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Nemirovsky and Etruscan mythology. Etruscans - Russian Historical Library

Tag

Tag- God-prophet of Etruscan mythology. According to legend, Tag appeared from the ground during plowing in the form of a baby with gray hair. He chanted the sacred teaching to the Lukumon who surrounded him. The event dates back to the 12th century BC.

There is an image on the Berlin Mirror, which is engraved with a naked boy with a partially bald head and the face of an old man. He is often identified as Taga. On this mirror, Tag is represented by his son and. Thug's image, the only one on the mirror, is not accompanied by a name.

There is a mention that Tag is the son and grandson. For Festus, he is the son of god and the creator of people, which brings him closer to Hercle, who was considered the ancestor of the Etruscans.

Taga is sometimes identified with the underground. Tag appears in Etruscan legend as the messenger of the gods, which unites him and Hermes. Thag is a chthonic creature associated with the Underworld, and Hermes's affinity with the Underworld is manifested in the fact that he descends to the Underworld more willingly than other gods

In the prophetic book "Purgatory" from the trilogy about the angelic popes of the modern voice of the Vatican by the German writer Jörg Kastner, Pope Custos and Antipope Lucius IV trace their ancestry to the Etruscans. Therefore, it is useful to learn more about their civilization and mythology.
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INTRODUCTION
MANIA/MANIA
VEYOVIS/VETISL
MANTUS
AITA
ORC
TURMS/HERME
HARU/CHARON
TUKHULKA
FERSU
TYPHON
SNAKES
INTRODUCTION

The Etruscans are an ancient mysterious people who once lived on the Apennine Peninsula, in the territory of modern Italy. Etruria is a region of Tuscany located between the Tiber and Arno rivers. The self-name of the Etruscans, “Rassenna,” is preserved in the name of a mountain range near Arezzo in Tuscany. The Greeks knew the Etruscans under the name Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians, and this was preserved in the name of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The mystery of the Etruscan people is manifested in almost everything. Their language is unknown, their writing has not been deciphered, their origin and ethnicity are unclear. Surprisingly little has been written about this people, as if the Etruscans lived some kind of closed life and had practically no contact with their neighbors. The point, apparently, is that the way of life and worldview of the Etruscans was perceived by the majority of the peoples of the Mediterranean as something exceptional. Their way of life, morals and customs seemed so incomprehensible and contradictory to their contemporaries that, along with admiration, they aroused acute rejection, religious fear and even hatred. Authors of Greek and Roman written sources most often write about the Etruscans with condemnation, or simply remain silent about them. But the Etruscans created a unique civilization, amazing masterpieces of art, ecological and economic-social systems. They brought grapes and olives to Italy, founded Rome itself and ruled it for one hundred and fifty years, but disappeared as a people from the face of the planet as if overnight, taking their secrets with them. The most interesting thing is that they predicted their disappearance several centuries ago.

The Etruscan religion and mythology have many similarities with ancient Greek religion and mythology. For a long time it was believed that the “wild” Etruscans borrowed culture from the educated Greeks. It turned out that this is not so or not entirely true. This is not borrowing ideas from the “more cultured Greeks,” but an interchange of plots and characters from myths. The Greeks were simply historically luckier; they left behind an extensive literature.

We can assert that as a result of contacts of the Etruscans with Greek colonists in Italy and on the surrounding islands, a process of comparison and identification of the most ancient Etruscan gods with the Olympian gods took place; at the same time, Etruscan gods were introduced into the Greek pantheon. A frequent reason for asserting that the Etruscans borrowed ancient Greek beliefs is the consonance and partial coincidence of the names of deities in the pantheons of the ancient Greeks and Etruscans. At the same time, they do not take into account the fact that many characters of Etruscan mythology with names consonant with the Greek gods were present in the Etruscan pantheon even before the formation of the community of peoples of Hellas. At the same time, the ancient Greek historians themselves repeatedly pointed out the great, relative to Greek, antiquity of Etruscan mythological ideas. However, many modern scientists, contrary to ancient written evidence, refuse to see the originality of the Etruscan civilization, although there was, of course, a certain influence of Greek culture on Etruria.

It can be stated with complete certainty that the recorded borrowing by the Etruscans of Greek myths is not plagiarism, but a rethinking of the latter in the light of their own cosmogonic, religious and political ideas. At the same time, assimilation and borrowing of Phoenician, Carthaginian, Egyptian and partly Celtic mythologies and beliefs took place. This “borrowing” is conditional. The original myth itself may be common to the ancient Mediterranean peoples, but over time it develops most in one of the regions. In the future, it is this option that other peoples adopt, and they do not adopt someone else’s myth, but their own, in a new processing and a different understanding. This recycled myth could later be modernized in accordance with local ideas, resulting in the illusion of borrowing. It is generally accepted that the birthplace of a myth is a country whose people have preserved the myth in a more literary and expanded form, for example Greece or Egypt. This opinion is refuted by archaeological data showing the presence of mythological ideas similar to those of Greece and Egypt among other peoples even before the appearance of both Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt.

Let us briefly dwell on the connections of the Etruscans with the most ancient civilizations of the East. The presence of such connections points to the fact that Ancient Greece was not the only source of knowledge and experience for Etruria; moreover, Etruria itself during the times of Ancient Greece possessed much knowledge that the ancient Greeks did not possess.

Greek culture, as a rather late formation, carried few traditional concepts associated with the civilizations of the Sumerian-Babylonian and Hittite cultures. At the same time, the early Etruscan mythological system and culture had in some basic features a pronounced similarity with these ancient civilizations. This similarity applies primarily to such important achievements of the thought of ancient peoples as the calendar, astrological ideas and fortune-telling practices. The similarity between these basic ritual and cosmogonic ideas in Etruria, the Hittites and the Assyro-Babylonians is almost complete.

All of the above knowledge belonged to the category of priestly secrets and were strictly guarded. They were protected more than military secrets are now. It was unthinkable to reveal these secrets to a stranger, much less give them entirely to a foreign people. This similarity of priestly knowledge and ideas is possible only in two cases: if the peoples had good neighborly relations and their priests were members of the same secret college, or if their priestly systems had common roots. Some analogues of such priestly unions can be modern secret societies and modern interethnic communities of scientists. Consequently, the Hittite, Babylonian and Etruscan priests, like the peoples themselves, had common religious and mythological ideas even before the resettlement of the Etruscan ancestors to the Apennine Peninsula.

The famous Roman historian Titus Livy wrote about the Etruscans: “A people who devoted themselves to religion more than other peoples, because they were distinguished by the art of cultivating religion.” It should be especially noted that the Etruscans equally revered both the Heavenly Gods and the gods of the Underground Pantheon, and it can be assumed that elements of many Etruscan mysteries, priestly magic and mythological ideas formed the basis of European black magic art. This is precisely what determines our interest in the gods of the Underworld of the Etruscan religion.

MANIA/MANIA

Mania is an underground chthonic goddess, considered the mother or grandmother of the Mans (in early beliefs, predominantly evil spirits), and sometimes the Lars/Lazovs/Larvos. Mania was one of the most terrible Etruscan goddesses - she sent madness to people.

This goddess and her cult are known from Greek and Roman sources. Etruscan sources brought to us very little information about her, which is explained by the peculiarities of her cult, which among the Etruscans had a secret sacred character. Let's consider what is known about this terrible Etruscan goddess.

The Goddess Mania had her Greek counterpart of the same name. In Greek mythology, Mania is the personification of madness sent to people who have violated law and custom. She was sometimes identified with the Eumenides - goddesses of vengeance. The Temple of Mania was located between Arcadia and Messenia, where, according to legend, Orestes was deprived of his mind for the murder of his mother.

The Romans borrowed the cult of the goddess Mania from the Etruscans because of the great power and significance of this goddess, although they were disgusted by her magical gloom and cruelty. From Roman sources it is known that Mania is the goddess of darkness and madness.

In Rome, images of the goddess Mania were hung in front of the house to protect it. Similar images, as is commonly believed - the Gorgon Medusa, were hung and made along the frieze of buildings among the Etruscans. This may indicate their identity, since the cult of the goddess Mania was borrowed by the Romans from the Etruscans, and the attribution of images on Etruscan temples to the Gorgon Medusa is conventionally accepted, based on the Greek analogues of similar images. The prototype of the ritual of hanging an image of a monster on houses and temples existed in ancient Babylon. So the masks of the monster Humbaba among the Assyro-Babylonians served the same protective purpose. It is known that images of the Gorgon were painted on the shields of Etruscan warriors to intimidate enemies and provide magical superiority in battles. Apparently, the “goddess Medusa” of the Etruscans is the ancient goddess Mania/Mania.

The main sacrificial food of the goddess in Roman times was considered bean porridge, but the victims of Mania were not limited to this. Her cult among the Etruscans was associated with human sacrifices and severed heads. According to Etruscan ideas, the human soul was located in the head. It follows from this that the fear of Mania is not just a fear of death, it is a fear of madness - the death of the soul, after which the very inner essence of a person dies and his posthumous rebirth is impossible. The sacrifice of the head points to the ancient belief that Mania/Medusa is the mistress of the Proto-Ocean, where even the human soul dissolves. Later, in Roman times, instead of the heads of the Mania people, a head of onion and garlic was sacrificed. In addition, in Etruscan times, boys were sacrificed to her using knives dipped in the blood of a sacrificial goat.

Apparently, few people remember who this Pegasus is. The noble animal was too exhausted, first by numerous poetic clichés of the 19th century, and then by toothless Soviet caricatures from the Literary Gazette. So, the well-known Gorgon Medusa gave birth to this creature - at the very moment when her head was cut off. Left to his own devices, the winged stallion somehow knocked Hippocrene, the spring of the muses, out of the ground with his hoof, and this is his merit for poetry. But its main merit was that, sitting on it, the hero Bellerophon defeated another mythological monster - the Chimera. True, then Bellerophon’s relationship with the gods did not work out. Zeus sent the flying horse into a frenzy, and it threw off its rider and bridle. Bellerophon was so hurt when he fell that he lost his mind; what happened to Pegasus, the mythographers told less clearly.

The fact that the festival of Mania coincided with the festival of Luperca (Wolf God)/Faun is not accidental. In Roman mythology, the god Faun was identified with the Greek god Pan. Pan patronized the herds and could send madness or panic to his enemies. Consequently, Pan/Faun could well be the male hypostasis of the same Mania. The chthonic nature of Mania also brings it closer to Faun/Pan/Lupercus: in Roman, Greek and a number of other mythologies, the deities of vegetation and fertility are chthonic in nature.

The idea of Protomatter as a generative element is apparently associated with the female menstrual cycle. Women at this time have increased excitability, which could be correlated with the ritual madness of feminine or effeminate chthonic gods of fertility, such as the goddesses Mania and Dionysus. The blood itself, coming out during the menstrual cycle, may have been considered as a reflection of the generative Proto-Ocean; obligatory bloody sacrifices to these gods and goddesses could be correlated with it, as a replenishment of Protomatter, which among the Etruscans had a bloody character.

The custom of applying red paint in rituals associated with fertility and war, with the cycles of “life and death” has been preserved among many peoples. It is no coincidence that the clothes of the Etruscan king, and then the Roman Caesars and Emperors, were red. Purple symbolizes the ancient function of kings as bearers of the fertile power of the people. Perhaps purple, symbolizing the function of the king as a sacrificer, had another meaning in the sacred sense of the non-ritual sacrifice of the king himself to the chthonic gods for the prosperity of his people.

Mania had a holiday on the same day as the god of underground fire Velhans/Vulcan, which emphasizes its chthonic nature and destructive power, since Velhans was responsible for volcanic eruptions.

Another Etruscan god, Mantus, is associated with the goddess Mania. The gods of the Underworld Mantus and Mania are mentioned by Servius. In the liver model from Piacenza, the god Mantus probably represents Vetislus. Varro, in turn, considered Mania to be the equivalent of the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone.

If we look for parallels between the goddess Mania and the gods of other ancient Indo-European pantheons, then the Vedic Maya, the goddess of illusion, deception and, in the final sense, madness and death of those who are subject to her, is functionally close to Mania in the etymology of the name. All priestly, ascetic, yogic, Buddhist and other Indian systems are dedicated to overcoming the influence of Maya.

It is worth dwelling in more detail on the connection between the goddess Mania and the symbolism of the “black”, witchcraft moon.

The very name of the Manas generated by Mania indicates the antiquity of the Etruscan belief in them and its original character. Apparently, the Manas, or their prototype, were in ancient times associated with lunar symbolism, the cult of the first ancestor and the masculine principle. This is indicated by the connection of concepts with the same root as the name Manov in various cosmogonistic systems with the cult of the moon and the month. The correlation of the name Manov with the symbolism of the moon gives reason to compare the cult of the Manov and their mother Mania with the cult of the lunar goddess Aritimi.

The cult of Aritimi included sacred rituals of female, priestly magic. In addition, the goddess Aritimi in ancient times was associated with ideas about the rebirth of the soul and eternal life. The closeness of the goddesses Mania and Aritimi is indirectly confirmed by the fact that the Etruscans offered abundant human sacrifices to both goddesses. In addition, Mania was considered the goddess of ritual madness, and the effect of lunar phases on the course of mental illness was well known both in ancient times and now. Suffice it to recall the phenomenon of sleepwalking or the exacerbation of manic depression during the full moon...

To establish a correspondence between Manami, the goddess Mania and Aritimi, the above coincidences are clearly not enough, but it is well known that in the most ancient priestly ideas there was a gloomy cult of the “dark moon”, which in its nature was close to the bloody rites of the goddess Mania.

The ancient Greeks knew the goddess Hecate, who was of Asia Minor origin, which brings her appearance closer to the ancestral home of the Pelasgians and Etruscans. Hecate combines the characteristics of the Etruscan goddesses Aritimi, Mania and Medusa. The ancient origin of the goddess may indicate that Aritimi, Mania and Medusa are her hypostases, which over time received the status of independent goddesses.

Let us consider the characteristics of the goddess Hecate in order to verify the validity of our assumption.

Hecate is the nocturnal, demonic form of the lunar goddess Artemis/Aritimi. She was responsible for magic and witchcraft, like the goddess Mania she was connected with the souls of ancestors and the punitive forces of the Underworld. The goddess Hecate is similar to Mania and Medusa by her appearance: the presence of snakes in her hands and hair. Her attribute was a lit torch. The presence of such an attribute connects her with Manami, since the torch is one of the symbols of Manami, as a guide to the Underworld.

It is known that Hecate is an ancient female goddess who protects and takes revenge on abandoned women and kindles love in the hearts of their chosen ones. Her images were placed at crossroads and sacrifices were made to her there. This fact brings it closer, according to Ovid’s instructions, to the cult of the Manes. Ovid writes that sacrifices to Manam should be made at crossroads. Such a ritual takes us back to the heyday of ancient female lunar magic and mythology, when the most significant and dark rituals were performed at crossroads. Until the 20th century, Russia maintained the custom of burying great sinners and terrible sorcerers at crossroads. Also, in many witchcraft traditions of other peoples, rituals to summon evil spirits took place precisely at crossroads.

The ritual and mythological functions of the goddess Hecate connect her cult with the cults of such goddesses as Aritimi/Artemis, of which she was considered a hypostasis, with the chthonic goddesses Mania and Medusa, as well as with the whole multitude of demons Manes. Consideration of the functions of the goddess Hecate points to a common Ido-European prototype of the dark lunar goddess associated with magic (see Gorgon, Lilith as Great Mother).

Very little is known about the Etruscan hypostasis of the goddess Mania Medusa. Medusa was considered the ruler of the Underworld. Perhaps she bore the name Tarsu, the personification of pure Chaos, since the Etruscans had a Gorgon-like demoness under this name, according to many sources similar to the goddess Mania.

There are engravings from Etruscan mirrors where Medusa is depicted as masculine and with a beard. This fact convinces us that Medusa may be one of the incarnations of the goddess of the Underworld - Mania, and her masculine version depicts the couple of Mania - the god Manta/Mantus.

Medusa herself personified the primordial chthonic forces. It is connected with the Proto-Sea, in which the soul and body of a person can drown and dissolve. The level of Medusa is “the most terrible circle of Hell”, from where there is no and cannot be a return for the soul. This circle is surrounded by a strip of triangles. The number 3 among the Etruscans correlated with the three worlds that make up the Cosmos. A circle of triangles, in this case, should symbolize the power of the goddess of death in all three worlds. Let us also note that Medusa is one of the incarnations of the goddess Menerva, who rules in heaven, on earth and in the Underworld.

According to Etruscan beliefs, the goddess Mania/Medusa (the personification of Chaos) gave birth to the god Velkhans. From her son Velkhans she gave birth to the god of underground destructive fire and his sister. Velhans is the king of the center of the earth, the god of underground nature; he is the king of volcanoes and wild destructive forces that are not subject to anyone else. The only way to appease him and get a reprieve is by sacrificing the boy. It is no coincidence that the holidays of Velkhans and Mania were held on the same day, May 1st. (On the day of May 1, according to medieval beliefs, which apparently came down to us through Ancient Rome from the Etruscans, there was a maximum revelry of evil spirits and chthonic forces (cf. the witch holiday Walpurgis Night)).

VEYOVIS/VETISL

Veiovis was considered the king of the Underworld, as stated by Cicero, who calls Veiovis the underground Jupiter of the Etruscans.

The role of Veiovis as one of the masters of the Underworld is emphasized by the fact that in the second chapter in the work of Marcian Capella, Veiovis administers judgment over evil spirits.

On the model of the bronze liver for sacred fortune-telling, the god Vejovis is designated as Vetisl and is located in the 15th region. Marcian Capella has the god Veiovis in the same 15th region. That Veiovis is an underground god is confirmed by the fact that his name is written in the most unfavorable, fifteenth cell on the border on the left side of the model of the liver from Piacenza. His name is also found in the text on the shrouds of the Zagreb mummy. Veiovis was a fairly revered god: Veiovis is known to be worshiped on the Roman Capitol. According to Aulus Gellius, the statue of Veiovis on the Capitol depicted a young god with an arrow in his hand, standing next to a goat that was sacrificed to him (cf. “biblical scapegoat”). The same ritual, according to Festus, involved offerings to the dead.

The attributes of Veiovis were a goat and arrows of the thunderer. Among the Etruscans, the most important gods could control thunder arrows, but among the Greeks, thunder arrows belonged only to the thunderer Zeus. The presence of thunder arrows brings Veyovis into the ranks of the highest gods.

Consider the name Veiovis, which the Romans called Veiovis/Vediovis/Vedius. The particle “ve” means negation, the root “Diovis” means “Jupiter” or “god”, from which it follows that Veiovis is “not god”, “anti-god”. Consequently, Veiovis is opposed to the heavenly god Jupiter and it becomes clear why he is called the Jupiter of the Underworld.

There are several other contenders for the role of the King of the Underworld. One of the contenders for the role of Veiovis is the king of the Underworld, Aita. The fact that Vejovis is the king of the Underworld does not contradict the fact that Aita was the king of the Underworld. The afterlife is the world of posthumous reward of the soul, but the underworld is the world of chthonic forces.

MANTUS

Mantus is the name of the Etruscan god of the Underworld. The gods of the Underworld Mantus and Mania are mentioned by Servius. In the liver model, Mantus probably corresponds to the god Vetislus.

There are a large number of opinions about this Etruscan god. Let us briefly summarize the main ones. According to O. Muller, Mant is none other than the demon Charon. Gerhard identified Mantus with one of the demons found on mirrors and frescoes, depicted with a crown on his head.

God Aita is the Etruscan ruler of the Underworld, which follows from the fact that he was depicted with a crown and a scepter. Sometimes on frescoes in Etruscan tombs he can be seen with a wolf or dog scalp on his head or a helmet in the form of a wolf's head.

From the comparative mythology of Indo-European and Mediterranean peoples it is known that the wolf-dog is a guide to the kingdom of the dead. An example of this is the Egyptian god Anubis.

Aita/Hades is a common character in Greek, Etruscan and Roman myths. The ancient Greek Hades was most likely a god of pre-Greek origin. His image is found on the throne in pre-Greek Amykla.

Greek Pluto/Aita has a bident (fork) as an attribute, as a designation of his second brother of the king of the gods, the thunderer Zeus. His name means “formless, terrible” and correlates with the name of the Etruscan Aita.

It is characteristic that the pitchfork among the Slavs was associated with the most ancient ideas about the chthonic deity Vie. In later Christian times, pitchforks became an attribute of chthonic, infernal demons and devils. In esoteric calculus, the bident represents the number 2. The two, in turn, is the opposition of one to the other, indicating a peculiar division of the Living and the Dead - the Underworld.

Horace calls Charon satellos Orci - "servant of Orcus." The name Orca in Latin inscriptions in two cases out of nine has the spelling Orchus. The form Orchus indicates the Etruscan origin of the name. Among the Romans, the name Orcus was used to call either the god of the Underworld, or the Underworld itself, or even a demon who carried his victims there. But in most cases, the Romans and Etruscans revered Orcus as the master of the Underworld with punitive functions. He retained the features of an independent deity in the Etruscan pantheon.

The Orc punished for breaking promises, and people swore by his name. Let's try to figure out why the name of this god was used for the most unbreakable oaths. To understand this, let us turn to Greek beliefs. Among the Greeks, the most terrible oath was the oath by the underground waters of the River Styx. Even the god who broke such an oath lay lifeless for 10 years. Getting into the River of Death in the world of Death meant death in the kingdom of the dead, which could be equated to the loss or death of the soul, its dissolution in the Prime Matter of the River of Death. Perhaps the Orc cult was associated with the journey of souls in the Underworld and the power of the unshakable law of this world. If Orc was associated with the transportation of the soul across the River Styx, then the oath by this river could be transferred to the very name of this god.

Interestingly, the name Orka may be related to the Russian word “raka” - “tomb”.

TURMS/HERME

God Turms is the deity of the Underworld and the guide of souls in the Underworld.

The god Turms was related to the Greek god Hermes/Herme. The existence of two names for one god is explained by the fact that Herme was the god of the Pelasgians, and Turms was the god of the Tyrrhenians.

In later times, under Greek influence, Turms was replaced by the god Haru - the Greek analogue of Charon.

HARU/CHARON

The death demon Haru/Harun, according to a number of scientists and according to the consonance of names, corresponded to the Greek Charon - the carrier of souls across the river Styx of the Underworld. It is believed that under the influence of Greek mythology, the demon Haru became the conductor of souls and replaced the earlier Etruscan god Turms in this role.

We believe that this opinion is based mainly on a prejudiced attitude towards Etruscan mythology, when it is considered simply a copy of Greek. It deprives the Etruscan views of their originality and leads us away from a true understanding of the worldview of this people.

The correlation of the demon Haru and the ancient Greek carrier of souls Charon into one character could only arise during the decline of Etruria, when much ancient knowledge was lost and Greek mythologies spread under the influence of Rome. Most likely, Charon and Charu have the same ancient origin, but among the Greeks this god quite early turned into a simple carrier of souls across the River Styx, and the Etruscans retained its more ancient meaning for a long time. We believe that Haru was the Etruscan god of physical Death.

To substantiate our view that the demon Haru in the early Etruscan pantheon was the god of Death and has a very distant relationship with the ancient Greek carrier of souls Charon, let us consider how and in what scenes he appeared in Etruscan art. Haru was depicted quite often in frescoes in Etruscan tombs and on funerary decorations.

Haru of the early Etruscan monuments has an ominous appearance, is a silent witness to mortal pain and death. On the scene of human sacrifice from Vulci, V-VI centuries. BC. Haru is next to the demon Vanf. He looked like a demonic creature with a hook-shaped nose, pointed ears, wings behind his back, and in his hand he held his main attribute - a hammer on a long handle.

In the tomb of Orcus he is also depicted with a hammer - the Etruscan symbol of Death, which corresponded to Death's scythe. The demon's nose is like a beak, curved like a bird of prey. The comparison with birds of prey is not accidental. Among the Etruscans, birds of prey were considered symbols of death.

The relief urn from Kyuzi depicts the gates of the Underworld, and in front of them are the hell-hound Cerberus and Haru, along with the soul of the deceased. In the tomb of François at Vulci, in the scene of Achilles’ sacrifice of the Trojan captives in honor of Patroclus, the moment is captured when Achilles throws one of the Trojans to the ground and kills him, and immediately on the right is Haru, who is swinging a heavy hammer. The demon wears a conical headdress and a skirt.

Later, changes occur in Haru’s appearance: in the image in the grave he sits with a hammer placed on his left shoulder, a protruding nose, as in the Orc’s grave, wide arches of eyebrows over burning eyes, an open mouth, but the appearance is more caricatured than frightening. Guillaume gives a fragmentary image of Haru's head: the demon has a prominent nose, wild eyes, and his mouth open in a predatory grin.

From the listed images it is clear that Haru is nowhere depicted as a conductor of the soul; on the contrary, he has as his attribute a hammer as a symbol of death. Therefore, he is a killing demon, the personification of physical death itself. The scenes in which Haru is depicted are either sacrifice or murder. Haru was depicted next to the hellish dog Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld, which suggests that he himself is not a watchman, but a frightening and punishing demon. The fact that the Etruscan Haru is not identical to the ancient Greek Charon is also indicated by his terrifying appearance, which a guide to the Underworld simply does not need. Another argument in favor of the fact that Haru is not a guide, but the personification of physical death, moreover. Most likely violent, is that he is depicted next to the demon conductor of the soul of Vanf, and in his hands he holds his deadly weapon. If Haru is the guide of the soul, then in this scene it is not clear why the soul needs two demonic guides. Rather, one of the characters is Death itself, and the other character is the guide of the soul. A certain caricature in the appearance of Haru later finds a completely understandable explanation in the fact that Haru is the personification of physical death. In the era of decline of their state, the Etruscans treated death quite stoically and with a certain amount of black humor, which can be explained by the existence of psychological defense in the face of danger. They firmly believed in predicting the last life of their people, and Roman expansion into their territory confirmed this prediction. The fatal approach to life and death largely determined the fall of Etruria to the Roman invaders.

And finally, we present the last argument in favor of the conclusion that the demon Haru was the personification of death. The sarcophagus from Tarquinia depicts a lion and a vulture tearing apart prey, flanked by the demons Haru and Tukhulka. Probably, Haru personified Death itself, and Tukhulka - the torment and death of the soul. Haru was symbolically depicted as a lion tearing its prey; it signified the physical death of a person. Note that in a number of images, Haru’s head is covered with a piece of lion skin, which also brings him closer to the symbolism of the tormenting lion.

Birds of prey were considered by the Etruscans to be posthumous torment and death of the soul, since they destroyed the eyes, through which the human soul, which according to the Etruscans believed was in the head, was connected with the outside world, and the genitals, indicating the possibility of a posthumous sacred marriage of the soul of the deceased with the goddess and its further rebirth. This image symbolized the complete death of a person, his physical and spiritual destruction.

TUKHULKA

Tukhulka is the demon of death, according to our assumption, the demon of the death of the human soul, since he is correlated with a bird of prey and has the head of a bird. Tukhulka has much in common with Haru; they were often depicted together, as witnesses or executors of the will of the gods of the Underworld. The name Tukhulka is found on Etruscan monuments dating back to the 4th century BC. The appearance of this demon has human and animal features. It looked rather creepy, had a bird-head and snakes crawled out of its tail. In the tomb of Orc he is depicted as a creature with the wings of a vulture, the ears of a horse, and hair rising in the form of snakes above his head. There are quite a few images of this demon. For example, on the red-figure crater from Vulci, Charon with a hammer and Tukhulka with two snakes are depicted in the scene of the farewell of the spouses. The bas-reliefs contain terrible scenes: demons, armed with bows and arrows, carry the souls of the dead with them to the Underworld, where the monstrous Tukhulka beats them with his huge staff. Tukhulka was sometimes depicted with a two-pronged pitchfork, which is a characteristic feature of the Greek king of the Underworld - Hades.

Fersu is one of the most ancient Etruscan characters of the Underworld. He is a more ancient demon than Tukhulka. Ergon points out the similarity between the names Phersu and Phersephnei (Persephone). Such similarity and involvement of Fersu in torture and death makes it possible to classify him as a demon of death. In order to reveal his role in the Etruscan pantheon, let's consider how the Etruscans portrayed him.

In the image of Fersu in the tomb of the Augurs there is a wolf dog, which indicates the chthonic nature of the demon, since according to Etruscan tradition the wolf has a chthonic nature. Similar scenes are also found in the tombs of Olympias and Pulcinella. Let us remember the fact that the king of the Underworld, Aita, wore a wolf scalp on his head. The fresco depicts the struggle of a man, with a bag on his head, with a wild animal - a wolf or a dog, set on him by Fersu. The man in this scene is apparently Hercules, since the image has a club, which is his attribute. In addition, both in the tomb of the Augurs and in the tomb of Olympias, Fersu is a participant, and possibly the leader of the game being played. In Pulcinella's tomb he is depicted in a comic form, running away.

Another factor defining Fersu's role is his name itself. The name Fersu semantically comes from the Etruscan word phersu - a character in a mask, from which the Latin word persona also comes. All these details are evidence of the existence of theatrical performances among the Etruscans, where Fersu was the main character. The purpose of such performances was to facilitate the soul's journey beyond the grave. There is reason to believe that if a man defeated a dog, Fersu was expelled from the stage. Such ritual actions among the Etruscans included equestrian lists, various martial arts, gladiator fights and baiting people with dogs. All these holidays were subsequently borrowed from the Etruscans by the Romans, who lost the sacred meaning of the activities and considered them simply as entertainment.

Fersu was a demon who performed a very important function. He was responsible for the magic of substitution, in other words, this demon helped the Etruscan priests translate substitution actions into their prototype. With his help, the action being played out became real. Fersu's functions were not limited to this. He, as can be seen from his images, conducted tests of souls in the Afterlife and carried out a sacred connection between the participants in memorial and festive events with the Afterlife. Such a connection was very often based on blood sacrifices. So in Homer’s poem, Odysseus, in order to attract the souls of his ancestors, had to sacrifice a black ram.

For more powerful magical rituals associated with the Underworld, the Etruscans also used human sacrifices, for example, gladiatorial fights, where a more worthy or successful gladiator sacrificed his less fortunate brother during a fight. Less bloody competitions such as equestrian lists and martial arts were held with a double, even triple purpose. One of the meanings was, as in our days, to identify the most worthy. The second meaning was to amuse and please the gods to whom the holiday or commemoration was dedicated. This is a kind of sacrifice by action, service. The third and, apparently, the most important meaning was to transfer to the soul the energy and qualities of winners in games, which was necessary for its posthumous accession. From the above it follows that the demon Fersu played a very significant role in the mythology and rituals of the Etruscans. He even to some extent became the prototype of a theater actor and patron of the theater.

A variety of creatures of the Underworld appear in ancient bas-reliefs of Bologna. In one of them, the soul of the deceased, dressed as a warrior on a horse, enters the Afterlife, and a snake-legged demon rises to meet him. The demon is similar to the image of Typhon or Greek images of the Titans. Snake-footedness highlights its chthonic ancient nature.

Macrobius gives a description of several forms of snake-footed giants, images of which are often found on ancient monuments.

There is a version that Typhon is a symbol of volcanic force, and the Greek name Typhon itself comes from the word “smoke”.

The snake is a chthonic attribute of the Etruscan gods and belongs to the priestly cult. The priests, when summoning demons, held snakes in their hands. Livy describes how the Roman soldiers, seeing the troops of Etruscan priests running ahead with snakes and torches in their hands, retreated. The consuls and legates managed with great difficulty to prevent their flight.

Snakes are depicted in the hands of the demon Tukhulka; they are attributes of the Queen of the Underworld, Fersify, and sometimes replace her hair. As parallels, we can point to the Gorgon Medusa with snakes instead of hair and the Cretan-Mycenaean figurines of goddesses with snakes in their hands.

On the tiles of houses, along with horses and storks - representatives of the elements of water and air, respectively, snakes were also depicted - representatives of the elements of earth and the Underground Kingdom. In addition, the snake in the Etruscan and Roman, and partly Slavic tradition, is a symbol of shoots and roots of plants, indicating the fertile power of the earth and underground goddesses. It is widely known that the snake is a symbol of wisdom and the personification of the idea of rebirth, with which snakes are associated as beings that change their skin, rejuvenating themselves with new scales.

Based on materials by A. Nagovitsin.

Http://darksign.ru/index.php?id=400

As the god of the sky, the thunder god Tin commanded three beams of lightning. The first of them he could warn people, the second he used only after consulting with twelve other gods, the third - the most terrible - he punished only after receiving the consent of the chosen gods. Thus, Tin, unlike Zeus, was initially thought of not as the king of the gods, but only as the head of their council, modeled on the council of heads of Etruscan states. The goddess Turan, whose name meant “giver,” was considered the mistress of all living things and was identified with Aphrodite. The Greek Hera and Roman Juno corresponded to the goddess Uni, who was revered in many cities as the patroness of royal power. Together with Tin and Uni, founded by the Etruscans at the end. 6th century BC.

In the Capitoline Temple in Rome, Menva (Roman Minerva), the patroness of crafts and artisans, was revered. These three deities made up the Etruscan triad, which corresponded to the Roman triad: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva. The god Aplu, identified with the Greek Apollo, was initially perceived by the Etruscans as a god who protected people, their herds and crops. The god Turms, corresponding to the Greek Hermes, was considered the deity of the underworld, the guide of the souls of the dead. The Greek god Hephaestus, the master of underground fire and a blacksmith, corresponds to the Etruscan Sephlans. He is a participant in the scene depicting Uni's punishment under Tin's orders. In the city of Populonia, Seflans was revered under the name Velhans (hence the Roman Vulcan).

Judging by the many images on mirrors, gems, and coins, the god Nefuns occupied a prominent place. He has the characteristic attributes of a sea deity - a trident, an anchor. Among the Etruscan deities of vegetation and fertility, the most popular was Fufluns, corresponding to Dionysus-Bacchus in Greek mythology and Silvanus in Roman mythology. The cult of Fufluns was orgiastic in nature and was more ancient in Italy than the veneration of Dionysus-Bacchus. The sacred unification of states with a center in Volsinia led to the identification of the main deity of this city, Voltumnus (the Romans called him Vertumnus). Sometimes he was depicted as a malicious monster, sometimes as a vegetation deity of indeterminate gender, sometimes as a warrior. ,

These images may have reflected the stages of transformation of a local chthonic deity into the “chief god of Etruria,” as Varro calls him (Antiquitatum rerum... V 46). The Etruscans included Satre among the gods of the “heavenly valley,” believing that he, like Tin, could strike with lightning. The god Satre was associated with cosmogonic teaching and the idea of a golden age - the coming era of abundance, universal equality (which corresponds to the idea of the Roman Saturn). The god of Italian origin was Maris (Roman Mars). In one of his functions he was the patron of vegetation, in another - of war. From Italic mythology, the Etruscans adopted Maius, the chthonic deity of vegetation. The Etruscans revered the god Selvans, who was later adopted by the Romans under the name Silvanus. The rulers of the underworld were Aita and Fersiphaus (corresponding to the Greek gods Hades and Persephone). It is likely that some of the names of Etruscan female deities were originally epithets of the great mother goddess, indicating certain of her functions - wisdom, art, etc.
Along with the cult of gods, the Etruscans had a cult of evil and good demons. Their images are preserved on mirrors and frescoes of burial crypts. The bestial features in the iconography of demons suggest that they were originally sacred animals, pushed into the background as anthropomorphic gods emerged. Demons were often depicted as companions and servants of the gods. The death demon Haru (Harun), more than his related Greek carrier of the souls of the dead Charon, retained the features of an independent deity. On earlier monuments, Haru is an ominous and silent witness of mortal pain, then a messenger of death and, finally, under the influence of Greek mythology, a guide of souls in the underworld, usurping this role from Turms (Greek Hermes). Tukhulka had a lot in common with Haru, whose appearance combined human and animal features. Haru and Tukhulka are often depicted together as witnesses or executors of the will of the gods of the underworld. From the cult of the divine multitude of Laza demons (Roman Lares), the demonic creature Laza emerged.

This is a young naked woman with wings behind her back. On mirrors and urns she was depicted as a participant in love scenes. Her attributes were a mirror, tablets with stylus, and flowers. The meaning of the Laza epithets found in the inscriptions: Evan, Alpan, Mlakus remains unclear. By analogy with the Roman Lares, it can be assumed that the Laz were good deities, patrons of the home and hearth. The demonic set were manas (Roman manas) - good and evil demons. Vanf was one of the demons of the underworld.
Etruscan fine art preserved many myths known from Greek mythology. Etruscan artists preferred subjects related to sacrifices and bloody battles. The frescoes of Etruscan tombs often depict closed cycles of scenes of death, travel to the afterlife and judgment of the souls of the dead.

Etruscan mythology- a set of myths of the people who lived in ancient Italy in the 1st millennium BC. e. Etruscan mythology is related to the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans, but has many unique features.

The Etruscans were settled primarily in the area south of the Po Valley all the way to Rome, closer to the western coast of the Apennine Peninsula. Their history can be traced back to approximately 1000 BC. e. up to the 1st century. n. e., when the Etruscans were finally assimilated by the Romans. When and where the Etruscans came to Italy is unclear, and their language is considered non-Indo-European by most scholars. The Etruscans experienced the enormous influence of ancient Greek culture, which also affected religion. Thus, many of the scenes on Etruscan mirrors are undoubtedly of Greek origin; this is proven by the names of many characters, written in the Etruscan alphabet in the Etruscan language, but undoubtedly of Greek origin. Many Etruscan beliefs became part of the culture of Ancient Rome; It was believed that the Etruscans were the keepers of knowledge about many rituals that were not well known to the Romans.

Polytheistic belief system

The Etruscan belief system was immanent polytheism; this implies that all visible phenomena were considered to be manifestations of divine power and power was reduced to deities who acted continuously in the world of men and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favor of human affairs. Seneca the Younger said (long after the assimilation of the Etruscans) that the difference between “us” (the people of the Roman Empire) and the Etruscans was that: “Whereas we believe that lightning is released as a result of the collision of clouds, they believe that clouds collide to release lightning: since they attribute everything to the deity, they naturally believe not that things have meaning because they happen, but that they happen because they have meaning."

The Etruscans believed that their religion was revealed to them in ancient times by seers, of whom the two main ones were Tagetus and Vegoya.

In the leitmotifs of Etruscan art relating to religion, three layers can be traced. One is represented by deities of local origin: Tinia, the supreme heavenly thunder god, Veia, goddess of earth and fertility, Catha, the sun, Tivre, the moon, Seflans, god of fire, Turan, goddess of love, Laran, god of war, Leinth, goddess of death, Thalna , Turms and the god Fufluns, whose name is in some obscure way related to the name of the city Populonia.

These deities were ruled by higher ones who seemed to reflect the Indo-European system: Uni, Sel, earth goddess, Menra. The third layer was the Greek gods, adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan period of Orientalization in 750/700-600 BC. BC: Aritimi (Artemis), Apulu (Apollo), Aita (Hades) and Paha (Bacchus).

Cosmology

According to the Etruscans, in the beginning there was Chaos, from which Tinia created the world, including man. But man then was like animals, so the goddess Veya taught people religious worship, agriculture and laws.

Prophets and prophecies

Etruscan priests specialized in predictions. They were divided into augurs (hence the word inauguration) and haruspices. The first guessed by the flight of birds, and the second by the entrails of sacrificial animals (primarily the liver).

The Etruscan religion was a religion of revelation. Her writing was a corpus of Etruscan texts called Etrusca Disciplina (Etruscan knowledge). The title appears in full in Valerius Maximus, but Marcus Tullius Cicero, in the late Roman Republic, referred to disciplina in his writings on the subject. Massimo Pallottino divided the known (but not extant) manuscripts into three groups: Libri Haruspicini, which formulated the theory and rules of divination from the entrails of animals, Libri Fulgurales, whose theme was divination from lightning strikes, and Libri Rituales. The latter included the Libri Fatales, which described the proper rituals for founding cities and sanctuaries, draining fields, formulating laws and decrees, measuring space and dividing time; Libri Acherontici, concerning the afterlife, and Libri Ostentaria, rules for interpreting omens. The revelations of the prophet Tagetus were given in the Libri Tagetici, which included the Libri Haruspicini and Acherontici, and of the seers Vegoya in the Libri Vegoici, which included the Libri Fulgurales and part of the Libri Rituales.

These works were not prophecies or scriptures in the usual sense. They didn't predict anything directly. The Etruscans had no systematic ethics or religion and no great visions. Instead, they focused on the problem of the gods' desires: if the gods created the universe and man, and had certain intentions for everyone and everything in it, why didn't they develop a system of communication with humanity? The Etruscans fully accepted the mystery of the desires of the gods. They made no attempt to rationalize or explain their actions or formulate any doctrines regarding them. Instead, they developed a system of divination, the interpretation of signs that the gods send to people. Therefore, the Etrusca Disciplina was basically a set of rules for divination. M. Pallottino calls it a religious and political “constitution”; she did not say what laws should be adopted and how to act, but gave the opportunity to ask the gods about this and receive answers.

History of the doctrine

Divinatory inquiries in accordance with the teaching were carried out by priests, whom the Romans called haruspices or priests. Their community of 60 people was located in Tarquinia. The Etruscans, as evidenced by inscriptions, used several words: capen (Sabine cupencus), maru (Umbrian maron-), eisnev, hatrencu (priestess). They called the art of divination by the entrails of animals zich nethsrac.

Religious practices

The Etruscans believed in deep contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them. These practices were generally inherited by the Romans. The gods were called ais (later eis), the plural of which is aisar. They were in an afanu or luth, a sacred place such as a favi, tomb or temple. There it was necessary to bring fler (plural - flerchva), “offerings”.

Around mun or muni, graves, there existed manas - the souls of ancestors. In iconography after the 5th century BC. e. the dead are depicted as traveling to the underworld. In some examples of Etruscan art, such as the Tomb of François at Vulci, the spirit of the deceased is identified by the term hinthial (literally "(one who) below"). A special magistrate, cechase, looked after the cecha, or rath, sacred objects. However, each person had his own religious duties, which were expressed in the alumnathe or slecaches, the sacred society.

Beliefs about the afterlife

Based on the results of archaeological finds, we can talk about a transition from cremation, characteristic of the burial of the Villanova culture, to burial. This transition began in the 8th century. BC e. and lasted quite a long time. The reasons and significance of this transition are unclear, but correspond to the end of the unified European culture of the urn fields (1250-750) of the Middle Bronze Age.

In addition, the Etruscans were famous for their necropolises, where tombs imitated domestic structures and were characterized by spacious rooms, wall paintings and grave furniture. In the tomb, especially on sarcophagi, there was a sculpture of the deceased in her or his best days, often with a spouse. Not everyone had a sarcophagus; sometimes the deceased was placed on a stone bench. Since the Etruscans practiced mixed burial and cremation rites, in proportion depending on the period, the grave might also contain urns containing ashes and bones; in this case, the urn could be shaped like a house or represented in the shape of the deceased.

Mythology

Sources

The mythology is confirmed by a number of sources from various spheres; for example, images on a large number of ceramics, inscriptions and engraved scenes on cistae(richly decorated boxes) from Praenestina and on specula(richly decorated hand mirrors). Currently, about two dozen issues of Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum have been published containing descriptions of these mirrors. Some Etruscan mythological and cult characters are present in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. A monograph by the authoritative scientist Helmut Rix is devoted to Etruscan inscriptions

ETRUSIAN MYTHOLOGY ETRUSIAN MYTHOLOGY

The controversy and uncertainty of the ethnogenesis of the Etruscans prevents the determination of the circumstances and time of formation of the mythology of the people. Comparing it with the mythologies of other ancient peoples allows us to assert with sufficient confidence that the origins of Etruscan mythology go back to the region of the Aegean-Anatolian world, from where, according to the prevailing opinion in ancient times (for the first time in Herodotus I 94), the ancestors of the Etruscans, the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians, arrived. The eastern features of E. m. are the presence in it of ideas about the sacred nature of royal power, religious attributes - a double ax, a throne, etc., a complex cosmogonic system, in many ways close to the cosmogony of Egypt and Babylonia. During the contact of the Etruscans with the Greek colonists in Italy and on the adjacent islands, the ancient Etruscan gods were identified with the Olympian gods, the Etruscans borrowed Greek myths and reinterpreted them in the spirit of their own religious and political ideology.
The universe was presented to the Etruscans in the form of a three-tiered temple, in which the upper step corresponded to the sky, the middle – to the earth’s surface, and the lower – to the underground kingdom. The imaginary parallelism between these three structures made it possible to predict the fate of the human race, people and each individual by the location of the luminaries in the upper visible one. The lower structure, invisible and inaccessible to living people, was considered the abode of underground gods and demons, the kingdom of the dead. In the ideas of the Etruscans, the middle and lower structures were connected by passages in the form of faults in the earth's crust, along which the souls of the dead descended. Similarities of such faults in the form of a pit (mundus) were built in every Etruscan city to make sacrifices to the underground gods and the souls of their ancestors. Along with the idea of dividing the world vertically, there was the idea of horizontal division into four cardinal directions; at the same time, evil gods and demons were placed in the western part, and good ones in the eastern part.
The Etruscan pantheon includes many gods, in most cases known only by name and the place each of them occupies on a model of the oracle liver from Piacenza.
Unlike Greek mythology, E. m„, as a rule, did not have myths about the marriages of gods and their kinship. The unification of gods into triads and duals, where it is recorded in the sources, was justified by their place in the religious hierarchy. The Etruscan concept of gods conveying their will with the help of lightning goes back to the most ancient religious ideas of the Aegean-Anatolian world. Among them was Tin, Zeus and Roman Jupiter. As the god of the sky, the thunder god Tin commanded three beams of lightning. The first of them he could warn people, the second he used only after consulting with twelve other gods, the third - the most terrible - he punished only after receiving the consent of the chosen gods. Thus, Tin, unlike Zeus, was initially thought of not as the king of the gods, but only as the head of their council, modeled on the council of heads of Etruscan states. The goddess Turan, whose name meant “giver,” was considered the mistress of all living things and was identified with Aphrodite. Greek Gere and Roman Juno corresponded goddess Uni, revered in many cities as the patroness of royal power. Together with Tin and Uni, founded by the Etruscans at the end. 6th century BC e. Venerated in the Capitoline Temple in Rome Menrwa(Roman Minerva), patroness of crafts and artisans. These three deities made up the Etruscan triad, which corresponded to the Roman triad: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva. God Aplu, identified with Greek Apollo, was originally perceived by the Etruscans as a god protecting people, their herds and crops. God Turms corresponding to Greek Hermes, was considered a deity of the underworld, a conductor of the souls of the dead. Greek god Hephaestus - the owner of the underground fire and the blacksmith, corresponds to the Etruscan Seflans. He is a participant in the scene depicting Uni's punishment under Tin's orders. In the city of Populonia, Seflans was revered under the name Velhans (hence the Roman Volcano). Judging by the many images on mirrors, gems, and coins, the god Nefuns occupied a prominent place. He has the characteristic attributes of a sea deity - a trident, an anchor. Among the Etruscan deities of vegetation and fertility, the most popular was Fufluns, corresponding Dionysus-Bacchus in Greek mythology and Sylvanas in Roman. The cult of Fufluns was orgiastic in nature and was more ancient in Italy than the veneration of Dionysus-Bacchus. The sacred unification of states with a center in Volsinia led to the identification of the main deity of this city, Voltumnus (the Romans called him Vertumnus). Sometimes he was depicted as a malicious monster, sometimes as a vegetation deity of indeterminate gender, sometimes as a warrior. These images may have reflected the stages of transformation of a local chthonic deity into the “chief god of Etruria,” as Varro calls him (Antiquitatum rerum... V 46). The Etruscans considered the gods of the “heavenly valley” Satre, believing that he, like Tin, can strike with lightning. The god Satre was associated with cosmogonic teaching and the idea of a golden age - the coming era of abundance, universal equality (which corresponds to the idea of the Roman Saturn). The god of Italian origin was Maris (Roman Mars). In one of his functions he was the patron of vegetation, in another - of war. From Italic mythology, the Etruscans adopted Mai-us, the chthonic deity of vegetation. The Etruscans revered the god Selvans, who was later adopted by the Romans under the name Silvanus. The rulers of the underworld were Aita and Fersifai (corresponding to the Greek gods Hades And Persephone). It is likely that some of the names of Etruscan female deities were originally epithets of the great mother goddess, indicating certain of her functions - wisdom, art, etc.
Along with the cult of gods, the Etruscans had a cult of evil and good demons. Their images are preserved on mirrors and frescoes of burial crypts. The bestial features in the iconography of demons suggest that they were originally sacred animals, pushed into the background as anthropomorphic gods emerged. Demons were often depicted as companions and servants of the gods. The death demon Haru (Harun) is greater than his related Greek carrier of the souls of the dead Charon, retained the features of an independent deity. On earlier monuments, Haru is an ominous and silent witness of mortal pain, then a messenger of death and, finally, under the influence of Greek mythology, a guide of souls in the underworld, usurping this role from Turms (Greek Hermes). Tukhulka had a lot in common with Haru, whose appearance combined human and animal features. Haru and Tukhulka are often depicted together as witnesses or executors of the will of the gods of the underworld. From the cult of the divine multitude of Laz demons (Roman lara) the demonic creature Laza stood out. This is a young naked woman with wings behind her back. On mirrors and urns she was depicted as a participant in love scenes. Her attributes were a mirror, tablets with stylus, and flowers. The meaning of the Laza epithets found in the inscriptions: Evan, Alpan, Mlakus remains unclear. By analogy with the Roman Lares, it can be assumed that the Laz were good deities, patrons of the home and hearth. The demonic multitude were manas (Roman mana) - good and evil demons. Among the demons of the underworld were Vanf.
Etruscan fine art preserved many myths known from Greek mythology. Etruscan artists preferred subjects related to sacrifices and bloody battles. The frescoes of Etruscan tombs often depict closed cycles of scenes of death, travel to the afterlife and judgment of the souls of the dead.
Lit.: Elnitsky L. A., Elements of religion and spiritual culture of the Etruscans, in the book: Nemirovsky A. I., Ideology and culture of early Rome, Voronezh, 1964; Ivanov V.V., Notes on the typology and comparative historical study of Roman and Indo-European mythology, in the book:
Proceedings on sign systems, vol. 4, Tartu, 1969;
Nemirovsky A.I., Etruscan religion, in the book: Nemirovsky A.I., Kharsekin A.I., Etruscans, Voronezh, 1969; Timofeeva N.K., Religious and mythological worldview of the Etruscans, Voronezh, 1975 (diss.); Shengelia I.G., Etruscan version of theogamy of Minerva and Hercules, in the book: Problems of ancient culture, Tb., 1975; Bayet J., Hercle, P., 1926;
CIemen S., Die Religion der Etrusker, Bonn, 1936; Dumézil G., La religion des étrusques, in his book: La religion romalne archaïque, P., 1966;
Enking R., Etruskische Geistigkeit, V., 1947;
Grenier A„ Les religions étrusque et romaine, P., 1948; Natre R., Simon E.. Griechische Sagen in der Frühen etruskischen Kunst, Mainz, 1964; Herbig R.. Gutter und Dämonen der Etrusker, 2 Aufl., Mainz, 1965; Heurgon J., Influences grecques sur la religion étrusque, “Revue des études latines”, 1958, année 35;
Mtthlestein N., Die Etrusker im Spiegel ihrer Kunst, V., 1969; Pettazzoni R., La divinita suprema della rellgione etrusca, Roma, 1929. (Studi e materiali di storia delle rellgioni, IV); Piganiol A., Oriental characteristics of the Etruscan religion, in: CIBA foundation symposium on medical biology and Etruscan origins, L., 1959; Stoltenberg N. L., Etruskische Gotternamen, Levenkusen, 1957; Thylin C., Die etruakische Discipline, t. 1-3, Goteborg, 1905-09.
A. I. Nemirovsky.

(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)

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