2.1.2. Writing

The Etruscans started writing about -700 in a form of the Greek alphabet which is closest to the alphabet used in Cumae. Cumae (19 km west of Naples) is the oldest Greek colony in Italy, founded by people from Euboea about -750. Consequently, the Cumaean alphabet is identical to the Euboean form of the Greek alphabet.1 This, in turn, is distinct by the following features:


1 In the literature, this is occasionally called a “West Greek” alphabet. In actual fact, the Euboean – and, thus, the Etruscan – alphabet combines forms of west and east Greek alphabets.