DA ETRUSCHI A ROMANI. QUALCHE OSSERVAZIONE SUL RICAMBIO DEI GRUPPI SOCIALI DI VERTICE NELLE CITTÀ DELL’ETRURIA

Abstract

Élite families have been widely recognized as the most volatile component in all pre-industrial societies. Biological
and social constraints, exacerbated by a strategy preferring relatively low birth rates, combined in leading
élite families to premature extinction or loss of status. Both archaeological and epigraphic evidence strongly suggest
that the Etruscan élites were no exception. While a long-standing Etruscological tradition has often taken
the claims of uninterrupted continuity boasted in aristocratic propaganda at face value, the paper suggests that
discontinuities in the history of ruling-class families can best explain many prominent features in the history of
the Etruscan world. This continuing turnover seems to have affected the changes in the composition of the ruling
classes of the Etruscan cities after 90 BC more than any supposed interference of the Roman state.