The Search for the Etruscans Author:James Wellard Men & women of Etruria in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. reclined at sumptuous banquet tables enjoying the rich foods & sweet wines of central Italy. These pleasure-loving people had made their civilization the leading political & military power of the central Mediterranean, but they were doomed to fall before Rome's relent... more »less quest for new territory. One of the first Etruscan pieces of literature was found on the wrappings of the Zagreb mummy, whose previous owner had stood in his room to amuse visitors. The incredible story is typical of the vicissitudes of the science of Etruscology.« less