Mlach Tins', S'purnals Rasnal! (Greetings, Citizens of Etruria!)

I, Tanaquil Sergius, am one of the two Zilathr (i.e. Leaders) of ETRVRIA and an Etruscologist myself. In my athr (i.e. domus) you can read, that I (virtually) married a Roman citizen and that I thus came to Rome. My own first and family name is Thanchvil Cilneis', i.e. Thanchvil of the Cilnei family. In Latin, that would sound like: Cilnia Tanaquil and after my marriage I have taken the family name of my husband, Q. Sergius Catilina (partially of ancient Etruscan descent as well) and I am called Sergia Tanaquil now, in AW: Tanaquil Sergius....Can you still follow me?? LOL

The Cilnei ( Lat. Cilnii) are a very old and important family in the ancient Etruscan town of Clevsin, known in classical times as Clusium and today as Chiusi. One of my distant relatives is C. Cilnius Maecenas, Augustus Caesar's friend and minister of Culture and Propaganda (no, not Augustus' Joseph Goebbels...!)

In RL, I am a classical archaeologist and specialized in Etruscan archaeology, which requires deep knowledge of Greek and Roman archaeology as well, because the Etruscans dealt a lot with these cultures, especially as economical, political and cultural intermeadiates. Maybe that's why I like the Etruscans so much, but there is more.....Whereas the Greeks and Romans basically had strict separate societies of males and females with their own cultural habits, the Etruscans lived far more integrated as far as the cultures of men and women were concerned. How far that went (i.e. only the highest social structures of their society or even among common people) is not really known yet.

Although Rome came to conquer Etruria and made it into a province subordinated to Rome, and Latin became the most important language, the Etruscans still managed to stay an important people, not as a people's entity as such, but in the form of Etruscan families, who were quite important and influential in Rome. Lots of these Etruscan families are present in the AW Rome families, such as the Sempronii, Volumnii, Caelii, Caecilii, etc.

Finally, what I love about research into the Etruscan culture is, that there is still so much to research into and to learn and discover!

Finally, I created this ETRVRIA group in AW Rome, because I thought that AW needed a follow up of AS Etruria, of which Fabrisia Fabricius and Cornellia Cornelius were prominent members at the time. This group is not big, but it's here and it is seen and respected. I hope we can go on for a very long time!