Editing Etruscan religion

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{{More citations needed|date=October 2021}}
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[[File:Etruscan mural typhon2.jpg|thumb|Etruscan mural of [[Typhon]], from [[Tarquinia]]]]
[[File:Villa Giulia ricostruzione del tempio etrusco 03.JPG|thumb|Reconstruction of an [[Etruscan architecture#Temples|Etruscan temple]], Museo di Villa Giulia, Rome, which is heavily influenced by studies of the Temple of Apollo at [[Portonaccio (Veio)]]]]

'''Etruscan religion''' comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and [[religious]] practices of the [[Etruscan civilization]], heavily influenced by the mythology of [[ancient Greece]], and sharing similarities with concurrent [[Roman mythology]] and [[Religion in ancient Rome|religion]]. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into the [[Roman Republic]] from the 4th century BC, the Etruscan [[religion]] and [[mythology]] were partially incorporated into [[ancient Roman culture]], following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to the [[Villanovan culture]].<ref name=degrummond2006>{{cite book |last1= Thomson de Grummond |first1= Nancy|author-link1=Nancy Thomson de Grummond |last2=Simon |first2=Erika |author-link2= Erika Simon |year=2006 |title= The Religion of the Etruscans |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn= 0-292-70687-1}}</ref>

==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>

==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''.

==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.

== Women in Etruscan religion ==
Women in Ancient Etruria enjoyed more social liberties than their Roman counterparts until the Roman absorption of Etruria and the consequential assimilation into it. For example, the husband and wife often stood alongside each other in representations, and women were portrayed on sarcophagi in the same ceremonial feasts that men were.<ref name=":2">{{cite thesis |last=Fraccaro |first=Elizabeth |date= |title=Social and Cultural Significance of Etruscan Female Anatomical Votives |url=https://www.academia.edu/15743427 |degree=PhD |chapter= |publisher=UCL Institute of Archaeology |docket= |oclc= |access-date=29 November 2023 |archive-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205152649/https://www.academia.edu/15743427/Social_and_Cultural_Significance_of_Etruscan_Female_Anatomical_Votives |url-status=live }}</ref> Etruscan women also participated in an array of religious activities, which can be observed through archaeological evidence of votive offerings, ceremonial textile production, and iconography found in Etruscan burials.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jannot |first=Jean-René |title=Religion in Ancient Etruria |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-299-20840-0}}</ref>

=== Worship ===
Votive evidence for Etruscan worship is rich and provides insight into how women worshipped deities in Etruria. Women's [[votive offering]]s included terracotta or bronze statuettes, items related to textile production, such as spindle whorls or spools, or anatomical votives. <ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Edlund-Berry |first1=Ingrid EM |url=https://www.academia.edu/27943541 |title=Women in Antiquity |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-80836-2 |editor1-last=Budin |editor1-first=Stephanie Lynn |location=New York, NY |pages=830–843 |chapter=Ch. 58: To Give and To Receive: The role of women in Etruscan sanctuaries |access-date=29 November 2023 |editor2-last=MacIntosh Turfa |editor2-first=Jean |via=[[Academia.edu]] |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208020046/https://www.academia.edu/27943541/Women_In_Antiquity_Real_Woman_Across_the_Ancient_World |url-status=live }}</ref>

An inscribed bronze statue base dating to the Archaic period (525-500 BCE) was excavated at Campo della Fiera in [[Orvieto]], Italy, and provides evidence of an affluent woman's offering to a deity. The statue's inscription reads that it is a dedication to a deity, or  group of deities, named- Tlusχval, from Kanuta, who may be a freedwoman based on the inscription's use of the noun ''lauteniθa'', although it is hard to say for certain.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Rex |title=Etruscan Inscription from Campo della Fiera |url=https://blogs.umass.edu/rwallace/2011/01/28/etruscan-inscription-from-campo-della-fiera/ |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=Rasenna Blog Etruscan Language and Inscriptions |archive-date=4 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231104073658/https://blogs.umass.edu/rwallace/2011/01/28/etruscan-inscription-from-campo-della-fiera/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This inscription confirms that affluent Etruscan women were able to dedicate votives at religious sites freely, showcasing their wealth and testifying to [[Women in Etruscan society|women's social freedoms in ancient Etruria]]. Etruscan sanctuaries also reveal evidence for the dedication of anatomical votives. Models of body parts such as the uterus were often offered to divinities, likely in relation to concerns revolving around childbirth and fertility.<ref name=":2" />

Some scholars suggest there was a link between women's production of textiles/ceremonial textiles and ritual at Etruscan sanctuaries.<ref name=":0" /> Recent excavations at the [[Poggio Colla]] archaeological site near [[Vicchio]], Italy have revealed what may be a link between the location of excavated [[spindle whorl]]s, spools, and ritual activity due to their location. The artifacts were found on the northern sides of the acropolis, near where defensive walls were later built. Scholars have speculated that this may be due to a form of obliteration in which the artifacts were linked to their deposition in a sacred way.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meyers |first1=Gretchen E. |date=2013 |title=Women and the Production of Ceremonial Textiles: A Reevaluation of Ceramic Textile Tools in Etrusco-Italic Sanctuaries |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.117.2.0247 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=117 |issue=2 |pages=247–274 |doi=10.3764/aja.117.2.0247 |jstor=10.3764/aja.117.2.0247 |access-date=29 November 2023 |archive-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205152653/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.117.2.0247 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Priestesses ===
In speculation on the existence of an Etruscan priestess, the ''hatrencu'' is the most widely discussed term in scholarly communities. The term ''hatrencu'' was found in the inscriptions from a tomb in [[Vulci]], a formerly Etruscan town in central Italy.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Haynes |first=Sybille |url= |title=Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History |date=2000 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-0-89236-600-2 |page=286 |language=en}}</ref> 

The tomb is especially significant in that it contains a group of women buried together, which deviates from normal Etruscan burial rituals of men and women. The status of the ''hatrencu'' as an Etruscan priestess is widely debated by scholars. While many scholars assert that due to the abnormal burial conditions and the obscure term usage in the inscription, the ''hatrencu'' represents a priestess, other scholars disagree with these conclusions.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Lundeen |first1=Lesley E. |title=Religion In Republican Italy, In search of the Etruscan priestess: a re-examination of the hatrencu |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor1-last=Schultz |editor1-first=Celia E. |location=New York |pages=34–61 |author1-link=In search of the Etruscan priestess: a re-examination of the hatrencu |editor2-last=Harvey, JR |editor2-first=Paul B.}}</ref> There is also debate on whether the iconography of the tombs points to the women buried being associated with ritual objects, with a [[cista]] in the tomb of a woman named Ramtha as an example, however the female depictions could just as easily be divinities associated with funerary culture.<ref name=":1" />  

The role of the ''hatrencu'' is thought to be similar to that of the Roman college of matrons, which was dedicated to the worship of the goddess [[Mater Matuta]]. Such a comparison underscores the possible ritual and social functions that hatrencu may have held in Etruscan society.<ref name=":3" /> Whether there were female religious specialists such as Etruscan priestess in Etruria, is mainly speculation and is subject to ongoing academic debate. 

==See also==
*''[[Interpretatio graeca]]''
*[[List of Etruscan mythological figures]]
*[[List of Etruscan names for Greek heroes]]
*[[Liber Linteus]]
*[[Daily life of the Etruscans]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite book
 | author-link = Giuliano Bonfante
 | last = Bonfante | first =  Giuliano
 |author2=Bonfante, Larissa |author-link2=Larissa Bonfante 
 | title = The Etruscan Language: an Introduction
 | location = Manchester
 | publisher = University of Manchester Press
 | year = 2002
 | isbn = 0-7190-5540-7
 }}
* {{Cite book | author=Bonnefoy, Yves | title=Roman and European Mythologies | year=1992 | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=0-226-06455-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/romaneuropeanmyt00yves }} Translated by Wendy Doniger, Gerald Honigsblum.
* Gaultier, F. and D. Briquel, eds. (F. Gaultier and D. Briquel, eds., Les Étrusques, le plus religieux des hommes. État de la recherche sur la religion étrusque, Paris, 1997; A. Pfiffig, Religio etrusca, Graz, 1975.) ''Les Étrusques, le plus religieux des hommes. État de la recherche sur la religion étrusque'', Paris.
* {{Cite book |author1=De Grummond |author2=Nancy Thomson | year=2006 | title=Etruscan Mythology, Sacred History and Legend: An Introduction | publisher=University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology | isbn=1-931707-86-3}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Religion of the Etruscans|editor-first=Nancy Thomson|editor-last=De Grummond|editor2-first=Erika|editor2-last=Simon|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin|year=2006|isbn=0-292-70687-1}}
*{{cite book|author=Dennis, George |author-link=George Dennis (explorer) | title=The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria |url=https://archive.org/details/citiesandcemete03denngoog | year=1848 | publisher=John Murray | location=London}} Available in the Gazetteer of Bill Thayer's Website at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Periods/Roman/Archaic/Etruscan/_Texts/DENETR*/home.html]
* Jannot, J.-R. (2005) ''Religion in Ancient Etruria'', trans. J. Whitehead, Madison, WI.
* Johnston, S. I. (ed.) (2004) ''Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide'', Cambridge, MA.
*{{Cite book |last=Pallottino |first=M. |author-link=Massimo Pallottino |translator=Cremina, J |editor=Ridgway, David |title=The Etruscans |edition=Revised and Enlarged |location=Bloomington & London |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1975 |isbn=0-253-32080-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/etruscans0000pall }}
* Pfiffig, A. (1975) ''Religio etrusca'', Graz.
*{{Cite book | author=Richardson, Emeline Hill | author-link=Emeline Hill Richardson | title=The Etruscans: Their Art and Civilization | location=[[Chicago]] | publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] | orig-year=1964 | year=1976 | isbn=0-226-71234-6 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/etruscanstheirar0000rich }}
* {{Cite book| author=Rykwert, Joseph | title=The Idea of a Town: the Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World | year=1988 | publisher=MIT Press | isbn=0-262-68056-4}}
* {{Cite book |author1=Swaddling, Judith |author2=Bonfante, Larissa | title=Etruscan Myths | year=2006 | publisher=University of Texas Press | isbn=0-292-70606-5}}
* ''Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum '' (8 volumes)(ThesCRA), Los Angeles, 2004-2012.
* {{Cite book | author=Thulin, Carl | title=Die Götter des Martianus Capella und der Bronzeleber von Piacenza | year=1906 | publisher=Alfred Töpelmann|language=de}}

==External links==
* {{Cite book |title=Cicero on Divination |first=Marcus Tullius |last=Cicero |author-link=Marcus Tullius Cicero |editor=W.A. Falconer |series=Loeb Classical Library |volume=XX |date=1923 |orig-year=44 BC |publisher=Harvard University Press}}
*{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Divinatione/home.html |author=William P. Thayer |title=Cicero on Divination |year=2008 |website=Lacus Curtius |access-date=25 June 2009 |publisher=University of Chicago}}
* {{Cite web|title=De Divinatione|url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/divinatione.shtml|language=la|first=Marcus Tullius|last=Cicero|author-link=Marcus Tullius Cicero|website=The Latin Library |date=2009 |orig-year=44 BC |access-date=25 June 2009}}

{{Etruscans}}
{{Paganism}}
{{Religion topics|ancient}}
{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Etruscan religion| ]]
[[Category:Etruscan mythology| ]]
[[Category:Roman mythology]]