Responding to "John Croft" <
jdcroft@...>
Agreeing with the title equation after this several weeks of interchange:
Pelasgians = Etruscans.
> According to Herodotus, the pre-Greek inhabitants of the island of
> Lemnos island were Pelasgians while, according to Thucydides, they were
> Tyrrhenians.
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".
(Herodotus Histories 1.94.7) They no longer called themselves Lydians, but
Tyrrhenians, after the name of the king's son who had led them there.
(Rex: Referring to Lydians in concert with Lemnans who sponsored Rasenna
colonies..into Italy on a sea AND into an area long known as
"Tyrrhenian/Tyrrhenia".)
(Strabo Geography 6.2.2) According to Ephorus these were the earliest Greek
cities to be founded in Sicily, that is, in the tenth generation after the
Trojan war; for before that time men were so afraid of the bands of
Tyrrhenian pirates and the savagery of the barbarians in this region that
they would not so much as sail thither for trafficking;
(Rex: I think here we get into time a little bit, and refer to Tyrrhenian
Pirates..as a pre-Etruscan Italian faction..certainly a faction present pre
colonization. The implication is that prior to about 1,000 BCE, Tyrrhenian
pirates {who could not be Etruscan} are holed up in Sicily, preventing
colonization and trade there to the extent it is already going on
elsewhere...but after this point in time, perhaps the north point of the
triangle drew its name: Pelorias, near the territory of the Palici. Palermo
anyone?:-)
(Strabo continues:)
...Theocles, the Athenian, borne out of his course by the winds to Sicily,
clearly perceived both the weakness of the peoples and the excellence of the
soil, yet, when he went back, he could not persuade the Athenians, and hence
took as partners a considerable number of Euboean Chalcidians and some
Ionians and also some Dorians (most of whom were Megarians) and made the
voyage; so the Chalcidians founded Naxus, whereas the Dorians founded
Megara, ...(Rex: Hmmm. Chalkidians? of "archaic Chalkidian script",
possibly also associated with..(ahem)..Etruscans.
(Herodotus Histories 1.163.1) These Phocaeans were the earliest of the
Greeks to make long sea-voyages, and it was they who discovered the Adriatic
Sea, and Tyrrhenia, and Iberia, and Tartessus..
(Rex: Although Ionian at the time of Persian conquest, Phocaea is much older
than other Ionian colonies, and it is still a good harbor {I've been
there..It is now Foc(h)a, Turkey, about 45 miles from Smyrna..near..Larissa
Anatolia :-)} But significantly we are referring to Tyrrhenia as a place
(re)discovered by Anatolians before westward Aegean colonization began.)
(Diodorus Historical Library 10.19.6) When the Tyrrhenians were leaving
Lemnos, because of their fear of the Persians, they claimed that they were
doing so because of certain oracles, and they gave the island over to
Miltiades. (Loeb footnote,Perseus library, on the above: "" Not to be
confused with the Tyrrhenians of Italy. These Tyrrhenians came to Lemnos in
all probability from Asia Minor c. 700 B.C."") (Rex: From Tyrra, Anatolia?
with no historic connection to Italian Tyrrhenia till they sent colonists
there?)
> In the Greek sources, the name "Tyrrhenoi" was used both
> for the Etruscans who lived in Middle Italy (in the area from river
> Macra to river Tiberis)
Why not because they lived in Tyrrhenia?
>as well as for the Pelasgian inhabitants of the
> Greek peninsula of Akte, i.e. the founders of the city of Athens who
> were expelled and moved to Lenmos.
Careful here. The Pelasgian builders of the Pelasgicon may have been
expelled and joined others in Lemnos, but they may have been expelled by an
area faction older than the Pelasgic arrival..i.e. the earlier inhabitants
of Greece: Tyrrhenians..now post-Pelasgic Attics..in the one greek City
where Pelasgi dominance did not stick.
La Revedere;
Rex H. McTyeire
Bucharest, Romania
<
rexbo@...>