Abstract
The disappearance of the female praenomen is typically seen as yet another sign of the “Romanization” and decline of late Etruscan culture. This development supposedly saw the Etruscan woman reduced from a prominent public personality to a role of secondary importance. However, a thorough examination of this onomastic element shows that the timing of its disappearance differs greatly by locality and is strongly linked to the process of Latinization. Three case studies are investigated – Chiusi, Tarquinia, and Volterra – each showing that this onomastic development is connected to cultural shifts in epigraphic paradigms rather than institutional or social changes. While this different way of describing women in funerary contexts may have had real consequences for their social status, there are also reasons to assume an improvement in their position took place (e.g., a higher percentage of female epitaphs and votive inscriptions), painting a complex picture.
Correction note
Corrections added after online publication on March 10, 2025: References have been updated by the author.
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Supplementary Material
This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/etst-2024-0018).
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Letter from the Editor
- Letter from the Editor
- Articles
- The Etruscan Woman and “Romanization”: An Onomastic Case Study
- Alphabetic Sigla on Stone Beads from Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- Unearthed from the Archives: Campanian Vase Inscriptions in the Papers of Gustav Herbig
- Numeri-form Sigla at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- News from the Field
- 2024 Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- The First Archaeologists of Poggio Gramignano: Evidence of a Pre-Roman Settlement and the Romans Who Discovered It
- The 2024 Field Season at Caere, Vigna Marini Vitalini: A New Etruscan Temple and Its Surroundings
- Book Reviews
- Dominique Briquel: Catalogue des Inscriptions étrusques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Chiara Zampieri, Martina Piperno, and Bart Van den Bossche: Modern Etruscans: Close Encounters with a Distant Past
- Margarita Gleba, Beatriz Marín-Aguilera, and Bela Dimova: Making Cities: Economies of Production and Urbanization in Mediterranean Europe, 1000–500 BC
- Mette Moltesen and Annette Rathje: Approaches to Ancient Etruria
- Larissa Bonfante: Images and Translations: The Etruscans Abroad
- Seth Bernard: Historical Culture in Iron Age Italy: Archaeology, History, and the Use of the Past, 900–300 BCE
- Alastair Small and Carola Small: Archaeology on the Apulian–Lucanian Border
- John North Hopkins: Unbound from Rome. Art and Craft in a Fluid Landscape (ca. 650–250 B.C.E.)
- Joachim Weidig: Archaische Mythen aus Bernstein. Die Rezeption griechischer und etruskischer Kunst in Belmonte Piceno
- Marco Maiuro and Jane Botsford Johnson: The Oxford Handbook of Pre-Roman Italy (1000-49 BCE)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Letter from the Editor
- Letter from the Editor
- Articles
- The Etruscan Woman and “Romanization”: An Onomastic Case Study
- Alphabetic Sigla on Stone Beads from Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- Unearthed from the Archives: Campanian Vase Inscriptions in the Papers of Gustav Herbig
- Numeri-form Sigla at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- News from the Field
- 2024 Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
- The First Archaeologists of Poggio Gramignano: Evidence of a Pre-Roman Settlement and the Romans Who Discovered It
- The 2024 Field Season at Caere, Vigna Marini Vitalini: A New Etruscan Temple and Its Surroundings
- Book Reviews
- Dominique Briquel: Catalogue des Inscriptions étrusques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Chiara Zampieri, Martina Piperno, and Bart Van den Bossche: Modern Etruscans: Close Encounters with a Distant Past
- Margarita Gleba, Beatriz Marín-Aguilera, and Bela Dimova: Making Cities: Economies of Production and Urbanization in Mediterranean Europe, 1000–500 BC
- Mette Moltesen and Annette Rathje: Approaches to Ancient Etruria
- Larissa Bonfante: Images and Translations: The Etruscans Abroad
- Seth Bernard: Historical Culture in Iron Age Italy: Archaeology, History, and the Use of the Past, 900–300 BCE
- Alastair Small and Carola Small: Archaeology on the Apulian–Lucanian Border
- John North Hopkins: Unbound from Rome. Art and Craft in a Fluid Landscape (ca. 650–250 B.C.E.)
- Joachim Weidig: Archaische Mythen aus Bernstein. Die Rezeption griechischer und etruskischer Kunst in Belmonte Piceno
- Marco Maiuro and Jane Botsford Johnson: The Oxford Handbook of Pre-Roman Italy (1000-49 BCE)