#rasenna

[tarocchilla]

Daydrinking etruscan guy !

[paganimagevault]

Etruscan stamnos of man (Arimaspian?) fighting griffin 360-350 BCE. Ceramic, top. cm 29.8; diam. opening cm 17; diam. foot cm 12.3. Inv. 39568. On the other side a figure of a winged woman, seated on a small column, crowned, wears a simple peplum and her belt. (Unfortunately I couldn't find an image of the other side).

"Aristeas was supposed to have authored a poem called the Arimaspea, giving an account of travels in the far North. There he encountered a tribe called the Issedones, who told him of still more fantastic and northerly peoples: the one-eyed Arimaspi who battle gold-guarding griffins, and the Hyperboreans among whom Apollo lives during the winter.

Longinus excerpts a portion of the poem (Longinus, On the Sublime, tr. W. Rhys Roberts. Chapter 10):

A marvel exceeding great is this withal to my soul— Men dwell on the water afar from the land, where deep seas roll. Wretches are they, for they reap but a harvest of travail and pain, Their eyes on the stars ever dwell, while their hearts abide in the main. Often, I ween, to the Gods are their hands upraised on high, And with hearts in misery heavenward-lifted in prayer do they cry.

Similarly, the Chiliades of Ioannes Tzetzes quotes the Arimaspea. These two accounts form our entire knowledge of the poem, which is otherwise lost."

-taken from wikipedia

[yourlocalaphrodisian]

Hirpi Sorani: The Wolves of Sorannus

Before the 5th Century BCE, a group of people called the Faliscan lived in close harmony of the Etruscan. These Faliscans had a cult centre to the god Sorannus at Mt Soracte in the Lower Tiber valley, the only mountain in the area. The cult was led by a group of priests called the Hirpi Sorani, roughly translating to "The Wolves of Sorannus".

Despite living and conducting rituals in the Faliscan region, some families of the Hirpi did not come from this region, according to Pliny and Solinus.

Although Priesthood was reserved to only certain families, the whole community joined in on the rituals.

According to Pliny the Elder, Solinus and Strabo, the rituals were conducted by burning a pile of wood, specifically pine according to Virgil, to glowing embers. The priests would later walk thrice on these embers, painless, carrying offerings for Sorannus.

All authors describe that the Hirpi didn't burn their feet even when they walked upon the embers. Varro and Servius point out that the priests applied a medical ointment on their soles to avoid burns.

(Image of a silver coin of Apollo-Sorannus)

The most striking aspect of the Hirpi Sorani is their affiliation with wolves. In the Etruscan religion in general, wolves were associated with the underworld. In the Mediterranean region, they served as a symbol of the passage between life and death. Thus their association with the goddess Hecate of the Greek Pantheon.

(Image of an Etruscan wolf helmet)

Their affiliation with Wolves may be the cause of syncretism with Apollo. After the 5th Century BCE, the Roman city-state gained control of the Faliscan territory. They ended up syncretising Apollo and Sorannus. Wolves were sacred to both gods.

The Hirpi Sorani represented wolves, and even were wolves spiritually or symbolically. The abuse of wolves was apparently taboo. They were also seen as messengers of the gods to the Romans. There is however no evidence as to if they had any clothing which made them look like wolves.

Much information about the Hirpi Sorani has been lost to time. For further reading:

• Rissanen, M. (2013) "The Hirpi Sorani and the Wolf Cults of Central Italy"

• Fogliazza, S. (2020) "Wolves and Gods in the Etruscan world"

[paganimagevault]

Very tall Villanovan helmet from the necropolis of Casal del Fosso 730-720 BCE. National Etruscan Museum, Rome.

[paganimagevault]

Cippus Perusinus 3rd-2nd C. BCE. National Archeological Museum of Perugia.

"The Cippus Perusinus is a stone tablet discovered on the hill of San Marco, near Perugia, Italy, in 1822. The tablet bears 46 lines of incised Etruscan text. The cippus is assumed to be a text dedicating a legal contract between the Etruscan families of Velthina (from Perugia) and Afuna (from Chiusi), regarding the sharing or use of a property upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.

...

The Etruscan inscription is written in the alphabet used in northern inland Etruria, and particularly in Perugia, in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. It reads from right to left, covering 24 lines on the front face and continuing for another 22 lines on the left side (following the right-to-left Etruscan writing system).

At least four paragraphs can be identified on the front face, with "breaks" after lines 8, 11 and 19.

Line 1 stands out by being centered and having larger letters.

Line 12, characterized on the right by a pause in the writing, is the completion of line 13: the stonecutter continued line 13 in line 12, shifting it toward the left, following a known customary expedient (seen in the inscriptions on the wrappings of the Mummy of Zagreb); he foresaw this to maintain the original unity of the sentence.

On the left side, line 9 has an error correction (anticipating of a letter of the next line: è abraded, then t at the head of the line, in anticipation of è at the head of line 16), a sign that the stonecutter had to copy a text but followed different rules than those used for writing the original document.

On the left side the words are separated by a dot, whereas on the front this seems to have been done only to emphasize parts of the text (peoples’ names, formulas, etc.). A symmetry in the placing of similar or assonant words suggest a poetry-like rhetorical structure.

The text is the transcription of an archive document: a legal deed between the two families of the Velthina (already known in Perugia) and the Afuna (from the Chiusi area) regarding the sharing or use of a property upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.

Lines 1-2: these mention a judge or witness ([t]eurat) named Larth Rezu, in whose presence a pact (vachr) is made (ame) between the two families.

Line 5:  contains the concept of "Etruscan" or "public" (rasnes), in connection with the source of the right to which reference is made.

Lines 5-6: the word "naper" before the numeral XII probably indicates a square measure.

Line 8: explicitly mentions the boundaries (tularu).

Lines 20-21: refer to the Velthina tomb (Velthinathuras thaura).

The inscription ends on the left side of the cippus with the expression "it is written" (zichuche), in ratification of the transcription of the pact."

-taken from Wikipedia and archeopg.arti.beniculturali.it

https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/04/cippus-perusinus-3rd-2nd-c-bce.html

[paganimagevault]

Etruscan bust of Artemis or Aphrodite 310-300 BCE. Museo nazionale etrusco di Villa Giulia.

"Wishing to remain a virgin, Polyphonte fled to the mountains to become a companion of Artemis. This provoked the ire of Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and procreation, who viewed Polyphonte's decision as a personal affront. To punish Polyphonte for failing to honor her womanly duty, Aphrodite drove her mad and caused her to lust after a bear. Artemis was disgusted with Polyphonte and so turned the wild animals against her. Fearing for her life, Polyphonte was forced to return to her father's home." -taken from Wikipedia

https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/03/etruscan-bust-of-artemis-or-aphrodite.html

[paganimagevault]

Etruscan satyr drinking cup 6th-4th C. BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Diluting wine with water [was invented] by Staphylus son of Silenus."

-Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 199 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C 1st A.D.)

https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/04/etruscan-satyr-drinking-cup-6th-4th-c.html

[paganimagevault]

Etruscan statue - Unknown date