What did the Romans learn from the Etuscans?

The extent of Etruscan influence on early Rome is difficult to ascertain because of a dearth of archaeological evidence. This is because Rome was continually redeveloped over the centuries and there is very little left from her early days. The Etruscan civilisation decayed and disappeared by the 1st century BC. Even the Etruscan language disappeared and only a tiny amount of writing in Etruscan has survived.

The Romans said that some of their divinities and religious rituals were of Etruscan origin. They also said that the fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, introduced some Etruscan ceremonial customs, such as the toga of the king, the toga of some officials and some priests, the lictors who protected the king and the fasces they used, and the use of the Etruscan golden chariot for triumphs. Archaeologist have found that some of the early tiles made by the Romans were made in a style from the nearby Etruscan city of Veii, while some had a style which came from a Latin city south of Rome and was influenced by the Greeks.

The fashionable theory that the Etruscans conquered Rome is just that, a theory. Its evidence base is flimsy to say the least and it is based on unproven assumptions. It has been challenged. Recent archaeological evidence from the area of ancient Latium (land of the Latins) suggests a different picture which does not fit with this theory in quite a number of ways. Among these is the fact that the Latins were influenced as much by the Greek city of Capua (near Naples, just 125 miles south of Rome) as by the Etruscans. This theory tended to assume that everything about early Rome was down to the Etruscans. It was said that the famous statue of the Capitoline she-wolf was Etruscan. It is now scientifically proven that it was made in the Middle Ages. It was argued that the gladiatorial fights originated from Etruria. It has now been shown that they originated from Campania as the ancient Roman historian Livy said.