
Herodotus is a serious name that inspires confidence: many of his stories, which at first seem incredible, were later confirmed by archaeological discoveries and historical research. And yet it is impossible to imagine that a whole nation for 18 years was saved from hunger by playing dice. And then he went in search of a better life. Alas, the father's version of the story seems dubious. However, researchers do not really believe Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who is convinced that the Etruscans are one of the local Italic peoples. According to the generally accepted opinion, a writer who lived in the 1st century. BC e., he was too worried about the "smoothness of the narrative" - and for the sake of the beauty of the text he was engaged in juggling historical facts, or even inventing them. So his opinion should also be discounted.
CITIES OF THE DEAD
As a result, we are left with what all the other "Etruscan scholars" of the world are with - with a nose! Is it a shame? Yes, but we have one advantage: academic science is not a decree to us, and therefore, we can safely look around in search of alternative versions. Fortunately, there is no shortage of them.
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Dessert, as expected, will be left for sweet. And as the main dish, let's take the hypothesis according to which the Etruscans arrived on the Apennine Peninsula from Egypt.
This original idea of the researchers was prompted by the burial rites of the Tyrrhenians. The Etruscans built their houses from adobe bricks, and therefore neither buildings nor temples for the most part could withstand the collision with time and the elements. But the "cities of the dead" - the necropolises, preserved by earth and sand, have been perfectly preserved. If today we know at least something about the Etruscans, it is largely due to their crypts. Strictly speaking, they are more like palaces. Like their counterparts, the Egyptians, the Etruscans were sure: there is no death, there is only a transition from one life to another. And for this other, afterlife existence, one must thoroughly prepare. In particular, to create comfortable living conditions and provide yourself with everything that you have got used to over the years spent on earth. This is how whole “cities of the dead” appeared - multi-room tomb houses. Their creation required huge material costs and a lot of time. After all, it was not enough to build a "turnkey" crypt: its walls had to be painted with frescoes, and the rooms had to be filled with precious utensils, without which the deceased could not do in the afterlife. And this is dishes, weapons, jewelry, food, drink, and "means of transportation" - horses with carts … You can't list everything! A very uncharacteristic approach for the Italic peoples: such close attention to the afterlife can not be found either in Ancient Greece or in Ancient Rome. One will involuntarily remember Ancient Egypt, with its exemplary funerary art. Of course, the "cities of the dead" are far from the pyramids. But the analogy is there!and the rooms should be filled with precious utensils, without which the deceased cannot do in the afterlife. And this - and dishes, and weapons, and jewelry, and food, and drink, and "vehicles" - horses with carts … It is impossible to list everything! A very uncharacteristic approach for the Italic peoples: such close attention to the afterlife can not be found either in Ancient Greece or in Ancient Rome. One will involuntarily remember Ancient Egypt, with its exemplary funerary art. Of course, the "cities of the dead" are far from the pyramids. But the analogy is there!and the rooms should be filled with precious utensils, without which the deceased cannot do in the afterlife. And this - and dishes, and weapons, and jewelry, and food, and drink, and "vehicles" - horses with carts … It is impossible to list everything! A very uncharacteristic approach for the Italic peoples: such close attention to the afterlife can not be found either in Ancient Greece or in Ancient Rome. One will involuntarily remember Ancient Egypt, with its exemplary funerary art. Of course, the "cities of the dead" are far from the pyramids. But the analogy is there!nor in ancient Rome. One will involuntarily remember Ancient Egypt, with its exemplary funerary art. Of course, the "cities of the dead" are far from the pyramids. But the analogy is there!nor in ancient Rome. One will involuntarily remember Ancient Egypt, with its exemplary funerary art. Of course, the "cities of the dead" are far from the pyramids. But the analogy is there!
However, is it legitimate, based only on the proximity of ideas about the afterlife, to record the Egyptians as relatives of the Etruscans? Alas, no: this is only an indirect argument. Any similarity of customs can be accidental …
SPEAKING Murals & Mute Alphabet
Of course, not a single Etruscan tomb has survived to this day that has not been plundered. When scientists get to a crypt, then, as a rule, they have to be content with only frescoes, but what kind! The life of the Etruscans appears in all its diversity! Together with Tyrrhenians, we feast and hunt, sing songs, dance, trade slaves, equip ships, see off loved ones on their last journey, rejoice at the appearance of a new life, watch gladiator fights with passion, participate in sports (yes, the Olympic Games also invented by the Etruscans), we build houses, do all kinds of crafts, fight and pray to the gods! There seems to be nothing that we cannot do together. But no! Here in front of us - on sarcophagi, urns, grave steles, vessels or mirrors - letters appear,at first glance - very familiar - from the Greek alphabet, with which school geometry at the very least made friends with us. And that's all: you can gaze at the Etruscan inscriptions for as long as you like and not come close to understanding them one iota.
The Romans were the first to surrender. They are tired of spinning these texts from left to right, up and down, back and forth. After all, these … mysterious Etruscans could not write like all normal people! For some reason they used bostrofedon. This is when one line is written from left to right, and the second - from right to left, the third - again from left to right, etc. In this case, the words are not always separated from each other, and the letters are also turned upside down … If you consider that neither Since one ideally preserved monument of writing was no longer at the disposal of the Romans, it was not possible to understand where the fragment began, where the middle, and where the end was. As a result, the Romans declared: "Etruscum non legitur" - which means: "Etruscan cannot be read."
But you understand? - It's like with a perpetual motion machine: they will never stop inventing it, for nothing that back in 1775 the Paris Academy of Sciences recognized the obvious impossibility of its creation. So the Etruscan language will never stop trying to decipher. Moreover, history knows a lot of inspiring examples - after all, it was possible to decipher the previously "unreadable" Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian cuneiform, writing of the Hittites, Lydians, Carians and ancient Persians!
Etruscan inscriptions, and there are about 10,000 of them at the disposal of researchers, tried to read on the basis of, probably, already all known languages of the world. And always the same picture emerged: everything is read easily and simply, it is not understood - NOTHING! At the end of the 20th century, Italian scientists, even in their hearts, declared: they say that the Etruscan language is inaccessible for understanding by contemporaries, because it is encrypted in some ancient mystical way! How! Meanwhile, at least three independent researchers were able not only to read, but also to understand the Etruscan texts …
FANTASERS
It turned out that in the world history the Slavs are occupied exclusively in secondary roles. They did not come out with a snout to become prima. And where can they compete with the same Greeks and Romans, if they appeared on the historical arena only in the 6th century AD? e.! Barbarian tribes who killed wives on the graves of their husbands, did not have a decent army, neither science nor crafts. In a word, a backward people. This is the generally accepted point of view - that 200 years ago, that, by and large, and now.
However, in the 19th century, Pole Tadeusz Volansky, Italian Sebastiano Ciampi and Russian Alexander Dmitrievich Chertkov, independently of each other, were able to read and understand Etruscan inscriptions, relying on Slavic languages! It turns out that the Etruscans are the migrated Slavs? They didn’t disappear anywhere, “are they Russians,” is that the whole secret? But then it turns out that the Slavs created the entire Etruscan culture, on which, in fact, Rome itself rose, "ascended"? Well, I do not! This cannot be, because it cannot be. All three were declared dreamers.
Sebastiano Ciampi, a scientist, priest, philologist and Etruscologist who headed the department of "Ancient Etruscan Monuments" at the University of Pisa, was financially independent. He went to Warsaw - to teach Greek and Roman literature there - purely for fun. And for the same reason, I learned a little Polish. And suddenly - lo and behold! He realized that he now understood the Etruscan texts. Champi was quick to share his discovery with his colleagues in Pisa. And again I heard that the Slavic tribes appeared only in the VI century …
Dmitry Alexandrovich Chertkov - "the kindest, but extremely absent-minded old man" - simply did not pay any attention to criticism of his "Slavophile idea". The richest man, historian, archaeologist, Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and concurrently the leader of the Moscow nobility, preferred to devote all his time to scientific research, and to spend his rare free hours in the library. Titanium! An elephant insensitive to Moska's barking.
Polish archaeologist and collector Tadeusz Wolanski shared the reputation of his associates. They also said about him: "The author is too trusting and extremely gifted with magnificent imagination." However, it was this dreamer that the Inquisition almost sent to the stake as a dangerous heretic! Note: this happened in 1847!
LIKE A GOAT TO THE WATER
Strictly speaking, it was not the Slavic origin of the Etruscans that infuriated the Catholics. Tadeusz Wolanski swung at the holy of holies: in his book "Monuments of Slavic Writing Before the Nativity of Christ," he dared to prove that "the Slavic language existed long before the Nativity of Christ and appeared much earlier than among the Phoenicians, Jews and Greeks, and even the Egyptians." And this is heresy! The method of dealing with which was invented long ago and successfully tested by the Inquisition.
From the inevitable burning at the stake from his own books, Tadeusz Wolanski was saved by Emperor Nicholas I. At that time Poland was part of the Russian Empire, and therefore the Catholic leadership was forced through the Holy Synod to request the imperial consent to such a reprisal. But our Nicholas I, for nothing that nicknamed Palkin, decided to properly understand the history of the issue. He got acquainted with Volansky's book, and, being a Russian, was satisfied with its content, but, being the emperor, he ordered: "Take the required amount of this book under strong storage, the rest, so as not to harm the clergy, burn …"
So, thanks to Nicholas I, today we have several copies of the book, which in 1853 ended up in the papal "Index of Forbidden Books" and was sent to the stake …
As for Volansky himself, his fate is unenviable. Let him escape the lot of a martyr, but a big fat cross was put on his scientific activity. He understood that his contemporaries would never support his point of view. In a letter to the archaeologist Karol Rogavsky, he wrote: “Scientists have worked in vain until our time by sorting out their (Etruscan) inscriptions in the Greek and Latin alphabets, and seeing the inapplicability of such, they in vain looked for a key in the Hebrew language, because this mysterious key to all unsolved inscriptions is only in the Slavic primitive language … How far in ancient times the residence of the Slavs in Africa stretched, let the Slavic inscriptions on the stones of Numidia, Carthage and Egypt prove.
Are there no Slavic monuments in Italy, India and Persia - even in Egypt? … Do not the ancient books of Zoroaster, the ruins of Babylon, the monuments of Darius, the remains of Parsa-grad (Persepolis), covered with cuneiform, contain inscriptions understandable to the Slavs? The British, French and Germans look at it, "jak koziol na wode". We, the Slavs, will be able to bring this research to the end only if our children and grandchildren want to follow our footsteps!"
Alas, a century and a half have passed, but both children and grandchildren stubbornly refuse to follow in the footsteps of their disgraced father and grandfather. Only Professor Valery Chudinov dared to admit that the Russians had inhabited Italy even before the rise of Rome. But his research is also classified as "alternative". Therefore, the Etruscans will remain mysterious for a long time, because the fact is immutable: "Etruscum non legitur"
Vlad ROGOV