 While the Greek historian Herodotus stated that the Etruscans originated in Lydia, he may have meant a people who preceded the Lydians proper.The claim that Lydia was the homeland of the Etruscans was repeated in Virgil's epic poem the "Aeneid".In modern times, linguists have identified an Etruscan-like language in a set of inscriptions on the island of Lemnos, in the Aegean Sea.