Society of Esteem

28 May 2009

Society of Esteem: Etruscan neighbors

Posted by Cecilia under: Attitude; Economy .

The Etruscan culture was so unique in its time that their neighbors, the Romans and Greeks, had difficulties understanding them.

As it often happens when one culture doesn’t understand another culture, they make fun of them or they attack them. And as also often happens, the attacks usually expose their own problems. The neighbors of the Etruscans followed this pattern, as much as we can conclude, through their writings.

The Romans couldn’t understand why the Etruscan women were allowed to eat together with the men. In the Roman culture women who ate at the same table as men were prostitutes. For Roman wives, daughters and friends it was forbidden to eat together with the men. Seeing the Etruscan women behave this way the Romans concluded that all Etruscan women must be prostitutes and therefore the whole Etruscan society was decadent.

The Greeks regarded with jealousy the huge trading activities of the Etruscans, which extended to the African continent. They accused the Etruscan ships of being pirates and therefore to be a danger to the whole Mediterranean sea. In reality it was a small number of Greek pirates who were a danger to the coasts of ancient Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

A society of esteem such as the Etruscan society doesn’t have a reason to attack or violate others’ properties. What the Romans failed to understand was a society based on esteem has no need to conquer others, may it be just a ship or a whole country. It’s only interested in creating a balanced society in wealth and harmony by giving esteem to each single citizen.

As history shows, a society of esteem has no chance to survive as long as it’s surrounded by cultures which are based on hierarchy of values with the need to expand and conquer in order to create esteem for a certain element of society.