Editing Etruscan religion (section)

==Seers and divinations==
The Etruscans believed their religion had been [[Revelation|revealed]] to them by seers,<ref name="Cary">{{cite book|last1=Cary|first1=M.|last2=Scullard|first2=H. H.|title=A History of Rome|page=24|edition=3rd|year= 1979|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |isbn=0-312-38395-9}}</ref> the two main ones being [[Tages]], a childlike figure born from tilled land who was immediately gifted with [[Prophecy|prescience]], and [[Vegoia]], a female figure.

The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity.<ref name=P143>The religiosity of the Etruscans most clearly manifested itself in the so-called 'discipline', that complex of rules regulating relations between men and gods. Its main basis was the scrupulous search for the divine will by all available means; ... the reading and interpretation of animal entrails, especially the liver ... and the interpretation of lightning. {{harv|Pallottino|1975|p=143}}</ref> They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and [[Omen|signs]] from them.<ref>{{cite book|first=Titus|last=Livius|author-link=Livy|title=History of Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.522966|chapter=V.1|quote=...a people more than any others dedicated to religion, the more as they excelled in practicing it.}}</ref> These practices were taken over in total by the Romans.

===''Etrusca Disciplina''===
The Etruscan [[Religious text|scriptures]] were a corpus of texts termed the ''Etrusca Disciplina''. This name appears in [[Valerius Maximus]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Valerius|last=Maximus|title=Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilia|chapter=1.1}}</ref> and [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]] refers to a ''disciplina'' in his writings on the subject.

[[Massimo Pallottino]] summarizes the scriptures known from other sources to have once existed. The revelations of the prophet [[Tages]] ({{lang|la|Libri Tagetici}}, "Tagetic Books") included the theory and rules of [[divination]] from animal [[entrails]] ({{lang|la|Libri Haruspicini}}, "[[haruspicy|Haruspical]] Books") and discussion of the Etruscan afterlife and its attendant rituals ({{lang|la|Libri Acherontici}}, "[[River Acheron|Acherontic]] Books"). The revelations of the prophetess [[Vegoia]] ({{lang|la|Libri Vegoici}}, "Vegoic Books") included the theory and rules of divination from thunder (brontoscopy) and lightning strikes ({{lang|la|Libri Fulgurales}}, "[[Fulgural]] Books") and discussion of religious rituals. Books on rituals ({{lang|la|Libri Rituales}}) included Tages's Acherontic Books as well as other books on omens and prodigies ({{lang|la|[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#ostentarium|Libri Ostentaria]]}}) and books on fate ({{lang|la|Libri Fatales}}) that detailed the religiously proper ways to found cities, erect shrines, drain fields, formulate laws, and measure space and time.<ref name=P154>{{harvnb|Pallottino|1975|p=154}}</ref>

The Etrusca Disciplina was mainly a set of rules for the conduct of all sorts of divination; Pallottino calls it a religious and political "constitution": it does not dictate what laws shall be made or how humans are to behave, but rather elaborates rules for asking the gods these questions and receiving answers.

===Priests and officials===
[[File:Etruscan temple Orvieto.jpeg|thumb|right|Rare Etruscan ''fanu'' located at [[Orvieto]].]]
Divinatory inquiries according to discipline were conducted by priests whom the Romans called [[haruspices]] or sacerdotes; [[Tarquinii]] had a college of 60 of them.<ref name=P154/> The Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions, used several words: ''capen'' ([[Sabine]] ''cupencus''), ''maru'' ([[Umbrian]] ''maron-''), ''eisnev'', ''hatrencu'' (priestess). They called the art of haruspicy ''ziχ neθsrac''.