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The Etruscans were an ancient civilisation that lived in Central Italy. As historical rivals of the Romans, they were allies of Carthage. Quite a few Etruscan handicraft objects were found in Carthage and elsewhere in North Africa.
The Etruscans appeared around 900 BCE, and formed a federation of 12 city-States who shared the same language and a common culture. Their region, Etruria, was in the center of the Italian Peninsula, between the Arno and Tiber rivers. The Etruscan civilisation dominated Italy until the beginning of the Roman expansion. From the 6th to the 3rd Century, the Etruscan city-States fought several wars against the Romans, through which Rome took control of Italy. The Etruscans were later assimilated into the Roman civilisation. They received roman citizenship in 90, together with all the inhabitants of Italy.
Etruscans and Carthaginians had common interests in the Mediterranean, as natural allies against the Greek influence in their region. They first allied in 540, to attack Alalia, a colony founded by the Greeks of Massalia in Corsica, together. The Etruscan-Carthaginian alliance was victorious: the Greeks abandoned Alalia and Corsica came under Carthaginian sovereignty. Later on, the Etruscans supported Carthage in their first wars against the Greeks in Sicily. Around the end of the 5th Century, the Etruscan power started declining and their involvement in Sicily ended. The Carthaginians, eager to avoid open conflict with Rome, did not send military support to the Etruscan cities during their wars against the Romans; but they did support their Etruscan allies financially (and maybe also through their fleet), especially when in coincided with their interests in Sicily and Sardinia. As the Etruscans were defeated by the Romans before the beginning of the Punic Wars, they were unable to support Carthage against Rome.
Carthage entertained close trade links with the Etruscans, as can be seen by the many Etruscan handicraft objects that have been found in Carthage and in other Punic cities in North Africa – mostly pottery and bronze. There are even inscriptions revealing an Etruscan presence in modern-day Tunisia and Algeria until the 2nd and 1st Centuries (after the destruction of Carthage) – probably populations who fled to Africa after their territory was conquered by Rome.
