We learn the past in an attempt to better understand the present, and it is possible because time repeats itself in our minds. In our intellectual and spiritual pursuits, we are the grandchildren of the Romans and the great grandchildren of the Greeks. Here is a question of historical memory: How can be the Etruscans who have left the cultural bequest to posterity diminished in history?
By the end of the 6th century BCE, not the Romans but the Etruscans seem to have dominated the Italian peninsula, and the early city of Rome itself had been ruled by Etruscan monarchs until 510 BCE. The cities of Etruria gradually fell to Rome, and the Etruscans had been absorbed into the diverse population of Italy. As an Etruscan king was overthrown, the first Roman Republic – a new system of government that was based on the Etruscan model – was established in 509 BCE. By the 1st century BCE, Roman people became the dominant power in the whole peninsula.
The famous bronze sculpture She-Wolf of the Capitol, ca. 500 BCE, serving as the totem of the city of Rome, always evokes a strong presence and expresses both physical beauty and nobility of spirit. She seems to feel no fear.
. What can we, humans, possibly learn from this dangerous yet majestic predator? In many respects, wolves show more of a remarkable resemblance to human existence, in their means of maintaining life, than other animals. Wolves live and hunt in packs. Even howling is a group endeavor, although one wolf usually initiates it. Howling is a way of organizing the pack for a hunt or of celebrating a successful hunt as well as a way of telling other packs to stay away. Wolves exist within the cruel realm of nature, but, at the same time, being gregarious species, these fierce creatures demonstrate the dawn of civilization.
. Dating back to Etruscan art of ca. 500 BCE, the Wolf represented a mythological figure of Mother Goddess and symbolized great dignity and strength in the ancient world. A She- Wolf who had suckled Romulus and Remus, however, has been for centuries a signifier of the previous inhabitants of the Italian peninsula – the Etruscans. Roman people signified the power and glory of the empire, yet the legacy of Etruscan culture played an important part in the formation of the Roman identity, i.e. the development of the Republican values – romanitas. The Roman virtues, both private and public, were an ethical code rather than religion, with which to overcome profound life challenges that should be respected, rather than being feared.—Diana Guber