Tyrrhenians

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The Tyrrhenians (Attic Greek Turrēnoi) or Tyrsenians (Ionic Tursēnoi, Doric Tursānoi) is an exonym used by Greek authors to refer to a non-Greek people.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It is only known to be used by Greek authors, but apparently not of Greek origin. It has been connected to tursis, also a "Mediterranean" loan into Greek, meaning "tower" (see there). Direct connections with Tusci, the Latin exonym for the Etruscans, from Turs-ci were also attempted (Heubeck Praegraeca 65 f.) See also Turan, tyrant.

Hesiod (Theogony 1015) has

And they [the sons of Circe ] ruled over the famous Tyrsenians, very far off in a recess of the holy islands.

The Homeric hymn to Dionysus (verses 7f.) has Tyrsenian pirates seizing Dionysus,

Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian pirates on a well-decked ship — a miserable doom led them on.

In the 6th to 5th centuries BC, the name referred to the Etruscans, for whom the Tyrrhenian Sea is named. There is a Greek-Etruscan bilingue at Delphi from this period where the Etruscan tribal name Velthanes is rendered as Tyrrhenoi in Greek. In Pindar (Pythian Odes 1.72), the Tyrsanoi appear grouped with the Carthaginians as a threat to Magna Graecia:

I entreat you, son of Cronus, grant that the battle-shouts of the Carthaginians and Etruscans stay quietly at home, now that they have seen their arrogance bring lamentation to their ships off Cumae.

The name is also attested in a fragment by Sophocles (Inachus, fr. 256).

The name becomes increasingly associated with the generic Pelasgians. Herodotus (1.57) places them in Crestonia in Thrace, as neighbours of the Pelasgians. Similarly, Thucydides (4.106) mentions them together with the Pelasgians and associates them with Lemnian pirates and with the pre-Greek population of Attica.

Lemnos remained relatively free of Greek influence up to Hellenistic times, and interestingly, the Lemnos stele of the 6th century BC is inscribed with a language very similar to Etruscan. This has led to the postulation of a "Tyrrhenian language group" comprising Etruscan, Lemnian and Raetic.

There is thus linguistic evidence that there was indeed at least a linguistic relationship between the Lemnians and the Etruscans. The circumstances of this are disputed; while the majority of scholars would ascribe Aegean Tyrrhenians to the Etruscan expansion from the 8th to 6th centuries, putting the homeland of the Etruscans in Italy and the Alps particularly because of their relation to the Alpine Raetic population.

A minority would derive the Etruscans from a 10th century invasion from the Aegean and Anatolia imposing itself over the Italic Villanovan culture, claiming an Anatolian affiliation of the Etruscan language. This latter school of thought may point to the legend of Lydian origin of the Etruscans referred to by Herodotus (1.94), and the statement of Livy that the Raetians were Etruscans driven into the mountains by the invading Gauls. Proponents of the majority opinion may point to the very scanty evidence of a linguistic connection of Etruscan even with Indo-European, let alone Anatolian in particular, and to Dionysios of Halicarnassos who decidedly argues against an Etruscan-Lydian relationship.