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Hercle
In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also ''Heracle'' or ''Hercl''), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules. In the Etruscan tradition, Uni (Roman Juno) grants Hercle access to a life among the immortals by offering her breast milk to him.De Grummond, ''Etruscan Myth'', pp. 83–84. Hercle was the first man elevated to a godhood through his deeds and Etruscan aristocrats tried to identify with this ascension, as reflected in artwork and literature. Hercle differed in many aspects from the Greek Heracles. He seems to have enjoyed a special status in Italy in general. In art, he is shown to be a defender of an unknown goddess against creatures on the other side of a human border, showing his s ...
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Uni (mythology)
Uni is the ancient goddess of marriage, fertility, family, and women in Etruscan religion and myth, and was the patron goddess of Perugia. She is identified as the Etruscan equivalent of Juno in Roman mythology, and Hera in Greek mythology. As the supreme goddess of the Etruscan pantheon, she is part of the Etruscan trinity, an original precursor to the Capitoline Triad, made up of her husband Tinia, the god of the sky, and daughter Menrva, the goddess of wisdom. She is often depicted with a goatskin cloak and sandals whilst holding a shield, similarly to Juno, wearing a bridal veil, or completely nude.Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ''Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend'' (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006). Livy states (Book V, ''Ab Urbe Condita'') that Juno was an Etruscan goddess of the Veientes, who was adopted ceremonially into the Roman pantheon when Veii was sacked in 396 BC. This seems to refer to Uni. She also appears on the Liver ...
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List Of Etruscan Mythological Figures
This is a list of deities and legendary figures found in Etruscan mythology. The names below were taken mainly from Etruscan "picture bilinguals", which are Etruscan call-outs on art depicting mythological scenes or motifs. Several different media provide names. Variants of the names are given, reflecting differences in language in different localities and times. Many of the names are Etruscan spellings (and pronunciations) of Greek names. The themes may or may not be entirely Greek. Etruscans frequently added their own themes to Greek myths. The same may be said of native Italic names rendered into Etruscan. Some names are entirely Etruscan, which is often a topic of debate in the international forum of scholarship. Deities Deified mortals Spirits, demons, and other creatures Places Mortals See also * Etruscan mythology * List of Etruscan names for Greek heroes * ''Interpretatio graeca'' Notes References * * * Translated by Wendy Doniger, Gerald Honigsblum. * * ...
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Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name ''Hercules''. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, ''Hercules'' is more commonly used than ''Heracles'' as the name of the hero. Hercules is a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition. Mythology Birth and early life In Roman mythology, although Hercules was seen as the champion of the weak and a great protector, his personal problems started at birth. Juno sent two witches to prevent the birth, but they were tricked by one of Alcmene's servants and sent ...
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Tinia
In Etruscan religion and mythology, Tinia (also Tin, Tinh, Tins or ''Tina'') was the god of the sky and the highest god in Etruscan mythology, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus. However, a primary source from the Roman Varro states that Veltha, not Tins, was the supreme deity of the Etruscans. This has led some scholars to conclude that they were assimilated, but this is speculation. He was the husband of Uni and the father of Hercle. Like many other Etruscan deities, his name is gender neutral. The Etruscans had a group of nine gods who had the power of hurling thunderbolts; they were called ''Novensiles'' by the Romans. Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of which Tinia wielded three. Tinia was sometimes represented with a beard or sometimes as youthful and beardless. In terms of symbolism, Tinia has the thunderbolt. Tinia's thunderbolts could be red or blood coloured. Like Selvans and possibly Laran,Konstantinos I. Soueref; Ariadni Gartziou-Tatti ( ...
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Etruscan Religion
Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and Religion in ancient Rome, religion. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic from the 4th century BC, the Etruscan religion and mythology were partially incorporated into ancient Roman culture, following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to the Villanovan culture. History Greek influence Greek traders brought their religion and hero figures with them to the coastal areas of the central Mediterranean. Odysseus, Menelaus and Diomedes from the Homeric tradition were recast in tales of the distant past that had them roaming the lands West of Greece. In Greek tradition, Heracles wandered these western areas, d ...
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Etruscan Gods
Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and religion. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic from the 4th century BC, the Etruscan religion and mythology were partially incorporated into ancient Roman culture, following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to the Villanovan culture. History Greek influence Greek traders brought their religion and hero figures with them to the coastal areas of the central Mediterranean. Odysseus, Menelaus and Diomedes from the Homeric tradition were recast in tales of the distant past that had them roaming the lands West of Greece. In Greek tradition, Heracles wandered these western areas, doing away with monsters an ...
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Etruscan Mythology
Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and religion. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic from the 4th century BC, the Etruscan religion and mythology were partially incorporated into ancient Roman culture, following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to the Villanovan culture. History Greek influence Greek traders brought their religion and hero figures with them to the coastal areas of the central Mediterranean. Odysseus, Menelaus and Diomedes from the Homeric tradition were recast in tales of the distant past that had them roaming the lands West of Greece. In Greek tradition, Heracles wandered these western areas, doing away with monsters ...
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Menrva
Menrva (also spelled Menerva) was an Etruscan goddess of war, art, wisdom, and medicine. She contributed much of her character to the Roman Minerva. She was the child of Uni and Tinia. Although Menrva was seen by Hellenized Etruscans as their counterpart to Greek Athena, Menrva has some unique traits that make it clear that she was not an import from Greece. Etruscan artists under the influence of Greek culture, however, liked to portray Menrva with Gorgoneion, helmet, spear, and shield, and, on one mirrorback, as bursting from the head of her father, Tinia. Also, she commonly is seen as the protector of Hercle (Heracles) and ''Pherse'' (Perseus). On a bronze mirror found at Praeneste, she attends Perseus, who consults two Graeae, and, on another, holds high the head of Medusa, while she and seated Perseus and Hermes all gaze safely at its reflection in a pool at their feet. These images are more likely to reflect literary sources than any cult practice. On a bronze mirror from Bo ...
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Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through Amphitryon, Heracles receives the epithet Alcides, as "of the line of Alcaeus", father of Amphitryon. Amphitryon's own, mortal son was Iphicles. He was a great-grandson and half-brother (as they are both sired by the god Zeus) of Perseus, and similarly a half-brother of Dionysus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, so ...
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Melqart
Melqart (also Melkarth or Melicarthus) was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. Often titled the "Lord of Tyre" (''Ba‘al Ṣūr''), he was also known as the Son of Baal or El (the Ruler of the Universe), King of the Underworld, and Protector of the Universe. He symbolized the annual cycle of vegetation and was associated with the Phoenician maternal goddess Astarte. Melqart was typically depicted as a bearded figure, dressed only in a rounded hat and loincloth. Reflecting his dual role as both protector of the world and ruler of the underworld, he was often shown holding an Egyptian ankh or lotus flower as a symbol of life and a fenestrated axe as a symbol of death. As Tyrian trade and settlement expanded, Melqart became venerated in Phoenician and Punic cultures across the Mediterranean, especially its colonies of Carthage and Cadiz. During the high point of Phoenician civilization between 1000 ...
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Hercules Magusanus
Hercules Magusanus is a Romano-Germanic deity or hero worshipped during the early first millennium AD in the Lower Rhine region among the Batavi, Marsaci, Ubii, Cugerni, Baetasii, and probably among the Tungri. Name Attestations The name is attested on votive stones, coins and arm rings principally found in Lower Germania, but also in Rome, Britain, and Dacia. It appears as ''Magusen s' in a inscription dated ca. 100 AD, found near the village of Empel. An altar from Ruimel (mid-1st c. AD), the earliest known which is devoted to Hercules Magusanus, shows the name in reverse order: '' gusa Herculi''. Additionally, two Roman coins of the Roman Emperor Postumus minted in Cologne in 261 AD, as well as four arm rings from Tongeren, Neuss, Bonn and Cologne also bear his name. Etymology The name ''Hercules Magusanus'' is a syncretism between the Graeco-Roman divine hero ''Hercules'' and the local deity or hero ''Magusanus''. The etymology of the name remains debated. Accordi ...
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Etruscan Art
Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (especially life-size on sarcophagi or temples), wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced. Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but relatively few large examples have survived (the material was too valuable, and recycled later). In contrast to terracotta and bronze, there was relatively little Etruscan sculpture in stone, despite the Etruscans controlling fine sources of marble, including Carrara marble, which seems not to have been exploited until the Romans. The great majority of survivals came from tombs, which were typically crammed with sarcophagi an ...
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