The Mysterious Etruscans

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. To the Greeks they were the Tyrrhenoi. The Romans referred to them as the Tusci. What did the Etruscans call themselves? Rutuli Kemet Rasenna Pelasgians

2. According to Herodotus a king named Atys sent his son Tyrrhenus and half his people to found a colony in Italy in order to reduce the effects of a famine. In what land was Atys king? Marmarica Ivernia Lugdunensis Lydia

3. The Etruscans felt that their destiny was ultimately determined by the number of "saecula" that fate allowed them. Once all their saecula were gone they believed that they would fall from greatness. What was a saeculum? A measure of gold equal to a ton. A prophetic book. A city. A unit of time approximating a century.

4. True or false: the Etruscan religion was revealed to the people by a supernatural boy named Tages who sprang out of the ground as a farmer plowed overhead. True False

5. All Etruscan cities were ruled by a "zilath." What is the best English translation of the word? god priest magistrate king

6. Archaeologists have identified an even older civilization found in territory that would later be claimed by the Etruscans. By what name have the excavators labeled these people? Vetulonia Vulturnus Vulcan Villanovan

7. True or False: Herodotus claims that the Etruscans' ancestors invented gambling. True False

8. The Romans used the same techniques that the Etruscans had used in laying out their cities. In an Etruscan/Roman city what was a Pomerium? A lagre temple. A sacred boundary. A main street. A sewer.

9. When Rome evicted its Etruscan overlords in 509BC an Etruscan king from the northern city of Clusium besieged the upstart colony. What was this king's name? Tarquinius Superbus Mars Ultor Lars Porsenna Pars Dimidia

10. What did the Greeks consider the most alien aspect of the Etruscans? Etruscan men dined with their wives. Etrsucan warriors painted themselves blue before battle. Etruscan men urinated sitting down while their women urinated standing up. The Etruscans were isolationists.