Re: Pelasgians = Etruscans

From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 1880
Date: 2000-03-16

Rex H. McTyeire wrote:
>
> Responding to "John Croft" <jdcroft@...>
>
> Agreeing with the title equation after this several weeks of interchange:
> Pelasgians = Etruscans.

Hi John and Rex,
Perhaps Pelasgians = Etruscans; however, Pelasgians are Carian AND
Lycinian and of a north and south Aegean origin. And then among the
Pelasgians are the folks who live in the hills and those who live on the
flats. And of those folks who live in the hills, one clan lives on one
hill and another clan on a nearby hill. And of the clan (or tribe) on
one hill, they may either all live within the same structure or live in
separate structures. So to add to your comments, yes, Pelasgians and
Etruscans are the same, yet they are different; they are both.


> > According to Herodotus, the pre-Greek inhabitants of the island of
> > Lemnos island were Pelasgians while, according to Thucydides, they were
> > Tyrrhenians.

Gerry here: And the same with Tyrrhenians and Lydians. Both authors
are referring to the same people but by different names. Using a
contemporary example, when a person moves from NYC to CA is she a New
Yorker or a Californian or both?

> I think they were both right. Diodorus, H. and others comment that
> the Lydians (of one city) renamed themselves as Tyrrhenians in conjunction
> with this colonization to the west (which we are suggesting seeded the
> Etruscan culture). We are now talking about post 800 BCE, following
> Pelasgi arrival c. 3000 BCE. Even though H. refers to resilient pockets of
> pre EBA "Tyrrhenians" as late as c. 500 BCE in rural areas of Thessaly, the
> only other references to Tyrrhenians of Italy (and formerly of Greece), are
> as former area masters reduced to Piracy and Tyrrhenian sea Island
> strongholds after Pelasgi dominance of the Aegean, and the sea trade
> proper..also losing ground in Italy to many intruders..without the
> technology yet to threaten the islands. My conclusion: the Tyrrhenian
> label applied to (Lydian Tyrra, Lemnos..and sponsored colonists) is a
> resurgence of an old name. Possibly a state like appellation from "Tyrra"
> which may or may not be a resilient pre-EBA Tyrrhenian name. Or as
> suggested previously, because of the success of these multiplying Italian
> colonies in a place already called "Tyrrhenia".

-- big snip --

--

Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com