Maris (or Mariś) was an
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things:
**Etruscan language
** Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
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**Etruscan myt ...
god often depicted as an infant or child and given many
epithets
An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
, including ''Mariś Halna'', ''Mariś Husrnana'' ("Maris the Child"), and ''Mariś Isminthians''. He was the son of
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, par ...
, the Etruscan equivalent of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
. On two
bronze mirror
Bronze mirrors preceded the glass mirrors of today. This type of mirror, sometimes termed a copper mirror, has been found by archaeologists among elite assemblages from various cultures, from Etruscan Italy to Japan. Typically they are round a ...
s, Maris appears in scenes depicting an immersion rite presumably to ensure his immortality.
Massimo Pallottino
Massimo Pallottino (9 November 1909 in Rome – 7 February 1995 in Rome) was an Italian archaeologist specializing in Etruscan civilization and art.
Biography
Pallottino was a student of Giulio Quirino Giglioli and worked early in his career on ...
noted that Maris might have been connected to stories about the
centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
Mares, the legendary ancestor of the
Ausones
"Ausones" (; ), the original name and the extant Greek form for the Latin "Aurunci", was a name applied by Greek writers to describe various Italic peoples inhabiting the southern and central regions of Italy. The term was used, specifically, ...
, who underwent a triple death and resurrection.
Some scholars think he influenced Roman conceptions of the god
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, but this is not universally held; more likely he was the god of fertility and love, similar to the Greek Eros.
[N.T. DE GRUMMOND, "Maris´, the Etruscan Genius," in ''Across Frontiers. Studies in Honour of D. Ridgway and F.R. Serra Ridgway'', London 2006, pp. 413–426]
In the
Lead Plaque of Magliano, he is called ''Maris Menita '' "Maris the Maker", the full dedicatory line translated:
::For Maris Menita (="the Maker"), for the ancestors, also this previously mentioned annually appointed village-priest must make a dedication in the ''ciala,'' and in addition in the place of offering, and in the ''ichu'' house
References
Etruscan gods
{{Etruria-stub