A comprehensive examination of material connections and artistic exchange between Etruria and Anatolia has never been the focus of an in-depth and heuristic study. Remarkable connections in Etruscan and Anatolian material culture show a growing body of fascinating evidence for various forms of contact and exchange between these two regions. This book establishes a new framework for discussing such similarities, and it invites new conversations about materiality, connectivity, and exchange among two regions separated (literally) by Greece. It examines recurring threads of a rich and varied Etruscan and Anatolian fabric of material networks surfacing in a wide variety of artistic styles and narratives. The traditional ways of looking at the ancient Mediterranean, within strict disciplinary boundaries, can no longer be useful when it comes to this type of cultural, artistic, and ideological query. The time has come to decolonize the ancient Mediterranean framework regarding how peoples and cultures have long been viewed, examined, and packaged. This volume offers a wide range of remarkable connections between Etruria and Anatolia, opening up new ways for examining the ancient Mediterranean.

Anatolia and Etruria have been separated by scholarship as much as by the Mediterranean itself. Although Anatolian archaeology has rested in the preserve of Near Eastern scholars, with Etruscan studies falling more within the domain of Classical-oriented scholars, neither sits at the center of Near Eastern or Classical Archaeology. Recent theoretical developments that seek to connect communities more effectively have begun to emphasize the links between these cultural groups and thus bring together their respective scholarly disciplines. This contribution examines the history of interest in the relationship between Anatolia and Etruria, and it reassesses our evidence for it within a Mediterranean-wide context. To do this, it considers historical interpretations of these connections and presents a new perspective that balances shared practices with localized differences, which increasingly is preferred to characterize this period of Mediterranean history.