Tarchuna (Rise of the Republic) Administration Level 6

City Archives

Most Etruscan city-states changed their governmental style from monarchies to oligarchical democracies around the 6th century BC. Despite this, the government essentially remained a theocracy, because the Etruscans were united by a common religion. Surviving Etruscan texts indicate that there were large numbers of magistrates led by a ‘zilach’, who was their chief. Each city-state was part of a confederation that met at the ‘Shrine of Voltumna’ once a year to discuss political and military matters. It was during these gatherings that the confederation would choose its head, given the title ‘Zilach Mechi Rasnal’.