Etruria \i-'trur-e-9\ Ancient country, central Italy. It covered the region that now comprises Tuscany and part of Umbria. Etruria was inhabited by the Etruscans, who established a civilization by the 7th century bc. Their chief confederation, traditionally including 12 cities, developed a culture that reached its height in the 6th century bc. Etruscan power extended into northern and southern Italy at its peak, but the cities of Etruria were gradually absorbed by Rome during the 3rd century bc.
Etruscan Any member of an ancient people of Etruria, whose urban civilization reached its height in the 6th century bc. Their origins are obscure. By the 7th century they had incorporated all of Tuscany into their territory, and in the 6th century they pushed north to the Po River valley and became rulers of Rome. The Etruscans gave the city its first public works, including walls and a sewer system. By the end of the 6th cen¬ tury, pressure from other peoples in the region, including Greeks, Romans, and Gauls, weakened Etruria. The Romans expelled their dynasty in 509 bc. The Etruscans had a commercial and agricultural civilization and left a rich cultural heritage, including wall frescoes and realistic tomb por¬ traits. Many features of their culture were adopted by the Romans. See also Etruscan language; Etruscan religion.
Etruscan art (c. 8th-4th centuries bc) Art of the people of Etruria. The art of the Etruscans falls into three categories: funerary, urban, and sacred. Because of Etruscan attitudes toward the afterlife, most of the art that remains is funerary. Characteristic achievements are the wall frescoes— painted in two-dimensional style—and realistic terra-cotta portraits found in tombs. Bronze reliefs and sculptures are also common. Tombs found at Caere, carved underground out of soft volcanic rock, resemble houses. Urban architecture was another specialty; Etruscans were among the first in the Mediterranean to lay out cities with a grid plan, a practice copied by the Romans. In the sacred area, Etruscan temples had a deep front porch with columns and abundant terra-cotta roof sculptures, such as those from the temple at Veii (late 6th century). Etruscan art was influenced by Greek art and in turn influenced the development of realistic portraiture in Italy.
A detail from a fresco dating from the 5th century bc shows Etruscan musicians wearing tunics and sandals.
SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NEW VORK CITY
Etruscan language Language spoken by the ancient people of Etruria in what is now Italy. Its proposed relations with the Indo-European family have not been generally accepted, and Etruscan remains a linguistic isolate (i.e., unrelated to any other language). Known mainly from inscriptions
that date from the 7th century bc to the 1st century ad, Etruscan was written in an alphabet probably derived from one of the Greek alphabets.
Etruscan religion Beliefs and practices of the ancient people of Etru¬ ria in western Italy. The Etruscans believed that the gods manifested their nature and will in every aspect of the natural world, such that every bird and berry was a potential source of knowledge of the gods. The charac¬ teristics of their more than 40 deities were often vague or changeable, though some were later equated with the major Greek and Roman deities. Famous for divination, the Etruscans sought to learn the future, looking for divine signs in lightning, the livers of sacrificed animals, and the flights of birds. Belief in the afterlife led to the construction of elaborate tombs that were furnished as houses for the dead. Many features of Etruscan religion were later adopted by the Romans.
Etymander River See Helmand River
eubacteria V.yii-bak-'tir-e-sV Group consisting of the true bacteria, one of two major groups of the prokaryotes. The other is the archaebacteria, which are as different from eubacteria as either is from eukaryotes. The two groups are thought to have evolved separately from a common ances¬ tor early in earth’s history, and they differ in fundamental ways. Virtually all the familiar bacteria that cause diseases (e.g., E. cou, staphylococcus and salmonella strains, mycobacteria) or are important in food, agricul¬ ture, biotechnology, and other industrial activity (e.g., Lactobacillus, nitri¬ fying and denitrifying bacteria, and Lactobacillus and streptomyces strains) are eubacteria.
Euboea \yu-'be-9\ Greek Evvoia \'e-ve-a\ Island, Greece, in the Aegean Sea. The second largest of the Greek islands, it is about 110 mi (180 km) long and 4-30 mi (6-48 km) wide. It is mainly mountainous but includes the fertile plain of the Lilas River, which was in antiquity a famous horse-breeding region. Euboea is connected with Boeotia by a bridge built by the Chalcidians. It was dominated by Athens for much of the 5th century bc, while its main cities of Chalcis and Eretria were involved in the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. From 146 bc it was part of the Roman province of Macedon. Euboea was controlled by Venice from 1366, conquered by the Turks in 1470, and passed to Greece in 1830.
eucalyptus V.yu-ks-'lip-tasN Any of the more than 500 species of mostly very large trees in the genus Eucalyptus, in the myrtle family, native to Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and nearby islands. Many species are grown widely throughout the temperate regions of the world as shade trees or in forestry plantations. Because they grow rapidly, many species attain great height. The leaf glands of many species, especially E. salicifolia and E. globulus, contain a volatile, aromatic oil known as eucalyptus oil, used mostly in medicines. Eucalyptus wood is used extensively in Aus¬ tralia as fuel, and the timber is commonly used in buildings and fencing. The bark of many species is used in papermaking and tanning.
Eucharist Vyii-ks-rastV or Holy Communion or Lord's Supper
Christian rite commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. On the night before his death, according to the Christian scriptures, Jesus consecrated bread and wine and gave them to his disciples, saying “this is my body” and “this is my blood.” He also commanded his followers to repeat this rite in his memory, and the Eucharist traditionally involves con¬ secration of bread and wine by the clergy and their consumption by wor¬ shipers. Although celebrated spontaneously when the first Christians gathered to share a meal, the Eucharist quickly became a central part of the formal worship service and remained that way despite the many contro¬ versies over its nature and meaning. Intended as a means of fostering unity in the church, it has also been a source of division because of differing inter¬ pretations of its nature. In Roman Catholicism the Eucharist is a sacrament, and the bread and wine are thought to become the actual body and blood of Jesus through transubstantiation. Anglicans and Lutherans also emphasize the divine presence in the offering and recognize it as a sacrament, while others regard it as a memorial with largely symbolic meaning. Also con¬ troversial has been the belief in the Eucharist as a sacrifice, the renewed offering of Christ each time the rite is celebrated at the altar.
Eucken Voi-kanV, Rudolf Christoph (b. Jan. 5, 1846, Aurich, East Friesland—d. Sept. 14, 1926, Jena, Ger.) German philosopher. He taught primarily at the University of Jena (1874-1920). Distrusting abstract intel- lectualism and systematics, Eucken centred his philosophy upon actual human experience. He maintained that man is the meeting place of nature and spirit and that it is a human duty and privilege to overcome nature by incessant striving after the spiritual life. A strong critic of naturalism,
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Euclid ► Euler I 641
he held that humans are differentiated from the rest of the natural world by their possession of a soul, an entity that cannot be explained in terms of natural processes. He also was known as an interpreter of Aristotle. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1908.