Early Roman Republic, Early Iron Age (c.900 BC), Etruscans: Southern Expansion, Northern Expansion

Southern Expansion

Around 650 BC some Etruscans crossed the Tiber River and occupied Rome and other centres. Others continued southwards, by land and sea, into Campania, where they established their rule at Capua on the Volturnus (=Volturno) River. This expansion led to conflict because the Greek penetration of western waters opposed the spread of Etruscan control.

From about 600 BC, Phocaeans fleeing from the Persians sailed into the western Mediterranean and founded Massilia (=Marseilles), which in turn sent out colonies along the coast of southern Gaul and northeastern Spain. The Carthaginians tried to keep the Phocaeans out of this western area, but they were defeated in a naval battle recorded by the historian Thucydides (c.460-c.395 BC).

In c.560 BC the Greek Phocaeans moved closer to Etruria when they settled at Alalia on the east coast of Corsica. The Etruscans allied with the Carthaginians against the intruders in a sea battle off Alalia in 540/535 BC, which ended in a ‘Cadmean’ victory for the Phocaeans. Realising that they could not resist another attack, the Phocaeans left and eventually settled at Elea in Campania. The Etruscans gained control in Corsica, the Carthaginians took over Sardinia; but when the Etruscans tried to strengthen their control in Campania by attacking Greek Cumae in 524 BC, they were defeated by the Cumaeans under Aristodemus (c.60; r.504-c.490 BC).

Etruscan influence in Latium began to weaken and when Lucius ⁰¹Tarquinius Superbus (71; r.534-509 BC) was driven out of Rome the other Latin cities were encouraged to seek freedom from the Etruscans. They appealed to Cumae for help and Aristodemus routed the Etruscans under Arruns (3), the son of Lars Porsena of Clusium, at Aricia in 506 BC.

In 474 BC Cumae, either again threatened by the Etruscans or taking the initiative against them, appealed to Hieron-I of Syracuse (r.478-466 BC), whose brother Gelon (62; r.485-478 BC) at the Battle of Himera (480 BC) had smashed a Carthaginian attempt to occupy eastern Sicily. In a sea battle off Cumae the Greek allies broke Etruscan seapower. 

With its connections to Etruria now severed by sea as well as by the land, the southern part of the Etruscan Empire collapsed. But independence in the area did not last for very long because Sabellian tribes began to descend from the mountains and by 420 BC both Etruscan Capua and Greek Cumae had succumbed to their assault.

Northern Expansion

In the late sixth century BC some Etruscans pressed northwards over the Apennines into the Po Valley and established important outposts and garrisons, Felsina (=Bologna), Marzabotto (controlling the valley southwards over the Apennines into Etruria itself) and Mantua. Their centre at Pupluna on the coast processed metal ore from its inland hills as well as iron from the Etruscan island of Elba and copper from Carthaginian-controlled Sardinia. By the late sixth century BC Adria and Spina had become major ports for trade with Greece.

Etruscan power began to decline after the fall of the Etruscan dynasty in Rome (509 BC), and the defeats at Aricia (506 BC) and off Cumae (474 BC). Later in the fifth century BC, the Celts crossed the Alps south into the Po area and began to capture the Etruscan cities. The final city to fall was Felsina in c.350 BC. When the northern plain was occupied by the Celts it became known to the Romans as Gallia Cisalpina, i.e. Gaul on this (south) side of the Alps.