CHAP, xiii.] THE ETRUSKANS AND THEIR INFLUENCE. 465 



as a nation sufficiently powerful to carry on war against 

 Egypt, then the mistress of the Mediterranean world, 

 and their commerce reached far and wide. They worked 

 the iron mines of Elba, and the copper and tin mines of 

 Tuscany, which were to them a source of wealth like the 

 silver of Laurium to the Athenians, and the gold of 

 Philippi to the Macedonians. They had the staples of 

 their metal industry within their own borders, and in 

 exchange for their manufactured bronze articles they 

 received wealth from far distant regions, from Greece, 

 Assyria, and Egypt, and from north Africa. Sapphires 

 from the remote east found their way to them, as well 

 as amber from the far north. 1 



They were formidable rivals of the Phoenicians on the 

 seas, and proof of their intercourse is given by the 

 articles of Phoenician workmanship found in their tombs, 

 such as the silver dish in the tomb at Palestrina, 2 and 

 the glass bottles in the cemeteries of Bologna, 3 



The Etruskan power in Italy formerly extended from 

 Vesuvius and the Gulf of Salerno as far as the Alps, and 

 from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic Seas ; and the state- 

 ment by Livy that they formerly occupied Khsetia is 

 proved by recent discoveries of their remains north of 

 the Alps. Innumerable articles of Etruskan workman- 

 ship in the cemeteries of Hallstadt 4 prove also that their 



1 The reader may be referred on these points to Dennis, Etruria ; 

 to Canina, I'Antica Etruria Maritima; to the Monumenti Inediti dell' 

 Institute; and Gozzadini, Intorno Agli Scam Archeologici fatti presso 

 Bologna ; and to the museums at Bologna, Florence, and Rome. 



2 Phoenician articles with inscriptions have been discovered in Etruskan 

 tombs at Palestrina (Dennis, Etruria, ii. 449), and at Prseneste, Mon. Inedit. 

 1876, x. tav. 33. 3 To be seen in the Museo Civico, Bologna. 



4 See Von Sacken, Das Grabfeld von Hallstadt. Ramsauer, Hallstadt 

 der am Salzburge aufgefunden MSS. For the use of this valuable work I 

 am indebted to Mr. John Evans. 



2 H 



