Greece, Aegean Islands and Levant

From the ninth to the fifth centuries BCE, Etruscan items, such as weapons and luxury goods, are among the inventory found in Greek sanctuaries and reflect relations between Italy and Greece. Because most of these votive offerings (Gr. anathēmata) are not inscribed, it must be presumed that they were dedicated both by Greeks returning home and by Etruscans who were admitted to Greek sanctuaries. This possibility is raised by the two buildings, or treasuries (Gr. thesauroi), that like several Greek cities, the Etruscan cities of Caere and Spina maintained in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi to hold the offerings to the gods. This privilege of the inhabitants of Caere and Spina is remarkable, because they were the only non-Greeks to have their own treasuries in the Delphic sanctuary. Bucchero, the Etruscan national pottery, was also appreciated by the Greeks, who adopted in their wine culture the shape of the most common Etruscan drinking cup, the kantharos. A few Etruscan finds reached the Levant as well. After the fifth century, there are no Etruscan finds in Greek contexts outside Italy.