Out of pure curiosity...

**Loverartis** · 08-23-2010, 22:41

Originally Posted by paullus

there are a few things in the works. after all, it's not like Roman control over Etruria was total in 272 BC. Arjos, as for you statement that they wouldn't fight in the same way as Romans, just how do you think they would fight?

Mmm, it might be a good opportunity to consult some book of archaeology of war. Maybe I 've something about this, I can try to search.

**Arjos** · 08-24-2010, 00:55

Originally Posted by paullus

Arjos, as for you statement that they wouldn't fight in the same way as Romans, just how do you think they would fight?

Hellenistic hoplite and the "italic" broad shortsword infantry...
As for cavalry, I don't know ^^
I would say a kind of camilian, but having in 272 Etruscans with Triarii and Hastati, when just a decade before they were still fighting Romans, It's a shame...

**Loverartis** · 08-24-2010, 21:13

I can try to search

I've read something about the composition of Etruscan army... Arjos, you talk about Greek hoplites; yes, in fact they adopted this type in archaic period (650-600 BC), probably influenced by Greek culture (one of the causes was the importation from Corinth of the famous Chigi vasehttp://rogerioscoupedumonde.files.wo...halanx-det.jpg). An interesting source is Tragliatella oinochoe, toohttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dandiff...n/photostream/. Then they adopted the phalanx in 550-500 BC. Diodorus (XXIII 2) report that Romans learned to fight in a "phalanx-formation" by Etruscans. But I'm sorry, actually I don't have found anything about Etruscan army in IIIrd century. (Bibliography: L. Aigner Foresti, Aspetti della guerra presso gli Etruschi, pp. 97-98).

**Lvcretivs** · 08-25-2010, 02:27

Ross Cowan's blog has an interesting essay concerning Etruscan warfare of the late 4th Century BC (http://rosscowan.wordpress.com/etruscans-ii/), in which he argues for pila-armed Etruscans fighting in 'manipular' fashion at the battle of Lake Vadimon 310/309 BC - but, as he quite frankly admits, 'other scholars believe [the battle] is fictitious, a couplet of the battle of 283 BC (Romans defeat an alliance of Boii and Etruscans)' and Livy - and/or his sources - may have made up the 'manipular' formation of the Etruscans,...

**Loverartis** · 08-25-2010, 09:27

Originally Posted by Lvcretivs

Ross Cowan's blog has an interesting essay concerning Etruscan warfare of the late 4th Century BC (http://rosscowan.wordpress.com/etruscans-ii/), in which he argues for pila-armed Etruscans fighting in 'manipular' fashion at the battle of Lake Vadimon 310/309 BC - but, as he quite frankly admits, 'other scholars believe [the battle] is fictitious, a couplet of the battle of 283 BC (Romans defeat an alliance of Boii and Etruscans)' and Livy - and/or his sources - may have made up the 'manipular' formation of the Etruscans,...

Thanks Lvcretivs for the interesting link.
So it seems a demonstration that Etruscans and Romans fought in a similar way in IIIrd century... I can still research something else.

**Arjos** · 08-25-2010, 13:59

In the early third century BC, some etruscans mercenaries were fighting for Syracuse against Carthage...
I'm looking for some sources with their description...

...a thousand mercenaries and two hundred zeugippae from Etruria... (Diodorus Siculus 19, 106)
Either cavalry or heavy infantry (Zeugitas)

**Loverartis** · 08-25-2010, 16:39

Do you know what cities of Etruria sent the armies to Syracusae?
And sorry, what does "zeugippae" means?

**Arjos** · 08-25-2010, 18:04

Originally Posted by Loverartis

Do you know what cities of Etruria sent the armies to Syracusae?
And sorry, what does "zeugippae" means?

It doesn't mention cities, but it looks like it was more of an alliance (they sent 18 ships too)...
I don't know what Diodorus meant: the translator's note said that with zeugippae, he referred to cavalrymen who brought an extra horse; but also it could derive from zeugitai meaning a "high-middle class" infantry...