I believe he's referring specifically to writing in the Etruscan language.

I see, interesting that there's so much interest in Etruscan writing & history.

As someone who is only passing interested in history, I love the Etruscans for their wonderful bronzes.

Here's an example (praying to the art history gods this is an actual Etruscan example and not something else): http://www.royalathena.com/media/Etruscan/Bronze/HFN01.jpg

You can see in their work both the modern world that their culture would help form and the pre-historic tribal past of Europe.

Interesting, I'd have assumed jewelry[0] would have been most interesting, granulated works from 2500 years ago are somewhat impressive[1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_jewelry [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_jewelry#/media/File:E...

Those are also cool, for some reason the bronzes have resonated with me since first seeing them.

It's the mysterious side of Roman culture. Also, the language itself is an isolate and of linguistic interest as language isolates are unusual in Europe.

Probably because their territories were conquered by the early Romans and little remained of their history after the Romans overtook those areas... And Romans are seen, along with the non-conquering Greeks, as _the_ pillars of Western Civilization.

It is more accurate to say that Roman culture is a blend of Latin, Etruscan, and (later) Hellenistic culture. The Romans may have finished them off, but not before appropriating massive amounts of culture: the household shrine, burial rites, and the fasces to name a few examples.

Not really, it's a precursor to many European cultures

If you are interested at all in Rome, you are interested in Etruscan.

Fun fact that might pique one's interest: the fasces, which is still widely used to symbolize strength through unity, is believed to be of Etruscan origin.