Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/174

 n8 General History oj Europe power and civilization, as they were influenced first by the Etrus- cans on their north and then by the Greeks on the south of them, and finally coming into mortal rivalry with the Carthaginians. A STREET OF ETRUSCAN TOMBS AT ANCIENT C.ERE NOT FAR " NORTH OF ROME The tomb-chamber contained a sarcophagus, in which the body was laid often accompanied with jewelry of gold and silver, furniture, implements, and weapons, besides beautiful vases. The walls of the chambers were in many cases painted with decorative scenes from the life of the Etruscans and from scenes of Greek mythology, learned by the Etruscans from their inter- course with the Greeks. The Etruscans buried here lived in a strong walled town, of which the ruins lie near by. Their manufactures, especially in bronze, flourished, and they carried on profitable commerce through their harbor town, only a few miles below their city. In one of these tombs the name of the deceased is inscribed on the wall as " Tarkhnas," which can be nothing else than Tarquinius, the name preserved in Roman tradition as that of the latest kings of Rome 180. Early Rome. On the south bank of the Tiber, not far from the sea (see map, p. 120), there was a group of Italic tribes known as the Latins. In the days when the Etruscan sea raiders first landed on the shores north of the Tiber these Latin tribes had occupied a plain less than thirty by forty miles. They called it "Latium," whence their own name. "Latins."