Etruscan
Ancient Etruscan-inspired tarot celebrating pre-Roman Italian mystical traditions.
by Riccardo Minetti, Silvana Alasia · Lo Scarabeo
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The record
The Etruscans were an ancient tribe who lived in what is modern day Tuscany and Campagnia. They were a major power in pre-Roman Italy up until the fifth century BC, their culture rivalling the Ancient Greeks. After this time the Etruscan people, language and culture were gradually assimilated by the Romans, until little remained to distinguish the Etruscans as a separate people. Only traces of their existence remain today. As very little of the Etruscan language has been deciphered, most of what is known about these people is reconstructed from archaeological artefacts and Roman writings. Silvana Alasia, known for creating tarot decks such Nefertari's Tarot and the Egyptian Tarots, was the iconographic researcher for the Etruscan Tarot. The cards have been created in the style of Etruscan art, but modified to fit the tarot structure where necessary. There seem to be similarities to Ancient Egyptian papyrus painting in perspective but with more life, more passion and movement, less rigidity. (Angles of the human body are sometimes odd, in the case of early cards like the Fool and the Magician, but appear much more three-dimensional throughout the rest of the deck.) The card art also
The cards
