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Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, andreligious practices of theEtruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology ofancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrentRoman mythology andreligion. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into theRoman Republic from the 4th century BC, the Etruscanreligion andmythology were partially incorporated intoancient Roman culture, following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to theVillanovan culture.[1]
Greek traders brought their religion and hero figures with them to the coastal areas of the central Mediterranean.Odysseus,Menelaus andDiomedes from theHomeric tradition were recast in tales of the distant past that had them roaming the lands West of Greece. In Greek tradition,Heracles wandered these western areas, doing away with monsters and brigands, and bringing civilization to the inhabitants. Legends of his prowess with women became the source of tales about his many offspring conceived with prominent local women, though his role as a wanderer meant that Heracles moved on after securing the locations chosen to be settled by his followers, rather than fulfilling a typical founder role. Over time, Odysseus also assumed a similar role for the Etruscans as the heroic leader who led the Etruscans to settle the lands they inhabited.[2]
Claims that the sons of Odysseus had once ruled over the Etruscan people date to at least the mid-6th century BC.Lycophron andTheopompus link Odysseus toCortona (where he was calledNanos).[3][4] In Italy during this era it could give non-Greek ethnic groups an advantage over rival ethnic groups to link their origins to a Greek hero figure. These legendary heroic figures became instrumental in establishing the legitimacy of Greek claims to the newly settled lands, depicting the Greek presence there as reaching back into antiquity.[2]
After the Etruscan defeat in theRoman–Etruscan Wars (264 BCE), the remaining Etruscan culture began to be assimilated into the Roman. TheRoman Senate adopted key elements of the Etruscan religion, which were perpetuated byharuspices and noble Roman families who claimed Etruscan descent, long after the general population ofEtruria had forgotten the language. In the last years of theRoman Republic the religion began to fall out of favor and was satirized by such notable public figures asMarcus Tullius Cicero. TheJulio-Claudians, especiallyClaudius, whose first wife,Plautia Urgulanilla, claimed an Etruscan descent,[5] maintained a knowledge of the language and religion for a short time longer,[6] but this practice soon ceased. A number ofcanonical works in the Etruscan language survived until the middle of the first millennium AD, but were destroyed by the ravages of time, including occasional catastrophic fires, and by decree of the Roman Senate.[citation needed]
The mythology is evidenced by a number of sources in different media, for example representations on large numbers of pottery items, inscriptions and engraved scenes on the Praenestinecistae (ornate boxes; see underEtruscan language) and onspecula (ornate hand mirrors). Currently some two dozen fascicles of theCorpus Speculorum Etruscorum have been published. Specifically Etruscan mythological and cult figures appear in theLexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae.[7] Etruscan inscriptions have recently been given a more authoritative presentation byHelmut Rix,Etruskische Texte.[8]
The Etruscans believed their religion had beenrevealed to them by seers,[9] the two main ones beingTages, a childlike figure born from tilled land who was immediately gifted withprescience, andVegoia, a female figure.
The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity.[10] They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods andsigns from them.[11] These practices were taken over in total by the Romans.
The Etruscanscriptures were a corpus of texts termed theEtrusca Disciplina. This name appears inValerius Maximus,[12] andMarcus Tullius Cicero refers to adisciplina in his writings on the subject.
Massimo Pallottino summarizes the scriptures known from other sources to have once existed. The revelations of the prophetTages (Libri Tagetici, "Tagetic Books") included the theory and rules ofdivination from animalentrails (Libri Haruspicini, "Haruspical Books") and discussion of the Etruscan afterlife and its attendant rituals (Libri Acherontici, "Acherontic Books"). The revelations of the prophetessVegoia (Libri Vegoici, "Vegoic Books") included the theory and rules of divination from thunder (brontoscopy) and lightning strikes (Libri Fulgurales, "Fulgural Books") and discussion of religious rituals. Books on rituals (Libri Rituales) included Tages's Acherontic Books as well as other books on omens and prodigies (Libri Ostentaria) and books on fate (Libri Fatales) that detailed the religiously proper ways to found cities, erect shrines, drain fields, formulate laws, and measure space and time.[13]
The Etrusca Disciplina was mainly a set of rules for the conduct of all sorts of divination; Pallottino calls it a religious and political "constitution": it does not dictate what laws shall be made or how humans are to behave, but rather elaborates rules for asking the gods these questions and receiving answers.
Divinatory inquiries according to discipline were conducted by priests whom the Romans calledharuspices or sacerdotes;Tarquinii had a college of 60 of them.[13] The Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions, used several words:capen (Sabinecupencus),maru (Umbrianmaron-),eisnev,hatrencu (priestess). They called the art of haruspicyziχ neθsrac.
The Etruscan system of belief was animmanentpolytheism; all visible phenomena were considered to be manifestations ofdivine power, and that power was embodied indeities who acted continually on the world but could be dissuaded or persuaded by mortals.[citation needed]
Long after the assimilation of the Etruscans,Seneca the Younger said[14] that the difference between the Romans and the Etruscans was that
Whereas we believe lightning to be released as a result of the collision of clouds, they believe that the clouds collide so as to release lightning: for as they attribute all to deity, they are led to believe not that things have a meaning insofar as they occur, but rather that they occur because they must have a meaning.
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After the 5th century, iconographic depictions show the deceased traveling to the underworld.[15] In several instances of Etruscan art, such as in theFrançois Tomb inVulci, a spirit of the dead is identified by the termhinthial, literally "(one who is) underneath". The souls of the ancestors, calledman ormani (LatinManes), were believed to be found around themun ormuni, or tombs,[citation needed]
A god was called anais (latereis), which in the plural isaisar /eisar. TheLiber Linteus (column 5, lines 9–10, and elsewhere) seems to distinguish "Gods of Light"aiser si from "Gods of Darkness"aiser seu:nunθene eiser śic śeuc /unuχ mlaχ nunθen χiś esviśc faśe: "Make an offering for both the Gods of Light and of Dark, / for them make an appropriate offering with oil from the Chi and from the Esvi rituals."[16] The abode of a god was afanu orluth, a sacred place, such as afavi, a grave or temple. There, one would need to make afler (pluralflerchva), or "offering".
Three layers of deities are portrayed in Etruscan art. One appears to be divinities of an indigenous origin:Voltumna or Vertumnus, a primordial,chthonic god;Usil, god(-dess) of the sun;Tivr, god of the moon;Turan, goddess of love;Laran, god of war;Maris, goddess of (child-)birth;Leinth, goddess of death;Selvans, god of the woods;Thalna, goddess (or god) of fertility and childbirth;Turms, god of trade and messenger of the gods;Fufluns, god of wine; the heroic figureHercle; and a number of underworld deities such asCatha,Lur, Suri, Thanr and Calus (all listed on theLead Plaque of Magliano and elsewhere.)[17]
Ruling over them were higher deities that seem to reflect theIndo-European system: Tin orTinia, the sky,Uni his wife (Juno),Nethuns, god of the waters, andCel, the earth goddess.
As a third layer, the Greek gods and heroes were adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan Orientalizing Period of 750/700–600 BC.[18] Examples areAritimi (Artemis),Menrva (Minerva, Latin equivalent ofAthena), the heroic figureHercle (Hercules), and Pacha (Bacchus; Latin equivalent ofDionysus), and over time the primary trinity becameTinia,Uni andMenrva. This triad of gods were venerated in Tripartite temples similar to the later RomanTemple of Jupiter Capitolinus.[17]
A fourth group, the so-calleddii involuti or "veiled gods", are sometimes mentioned as superior to all the other deities, but these were never worshipped, named, or depicted directly.[19]
Etruscan beliefs concerning the hereafter appear to be an amalgam of influences. The Etruscans shared general early Mediterranean beliefs, such as theEgyptian belief that survival and prosperity in the hereafter depend on the treatment of the deceased's remains.[20] Etruscan tombs imitated domestic structures and were characterized by spacious chambers, wall paintings and grave furniture. In the tomb, especially on the sarcophagus (examples shown below), was a representation of the deceased in his or her prime, often with a spouse. Not everyone had a sarcophagus; sometimes the deceased was laid out on a stone bench. As the Etruscans practiced mixed inhumation and cremation rites (the proportion depending on the period), cremated ashes and bones might be put into an urn in the shapes of a house or a representation of the deceased.
In addition to the world still influenced by terrestrial affairs was a transmigrational world beyond the grave, patterned after the GreekHades.[citation needed] It was ruled byAita, and the deceased was guided there byCharun, the equivalent of Death, who was blue and wielded a hammer. The Etruscan Hades was populated by Greek mythological figures and a few such asTuchulcha, of composite appearance.
Women in Ancient Etruria enjoyed more social liberties than their Roman counterparts until the Roman absorption of Etruria and the consequential assimilation into it. For example, the husband and wife often stood alongside each other in representations, and women were portrayed on sarcophagi in the same ceremonial feasts that men were.[21] Etruscan women also participated in an array of religious activities, which can be observed through archaeological evidence of votive offerings, ceremonial textile production, and iconography found in Etruscan burials.[22]
Votive evidence for Etruscan worship is rich and provides insight into how women worshipped deities in Etruria. Women'svotive offerings included terracotta or bronze statuettes, items related to textile production, such as spindle whorls or spools, or anatomical votives.[23]
An inscribed bronze statue base dating to the Archaic period (525-500 BCE) was excavated at Campo della Fiera inOrvieto, Italy, and provides evidence of an affluent woman's offering to a deity. The statue's inscription reads that it is a dedication to a deity, or group of deities, named- Tlusχval, from Kanuta, who may be a freedwoman based on the inscription's use of the nounlauteniθa, although it is hard to say for certain.[24] This inscription confirms that affluent Etruscan women were able to dedicate votives at religious sites freely, showcasing their wealth and testifying towomen's social freedoms in ancient Etruria. Etruscan sanctuaries also reveal evidence for the dedication of anatomical votives. Models of body parts such as the uterus were often offered to divinities, likely in relation to concerns revolving around childbirth and fertility.[21]
Some scholars suggest there was a link between women's production of textiles/ceremonial textiles and ritual at Etruscan sanctuaries.[23] Recent excavations at thePoggio Colla archaeological site nearVicchio, Italy have revealed what may be a link between the location of excavatedspindle whorls, spools, and ritual activity due to their location. The artifacts were found on the northern sides of the acropolis, near where defensive walls were later built. Scholars have speculated that this may be due to a form of obliteration in which the artifacts were linked to their deposition in a sacred way.[25]
In speculation on the existence of an Etruscan priestess, thehatrencu is the most widely discussed term in scholarly communities. The termhatrencu was found in the inscriptions from a tomb inVulci, a formerly Etruscan town in central Italy.[26]
The tomb is especially significant in that it contains a group of women buried together, which deviates from normal Etruscan burial rituals of men and women. The status of thehatrencu as an Etruscan priestess is widely debated by scholars. While many scholars assert that due to the abnormal burial conditions and the obscure term usage in the inscription, thehatrencu represents a priestess, other scholars disagree with these conclusions.[27] There is also debate on whether the iconography of the tombs points to the women buried being associated with ritual objects, with acista in the tomb of a woman named Ramtha as an example, however the female depictions could just as easily be divinities associated with funerary culture.[27]
The role of thehatrencu is thought to be similar to that of the Roman college of matrons, which was dedicated to the worship of the goddessMater Matuta. Such a comparison underscores the possible ritual and social functions that hatrencu may have held in Etruscan society.[26] Whether there were female religious specialists such as Etruscan priestess in Etruria, is mainly speculation and is subject to ongoing academic debate.
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