SYDNEY.- A new exhibition at the University of Sydney offers insight into a once dominant but enigmatic ancient Italian civilisation. The Etruscans – based in what is now known as Tuscany – were the most powerful Mediterranean people in the 6th century BC before being conquered by the Romans and incorporated into the Roman Republic. Their empire was built on mineral wealth, enabling the development of elaborate cities and a powerful oligarchy which greatly influenced the Roman Empire. While the Etruscans’ early dominance is undisputed, little is known about who they were and where they came from. There language is like no other spoken then, or since, in Europe. No Etruscan literature or major buildings survive, and much Etruscan art – mostly made from stone, wood and terracotta – was summarily destroyed by the Romans. The Nicholson Museum’s The Etruscans: A Classical Fantasy sheds light on what l