Etruschi e Troiani nell’Eneide di Virgilio: due popoli con lo stesso patrimonio di valor

Abstract

The article aims to add a few thoughts on the position of the Etruscans and
Trojans in the dramaturgy of Vergil’s Aeneid, and to identify some values
common to both peoples. The Roman historiography in fact put the
Etruscans on the part of the Italian confederation under the leadership of
Turnus; Vergil, on the other hand, presents them as Aeneas’ allies and
consequently on the winning side and on the side of the future founders of
the Roman Empire, describing them as a positive and even decisive
component in the clash between the confederation of Turnus and Aeneas’
Trojans, though he could not evade the widely disseminated stereotypes on
the decadent character of the Etruscan people. Starting from this dualism
and from many other parallel features the author tries to prove that Vergil
put on parallel tracks in the plot and structure of the Aeneid the historical
fate of the Etruscans with the mythological one of the Trojans,
demonstrating how both have left an important cultural heritage to the
Roman Empire that is expressed in the fortitudo, in the monarchical
organization and in the religious piety.