Editing Etruscan religion (section)

==History==
[[File:Etruscan votive heads IV-II century BC.jpg|thumb|right|Etruscan votive heads IV-II century BC found in various sanctuaries of Etruria]]

===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 and brigands, and bringing civilization to the inhabitants. Legends of his prowess with women became the source of tales about his many offspring conceived with prominent local women, though his role as a wanderer meant that Heracles moved on after securing the locations chosen to be settled by his followers, rather than fulfilling a typical founder role. Over time, Odysseus also assumed a similar role for the Etruscans as the heroic leader who led the Etruscans to settle the lands they inhabited.<ref name="carthage">{{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=Richard |title=Carthage Must Be Destroyed |date=21 July 2011 |location=United Kingdom |isbn=9781101517031 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOQ9JLtGj0UC&q=carthage+must+be+destroyed+book}}</ref>

Claims that the sons of Odysseus had once ruled over the Etruscan people date to at least the mid-[[6th century BC]]. [[Lycophron]] and [[Theopompus]] link Odysseus to [[Cortona]] (where he was called ''Nanos'').<ref>{{cite book |title=Etruscology |volume=1 |date=25 September 2017 |location=Germany |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uk8_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 |page=38|isbn=9781934078495 |last1=Naso |first1=Alessandro }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Peoples of Ancient Italy |date=20 November 2017 |location=Germany |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UElADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |page=17|isbn=9781614513001 |last1=Farney |first1=Gary D. |last2=Bradley |first2=Guy }}</ref> In Italy during this era it could give non-Greek ethnic groups an advantage over rival ethnic groups to link their origins to a Greek hero figure. These legendary heroic figures became instrumental in establishing the legitimacy of Greek claims to the newly settled lands, depicting the Greek presence there as reaching back into antiquity.<ref name="carthage"/>

===Roman conquest===
After the Etruscan defeat in the [[Roman–Etruscan Wars]] (264 BCE), the remaining Etruscan culture began to be assimilated into the Roman. The [[Roman Senate]] adopted key elements of the Etruscan religion, which were perpetuated by [[haruspices]] and noble Roman families who claimed Etruscan descent, long after the general population of [[Etruria]] had forgotten the language. In the last years of the [[Roman Republic]] the religion began to fall out of favor and was satirized by such notable public figures as [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]]. The [[Julio-Claudians]], especially [[Claudius]], whose first wife, [[Plautia Urgulanilla]], claimed an Etruscan descent,<ref name=heur>{{cite journal| last1 = Heurgon| first1 = Jacques| authorlink = Jacques Heurgon| date = 1953| location = Paris| title = La vocation étruscologique de l'Empereur Claude| url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/4f8f6bf9c378cb9c5402ebf094b87866/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816857| journal = Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres| volume = 97| issue = 1| pages = 92–97| access-date = 28 March 2023| language = fr| archive-date = 24 March 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230324143343/https://www.proquest.com/openview/4f8f6bf9c378cb9c5402ebf094b87866/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816857| url-status = live}}</ref> maintained a knowledge of the language and religion for a short time longer,<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Suetonius]] |title=Life of Claudius |at=42}}</ref> but this practice soon ceased. A number of [[canon (canon law)|canonical works]] in the Etruscan language survived until the middle of the first millennium AD, but were destroyed by the ravages of time, including occasional catastrophic fires, and by decree of the Roman Senate.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

===Sources===
The mythology is evidenced by a number of sources in different media, for example representations on large numbers of pottery items, inscriptions and engraved scenes on the Praenestine ''cistae'' (ornate boxes; see under [[Etruscan language]]) and on ''specula'' (ornate hand mirrors). Currently some two dozen fascicles of the ''[[Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum]]'' have been published. Specifically Etruscan mythological and cult figures appear in the ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=An illustrated lexicon about the ancient myths|url=http://www.limcnet.org/LIMCLink/LIMC/tabid/198/Default.aspx|publisher=Foundation for the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)|year=2009|access-date=21 June 2009|archive-date=17 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517182605/http://www.limcnet.org/LIMCLink/LIMC/tabid/198/Default.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> Etruscan inscriptions have recently been given a more authoritative presentation by [[Helmut Rix]], ''Etruskische Texte''.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Rix, Helmut|title=Etruskische Texte|location=Tübingen|publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag|year=1991|isbn=3-8233-4240-1|language=de, ett|series=ScriptOralia}} 2 vols.</ref>