Post by Julia Gaia on Jan 30, 2008 8:01:40 GMT -5
Polytheistic Believes
The Etruscan system of belief was an immanent polytheism; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities that acted continually on the world of man and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favor of human affairs. Three layers are evident in the extensive Etruscan art motifs. One appears to be divinities of an indigenous nature: Catha and Usil, the sun, Tivr, the moon, Selvans, a civil god, Turan, the goddess of love, Laran, the god of war, Leinth, the goddess of death, Maris, Thalna, Turms and the ever-popular Fufluns, whose name is related in some unknown way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus.
Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess. In addition the Greek gods were taken into the Etruscan system: Aritimi (Artemis), Menrva (Minerva;Latin name for Athena), and Pacha (Bacchus;Latin name for Dionysus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs.
Religious Practices
The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them. These practices were taken over in total by the Romans. A god was called an ais (later eis) which in the plural is aisar. Where they were was a fanu or luth, a sacred place, such as a favi, a grave or temple. There one would need to make a fler (plural flerchva) "offering".
Around the mun or muni, the tombs, were the man or mani (Latin Manes), the souls of the ancestors. A deceased person travels to the underworld called Aita "Hades" and thus may be referred to as a hinthial (literally "(one who is) underneath"). A special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha, or rath, sacred things. Every man, however, had his religious responsibilities, which were expressed in an alumnathe or slecaches, a sacred society. No public event was conducted without the netsvis, the haruspex, or his female equivalent, the nethsra. They read the bumps on the liver of a properly sacrificed sheep. We have a model of a liver made of bronze, whose religious significance is still a matter of heated debate, marked into sections which perhaps are meant to explain what the bump in that region should mean. Divination through haruspicy is a tradition originating from the Fertile Crescent.
Etruscan most important mythological figures
* Aita
* Alpan
* Ani
* Aplu
* Artume
* Atunis
* Cautha
* Charontes
* Charun
* Culsu
* Evan
* Februus
* Feronia
* Fufluns
* Horta
* Laran
* Lasa
* Losna
* Mania
* Mantus
* Menrva
* Nethuns
* Nortia
* Selvans
* Semia
* Sethlans
* Tages
* Tarchon
* Thalna
* Thesan
* Tinia
* Tuchulcha
* Turan (goddess)
* Turms
* Tyrrhenus
* Uni
* Vanth
* Veive
* Voltumna
The Etruscan system of belief was an immanent polytheism; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities that acted continually on the world of man and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favor of human affairs. Three layers are evident in the extensive Etruscan art motifs. One appears to be divinities of an indigenous nature: Catha and Usil, the sun, Tivr, the moon, Selvans, a civil god, Turan, the goddess of love, Laran, the god of war, Leinth, the goddess of death, Maris, Thalna, Turms and the ever-popular Fufluns, whose name is related in some unknown way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus.
Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess. In addition the Greek gods were taken into the Etruscan system: Aritimi (Artemis), Menrva (Minerva;Latin name for Athena), and Pacha (Bacchus;Latin name for Dionysus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs.
Religious Practices
The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them. These practices were taken over in total by the Romans. A god was called an ais (later eis) which in the plural is aisar. Where they were was a fanu or luth, a sacred place, such as a favi, a grave or temple. There one would need to make a fler (plural flerchva) "offering".
Around the mun or muni, the tombs, were the man or mani (Latin Manes), the souls of the ancestors. A deceased person travels to the underworld called Aita "Hades" and thus may be referred to as a hinthial (literally "(one who is) underneath"). A special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha, or rath, sacred things. Every man, however, had his religious responsibilities, which were expressed in an alumnathe or slecaches, a sacred society. No public event was conducted without the netsvis, the haruspex, or his female equivalent, the nethsra. They read the bumps on the liver of a properly sacrificed sheep. We have a model of a liver made of bronze, whose religious significance is still a matter of heated debate, marked into sections which perhaps are meant to explain what the bump in that region should mean. Divination through haruspicy is a tradition originating from the Fertile Crescent.
Etruscan most important mythological figures
* Aita
* Alpan
* Ani
* Aplu
* Artume
* Atunis
* Cautha
* Charontes
* Charun
* Culsu
* Evan
* Februus
* Feronia
* Fufluns
* Horta
* Laran
* Lasa
* Losna
* Mania
* Mantus
* Menrva
* Nethuns
* Nortia
* Selvans
* Semia
* Sethlans
* Tages
* Tarchon
* Thalna
* Thesan
* Tinia
* Tuchulcha
* Turan (goddess)
* Turms
* Tyrrhenus
* Uni
* Vanth
* Veive
* Voltumna