The Etruscans dominated central Italy from the eighth to the fifth centuries
B.C.E. Within this time, they maintained both direct and indirect trade networks with
other cultures. There are two categories of evidence that demonstrate the nature of
Etruscan relationships with the other inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin: ancient
written sources and archaeological data. The objective of this thesis is to produce a new
study on the nature of Etruscan trade, commerce, and seafaring from the eighth to the
fifth centuries B.C.E. based on recent underwater discoveries that have not yet been
evaluated against existing theories.
The ancient written sources for Etruscan seafaring can be divided into two
distinct thematic groups. These include Etruscan piracy and commerce. The
archaeological evidence for Etruscan commodities consists of eleven shipwrecks found
off the coasts of France and Italy, the excavation of three ports on the western coast of
Italy, tomb paintings, and clay ship models. Materials from the shipwrecks include
amphorae, or two-handled clay storage jars, and associated pottery, which together
comprise the basis of this study. In a final section, previous research on the subject of Etruscan seafaring, commerce, and piracy will be re-evaluated in light of recent
discoveries.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-05-687 |
| Date | 16 January 2010 |
| Creators | Daniel, Joshua A. |
| Contributors | Carlson, Deborah N. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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