This page groups deities by the foreign god that ancient writers equated them with, the old habit of mapping one culture's gods onto another's. Wikipedia describes this practice, known as interpretatio graeca when the Greeks did it, as "a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures using familiar terms." Browsing this way lets a visitor see how, for example, a Roman writer might treat a Gaulish or Egyptian god as another name for one of their own.
Facts
Attestation
Era of AttestationTheonyms appear in Etruscan inscriptions from the seventh century BCE. The language and the independent cult were absorbed into Roman Italy by the first century BCE, though Etruscan haruspices continued to be consulted at Rome for centuries after that. 2 Veneration TodayNo continuous cult survives; the tradition was absorbed into Roman religion and ended with it. 2 Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe gods of the Etruscan cities of pre-Roman central Italy, reconstructed from inscriptions in a language only partly understood, from tomb painting and engraved mirrors, and from Roman writers who admired and borrowed Etruscan divinatory technique. Much of what survives concerns ritual discipline rather than myth. 2 Learn More
The gods of the Etruscans
This group gathers the deities of the Etruscans, the civilisation of pre-Roman central Italy whose language is only partly understood. Etruscan religion was known in antiquity for its elaborate divination, the reading of livers, lightning and bird-flight, and much of what survives comes through Roman writers who admired and borrowed it.
The browser will find Tinia, the sky-god equivalent to Jupiter; Uni and Menrva, who with Tinia formed a triad the Romans echoed; the wine-god Fufluns; and the underworld figures of Etruscan tomb painting. The atlas notes that the pantheon is reconstructed from inscriptions, art and Roman testimony, and that Etruscan and Roman religion deeply influenced each other.
Interpretatio Of
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Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. The Religion of the Etruscans
Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon (eds.), University of Texas Press, 2006chs. 1-2View the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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