The chief objection to the theory of an autochthonous origin is that, as we shall presently see, a break in the civilisation of Northern Italy which can be traced about the beginning of the ninth century B.C. is of such a marked and rapid character that it cannot be regarded as due to any cause but the irruption of a new race. Moreover, there is probably, as M. Pottier points out,[2250] more truth in the words of Herodotos than appears at first sight. It is true that there are no grounds for accepting the Lydian theory absolutely; but apart from this, it is to be noted that Herodotos nowhere states that the Tyrrhenians landed on the west coast of Italy—_i.e._ in Etruria. What he does say is that, “after having visited (or coasted along) many nations, they arrived at the Umbrians, where they founded cities and inhabit them to this day; and instead of Lydians, their name was changed to that of Tyrrhenians.” Additional evidence is given by Hellanikos,[2251] who explicitly states that they landed at the mouth of the Po; and as the Umbrians probably occupied a larger territory in prehistoric than in classical times,[2252] we may fairly place here the city of Tyrsenia or Tyrrhenia, which Herodotos gives as the name of their first new home. Thus the Umbrians will represent the early aborigines whose civilisation, known as the Terramare, we shall presently describe, and it was this civilisation, transformed and developed, which was carried by the invaders over the Apennines into the region now to be known as Etruria. It will be noted that this theory at least satisfactorily combines the land and sea migrations of the Etruscans into Etruria, though it does not profess to dogmatise as to the region whence they first started. The idea that they first landed on the west coast is entirely due to Roman ideas, fostered by poets like Virgil; and though it is in one passage accepted by Dionysios of Halicarnassos, he expressly contradicts himself in another.[2253] The two chief characteristics of this new Etrusco-Umbrian civilisation are the development of geometrical decoration and the predominance of a metallurgic element, both of which are obviously derived from Eastern sources, whether Hellenic or Oriental. It will suffice here to point out that the “Tyrrhenians” during their previous voyages (see above) might well have come in contact with the other civilisations of the Eastern Mediterranean, such as Cyprus, Asia Minor, Mycenae, and the Greek islands, and that their natural acquisitiveness and capacity for imitation, which we shall find illustrated throughout their history, enabled them to pick up and use artistic ideas from all these quarters. Even their earliest art yields many points of comparison with that of the Eastern Mediterranean.