Apparently, at the end of the 7th or beginning of the VT c. BC. in most Etruscan cities, elected officials began to rule - representatives of the local aristocracy. Their functions and the titles of these positions are practically unknown. With some degree of certainty, we can only say that all power was in the hands of the aristocracy. The essence of these republics remains unclear: whether they were civil communities, similar to Greek policies, or city-states of the eastern type. Considering them policies does not allow the lack of data on the presence of free citizens in them, who all (rich and poor, noble and not noble) would be equal before the law and could not be in a relationship of personal dependence on each other. Only the stratum of the population that is economically and politically dependent on the aristocracy stands out clearly. In Etruscan inscriptions, these people are called "etera" - associates: they had to help their patron and made up his military squad.
