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Usil
Usil is the Etruscan god of the sun. This name appears on the bronze liver of Piacenza, next to ''Tiur'', the moon. Another iconic depiction features Usil rising out of the sea, with a fireball in either outstretched hand, on an engraved Etruscan bronze mirror in late Archaic style, formerly on the Roman antiquities market. On Etruscan mirrors in Classical style, Usil appears with a halo. Usil has been syncretised with the Roman Sol and Greek Helios. However, while Usil is depicted as male in some artwork, there are also feminine depictions. In particular, there is a possible equation with another indigenous Etruscan goddess, Catha, which is often interpreted as having a solar character. In artwork Usil is shown in close association with Thesan, the dawn goddess, something almost never seen with Helios and Eos.Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Erika Simon, ''The Religion of the Etruscans'', University of Texas Press, 20/04/2009 See also * List of solar deities A solar deity is a de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thesan
In Etruscan Religion and mythology, Thesan is the Etruscan goddess of the dawn, divination, and childbirth and was associated with the generation of life. Romans identified her with their Aurora and Mater Matuta and Greeks with Eos and Leucothea. In Etruria, she received offerings together with the sun god Usil in the liber linteus. She was especially worshipped at Caere's harbour of Pyrgi, where a temple was dedicated to her and a singular series of ‘‘daybreak antefixes’’ was excavated. Thesan was depicted with wings and sometimes nude, such as a clay acroterium from Astrone valley. Etymology Thesan was depicted on several Etruscan mirror backs, bearing a great pair of wings on her back like many other Etruscan goddesses, especially appropriate to a sky-goddess. One meaning of her name is simply “Dawn”, and related words are ''thesi'', meaning “illumination”, and ''thesviti'', “clear or famous”. The other meaning of her name connects her with the ability to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining"). Helios is often depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The Roman Emperor Julian (emperor), Julian made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of Religion in ancient Rome, traditional Roman religious practices in the 4th century AD. Helios figures prominently in several works of Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sol (Roman Mythology)
Sol is the personification of the Sun and a god in ancient Roman religion. It was long thought that Rome actually had two different, consecutive sun gods: The first, Sol Indiges ( la, the deified sun), was thought to have been unimportant, disappearing altogether at an early period. Only in the late Roman Empire, scholars argued, did the solar cult re-appear with the arrival in Rome of the Syrian Sol Invictus ( la, the unconquered sun), perhaps under the influence of the Mithraic mysteries. Publications dating back to the mid 90s have challenged the notion of two different sun gods in Rome, pointing to the abundant evidence for the continuity of the cult of Sol, and the lack of any clear differentiation – either in name or depiction – between the "early" and "late" Roman sun god. Etymology The Latin ''sol'' for "Sun" is believed to originate in the Proto-Indo-European language, as a continuation of the heteroclitic ''*Seh2ul- / *Sh2-en-'', and thus cognate to other solar d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catha (mythology)
Catha (Cavatha, Cavtha, Cath, Cautha, and Kavtha) is a female Etruscan lunar or solar deity, who may also be connected to childbirth, and has a connection to the underworld. Catha is also the goddess of the south sanctuary at Pyrgi, Italy. She is known as Leucothea in ancient Greek. She is often seen with the Etruscan god Śuri with whom she shares a cult. Catha is also frequently paired with the Etruscan god Fufluns, who is the counterpart to the Greek god Dionysus, and Pacha, the counterpart to the Roman god Bacchus. Additionally, at Pyrgi, Catha is linked with the god Aplu, the counterpart to the Greek god Apollo. Aplu may have even taken some of the characteristics of Catha when he was brought into the Etruscan religion. Giovanni Colonna has suggested that Catha is linked to the Greek Persephone since he links Catha's consort, Suri, to Dis Pater in Roman mythology. Inscriptions The bulk of information regarding Catha comes mostly from inscriptions on Etruscan artifacts. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Solar Deities
A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of solar deities: African * Anyanwu, Igbo god believed to dwell in the Sun * Magec, Tenerife goddess of the Sun and light * Mawu, Dahomey goddess associated with the Sun and the Moon * uMvelinqangi, Xhosa and Zulu people's god of the Sun and sky * iNyanga, Zulu people, goddess of the Moon * Ukhulukhulwanaa star, Zulu people's ancestor who came from the stars. He taught them to build huts and taught them the high laws of isiNtu Egyptian mythology * Amun, creator deity sometimes identified as a Sun god * Aten, god of the Sun, the visible disc of the Sun * Atum, the "finisher of the world" who represents the Sun as it sets * Bast, cat goddess associated with the Sun * Hathor, mother of Horus and Ra and goddess of the Sun * Horus, god of the sky who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chariot Fitting Usil Hermitage GR-4876
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000 BCE. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel. The chariot was a fast, light, open, two- wheeled conveyance drawn by two or more horses that were hitched side by side, and was little more than a floor with a waist-high guard at the front and sides. It was initially used for ancient warfare during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but after its military capabilities had been superseded by light and heavy cavalries, chariots continued to be used for travel and transport, in processions, for games, and in races. Etymology The word "chariot" comes from the Latin term ''carrus'', a loanword from Gaulish. In ancient Rome and some other ancient Mediterranean civilizations, a ''biga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Deity
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name ''Sol'' or by its Greek name '' Helios''. The English word ''sun'' derives from Proto-Germanic *''sunnǭ''. Overview Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the Sun god and Horus as god of the sky and Sun. As the Old Kingdom theocracy gained influence, early beliefs were incorporated into the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting Sun. Osiris became the divine heir to Atum's power on Earth and passed his divine authority to his son, Horus. Other early Egyptian myths imply that the Sun is incorporated with the lioness Sekhmet at night and is reflected in her eyes; or that the Sun is found within the cow Hathor during t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liver Of Piacenza
The Liver of Piacenza is an Etruscan artifact found in a field on September 26, 1877, near Gossolengo, in the province of Piacenza, Italy, now kept in the Municipal Museum of Piacenza, in the Palazzo Farnese. It is a life-sized bronze model of a sheep's liver covered in Etruscan inscriptions ( TLE 719), measuring 126 × 76 × 60 mm (5 × 3 × 2.4 inches) and dated to the late 2nd century BC, i.e. a time when the Piacenza region would already have been Latin-dominated (Piacenza was founded in 218 BC as a Roman garrison town in Cisalpine Gaul). Description The liver is subdivided into sections for the purposes of performing haruspicy (hepatoscopy); the sections are inscribed with names of individual Etruscan deities. The Piacenza liver is a striking conceptual parallel to clay models of sheep's livers known from the Ancient Near East, reinforcing the evidence of a connection (be it by migration or merely by cultural contact) between the Etruscans and the Anatolian c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze Mirror
Bronze mirrors preceded the glass mirrors of today. This type of mirror, sometimes termed a copper mirror, has been found by archaeology, archaeologists among elite assemblages from various cultures, from Etruscan art, Etruscan Italy to Japan. Typically they are round and rather small, in the West with a handle, in East Asia with a knob to hold at the back, often with a loop for a cord, or silk tassel. Some were fitted with small stands, and others had a hinged protective cover. They are first-surface mirrors, where the immediate bronze surface is flat, plain and highly polished to be reflective, rather than second-surface mirrors, like modern glass mirrors, where the reflection comes from a backing applied to the glass. They are significantly inferior to modern mirrors in terms of the quality of the reflection, but in older societies were sufficiently impressive to have religious significance in some societies. Examples include the melong in Tibetan Buddhism and the Toli ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halo (religious Iconography)
A halo (from the Greek , ; also known as a nimbus, aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a crown of light rays, circle or disk of light that surrounds a person in art. It has been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and has at various periods also been used in images of rulers and heroes. In the religious art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism among other religions, sacred persons may be depicted with a halo in the form of a circular glow, or flames in Asian art, around the head or around the whole body—this last one is often called a mandorla. Halos may be shown as almost any colour or combination of colours, but are most often depicted as golden, yellow or white when representing light or red when representing flames. Ancient Mesopotamia Sumerian religious literature frequently speaks of (loaned into Akkadian as ), a "brilliant, visible glamour which is exuded by gods, heroes, sometimes by kings, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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