The Etruscans were a powerful ancient Italian civilization which existed from 900 BC to 100 BC, consisting of several city-states (later united under the Etruscan League). In 1200 BC, after the Lydians went through a period of severe deprivation in western Anatolia, they decided to split into two groups, and one would leave the country. The King's son Tyrrhenus led the group of Etruscans which departed from Asia Minor, traveling via Lemnos to Italy. The Etruscans allied with the Rutuli king Turnus during his war with the Trojan prince Aeneas and his forces, and the Etruscans became the first people in Italy to write when they adopted the Greek alphabet in 700 BC. By 550 BC, Etruscan power was at its zenith, allying with the Carthaginians and partaking in Mediterranean trade. In 510 BC, the Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from Rome, leading to the establishment of the Roman Republic. After a defeat at the hands of the Greeks at Cumae in 474 BC, the Etruscans began to lose their hold on Italy to the south of Rome. The Roman Republic would go on to gradually absorb all of the Etruscan cities by 100 BC.
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