ABSTRACT

The Greek literary sources readily describe the Etruscans as a people with a refined and lavish lifestyle: according to Diodorus Siculus (8.18.1) the inhabitants of Sybaris, known for their own wealth and taste for luxury, preferred them for this reason “to any other people among the Barbarians” and appreciated them as “the equal of the Ionians among the Greeks.” The Etruscans were thus particularly distinguished by their work in gold, in the creation and manufacture of jewelry, the beauty, splendor, and technical qualities of which have until now defied goldsmiths.1