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The Etruscans, a people of sophisticated culture and technology, flourished in the area between Florence and Rome for nearly a thousand years. Although they were eventually subsumed within the Roman Empire, they left a substantial legacy to western civilization. In antiquity they were known as a wealthy, luxury-loving people, fond of banqueting and deeply religious. They were highly literate but their literature has not survived and is from their art that we can learn about their culture and their myths. Most informative of their distinctive and colourful beliefs are their interpretations of scenes from Greek mythology, which reflect the importance of human sacrifice, goddesses and demons in their religion.