Moscow, Nauka Publ. 1983. 262 p.

The book of Doctor of Historical Sciences A. I. Nemirovsky is the result of many years of research by the author on the Etruscans - a mysterious people of ancient Italy. Unlike the previous work written in collaboration with A. I. , this book is not an introduction to Etruscology, but is devoted to a separate range of related problems. The subtitle" From myth to history "is given by the author to emphasize the growing role of the historical approach to the study of information about the Etruscans and their cultural heritage in contrast to the" Etruscan myth", created by science of the XVI century and existed until the beginning of the XX century. However, in relation to the content of the book, its subtitle can be understood not only figuratively, but also literally: first of all, it is about drawing the image of a historically real people from the ancient historical and literary tradition, which tells about the legendary times of mythological heroes and first ancestors-eponyms.

The question of the origin of the Etruscans has been reduced since ancient times to a dilemma - immigrants from the East (from Asia Minor) or Italian autochthons. A. I. Nemirovsky suggests that the Etruscans as a people were formed on the Italian territory from ethnic elements of Aegean-Anatolian origin at the turn of the VIII-VII centuries BC. However, this decision is by no means a compromise between the views of supporters of the eastern and autochthonous origin of the Etruscans, since the question of the interaction of the constituent components of the future Etruscan ethnos is brought to the fore. A similar approach to the problem (taking into account one or several waves of migration) has already been outlined in the works of a number of researchers (primarily B. Nogara, P. Ducati, F. Schachermeyer, G. Mulenstein, N. J. Marr, V. Brandenstein, S. Ferry, R. V. Gordeziani).

According to A. I. Nemirovsky, the Etruscan nation was formed as a result of the interaction of mainly two peoples - the Balkan Pelasgians and the Aegean-Anatolian Tyrrhenians, which are not always clearly differentiated by the ancient tradition.

The role of the autochthonous Italian substrate is insignificant. To clarify the historical reality of the Pelasgian ethnos (both Balkan-Aegean and Italian), the author gives an overview of the ancient tradition of Pelasgian settlements, which is supported by modern scientific data (mainly linguistic). At the same time, a number of new, very interesting onomastic parallels are put forward (for example, information about the Pelasgian and Oenotra cities - pp. 27-29). Similarly, information about the Tyrrhenians of Aegeida, who were, in all probability, native speakers of the Lemnos stele, which is close to the Etruscan language, is analyzed.

From the eastern sources that could contain information about the Tyrrhenian-Etruscans, the Egyptian reports about the "peoples of the sea" and the biblical report about Tarshish are considered. The problem of localization of the latter, which can become at least a separate chapter of a special study, is one of the most successful passages in the book. Based on a comparison of biblical and Assyrian sources with the legends of Ion and Dionysus, A. I. Nemirovsky details the point of view of the Swedish historian W. Thackholm, according to which Tarshish was the designation of the metal-rich West, identifying with this name the habitats of the Tyrrhenians (the islands of the Northern Aegis, and then Italy and the Balearic Islands) (p. 36)..

The problem of the Tyrrhenian-Etruscan migration is considered by A. I. Nemirovsky not in a narrow, isolated from other ethnic processes, but in a broad historical context in connection with the collapse of the Mycenaean culture and large migrations on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula. At the same time, the Tyrrhenian migration to Italy should have had an intermediate phase: the migration of the Tyrrhenians to Sardinia, where they become carriers of the nuragic culture .2 Evidence of the presence of these Tyrrhenian"Proto-Etruscans" in Sardinia (presumably the "Sherdans" of Egyptian sources) is found in the "kings of Sardis" 3 and "Serdai" texts related to the Etruscans.-

1 Nemirovskiy A. I., Kharsekin A. I. Etruscans. Voronezh. 1969.

2 Cf. on the role of the Tyrrhenians as a mediating sea people in the Aegean world: Capovilla G. Praehomerica et praeitalica. Roma. 1960, pp. 160 - 167, 287 - 291.

3 Fest, p. 430, 6.

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the dialect of Olimpia 4, as well as a number of archaeologically confirmed cultural traditions linking Etruria, Nuragic Sardinia and Aegeida. Let us also point out in this connection possible analogies between structures with holes in the ceiling in Anatolia (Chatal-Gyuk), Sardinia (nuragic towers), as well as their probable evolutions - the Minoan palace with light wells, the Etruscan temple and the Roman atrium (cf.pp. 174-175). A convincing argument in favor of the hypothesis of nuragic Sardinia as an intermediate phase of the Tyrrhenian-Etruscan migration is the fact that Campania was colonized by the Etruscans after the settlement of Etruria proper: if the settlers moved along the coast of Italy, the absence of more or less significant traces of this people on the southern Italian coast and in Latium should seem strange.

The presented concept assumes as a necessary condition the existence of a people with developed maritime traditions. In support of this, A. I. Nemirovsky, in addition to archaeological data, refers to ancient evidence of migrations to Sardinia by Libyans led by Sardes (according to some versions - the son of Hercules), Hellenes led by Aristaeus or Iolaus, Trojans and Iberians led by Noracus, the grandson of Geryon. A. I. Nemirovsky is inclined to consider the Sherdans, who attacked Egypt among the "peoples of the sea", as Libyans. As the seafaring peoples of Libya, we will mention the Radamans, who bore the name of the legendary Cretan legislator and brother of Minos and were immigrants from Crete .5 In the same connection, we should probably recall the problem of garamants6 . Thus, the problem of the origin of the Etruscans receives a quite logical and multidimensional solution in the concept of the formation of the Etruscans from the Pelasgian-Italians (archaeological Villanovans) and Tyrrhenian-Nuragians.

The paper provides a brief outline of the history of studying the Etruscan language and writing. The author quite reasonably limited himself to considering these problems in the "applied", historical aspect, highlighting the following issues:: 1) the origin and distribution of the Etruscan script, 2) the genetic identity of the Etruscan language, and 3) the interpretation of individual inscriptions. The Etruscans, he writes, borrowed the writing system from the Greeks, while playing an active role as intermediaries in the dissemination of writing among the other peoples of Italy. The genetic identity of the Etruscan language is defined as the result of the interaction of Indo-European (Pelasgian) and non-Indo-European (Tyrrhenian) languages, taking into account some influence of the oldest languages of Italy. These languages could have had foreign inclusions (both Indo-European and non-Indo-European) even before their meeting on the territory of the future Etruria. This explains the extreme difficulty of using the etymological method in deciphering the Etruscan language, although in some cases it can give very positive results.

In general, A. I. Nemirovsky tends to refer the Etruscan language along with the language of the Lemnos inscriptions and, possibly, the language relics of Sardinia to a special Tyrrhenian (non-Indo-European) group, while emphasizing the greater influence of Indo-European Pelasgian on it in comparison with the language of the Lemnos inscriptions. The author offers a number of his own interpretations of Etruscan inscriptions. In giving a successful comparison of the Etruscan system of numerical designations with the Lycian and Roman ones (following Vyach. V.Ivanov), as well as with the Colchian signs, A. I. Nemirovsky overlooks the comparison with the numerical designations on the Cretan-Mycenaean tablets, which is interesting in terms of his concept of the origin of the Etruscans.

A. I. Nemirovsky considers that the name spura semantically corresponds to the Greek polis and refers to the Indo-European (Pelasgian) layer of the Etruscan language. In this connection, it seems reasonable to consider the relationship, first, between spura and rasnal in terms of detailing socio-political reality (cf.pp. 91, 103 - 104, 112) and, secondly, between Etruscan spura, Greek polis and Latin populus in etymological aspect. Such an approach would help to concretize the features of the Etruscan polis in comparison with the Greek and Roman ones, as well as the specifics of the development of the Etruscan polis.-

4 Bengston H. Staatsvertrage der griechisch-romischen Welt. Munchen. 1962. N 120.

5 Nonn. Dion. XXI , 306 - 309.

6 See Poplinskiy Yu. K. Iz istorii etnokul'turnykh kontakty Afrika i egeyskogo mira [From the history of ethno-cultural contacts in Africa and the Aegean World], Moscow, 1978, pp. 114-156.

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development of these forms of statehood in the ancient societies of the Mediterranean, taking into account the possible continuity of forms of social life. This path seems all the more appropriate because, considering the question of the Etruscan polis, A. I. Nemirovsky cites interesting Eastern (primarily Anatolian) and less often Greek parallels, in particular, on the structure of the polis and the Etruscan duodecast, as well as on the ritual and ideological design of the royal power (crown, curule chair, throne, scepter, triumph). Comparisons of this kind are welcome.

Considering the question of the inferior classes of Etruscan society lauthni and lethe, A. I. Nemirovsky considers the first category to belong to the familia, and the second-similar to the Penestes, seeing in it the descendants of the earlier Pelasgian population .7 The interpretation of Diodorus Siculus ' account of "slaves of rare beauty" 8 as a direct reference to their servile status is somewhat doubtful. However, the characterization of Etruscan society as a whole as a developed slave-owning society, in contrast to the opinion expressed earlier in Soviet historical science, is not convincing.

This paper is the first attempt in Soviet science to cover a number of issues related to the Etruscan maritime business, in particular, the determination of the routes of Etruscan voyages in the Western Mediterranean (with access to the Atlantic Ocean) and the so-called Tyrrhenian riddle (the question of piracy of the IV-III centuries BC in the Aegean Sea). a new solution to the "Tyrrhenian riddle": in the mysterious pirates, he tends to see Etruscans operating from bases in the Adriatic Sea. The author bases his conclusions on this issue, as well as on other questions about Etruscan maritime affairs, mainly on an analysis of foreign policy relations in the Western Mediterranean.

Developing the concept of the Tyrrhenian-Pelasgian origin of the Etruscans, A. I. Nemirovsky considers their mythological and religious representations to be the heritage of the Aegean mythology and religion of the second millennium BC. Therefore, he considers the Greek and Anatolian comparative material not only in terms of contact influences, but also in terms of genetic connections. Due attention is also paid to Italian innovations. Undoubtedly, the analysis of the Etruscan concept of space and time (p .168-190), which has interesting analogs in the ideology of the peoples of the Near East (primarily Mesopotamia), deserves attention. 10
Naturally, many interpretations of mythological subjects are objectively hypothetical. This is especially the interpretation of the images on the Cortona chandelier, which, according to A. I. Nemirovsky, reflect the Etruscan concept of the three worlds. We are not inclined to draw such far-reaching conclusions. One thing is indisputable: the middle part of the disk, occupied by the image of eight dolphins, symbolizes the sea and wider - the world sea, the sea element. As for the Gorgon depicted in the center of the disk and identified by A. I. Nemirovsky with the "lady of beasts", and then with the other world, we note that Homeric mythology really places in the center of the world water element the island of the terrible goddess - mistress, with whom the Olympian gods are forced to reckon (Calypso and semantically equal to her "lady of beasts"). Pickaxe). It seems to us that the Gorgon on the Cortona chandelier has already lost the ancient symbolic meaning of death and turned into a compositional center, widely distributed on shields.

However, our proposed interpretation is still as hypothetical as that of A. I. Nemirovsky, and represents yet another attempt to solve the mystery of the Cortona chandelier. A. I. Nemirovsky's book raises similar questions for specialists in the history of the ancient world, perhaps no less than it contains answers to questions raised earlier. This is its special value.

7 See also the work of C. Milani, who convincingly proved the Etruscan origin of the term lethe, but unfortunately remained unknown to the author (Milani C. Lat. laetus, etr. lethe. In: Conoscenze etniche e rapporti di convivenza nell-antichita. Milano. 1979, pp. 189 - 200).

8 Diod. Sic. XIV, 113.

9 elnitski L. A. the origin and development of slavery in Rome in the V - III centuries B. C. M. 1964.

10 See also the Etruscan concept of the sacred city in connection with the evolution of the concept of the ancient polis in the era of Greek-Eastern cultural syncretism (Tsybenko O. P. Polis in the poetry of Nonna: a late Antique result of the evolution of the image of an epic city. - Bulletin of Ancient History, 1983, N 4).

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