Personal thoughts during a visit to a museum in Leiden, the Netherlands, primarily to view its Etruscan exhibition
Etruscan
Looking at pots, trinkets, wares left behind
By those lost in time but the same human kind
Living their lives in the way they knew how
Much still mysterious to us here now
Where did they come from? No one is quite sure
Perhaps from the north to that Italian shore
Ancient Greek influence, gods that abound
No written texts but one have yet been found
Much that we know of them comes from their tombs
That we have the right to rob now one assumes
Personal items fill halls of renown
Next to the statues whose eyes look not down
Others
Romans next-door and Egyptians nearby
Both telling their stories whose bones are quite dry
To eyes and ears of those distant in years
Advanced in some ways but with much the same fears
We’ve advanced enough to solve some of their mysteries but are no more human than they were – nice one, Jan
Thanks bb. Someone said dentistry is the greatest innovation of modern man. In Etruscan society, men and women had equal rights and status, very unique at the time and something even we’re still battling with.