Editing Etruscan religion (section)

==Beliefs==
The Etruscan system of belief was an [[Immanence|immanent]] [[polytheism]]; all visible phenomena were considered to be manifestations of [[divinity|divine]] power, and that power was embodied in [[deity|deities]] who acted continually on the world but could be dissuaded or persuaded by mortals.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Long after the assimilation of the Etruscans, [[Seneca the Younger]] said<ref>{{cite book|author=Seneca the Younger|title=Naturales Quaestiones|chapter=II.32.2}}</ref> that the difference between the Romans and the Etruscans was that<blockquote>Whereas we believe lightning to be released as a result of the collision of clouds, they believe that the clouds collide so as to release lightning: for as they attribute all to deity, they are led to believe not that things have a meaning insofar as they occur, but rather that they occur because they must have a meaning.</blockquote>

===Spirits and deities===
{{Main|List of Etruscan mythological figures|List of Etruscan names for Greek heroes}}
[[Image:0 Mars de Todi - Museo Gregoriano Etruscano (1).JPG|thumb|The ''[[Mars of Todi]]'', a life-sized [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] [[bronze sculpture]] of a soldier making a [[votive offering]], most likely to [[Laran]], the Etruscan god of war, late 5th to early 4th century BC]]
After the 5th century, iconographic depictions show the deceased traveling to the underworld.<ref>Krauskopf, I. 2006. "The Grave and Beyond." ''The Religion of the Etruscans.'' edited by N. de Grummond and E. Simon. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 73–75.</ref> In several instances of Etruscan art, such as in the [[François Tomb]] in [[Vulci]], a spirit of the dead is identified by the term ''hinthial'', literally "(one who is) underneath". The souls of the ancestors, called ''man'' or ''mani'' (Latin ''Manes''), were believed to be found around the ''mun'' or ''muni'', or tombs,{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}

A god was called an ''ais'' (later ''eis''), which in the plural is ''aisar'' / ''eisar''. The [[Liber Linteus]] (column 5, lines 9–10, and elsewhere) seems to distinguish "Gods of Light" ''aiser si'' from "Gods of Darkness" ''aiser seu'': ''nunθene eiser śic śeuc /unuχ mlaχ nunθen χiś esviśc faśe'': "Make an offering for both the Gods of Light and of Dark, / for them make an appropriate offering with oil from the Chi and from the Esvi rituals."<ref>L. Bouke van der Meer's review of ''Il liber linteus di Zagabria: testualità e contenuto:'' (Biblioteca di "Studi Etruschi" 50, by
Valentina Belfiore, Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2010. ISBN 9788862271943) in ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'' (2011) 1.36. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011.01.36/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130153356/https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011.01.36 |date=30 January 2023 }}</ref> The abode of a god was a ''fanu'' or ''luth'', a sacred place, such as a ''favi'', a grave or temple. There, one would need to make a ''fler'' (plural ''flerchva''), or "offering".

Three layers of deities are portrayed in Etruscan art. One appears to be divinities of an indigenous origin: [[Voltumna|Voltumna or Vertumnus]], a primordial, [[chthonic]] god; [[Usil (god)|Usil]], god(-dess) of the sun; [[Tivr]], god of the moon; [[Turan (mythology)|Turan]], goddess of love; [[Laran]], god of war; [[Maris (mythology)|Maris]], goddess of (child-)birth; [[Leinth]], goddess of death; [[Selvans]], god of the woods; [[Thalna]], goddess (or god) of fertility and childbirth; [[Turms]],  god of trade and messenger of the gods; [[Fufluns]], god of wine; the heroic figure [[Hercle]]; and a number of underworld deities such as [[Catha (mythology)|Catha]], [[Lur (deity)|Lur]], Suri, Thanr and Calus (all listed on the [[Lead Plaque of Magliano]] and elsewhere.)<ref name="Le Glay, Marcel. 2009">{{Cite book|last=Le Glay, Marcel.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/760889060|title=A history of Rome|date=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-8327-7|oclc=760889060|access-date=22 May 2020|archive-date=25 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725132827/http://worldcat.org/oclc/760889060|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ruling over them were higher deities that seem to reflect the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Indo-European]] system: Tin or [[Tinia]], the sky, [[Uni (mythology)|Uni]] his wife ([[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]), [[Nethuns]], god of the waters, and [[Cel (goddess)|Cel]], the earth goddess.

As a third layer, the Greek gods and heroes were adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan Orientalizing Period of 750/700–600 BC.<ref>Dates from De Grummond & Simon (2006), p. vii.</ref> Examples are [[Aritimi]] ([[Artemis]]), [[Menrva]] ([[Minerva]], Latin equivalent of [[Athena]]), the heroic figure [[Hercle]] ([[Hercules]]), and Pacha ([[Dionysus|Bacchus]]; Latin equivalent of [[Dionysus]]), and over time the primary trinity became [[Tinia]], [[Uni (mythology)|Uni]] and [[Menrva]]. This triad of gods were venerated in Tripartite temples similar to the later Roman [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus]].<ref name="Le Glay, Marcel. 2009"/>

A fourth group, the so-called ''[[dii involuti]]'' or "veiled gods", are sometimes mentioned as superior to all the other deities, but these were never worshipped, named, or depicted directly.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jannot|first=Jean-René|title=Religion in Ancient Etruria|year=2005|translator-last=Whitehead|translator-first=Jane|place=Madison|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0299208400|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAeKPQ8stZIC&pg=PA15}}</ref>

===Afterlife===
Etruscan beliefs concerning the hereafter appear to be an amalgam of influences. The Etruscans shared general early Mediterranean beliefs, such as the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] belief that survival and prosperity in the hereafter depend on the treatment of the deceased's remains.<ref name=P148>{{harvnb|Pallottino|1975|p=148}}</ref> Etruscan tombs imitated domestic structures and were characterized by spacious chambers, wall paintings and grave furniture. In the tomb, especially on the sarcophagus (examples shown below), was a representation of the deceased in his or her prime, often with a spouse. Not everyone had a sarcophagus; sometimes the deceased was laid out on a stone bench. As the Etruscans practiced mixed inhumation and cremation rites (the proportion depending on the period), cremated ashes and bones might be put into an urn in the shapes of a house or a representation of the deceased.

<gallery widths="180px" heights="120px" perrow="4">
File:Banditaccia Tomba Dei Capitelli.jpg|Funerary home at [[Banditaccia]] with couches
File:Populonia - Necropoli etrusca.jpg|Funerary home at [[Populonia]]
Image:Etruscan sarcophagus SMS n1.jpg|Sarcophagus from [[Siena]]
Image:Etruskerin.jpg|Sarcophagus from [[Chiusi]]
Image:Sarcophage étrusque.jpg|Sarcophagus
File:British Museum Etruscan burial.jpg|Burial urn
File:DSC00432 - Statua cineraria etrusca - da Chiusi - 550-530 aC.jpg|Urn from [[Chiusi]]
</gallery>

In addition to the world still influenced by terrestrial affairs was a transmigrational world beyond the grave, patterned after the Greek [[Hades]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} It was ruled by [[Aita (mythology)|Aita]], and the deceased was guided there by [[Charun]], the equivalent of Death, who was blue and wielded a hammer. The Etruscan Hades was populated by Greek mythological figures and a few such as [[Tuchulcha]], of composite appearance.