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The Etruscans had long had contacts with the Greeks and their alphabet was based on their alphabet. The city-states of Etruria had long been under the cultural influence of the Greeks.<ref>Ullman, B. L. "The Etruscan Origin of the Roman Alphabet and the Names of the Letters." <i>Classical Philology </i> 22, no. 4 (1927): 372-77</ref> The Tarquin kings the Etruscans exposed the Romans to Greek culture. Many Roman nobles would send their sons to schools in Etruscan cities and here they learned Greek and read its literature and philosophy<ref>Livy. 5. 14</ref> Greek thought and literature enriched Roman culture. The Romans adopted the Greek alphabet and used it for their own language, Latin. Much of Roman literature was based on Greek forms and genres and Roman political thought and philosophy originated in Greek ideas. By the second century BCE many the male elite could speak Greek and many were educated in Athens.<ref> Franaklin-Hall, p. 115</ref>