Was the Etruscan a tribe?

Question

I am doing an essay on the Romans and my worksheet keeps saying about battles with the Etruscans and the Samnites, I am just wondering if they are another sort of tribe
plez help

Answer 1

Dear,

ETRUSCANS,

A people of ancient Italy who dominated Truria, the region corresponding to modern Tuscany, from the 8th to the 1st centuries B.C. and, for a portion of that time, Campania and the eastern plain of the Po River. The Etruscans identified themselves as Rasenna, but they were called Tusci or Etrusci by the Roman neighbours. The question of their origins, disputed in ancient and modern times, remains unsolved; their "mysterious" origin are suggested by three distinct theories. The first and most generally accepted, the "Migration", or Oriental, theory, follows Herodotus, who relates that the Etruscans emigrated from Lydia in Asia Minor because of a severe famine. Led by Tyrrhenus, son of Lydian King, they eventually settle on thye west coast of Italy, probably in the 8th century. B.C., where they became known to the Greeks a Tyrrhenoi ( hence the name Tyrrhenian Sea). In general the second, the autochthonous, or indigenous, theory, claims that they were native to Italy, that they envolved from a mixture of the Iron-Age peoples of Italy and that any eastern elements cited by supporters of the Oriental theory can be explained by strong influences, primarily due to commerces, from the eastern Mediterranean. The Third, the northern theory, proposes an Alpine origin for the Etruscans, a hypothesis no longer upheld because early evidence for a movement from north to south has been found to be quite misleading. On the basis of chronology, Etruscans traces in the Alpine regions can be attributed to Etruscans fugitives from the Po Valley during the Gaulish invasions of the 5th cencury B.C.

(MARIO A. DEL CHIARO, University of California, Santa Barbara)

Answer 2

Yes, in as much as all people belonged to a tribe. They were more of a nation, not a barbarian tribe wandering around.

Answer 3

http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/