Editing Thesan (section)

==Thesan Motif in Art==

=== with her chariot ===
The upper exergue has Thesan (Eos), the goddess of dawn, in her [[quadriga]], a four-horse chariot. [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/812745001 Asset number 812745001]

===with Cephalus===
A common representation of Thesan is carrying off Kephalos. The handsome hunter is the son of Hermes. Eos is often depicted carrying or embracing Kephalos before returning him to his wife, [[Procris|Prokris]], in Athens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Eos |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=eos-bio-1 |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

The motif of Thesan and her lover can be found on Etruscan mirrors, pottery, and tomb frescoes.

In one mirror depiction from 480-470 BCE at the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Thesan is running off with Kephalos. Winged and with a nimbus,  Thesan is depicted running or in flight with Kephalos in her arms after having kidnapped him. This is probably the first version of the myth according to which Thesan falls in love with the young hunter hero, son of Hermes and Herse, who then becomes Thesan's husband.  This mirror is from Vulci, from the excavations of Luciano and Alexandrine Bonaparte, princes of Canino; acquired in 1840 [https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-gregoriano-etrusco/sala-iii--bronzi/specchio-con-eos-e-kephalos.html Cat. 12241.] According to the museum:

"Bronze workers from Vulci in the late archaic period were able to cast flawless mirrors with complex decorations, already using wax models rather than cold engraving. The very low relief is enriched with engraved calligraphic details; there were leaves inlaid with silver on the frame."

Another relief mirror from the British Museum is [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1865-0712-14 museum number 1865,0712.14], Thesan is shown in the act of abducting [[Cephalus]], a young man of [[Athens]] who had been married to the [[Erechtheus|King Erechtheus’]] daughter, [[Procris]]. Thesan is winged here, wearing a [[chiton]] and diagonal [[himation]] that flows in the breeze; about her head is a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]], to emphasize her function as a [[List of light deities|goddess of light]]. She runs off to the left carrying Cephalus in her arms, who is shown as nude and much smaller than she is. He does not look at all distressed at the situation and he rests in her arms with his right hand on her shoulder. Like many depictions of Etruscan women and their lovers, she is shown as larger and therefore more important or powerful than the man: This has been taken as an indication of the high status of Etruscan women.

The same scene is depicted on a mirror handle in high relief openwork; Cephalus is again quite a lot smaller (and younger) than Thesan, who is not winged this time, but whose cloak billows behind her in the breeze. She smiles down at young Kephalos as She lifts him up, and he is nude save for a short cloak and hunting boots.

This same image is depicted in a in the [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1847-0806-130 British Museum Museum number 1847,0806.130]
[[File:Etruscan mirror with Thesan and Memnun.jpg|thumb|Thesan appears on a mirror in New York, rescuing her son Memnun from death at the hands of Achle. Title: Bronze mirror Period: Classical Date: ca. 450–420 BCE Culture: Etruscan Accession Number: 22.139.84<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bronze mirror {{!}} Etruscan {{!}} Classical |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251256 |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>]]

===with Memnun ===
Another favorite scene of Thesan/Eos depicts a far more somber affair. Her son's Etruscan name is recorded as Memnum (Memrun)<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Bonfante |first=Giuliano |author-link=Giuliano Bonfante |title=The Etruscan Language: An Introduction |last2=Bonfante |first2=Larissa |author2-link=Larissa Bonfante |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0719055409 |edition=2nd |location=Manchester, England |pages=201, 206–207}}</ref> being the equivalent to the Greek [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]]. This son by [[Tithonus]], another young man she abducted to be her lover, called ''Thinthun'' by the Etruscans and was killed in the [[Trojan War]].Eos grieved so terribly that she threatened never to bring forth the dawn again. She was finally persuaded to return, but in Her grief she weeps tears of dew every morning for Her beloved son. One mirror-back shows Her before [[Tinia]] ([[Zeus]]) with ''Thethis'' ([[Thetis]]), the mother of Achle ([[Achilles]]). Both goddesses plead with [[Tinia]] to spare their sons' lives; but both were already doomed to die. This is known as the Memnon Pieta.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONA Iconography Record |url=https://www.getty.edu/cona/CONAIconographyRecord.aspx?iconid=901001044 |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=www.getty.edu}}</ref>  The relief mirror mentioned (right) depicts Thesan carrying off the body of her dead son Memnun. Often in ancient art there are different interpretations as often figures were not labelled.  However Etruscan mirrors with figures do have names engraved beside them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mirror with Engraved Scene: Thesan and Memnun (Eos and Memnon) {{!}} Cleveland Museum of Art |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.259 |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=www.clevelandart.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== with Tinia ===
[[File:Tinia Thethis Thesan Menrva.png|thumb|Bronze Mirror cut with a spear: Tinia (=Zeus), Thesan (= Eos), Thethis (=Thetis) and Menrva (=Athena) a didascaly - perhaps a representation of a dramatic performance"teaching" scene.  Vatican Museum. Inventory: MV.12257.0.0 Gregorian Etruscan Museum<ref>{{Cite web |title=Specchio Inciso con codolo: Zeus, Eos, Thetis e Athena Didascalie |url=https://catalogo.museivaticani.va/index.php/Detail/objects/MV.12257.0.0 |access-date=July 10, 2024 |website=The Gregorian Etruscan Museum}}</ref>]]
As with Greek art depictions, Thesan is depicted in bronze mirrors entreating upon Tinia along with Thethis (=Thetis) to spare the lives of their sons, Memnun and Achle respectively.  The goddesses were him to affect the destiny of their sons in their battle against each other.

===with Usil and Nethuns===
The [[Liber Linteus|Liber Lintaeus]] connects Thesan with the Etruscan sun god [[Usil]], equivalent to the Greek [[Helios]] and Roman [[Sol Invictus|Sol]].<ref name=MacIntoshTurfa-2013/><ref name=deGrummond-2006/> She has her arm around [[Usil]]’s back, implying a connection that [[Helios]] and [[Eos]] do not have.<ref name=deGrummond-2006/> A fourth century [[mirror]] now shows her in conversation with both [[Usil]] and [[Nethuns]] (Etruscan [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] / [[Poseidon]]).<ref name=Carpino-2003/>