Why the Romans Don’t Want You to Know About the Etruscans

They’re the influential civilization hardly anyone’s heard of. Time to redress the balance.

“I sposi” (the married couple), detail from an Etruscan sarcophagus. Image: Dreamstime

The Romans. Famous for their straight roads, underfloor central heating, emperors, gladiators, cities, togas… Ask who invented something ancient and clever, and a spectral Roman arm will rise up from the annals of…