Volume 19, Issue 2

Recent scholarship on the Etruscans has produced important new insights into their practices of divination of the future by means of thunder and lightning. Not much attention has yet been given to how radically different these two natural phenomena were from the point of view of the systems that framed them and accordingly how different the appropriate rituals were. There was a highly complex system of interpreting lightning, based on the idea that there were nine Etruscan gods who could cast a bolt, and that even when one god wanted to do so, it often involved negotiations with others. It was very important for a diviner to know from which section of the sky the lightning originated and to have a full knowledge of its physical details and meanings. Thunder, on the other hand, was only a sound, and it was difficult to tell where it might have originated. Because it did not cause damage, it was seemingly not as dire as lightning. There does not seem to be a specific statement on which Etruscan deities might cause thunder, and so the diviner did not address the issue of which gods needed to be appeased. Instead, as far as we now know, thunder was judged by the day on which it was heard, and divination was thus carried out through calendrical reference, which did not require the kind of detailed training implied by the surviving texts on lightning. Since lightning is a visible phenomenon, it is not surprising that there are numerous depictions of it recognized in Etruscan mythological art. But while such examples may be duly noted, it is here argued that some images previously interpreted as lightning bolts are actually representations of thunder. A close look shows that, like the disciplines, the depictions of lightning and thunder are quite different from one another.

The recent discovery of an inscribed stele in the foundations of the Late Archaic temple at the sanctuary of Poggio Colla (Vicchio, FI) sheds new light on the nature of cult at the site. The stele is one of the longest Etruscan sacred texts and is from a secure archaeological context. It is also the earliest extant non-funerary sacred text (excluding simple votive inscriptions). The object, currently undergoing conservation, promises to provide new evidence for Etruscan ritual, literacy, and language.

A recently discovered stele from Poggio Colla preserves one of the longest Etruscan inscriptions on stone, but because of its condition it presents challenges of transcription. Three areas of text are identified, and a preliminary reading of one of them is offered, confirming that it is a sacred text that relates to the cult at Poggio Colla. If this preliminary reading is correct, the names of two divinities, Tinia and Uni, are mentioned.

Attic vases were imported to Etruria in large numbers during the Archaic period (650–450 B. C. E.). A large corpus of decorative imagery has been scrupulously recorded in great detail, presenting a contrast with the antiquarian excavation methods which unearthed them. This article considers a corpus of imported ceramic vessels excavated at Chiusi, Tarquinia and Vulci to explore the presence of different characters and themes in Greek mythology within Etruria, examining the popularity of particular mythological motifs and images. These are then compared with a subsidiary corpus of comparable date from the Athenian Agora. The results of the analysis are interpreted to suggest that Etruscan consumers were deliberately acquiring iconographic content that related to indigenous Italian mythologies, values and ideals. The analysis proposes that the reception of imported mythology reflects themes of consequence in Etruscan mythology, closely related to the context of the use of these vessels in both feasts and funerals.

The 2014 excavations carried out in 2014 at the protohistoric settlement of La Monédière, in Bessan (Hérault, France), confirmed the unique status of this site during the sixth to fifth centuries B. C. E. The site is located near the Greek colony of Agathé (Agde), at the interface between colonial and indigenous areas. Inside the limits of the site’s habitation areas, excavations discovered a huge pit which has been interpreted as a bothros . Dated to the fifth century B. C. E., it was filled with material associated with banqueting. Among the numerous amphorae and vessels of the earliest phase (475–450 B.C.E), the discovery of an Etruscan black-glazed cup from the “Spurinas” group is notable. This cup is characterized by the existence of a painted inscription “APA” (“father”). It is the first attestation, within this class of ceramic, of this Etruscan appellative interpreted as a reference to a chtonic divinity. Moreover, excepted Lattara (Lattes), La Monédière is the only place outside Etruria where a ceramic from the “Spurinas” group was found. The context of discovery is in itself very unique, and raises question about the implemented rituals, and the likely presence of Etruscan people among an indigenous or mixed community.