Tarchuna Pretenders (Rise of the Republic) Province Capital Level 5

Sacred Spura

Similar to the Greek poleis, Etruscan society was centred around a few large city-states, from which all territorial, economic and political initiatives were decided. The Etruscan model lent itself to the Latin words ‘methlum’, meaning ‘district’ and ‘spura’, meaning ‘city’, and indeed it is believed that, initially, Rome was an Etruscan city which later overthrew its kings and became a republic. For sound defensive reasons, Etruscan cities were frequently built on hills and featured relatively high walls. In terms of their street plans, there was a north-south axis with one or more east-west streets crossing it. It is possible that the Etruscans were among the first people to use such a grid system when laying out a city, which was done via a ritual known to the Romans as ‘ritus etruscus’; they later adopted the same system for building their temporary military forts and encampments.