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[German version] Ruler of Caere, eponym of a gens Mezentie(s) living there, as attested by the inscription of a Laucie Mezentie(s) from Caere in the second quarter of the 7th century BC [1]. As king of the Etruscans (Liv. 1,2,3; Dion. Hal. Ant. 1,64,4; InscrIt 13,2,130f.), or ruler or king of Caere (e.g. Liv. 1,2,3; Fest. 212,20 L.), M. is said to have fought Aeneas in Latium (Cato Orig. 1,10f. Chassignet; Verg. Aen. 8,472-503). From the Rutuli (Cato Orig. 1,12 Chassignet) or the Latini (Plut. Quaest. R. 45) M. is …

[German version] also Tar χ unies (ET Vc 7.33; Cl 1.1060); Tar χ unus (ET AT p.11). Legendary son (Cato in Serv. Aen. 10,179) or brother (Serv. Aen. 10,198) of Tyrrhenus, or son of Telephus (Lycoph. 1246 f.). The form T. derives from the name of the city of Tarquinii (Etruscan Tarχna) [1. 285], the name may be connected with the Luwian daemon Tarχu(n) [3. 215 f.]. T. is supposed to have founded the twelve Etruscan cities (Str. 5,2,2), including Tarquinia, and to have transferred the twelve-city league model …

[German version] Etruscan god of smithing: on the coins of Populonia - the Etruscan city in which ore was smelted - the head of the god and the tools of a smith (tongs, hammer and double hatchet) were depicted [1. 271 fig. 1]. Representations stretching back to the 6th century BC from Greek myths [2. fig. 112] attribute to S. the role of the Greek Hephaestus [3]. From the 4th century BC the name is attested, with the variants σ e θ lans (ET Ta S.8), σ e θ lanś (ET Ta G.3), σ́ etlans (ET Fa S.4), on Etruscan mirrors and gems; on the bronze Liver of Piacenza (Etrusci, Etruria III. D.), ho…

[German version] (Voltumna). An originally Etruscan god [2; 4], mentioned by Varro Ling. 5,46 using an older form as Vortumnus; a Latinised Etruscan form Voltumna has been preserved in Livy (e.g. Liv. 4,23,5; 4,25,7). A statue of Vertumnus stood in the Vicus Tuscus at the foot of the Palatine in Rome (Varro Ling. 5,46). Prop. 4,2 has it speak: the god describes himself as an Etruscan from Volsinii who had left the city during a fire. After the city's capture in 264 BC, 2000 bronze statues were allegedly carried off by the Romans (Plin. HN. 34,16,34; [1. 109-122]), probably after an evocatio …

[German version] God at the centre of the Etruscan pantheon [1. 294 f.]. The name (several variants are attested) is derived from the Indo-European root diie- ('bright day') [2. 216 f.]. Identification with the Greek Zeus is epigraphically recorded. Like Zeus/Iuppiter, T. has as attributes a thunderbolt and a sceptre [3. 66, 82]. In scenes from Greek myths, the Greek iconography of Zeus as an older bearded god is maintained [1. 294 f.]; alongside this, there is also an iconography of T. or of Zeus [4. 233] as a youthf…

[German version] Etruscan god, recorded inscriptionally with the abbreviated name velch and epithet lvsl on the bronze liver of Piacenza (1st cent. BC) (ET Pa 4.2). Velcha is also frequently recorded in Etruria as a family name (ET s. v. V.). There is no iconographic evidence of V. The modern amendment to Velch(ans-l) and the identification with the Roman Volcanus as the 'god of cultic fire' should be distinguished in function from the Etruscan god of smithing Sethlans [4. 210 f., 225; 3. 295 ff.; 1. 355 ff.]. V. may originally have been a god …

[German version] In addition to the most often substantiated form H., Hercles, Heracle, Hercele, Herchle and Herkle are known in Etruscan inscriptions as Etruscanized forms of the Greek name  Heracles [1] since the beginning of the 5th cent. BC [1. vol. 1, 114f.]. H. calanice corresponds to the Greek Hēraklḗs kallínikos (‘the glorious victor’) (Archil. fr. 324 IEG). For the Etruscans, the cult of H. especially belongs to the private sphere - as does the Heracles cult for the Greeks; he is mainly portrayed on small works of art (mirrors and cameos), which were mostly used in the burial cult. In…

(Ταρχέτιος/ Tarchétios). [German version] [1] Eponym of Tarquinii Eponym of the city of Tarquinii and name of Tarquinius, hailing from there. The root tarch- is well attested for people (Latin Tarquinius , Greek T.) and place names (Etruscan Tarchna ) and belongs to the original core of the Etruscan language; the etymology is unknown. Aigner-Foresti, Luciana (Vienna) [German version] [2] Name of a mythical king of Alba Longa Name of a legendary king of Alba Longa (Promathion in Plut. Romulus 2): he is toppled from his throne by his grandsons, twin brothers from …

[German version] (also Fuflunz, Fuflunsl, Fuflunsul, Fuflunus). The name of the god F. is attested from the beginning of the 5th cent. BC in inscriptions [1. vol. 1, 187]. It is not certain whether he is of Etruscan origin [4. 94ff.] or whether he belongs to the Umbrian substratum of Etruscan [2]; a mirror from Orvieto from the end of the 4th cent. on which he is depicted with the Umbrian goddess  Vesuna would support this [3. vol. 5, 35]. His connection with the name of the Etruscan city of Puplu…

[German version] (Variants: Maxtarna, Macstrna). Mythical or historical Etruscan of unknown origin. Friend of and fellow-warrior to the relatives or legendary ancestors of the gens Vipina/ Vibenna in Vulci. He came to Rome and became king under the new name of Servius Tullius. The Etruscan word m acstrna is supposed to be the equivalent of the Latin magister , a designation for officials [1. 199-231], but it could equally be a noun with the meaning ‘commander’ (ET Ager Tarquiniensis 1,1). An Etruscan and a Roman tradition exist about M. On a wall-painting in the grave of the gens Saties in V…

[German version] Legendary Etruscan cultural hero, son of Genius and grandson of Iuppiter (Fest. 359; Commenta Bernensia on Luc. 1,636) or of Hermes Chthonius (Procl. in Lyd. de ostentis 3). According to Etruscan tradition, he had the appearance of a child combined with the wisdom of old age (Cic. Div. 2,50). After a farmer who was plowing near Tarquinia (Tarquinii) or Tarchon had lifted him from the clod, T. supposedly proclaimed the Etruscan discipline ( disciplina Etrusca, Etrusci, Etruria III. D.) and then disappeared or died. The tomb of a ritually worshipped child…

[German version] The Etruscan family name Vipina (with variants: Etruskische Texte (ET) s. v. V.) is well attested in Etruria until after the 3rd cent. BC. A votive inscription from a Minerva sanctuary (first half of the 6th cent. BC; Minerva) mentions an Avile Vipiennas (ET Ve 3.11). According to Etruscan tradition, Cailius Vivenna was the most loyal friend of Servius Tullius [I 4], who was called Mastarna in Etruria (CIL XIII 1668, line 19): a wall painting in the tomb of the Saties family in Vulci ( c. 330 BC) shows how Caile Vipinas was freed from captivity by him [3]. The f…

[German version] Etruscan god, eponym of Mantua, but not attested under this name in Etruscan sources. According to Servius and Schol. Veronense (on Verg. Aen. 10,198-200) M. is the Etruscan name of the Rom. god of the underworld Dis Pater, corresponding to the Greek Hades. Tarchon is said to have consecrated the Etruscan city of Mantua to him, and named it after him. As with Hades, there was no cult attached to M. Perhaps M.was regarded as god of the Underworld in Etruria too, if he is to be identified with the Etruscan Aita (< Hades), who appears with Φ ersipnai ( Persephone) in Etruscan tom…

[German version] (Τυρρηνός/ Tyrrhēnós, also Τυρσηνός/ Tyrsēnós, Lat. Turrenus). Legendary son of the Lydian king Atys [1] (Hdt. 1,94; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,27,2;  Str. 5,2,2), of Telephus [1] (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,28,1; Serv. Aen. 8,479) or of Heracles [1] (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,28,1; Paus. 2,21,3). Driven by a famine, T. allegedly led half of the Lydian people to Italy, where the Lydians named themselves Tyrrhenians after him (Hdt. 1,94: Τυρσηνοί/ Tyrsēnoí). The roots of T. as a cultural figure probably go back to Greek Asia minor, as indicated by Tyrrhenian sett…

(Tusci), the Etruscans. I. History [German version] A. Name A people in Italy who, between the 9th and 1st cents. BC, created the highest form of civilization in the Western Mediterranean before Roman civilization prevailed over the same territory. Various popular names were applied to the E.: Rasna (or Graecized Rasenna) in Etruscan sources, Tyrrhenoi or Tyrsenoi in Greek sources, Turskus in Umbrian sources and Etrusci, Tusci or Lydii (according to Hdt. 1,94 because of their possible origin in Lydia) in Lat. sources. Camporeale, Giovannangelo (Florence) [German version] B. History…