The Religion of the Etruscans

240 Pages·2006·10.94 MB·English

by  Nancy Thomson de Grummond

THE RELIGION OF THE ETRUSCANS
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THE RELIGION
OF THE
ETRUSCANS
Nancy Thomson de Grummond
and
Erika Simon,
Editors
Universityof TexasPress
Austin
SelectionsfromvolumesintheLoebClassicalLibrary®
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Firstedition,2006
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
ThereligionoftheEtruscans/NancyThomson
deGrummondandErikaSimon,editors.—1sted.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-292-70687-1(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Etruscans—Religion—Congresses. I.DeGrummond,
NancyThomson. II.Simon,Erika.
bl740.r45 2006
299'.9294—dc22 2005022652
CONTENTS
Editors’Note vii
ListofAbbreviations viii
ContributorstoThisVolume ix
Preface xi
W.JeffreyTatum
I. Introduction:TheHistoryoftheStudyofEtruscanReligion 1
NancyThomsondeGrummond
II. EtruscanInscriptionsandEtruscanReligion 9
LarissaBonfante
III. ProphetsandPriests 27
NancyThomsondeGrummond
IV. GodsinHarmony:TheEtruscanPantheon 45
ErikaSimon
V. TheGraveandBeyondinEtruscanReligion 66
IngridKrauskopf
VI. VotiveOfferingsinEtruscanReligion 90
JeanMacIntoshTurfa
VII. RitualSpaceandBoundariesinEtruscanReligion 116
IngridE.M.Edlund-Berry
VIII. SacredArchitectureandtheReligionoftheEtruscans 132
GiovanniColonna
Glossary 169
AppendixA:TheEtruscanBrontoscopicCalendar 173
JeanMacIntoshTurfa
AppendixB:SelectedLatinandGreekLiterarySourcesonEtruscanReligion 191
NancyThomsondeGrummond
Index 219
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EDITORS’ NOTE
In The Religion of the Etruscans the abbreviations of jour- attempted to use ancient names; these are mainly Roman.
nals and series as well as of basic reference works in clas- ThuswerefertoCaere,Populonia,Veii,Vetulonia,andVulci,
sical studies are those used by the American Journal of in accordance with established custom, and also the less
Archaeologyandlistedinaja104(2000),10–24.Anupdated commonformsofTarquiniiandVolaterrae.ThenamesCer-
versionisonthewebsite:http://www.ajaonline.org/shared/ veteri,Tarquinia,andVolterraareusedtorefertothemod-
s info contrib 7.html. erncitieswiththosenames.SomescholarsrefertoOrvieto
A glossary of technical terms and words that may be astheancientVolsiniiandtoBolognaasFelsina.Whenno
otherwiseunfamiliartothereaderisprovidedatthebackof ancient name is known or agreed upon, we use the mod-
thisbook.Wordsthatareincludedintheglossaryareregu- ernItalianname.Forthenamesoftombs,wehaveoptedfor
larly marked with an asterisk in the text the first time the translatingthemanyItaliannamesintoEnglishasapolicy
termisusedinaparticularchapter(e.g.,templum*).Thereis thatwillhelpmakethevocabularyof Etruscanscholarship
alsoaglossaryofthemostimportantEtruscangodsbyErika morereadilyaccessibletostudentsandtootherswhomay
SimoninChapterIV. bebeginningthestudyoftheEtruscans.
The spellings used for the names of the gods in Chap- The appendices provide a Greek text and an English
ter IV are used as much as possible throughout the book. translationoftheEtruscanBrontoscopicCalendar,aswellas
Etruscan orthography, however, was by no means consis- keyoriginaltextsinLatinandGreek,withEnglishtransla-
tent, and references may be made to inscriptions in which tions.
anamehasanalternatespelling.Adifferentkindofprob- ThestandardchronologyoftheperiodsofEtruscancul-
lem arises for nomenclature because we do not know the tureisasfollows:
namesinEtruscanofmanyofthearchaeologicalsitesmen- IronAge/Villanovan—1000/900–750/700bce
tioned in this book. Many scholars use a blend of modern Orientalizing—750/700–600bce
Italian,ancientRoman(i.e.,Latin),andoccasionally,Etrus- Archaic—600–475/450bce
can,namesforEtruscancitiesandothersites,andthisbook ‘‘Classical’’—475/450–300bce
isnoexception. Hellenistic—300bce–firstcenturybce
MapsshowingthemajorEtruscancitiesandmountains FordatesofLatinandGreekauthorsandofselectedtexts,
may be found on page 124. As much as possible we have seetheappropriateentriesintheindex.
vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Thefollowingworksaresofrequentlyusedthroughoutthe
bookthatitseemedappropriatetogiveabbreviationstothem:
anrw=AufstiegundNiedergangderrömischenWelt,
ed.H.Temporini.Berlin,1972–.
cie=CorpusInscriptionumEtruscarum.
cse=CorpusSpeculorumEtruscorum.
Dizionario=DizionariodellaCiviltàEtrusca,
ed.M.Cristofani.Florence,1985.
ehca=AnEncyclopediaoftheHistoryofClassical
Archaeology,ed.N.T.deGrummond.2vols.
Westport,1996.
es=EtruskischeSpiegel,ed.E.Gerhard,G.Körte,and
A.Klügmann.5vols.Berlin,1840–1897.
et=H.Rix,EtruskischeTexte.2vols.Tübingen,1991.
EtruscanPainting=S.Steingräber,EtruscanPainting:
CatalogueRaisonnéofEtruscanWallPaintings,
ed.D.RidgwayandF.R.Ridgway.NewYork,1986.
limc=LexiconIconographicumMythologiaeClassicae
lprh=LesÉtrusques,lesplusreligieuxdeshommes:État
delarecherchesurlareligionétrusque.Actesducolloque
internationalGrandPalais17–19.11.1992,ed.D.Briquel
andF.Gaultier.Paris,1997.
Rasenna=Rasenna:Storiaeciviltàdeglietruschi,
ed.M.Pallottinoetal.Milan,1986.
ThLE=ThesaurusLinguaeEtruscae,ed.M.Pandolfini
Angeletti.Rome,1978–.
tle=TestimoniaLinguaeEtruscae,ed.M.Pallottino.
2nded.Florence,1968.
viii
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME
Larissa Bonfante is Professor of Classics at New York Morgantina in Sicily and in collaboration with Lucy Shoe
University. She is the author of Etruscan Dress (new ed., MeritthasrecentlypublishedareissueofEtruscanandRe-
2003)andTheEtruscanLanguage(2nded.,2002,withGiu- publicanRomanMouldings(2003).
lianoBonfante)andisauthorandeditorofEtruscanLifeand
Ingrid Krauskopf is Professorat the Universityof Hei-
Afterlife:AHandbookof EtruscanStudies(1986).Since1974
delbergandassociateoftheHeidelbergAcademyofScience,
shehasservedasthechairoftheU.S.CommitteefortheCor-
where she has guided thework of the Lexicon Iconographi-
pus of Etruscan Mirrors (Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum).
cum Mythologiae Classicae (limc). She has published nu-
SheistheauthorofnumerousarticlesonEtruscanciviliza-
merousarticlesandbooksonEtruscanmythologyandreli-
tion,dress,language,andart.
gion, including the basic book on Etruscan demonology,
GiovanniColonnaisProfessorofEtruscologyandItalic Todesdämonen und Totengötter in der vorhellenistischen
Kunst(1987),andnumerousarticlesonEtruscanmythology
Archaeology at the University of Rome ‘‘La Sapienza.’’ He
inthelimc.
has directed the excavations at the Etruscan sanctuary of
Pyrgisinceitsinceptioninthe1950sandhaspublishednu-
Erika Simon, who served as Langford Family Eminent
merous reports on his results. He is the author of Bronzi
ScholarinClassicsatFloridaStateUniversityin1999,isPro-
umbro-sabellici(1970)and,withElenadiPaolo,Casteld’Asso
fessorEmeritaof WürzburgUniversity,wheresheheldthe
(1970)andNorchia(1978).Manyofhismorethanthreehun-
chairforClassicalArchaeologyandservedasdirectorofthe
dredarticlesonvarioustopicsarenowcollectedinItaliaante
antiquitiessectionoftheMartin-von-WagnerMuseum.She
RomanumImperium,I–IV,Pisa/Rome,2005.Hehascurated
istheauthororeditorofmanybooksonGreek,Roman,and
anumberofmuseumexhibitions,themostnotableofwhich
Etruscanart,myth,andreligion,includingAraPacisAugus-
washisSantuarid’Etruria(1985).
tae(1968),Augustus:KunstundLebeninRomumdieZeiten-
wende(1986),SchriftenzuretruskischenunditalischenKunst
Nancy Thomson de Grummond is the M. Lynette
undReligion(1996).
Thompson Professorof Classics at Florida State University
(fsu). She specializes in Etruscan, Roman, and Hellenis-
W.JeffreyTatumistheOliviaDormanProfessorofClas-
ticartandarchaeology,withaparticularconcentrationon
sicsatFloridaStateUniversity.Aspecialistintheliterature
Etruscanmythandreligion.Sheservesasdirectorofexcava-
andhistoryoftheLateRomanRepublic,heistheauthorof
tionsatCetamuradelChiantiundertheauspicesofthefsu
numerousarticlesandofthevolumeThePatricianTribune:
ArchaeologyProgramsinItaly.HerpublicationsincludeA
PubliusClodiusPulcher (ChapelHill,NC,1999).Heiscur-
GuidetoEtruscanMirrors(Tallahassee,FL,1982)andEtrus-
rentlywritingacommentaryontheCommentariolumPeti-
can Mythology, Sacred Historyand Legend: An Introduction
tionisforOxfordUniversityPress.
(forthcoming, Publications of the University of Pennsylva-
niaMuseum). Jean MacIntosh Turfa is a Research Associate at the
University of Pennsylvania Museum. Recent publications
Ingrid E. M. Edlund-Berry isProfessorofClassicsand have been in the fields of Etruscan architecture, Etruscan
Classical Archaeologyat the Universityof Texas at Austin. votive offerings, art and myth in the Greek colonies, and
SheistheauthorofTheIronAgeandEtruscanVasesinthe parasolsinEtruscanart.Sheservedasconsultantforthein-
Olcott Collection at Columbia University, New York (1980), stallation of the new galleries of Etruscan and Faliscan an-
The Gods and the Place (1987), and The Seated and Stand- tiquitiesintheUniversityMuseum,nowpublishedasCata-
ingStatueAkroteriafromPoggioCivitate(Murlo)(1992).She logueoftheEtruscanGalleryoftheUniversityofPennsylvania
has completed a publication of the Central Sanctuary of MuseumofArchaeologyandAnthropology(2005).
ix