The Etruscans were a people of ancient Europe whose civilization was influential for much of the millennium preceding the Christian era. Their homeland of Etruria lay within the borders of which modern country?
A) France B) Germany C) Italy ü D) Spain
The land of Etruria occupied what is now Tuscany in central Italy. The origin of the Etruscan people is a riddle that has engaged the interest of historians since ancient times, and is still not settled. Some have held that the Etruscans came from Asia Minor, others that they were indigenous to Italy. What is certain is that the Etruscans, skilled in seafaring, mining and the arts, possessed a complex, vibrant and outgoing culture, with an elaborate, polytheistic religion and a distinctive language and literature. Unfortunately not much of the latter has survived. The heyday of the Etruscans came in about the middle of the millennium, when Rome was ruled by the Etruscan king Tarquin. Within a few centuries, however, they had been displaced by the Latin people who would soon rule not just Italy but much of the known world of that time.
