An illustrated talk by Gavin Bell
23rd May 2024 at 19:15 at Fountainhall Church Centre (formerly Rubislaw Church Centre), 1 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen AB15 4AB
This talk will follow the Annual General Meeting of Aberdeen Italian Circle.
The Etruscans have long been a source of fascination and speculation, and while they have left us considerable physical evidence of their existence, hard facts about their origins and history are thin on the ground. The Roman Emperor Claudius reputedly wrote a History of the Etruscans – but this has not survived. And, as we learned just last month, James Byers of Tonley, in the intervals of his work as an art dealer in Rome, also started writing a History of the Etruscans – but that, too, has never seen the light of day.
This vacuum has been filled by all manner of misinformation and speculation. For example, you will still see it claimed that Etruscan writing has never been deciphered – this is palpably untrue. Or that they were an exotic people from the East – this is almost certainly untrue. Writers from the time of Livy onwards have pressed their story into service in support of their own preoccupations, sometimes characterising them as barbarians, other times as exemplars of the Good Life.
But the fascination remains.
Aberdeen Italian Circle 