Much earlier than the foundation of Rome (B.C. 753) there flourished in that part of Middle Italy today called Tuscany the highly civilized people known by the name of Etruscans or Toschi. Their political organization had the form of a confederation of twelve principal cities,[103] the federal capital being Tarquinii. The Etruscan people were industrious, intelligent, and artistic in the highest degree, possessing special skill in the decorative arts, splendid monuments, some of which still remain to us; they were fond of luxury in all its manifestations, and took great care of their persons; at the same time, however, they were a laborious and courageous race, not only most active and enterprising in agriculture, in art and commerce, but also brave warriors and hardy navigators. In their long sea voyages the Etruscans frequently visited Egypt and Phœnicia, trading especially in the more flourishing cities, which were at that time Memphis in Egypt, and Tyre and Sidon in Phœnicia. On the other hand, the Phœnicians, who were also active merchants and navigators, not only visited Etruria and other regions of Italy very frequently, but also established numerous colonies in many islands of the Mediterranean, and especially in those nearer to Italy. This continual intercourse between Etruscans, on the one side, and Egyptians and Phœnicians, on the other, accounts for the great influence exercised by the Egyptian and Phœnician civilization upon the later developed Etruscan culture—an influence manifesting itself very distinctly in the works of art of the latter, which often have an altogether Oriental character, and not seldom represent scenes drawn from the domestic life of the Egyptians and Phœnicians.[104] [Illustration: FIG. 10, FIG. 11, FIG. 12 Dentures in terra-cotta, such as the Etruscans used to present to their divinities as votive offerings in order to be cured, or after having been cured of dental maladies.] As to what concerns dental art, everything leads up to the belief that it was practised by the Egyptians and Phœnicians earlier than by the Etruscans, whose civilization, as already hinted, is certainly less ancient. Nevertheless, in comparing the dental appliances found in the Etruscan tombs with the sole authentic dental appliance of Phœnician workmanship known at the present day,[105] we cannot but be struck with the great superiority of the Etruscan appliances. It is therefore probable that the Etruscans, although they had learned the dental art from the Egyptians and Phœnicians, had subsequently carried it to a much higher degree of perfection than it had arrived at in Egypt or in Phœnicia. An analogous fact has come to pass in our own times. Dental art in America, which emanated from the French and English schools, soon took on so vigorous a development as indisputably to acquire first rank.