Myths, mirrors and Etruscan declension patterns

The myths of the Etruscans, like the Greeks and Romans, carried their history, and there are some good stories on the Etruscan mirrors, distributed from Italy and France to the Black Sea (See bilkent.edu.tr, "Second International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities.") The founders of cities, the loves and battles, are all connected to the gods, and many founders, as we shall see in examining a few Etruscan mirrors, were demi-gods. Enabling us to understand a bit more of the Etruscan side of the "history" is a new table: We have added to the Etruscan Phrases Grammar a Table of Declension Patterns as Etruscan _Grammar-2.html. This table allows us to examine Etruscan declension patterns and pronunciation more closely, since the names of historical and mythological characters from mirrors and paintings are incorporated in the table. For instance, the suffixes "ai" and "ei" appear in the name of Helen of Troy (See Divine_Mirror, Script DM) and also the name of Persephine — L. Proserpine, Etr. Phersipnei — (See Etruscan Mural of Hades, Script DH). The suffix "ei" points to another feminine name, Cnei (Cneus, Hecuba). The suffixes used in these names, "ai" and "ei," can be confused with two other Etruscan suffixes: "ia" and "ie." The latter suffixes may possibly refer to genitive cases, masculine gender, whereas "ai"and "ei" may be feminine, as in the name of Helen, spelled in two mirrors as ELENAI and ELENEI.

Both of these would appear to be the same gender: feminine. However, in Script DM we have the name of AECAI, who is pictured as a young man. He is probably Aesacus, the son of Priam, king of Troy, who had prophetic powers and warned against Troy. Born to Priam by his first wife, Arisbe, some say that Aesacus, rather than his sister Cassandra, warned that Paris (Alexander), Priam's son by Hecuba, should be exposed at birth. Hecuba had a dream, that she had borne a firebrand that burned Troy, when she was about to give birth to her second child, Paris. Paris later abducted Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, brother of King Agamemnon of Mycenae. To recover Menelaus' wife the Greeks led by Agamemnon launched 1,000 ships against Troy and destroyed the city. The Trojan War is a popular theme on Etruscan mirrors, as will be seen below. Another name, that of Hades (Etr. ATAI) , carries the "ai" suffix. This suffix appears to be the accusative case, as seen in our Etruscan Grammar.

One of the mirrors contains an image of Peleus carrying winged Thetis. His name is spelled: Pele. From the context of the mirror we can see that his name is either genitive or nominative case, and this too clarifies the abundantly used "e" suffix. Two other mirrors of interest can be discussed here: Script MR, "Thetis with Eris and Minerva," and Script MG, "Judgment of Paris." There are several mirrors with Thetis.

Script MR contains the characters HERCLE (Heracles), MENRFA (Minerva), ERIS (Eris), and THETHIS (Thetis). Because Thetis is in the scene, the story called to mind is the wedding of the sea-numph Thetis to the mortal King Peleus, king of Phthia. Peleus was a son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, and Endeis. The marriage of the mortal to a goddess produced some anxiety and yet the gods were relieved to see the shape changing nymph married off. Catching her was the problem. The Old man of the Sea, Proteus, had informed Peleus that the only way he would be able to capture Thetis would be to hold her down while she was sleeping, and as he held her tightly she became sucessively fire, water, a lioness and a tree, but finally succumbed and consented to be his wife. Thetis and her husband, Peleus, are favorite themes on Etruscan mirrors, together with the story of Helen of Troy and the characters involved in the Trojan War. One character on a mirror, Ajax Telemon, gives us a better feeling for the Etruscan story-telling and their language. The name, Ajax, comes from the Greek word for "eagle." The Etruscan version of the name, EIFAS (CN-1), AIFAS (VA-1), translates the word "eagle" to the Etruscan / Latin word for a bird of omen: avis-is. Many Greek gods and heroes are conveyed in Etruscan mirrors with Etruscan names. The gods and heroes in the "Etruscan Phrases" site that can be confidently identified are as follows. There are many other names in the Etruscan Glossary spreadsheet that will be added to this list as their identities are firmed up. Proper names can be identified using the Declension Table as a guide. Most of the words that have the suffixes, um, em, im, ia, ei, le, er are nouns. This list of fifty gods, goddesses and heros will be appropriately expand into a more complete Etruscan Mythology, as new characters are discovered. There is a common thread to the stories: the Trojan War. Its heroes and gods tend to bleed into another, forming one storyline, all about Helen.

Etruscan Gods & Goddesses

Raia (Rheia, a Titaness, mother of the gods, who married her brother Cronus. Cronus was told that he would be overthrown by one of his children, so he ate all of her children, but Rheia hid her youngest child, Zeus in Crete and fed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes; when Zeus grew to manhood his first wife, Metis, gave Cronus an emetic so that he vomited up his children. Zeus' brothers, Poseidon and Hades, and his sisters, Hestia, Demeter and Hera, overthrew Cronus); Tinia (Zeus, the philandering father of gods and the popular heroes and heroines, Achilles, Heracles and Helen of Troy [1]), Uni (Hera, mother goddess, wife of Zeus, jealous of Zeus' philandering and bitter towards Heracles in particular) Aita (Hades, king of the Underworld whose symbol was wealth); Lerni (This name appears as a region on the Piacenza liver. Lerna is a town south of Argos on the shore of the Gulf of Argolis, believed to be where one enters Hades. The swampy rivers in the region of Lerna supplied Argos with water, thanks to Poseidon's graciousness to Danaüs' daughter Amymone in return for her favors. They were also the haunt of the monster Hydra, which Heracles killed. The supposedly bottomless Alcyonian Lake, in this same region, was claimed by the Argives to be an entrance to Hades. The other entrance to the Underworld was believed to be in Sicily, under Mount Etna which was also the place where Hephaestus worked. Atne (Mt. Etna) and Henna, Henni (Henna, a city of Sicily and a noted site of the goddess Ceres are mentioned in the Etruscan texts.); Phersipnei (Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Hades and ruled with him as the queen of the Underworld; to keep her happy Hades allowed her to be resurrected every Spring to roam the earth for six months);

Script PH: Mural from the Tomb of Orcos with the name of Phersipnei (Persephone), Hades (Aita) and the three-headed giant Geryon (Etr. Cervn) who complains to Hades, that Hercules stole his cattle (Hercules' 10th labor).

Turan (Aphrodite, goddess of erotic love, born of the sea -foam, Gr. "aphros," near Cyprus, from the genitals of the god Uranus; she favored the Trojans and caused the Trojan War by rewarding Paris in The Judgment of Paris with the love of Helen), Apolo, Aplo (Apollo, son of Zeus and the Titaness Leto, god of youth, music, prophecy, archery and healing; he was born with his sister, Artemis, on the island of Delos. At an early age he traveled to Delphi and killed there a huge snake; later a temple was raised at Delphi for him, attended by a Pythia, or prophetess, who delivered his oracles. He supported the Trojans in the Trojan War.); Artumes (Artemis, daughter of Zeus and Leto, goddess of the hunt whose arrow never missed its mark; unusualy jealous over the honors given her, she was offended by Agamemnon and Admetus); Feltune (Poseidon, a god of the sea, of earthquakes, and of horses, may be his equivalent, and Fel tune may represent the words, "great thunder," — i.e., to thunder: L. tono-are; It. tonare; Fr. tonnerre, thunder —, and we see in a mirror Feltune standing, overlooking a haurspex, or augur, as he examines a liver in the presence of Tarkonos [Tarquin]. The Roman version of Poseidon is Neptune [L. Neptunus-i], a name curiously similar to Feltune.);

Hercle (Heracles, a hero involved in many Etruscan myths; son of Zeus and Alcmene, he was hated by Hera who attempted to prevent his birth and then, after Hera had been tricked by Alcmene's nursemaid, she put snakes in Heracle's crib; he had to perform 10-12 labors for Eurystheus, often facing hardship during them which was caused by jealous Hera; Zeus tricked Hera one day, causing her to suckle the babe Heracles while she was sleeping – the milk spilled and caused the Milky Way. An Etruscan mirror shows Heracles suckling at the breast of Hera as an adult! In the mirror, Tinia (Zeus) holds a writing tablet describing the odd situation; Atle (Atlas, a son of the Titan Iapetus by the Oceanid Clymene or by Asia, was the father of the Oceanid Pleïone, by Calypso, of the Pleiades, and some say, of the Hyades. His name is related to the Greek word "to bear," and is known as the divine giant that stood near the Pillars of Hercules holding up the world. While on the way to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides, Heracles came across Atlas holding up the world. Atlas offered to fetch the apples for Heracles provided he held up the world for him. Heracles took the world on his shoulder while Atlas went on his mission. Atlas came back with the apples and suggested that he could deliver the apples to Eurystheus himself. Heracles saw that he was being conned and realized that he had to trick Atlas into taking the burden back on his shoulders, otherwise he would be stuck with the job. So Heracles asked Atlas to hold the earth while he put a cloth on his head to soften the weight of the world on his head. Atlas felt that he could at least do this for his friend and took over the weight. Heracles bade him goodby.);

Semle (Semele, daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes and Harmonia; mother of Dionysus by Zeus; jealous Hera got Hermes to kidnap Semele's six-month-old child from the womb and he sewed the child in Zeus' thigh); Euple (Euippe, also called Athamas, was a king of Orchomenus, son of the powerful king Aeolus. For all of his prestige Athamas was one of the most unlucky men who ever lived. His troubles began with his decision to take a second wife while his first, Nephele, still lived. Athamas brought Ino, one of Cadmus' daughters, from Thebes and installed her in his palace. She bore him two sons, Learchus and Melicertes, but could not rest content while Nephele's children, Phrixus and Helle, lived, presumably because Phrixus might be expected to succed his father as king. Phrixus and Helle were saved from Ino's plot when a miraculus ram appeared where they were about to be sacrificed and they climbed on its back. The ram with the golden fleece flew off. Helle fell off the ram, however, as it crossed over the Hellespont, but Phrixus continued riding the ram until it came to rest in Colchis. Later, Jason, a grandson of Aeolus, led the Argonauts to Colchis to steal the golden fleece. After the ram died, the king of Colchis, Aeëtes, had placed the pelt in a tree in a sacred grove, guarded by a dragon. Jason was able to kill the monster and steal the fleece through the help of the king's daughter, Medea, who was a sorceress.); Fufluns (a name of Dionysus, the god of wine and vegetation); Efan (Euan, another name of Dionysus — The Romans called him Bacchus and Euan);

Atunis (Adonis, a vegetation god that died too young; the red anemone sprouted from the spot where his blood was spilled and he was worshipped in "gardens of Adonis." He is similar to the Sumero-Akkadian god of rebirth, Tammuz or Dimuzzi. There are two versions of the love affair between Aphrodite and Adonis. One version has her turning the child over to Persephone for safe keeping in Hades, because he was so beautiful. Persephone refused to give the boy up, and a judgment was called where Zeus may have had the Muse Calliope arbitrate the matter. She assigned half of the boy's time to each goddess, and Aphrodite was so furious over the ruling she caused the death of Calliope's son, Orpheus. The other version says that when Aphrodite saw Adonis for the first time he was already a handsome youth. She fell in love with him and spent much time with him. He loved to hunt and ignored her pleas to chase only small game. As a consequence he was killed by a boar. Aphrodite grieved for him inconsolably and caused the blood-red anemone to sprout from his blood.); Mehar or Snenar (Myrrha, mother of Adonis. Although Adonis in the Catalogues of Women is said to be the son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea, or according to Apollodorus, Adonis is a son of Cinyras, king of Paphos, in Cyprus, and Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, the usual tradition is that he is the son of the incestuous union of Cinyras or Theias, king of Assyria, with his daughter, named Myrrha or Smyrna [Gr. smyrna = myrrh]. For not giving honor to Aphrodite, Myrrha was punished by the goddess with an uncomfortable love for her father. Myrrha satisfied her desire with the help of her nurse and became pregnant. When the father learned what had happened, he pursued the girl with a sword. The gods changed her into a myrrh tree, which split open in due course, revealing the infant Adonis inside.); Snenar / Snenao or Snenath (Goddess unknown, seen in Script DR. She holds a wand and unguent bottle like the goddess Lasa and is associated with the lovers Atunis and Turan. She may be Myrrha. See Script DR and DO for Atunis and Snenar, and DS for Atunis and Lasa); Tul Thieth (Theias, king of Assyria, husband of Myrrha and father of Adonis);

Ikra (Icarius, the first disciple of Dionysus who set off in a wagon filled with wineskins, with his faithful dog Maera, to spread the gospel of wine-making. He first met up with shepherds who, being drunk from the wine because they drank it unwatered, thought he had tried to poison them. They bludgeoned him to death with clubs and buried him. His daughter, Erigone, looked everywhere for him and finally went to the place where she heard the wailing dog and saw her dead father's grave. In grief she hanged herself from the tree that grew over his grave. His faithful dog Maera jumped into a well in grief. Ever since then, in remembrance of the tragedy, a festival was held each year in Athens where the young girls were placed in swings in trees where they would swing to the accompaniment of flutes and panpipes); Oso (Mt. Ossa in North Magnesia. This name appears on the "Icarius Mirror" which depicts Icarius driving a chariot pulled by two Centaurs. The home of the Centaurs is on Mt. Ossa. Ossa was one of the three mountains that Otus and Ephialtes piled up when they attempted to storm heaven. The Centaurs, descended from Centaurus, a son of Apollo, and of Stilbe or of Ixion and the cloud that Zeus substituted for Hera in Ixion's bed. The tribe of Centaurs are principally known for their famous battle with the Lapiths, another Thessalian mountain tribe. The conflict began when Peirithoüs, a Lapith king, inherited the rule of a pat of Thessaly from his father, Ixion. The Centaurs, who were also Ixion's sons (or grandsons), claimed a share in the rule. War ensued, but a peace was arranged. Later Peirithoüs invited the Centaurs to his wedding. Unused to wine, they became violent and, led by Eurytion, tried to carry off the Lapith women. The result was a bloody battle, which ended with the Centaurs being drived out of the region by the Lapiths. Heracles encountered the Centaurs in western Arcadia. He was being entertained by Pholus, a civilized member of the tribe, when the other Centaurs, aroused by the odor of wine, broke up the feast. Heracles killed many of them and drove away the others. Nessus ended up in Aetolia, where he ultimately took revenge uupon Heracles. Among many incidents, Heracles inadvertently caused the death of the wise Centaur, Cheiron, the king of the Centaurs who had reared Jason and Achilles.

Urthea (Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen, married to Aegeus, king of Athens, mother of Theseus by Zeus; abducted by Helen's brothers, "the Dioscuri" and given to Helen as a slave; she accompanied Helen when she was abducted by Paris and taken to Troy), These (Theseus, king of Athens, son of Aethra and the sea-god Poseidon, hero who wanted to be as great as Heracles: He killed the Minotaur that was fed the flesh of Athenian children in the Labyrinth of king Minos of Crete; he abducted Helen with his friend, Peirithoüs, when she was a child but released her, then the two went down into the Underworld to abduct Persephone where both were frozen in their stone seats called the "seats of forgetfulness"; Theseus was later rescued by Heracles who entered the Underworld to capture the three-headed dog, Cerberus; he accompanied the Argonauts, he was on the Calydonian Boar Hunt, and he accompanied Heracles in the War against the Amazons; and he was part of the Embassy to Achilles to persuade him to get back in the battle in the Trojan War);

Turms (Hermes, messenger of the gods, was the son of Maia, a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone, and a nymph that was visited in the night by Zeus whilst Hera was sleeping. He was precocious and a trickster even in the crib, noted for having left his crib one night and stole 50 head of cattle belonging to Apollo); Mean (another name for Artemis, the huntress), Maris (Ares, the only son of Zeus and Hera, the god of war, lover of Aphrodite; he opposed Athena in the Trojan War and was wounded by Diomedes and later flattened by Athena), Menrfa (Athena, goddess of crafts and war, born from the first wife of Zeus, Metis. Fearing a prophesy that his son would overpower him (Zeus had overthrown his own father) Zeus swallowed the pregnant Metis, but began to repent it and asked either the Titan Prometheus or craftsman-god Hephaestus to extricate him from the predicament. One or the other took an axe and split open his head and out jumped Athena, dressed in full armor. She, with Hera, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan war. Hephaestus made the prized armor of Achilles, over which Ajax committed suicide.);

Achmemnun (Agamemnon, king of Mycenae who commanded the 1,000 ship army that invaded Troy; who offended Artemis by claiming to be equal to her in archery; she required him to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia); Menle (Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen of Troy and king of Sparta); Cluthumustha (Clytemnestra, wife of King Agamemnon, daughter of Tyndareüs, king of Sparta, and Leda; and she was the sister of Helen of Troy. She bore several children to Agamemnon: Iphigeneia, Electra (Laodice), Chrysothemis, and Orestes. Agamemnon deceived her into sending Iphigeneia to Aulis, on the pretext of marrying her to Achilles; in reality he was preparing to sacrifice her to Artemis [Agamemnon had offended Artemis by boasting that he was a better archer than she, so she asked him to sacrifice his beloved daughter to make things right]. When Clytemnestra discoverd this treachery she conceived a great hatred for her husband and plotted with her lover, Aegisthus, to kill him on his return from the Trojan War. When Agamemnon returned, accompanied with his new concubine, Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, the two lovers killed him in his bath and Clytemnestra, herself, is reported to have killed Cassandra. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra had two children, Erigone and Aletees.

Orestes had been sent away as a child to Phocis by his sister Electra. There he was raised by Strophius, who had married Agamemnon's sister, Anaxibia or Astyoche. Orestes and Strophius' son, Pylades, became loyal friends, and Pylades accompanied Orestes in nearly all his subsequent adventures. Eight years after his escape from Argos, Orestes, now a young man, went to Delphi to ask of the oracle what it was his duty to do about his father's murderers, who were prospering in Agamemnon's palace. Apollo commanded him to kill them both. With many misgivings Orestes journeyed to Argos with Pylades and there made himself known to Electra, whom Aegisthus had married to a commoner or otherwise humiliated. Urged on by Electra, Orestes killed Clytemnestra and her lover.); Orste and Orosthe (Orestes, son of Agamemnon who killed his mother Clytemnestra over her adultry), Elchsuntre, Elchintre, Elachsntre (Alexander, Paris, prince of Troy, the second son of Priam, king of Troy and Hecuba. Alexander — whose name means, "defender of men," — had an inauspicious birth. His mother had a disturbing nightmare that she had given birth to a firebrand and her daughter, Cassandra, a soothsayer, warned that the child to be born would be the destruction of Troy. After the child was born he was exposed, then given to be killed to a shepherd on Mount Ida. Instead of killing him, the shepherd raised the child. When he reached adulthood Cassandra recognized him and he was welcomd back into the family. He was considered to be the handsomest man on earth and was selected as Zeus to judge who was the most beautiful of the goddesses, Hera, Athena or Aphrodite. Aphrodite was given the prize in exchange for the promise that she would deliver the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Fulfilling her promise, Aphrodite caused Paris to fall in love with the beautiful Helen, queen of Sparta, when he was a guest at the castle of Menelaus and Helen, in Sparta. Menelaus had to leave for Crete to attend his father's funeral, leaving his beautiful wife alone with Paris. Paris and Helen got together, fell in love, and he carried her and Menelaus' treasure off to Troy. Alexander the Great popularized the name, with many cities in the ancient world, such as Alexandria, Egypt, named after him. Kandahar, Afghanistan, is another "Alexandria" founded by his army. Modern Iran has a Russian-made (2004) missile, Iskander, named after Alexander, such are the variants in the spelling of the name.); Ralna, or Thalna (Nemesis, goddess of retribution, mother of Helen of Troy by Zeus; she changed into a goose trying to evade Zeus, Zeus changed into a swan and, aided by Aphrodite, he raped Nemesis. The egg produced by the goose hatched into Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world); Latfa (Leda, mortal mother of Helen of Troy, wife of Tyndareüs), Tuntle, Tuntles (Tyndareüs, king of Sparta, mortal father of Helen who is shown in Etruscan mirrors holding or receiving the egg that contained Helen); Elinei and Elinai (Helen of Troy, daughter of Zeus and Nemesis, raised by Leda and Tyndareüs of Sparta);

Amphiare, Hamphiare (Amphiaraüs, Argive warrior and greatest seer of his day; in Script DC he is involved in a scene with Ajax who seems to be lamenting the loss of Achilles armor and contemplating suicide. Although the seer is not described in the Greek myths involving Ajax, the reputation of Amphiaraüs being a great seer and officiating at funerals may apply here.); Tute (Tydeus, on of the Seven Against Thebes, married king Adrastus' daughter, Deïpyle); Atrste (Adrastus, king of Argos and leader of the Seven Against Thebes, driven from his throne in a feud with Amphiaraüs); Meliaphr (Meleager was a son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea, daughter of Thestius. Immediately after the birth of the infant Meleager, the three Fates appeared in the mother's room. Clotho and Lachesis predicted that the child would be noble and brave, but Atropos, pointing to a stick burning in the fireplace, added that he would die the moment the brand was consumed. Althaea leaped from her bed, put out the flames, and hid the stick somewhere in the palace. He participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt and is credited with having killed the boar that had been terrorizing his father's land. But a quarrel broke out between the Calydonians and their arch enemies over the prize from the hunt, and Meleager killed Thestius' sons, his mother's brothers. His mother cursed him and remembered the brand that the Fates had said was the key to Meleager's life. She took it from its hiding place and flung it into the fire.); Atlenta (Atalanta, the virgin huntress, gained fame from the Calydonian Boar Hunt. She was the daughter of either Iasus, king of Tegea, or Maenalus, by Clymene, daughter of Minyas. Her father could also have been Schoeneus, a son of Athamas. Wanting only sons, Atalanta's father exposed his infant daughter in a forest, but she was suckled by a bear and eventually found by hunters who brought her up. Atalanta grew to adulthood loving the hunt above all other things and wished to remain a virgin in oarder that she might continue to enjoy the sport. Some say that an oracle warned that disaster would result if she married. She participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt together with some of the most famous men of her age. Her participation led to the death of some of the men, including the sons of Thestius and perhaps also of Meleager, who had falled in love with Atalanta.); Athrpa (Atropos, one of the three Fates. Clotho and Lachesis predicted that the child Meleager would be noble and brave, but Atropos, pointing to a stick burning in the fireplace, added that he would die the moment the brand was consumed.);

Eifas Telmonos, or Aifas (Ajax Telemonos, hero of Troy who committed suicide), Thethis (Thetis, a sea-nymph, daughter of Nereis. She was the mother of Achilles, the sulking hero of Troy who was killed by an arrow shot by Paris); Pele (Peleus, son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, and Endeïs, was the husband of Thetis and father of Achilles. He was a never-do-well in his youth, who, with his brother, Telemon, thought to kill their half-brother, Phocus. He wandered in exile and finally returned to Phthia where he became king. In the mean time Zeus had fallen in love with Thetis — who had been raised by Hera — and this, of course, encouraged Hera's wrath. The sea-nymph was a bit of trouble to both of them. Zeus had been warned that the child of Thetis would be greater than his father, so they decided they would pawn her off on a mortal. There was a problem with Thetis, however, since she changed shape. Zeus and Hera advised Peleus that he could probably win her — who would be unwilling to wed — if he would catch her when she was sleeping and hold her down. He caught her in her cave, and held her tightly while she was asleep. While holding her firmly she changed into fire, water, a lioness and a tree. After she succumbed to the idea of marriage, they invited all of the gods to their wedding. They did not invite Eris, the goddess of discord, and thus caused the discord that caused the Trojan War.); Achle (Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis — hero of the Trojan War who at first sulked over the death of his friend Patroclus and killed the Trojan hero Hector), Eris, (Eres, goddess of discord who caused the Trojan War by throwing a golden apple inscribed with the words, "for the fairest" in the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. Hera, Aphrodite and Athena fought over who should receive the apple);

Aeitheon (Jason was the son of Aeson, half-brother to Pelias, king of Iolcus. Pelias and his twin, Neleus, had been exposed at birth and a horse herder accidentally discovered them, but a mare had trampled on Pelias' face, leaving a livid mark (pelios). When grown, Pelias revealed his violent nature by killing the stepmother of his mother, who was Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus and the god Poseidon. Pelias became one of the most powerful Greek kings of his day, but a prediction by the Delphic oracle came to his attention, that an Aeolid wearing one sandal would one day bring about his death.

The prophesy came true the day Jason returned to claim the throne of Iolcus. In crossing a stream on the way to the city he lost a sandal, and went on without it. The king was not present in the city when Jason entered it, but an official of the city heard the young man who was missing a sandal declaring his right to the throne, and he reported his sighting to King Pelias. Pelias recognized the boy and tricked him into going to Colchis to recover the Golden Fleece — which Pelias believed would be Jason's last voyage. While Jason was gone on his adventure with the Argonauts Pelias killed Jason's father, Aeson, and his brother Promachus, a mere boy. Aeson's wife committed suicide.

Pelias had from an early date offended Hera, in refusing to sacrifice to her, so Hera had taken sides with Jason, greeting him at the stream where he lost his sandal, and she contrived a complex plan of revenge against Pelias: to cause Jason to abduct the sorceress, Medea, who was the daughter of the king of Colchis where the Golden Fleece was kept. Hera caused Medea to fall in love with Jason, and Medea continued to be the main help for Jason, to kill the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and to deliver the poison that would take Pelias' life. After Pelias was killed Jason and Medea took the throne of Iolcus and then went to Corinth to claim the throne there that had been in Medea's inheritance (Her father, Aeëtes, had been king of Corinth before he took the throne of Colchis). There presence in Corinth was not well received by the Corinthians.);

Alcsti, (Alcestis, daughter of king Pelias, wife of Admetus who was willing to die to save his life and then resurrected, either through the hand of Heracles or Persephone. Admetus had offended Artemis by not performing the proper rites honoring her at his wedding. She put snakes in his bed in revenge and he fell deathly ill. Pressed to save the repentent young man's life, Artemis consented that his life could be saved if someone were to die in his stead. Admetus asked his old parents if they might be willing to give their life for him. They declined, but his lovely wife, Alcestis, was willing to give her life up so that he could live.); Atmite (Admetus, king of Pherae, husband of Alcestis; he offended Artemis during his wedding night); Pheris (Pheris, father of Admetus who refused to give his life for his son); Chalchas (Calchas, seer who fortold the Trojan War), Charon (Charon, ferryman of Hades who hit souls on the head when they reached the Underworld, to make sure they were dead), Himrae (Hemera, goddess of the day; when she leaves the goddess of the night, Nyx, enters and she often spells doom), Tuchulcha (The Gorgons may be a form of this demon. Tuchulcha threated souls entering Hades with the three snakes that grew out of his head); Eos (Eos, goddess of the dawn, also called Aurora by the Romans, with her brother and sister, Helius[sun] and Selene [moon]), was a child of the Titans Hyperion or Pallas and Theia or Euryphaëssa. She personified the day and was thought to accompany Helius on his journey through the sky. She is often seen at the top of Etruscan mirrors, driving her four horsed chariot. This is to be expected, since everyone uses a mirror and more often than not the mirror is used in the morning as a person grooms for the coming day. Women comb their hair and put on makeup, and men shave or trim their beards. A mirror is, of course, no good at night and thus would represent the dawning day. Those of you who review the Rig Veda, quoted somewhat in the Banquet.html, will find that the goddess of the dawn held an important place in the worship of the early Aryans of India. Many verses are dedicated to her. The reason for this is due to the fact that their first and foremost worship service was held at dawn, when the worshippers prepared a special feast for the gods to attend, including Indra, who was the hero that defeated the dragon in the mountains. In the ceremony horses and other animals were sacrificed and vats of a liquor called Soma — made out of the marijuana plant — were offered to the gods who were bid to the feast, along with those in attendance. The early Persians had a similar practice, described in the Avesta, and they shared similar gods. Their god, Mithra, was the same as the Aryan god Mitra. Mithra was a member of the ahuric triad who maintained order in the universe and in his capacity he was the protector of truth and justice and the source of cosmic light. Because of the antiquity of this character, his equivalent ought to be somewhere in the Etruscan mythology. In the course of time, as with the Greek gods, their were wars in heaven and gods, like Cronus, were overturned. Saturn, Zeus, Cronos, etc. in Greek mythology attempted to consume their own children. The same battles, the overturning of gods, appear in the verses of the Rig Veda. The same contests between the sons of light and the sons of darkness also come into play and appear to be strong themes in the Etruscan presentations. The murals in Etruscan tombs are quite grim in some cases and one might wonder who on earth would want to be buried in a tomb with Tuchulcha or Typhon painted on the wall. In contrast to the grim murals from the Etruscan tombs, we have Etruscan mirrors portraying with the dawn the glory and loves of the day. Of interest is a phrase used several times in the Tavola Eugubine that refers to Eos and Phaebeto (See Etruscan Glossary spreadsheet for locations of the epithets), dawn and the sun god, perhaps Apollo?); Tages (no Greek equivalent) was a god of boundaries who appeared in a field one day as a child with a full, grey beard. He set the boundaries of the Etruscan cities.);

Pherse (Perseus was a king of Mycenae and Tiryns. His mother, Danaë, bore him in a brazen cell in which her father, Acrisious, king of Argos, had imprisoned her on learning from an oracle that a son of Danaë would kill him. Although Danaë claimed that Perseus was a son of Zeus, who had visited her as a shower of gold, Acrisius set mother and child adrift in a chest. Zeus saw to it that the chest containing Perseus floated safely across the sea to the island of Seriphus, where it was found by a kindly fisherman, Dictys., who took them in and raised the youth to adulthood. One day King Polydectes, Dictys' lustful brother, saw Danaë and wanted to marry her, but she was unwilling and the king did not dare to oppose Perseus, who defended his mother's decision. He therefore falsely announced that he intended to sue for the hand of Hippodameia, daughter of the Pisan king Oenomaüs, and required all of his subjects to contribute horses toward the bride-gift. Perseus, who owned no horses, rashly promised to bring anything else that the king might ask, even to the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Polydectes eagerly accepted this offer, knowing that no man had ever returned alive from an encounter with the Gorgons. The Gorgons were an invincible foe for an ordinary mortal: on foot he could not get near them; to esacpe after battle would be impossible, for they would follow on golden wings. To kill Medusa one would need to attack invisibly and then flee faster than her sisters could fly. Moreover, anyone who glimpsed a Gorgon's face would instantly be turned to stone. But Perseus had the help of Athena, who had her own reasons for killing Medusa. She appeared to him and explained how to proceed against the Gorgons. Their hair was surrounded with the petrified forms of men and animals that had looked at the Gorgons' faces. Perseus avoided this danger by keeping his eyes on the highly polished surface of his shield, in which the scene was clearly but safely reflected. Invisible, he soon found the Gorgons, hideous monsters with hands of brass and wings of gold; huge tongues lolled from their mouths between swine's tusks, and their heads were entwined with snakes. Perseus waited until they were asleep; then, avoiding the two immortal Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, he crept toward Medusa. Watching her in his shield, he cut off her head with a single blow of the sikcle, stuffed it into the wallet, and felw off. The other Gorgons rose into the air, but, unable to pursue an invisible attacker, they returned to mourn their sister.); Metus (Medusa was one of the three snaky-haired monsters known as the Gorgons. Medusa, unlike her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, was not immortal. In late versions of the myth, she is said to have once been a beautiful maiden. Pursued by many suitors she would have none of them, until Poseidon lay with her in a flowery field. She incurred the enmity of Athena, either because the goddess envied her beauty or because Medusa had yielded to Poseidon in Athena's shrine. In any case, the goddess turned Medusa's lovely hair into serpents and made her face so hideous that a glimpse of it would turn men to stone. Having snatched away the head of Medusa, Perseus happened by Atlas who was king of the Hesperides and also was holding up the world. He also was guardian of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides and feared that Perseus might attempt to snatch them too. He had been told by the goddess Themis that a son of Zeus would attempt to steal them one day. The two began to wrestle but Perseus knew he would be no match for the Titan, so he drew the head of Medusa out of its pouch and showed it to Atlas. Atlas was instantly turned into a mountain, known today as Mount Atlas.);

Cerun, (Geryon, king of Cadez whose cattle Heracles raided as part of his 12 labors. In script PH we see Geryon standing before Hades, complaining to him about the theft of his cattle by Heracles. This is important to recognize, since one might have thought that he would have appealed to Zeus, king of heaven. But Hades was also the god of wealth, so it would follow that his appeal in the Etruscan view of things would be to Hades. The Romans called Hades by the name Pluto, meaning wealth. Cernnunos, the Gaelic horned god, is pictured with coins and a cornucopia, and it may be that the Celts appealed to Cernnunos in issues involving cattle raids, etc., just as Geryon did in the Etruscan mural before Hades.); Nike (Nike, Greek goddess of victory. Nike, though called a daughter of Pallas and Styx, was more a symbol than a mythological character. Like her brothers, Cratus [Strength] Boa [Force] and Zelus [Emulation], she was a constant companion or atribute of Zeus.); Tarkonos (Tarquin, king of Rome) and Tarkie (the Tarquins), Tankuilos (Tanaquil, Etruscan queen, wife of Tarquin the Elder, 5th king of Rome).

To help you appreciate this work observe "The Battle of the Greeks and Amazons" from a sarcophagus from Tarquinia, now in the Archeological museum in Florence: There were two major mythological battles of the Amazons. The earlier involved a battle with Priam, king of Troy, in his youth. A later battle took place when the Amazons invaded Attica (Athens). "The Battle of the Greeks and Amazons" seems to have been misnamed as the text appears to relate to the abduction of Hecuba, the wife of King Priam of Troy, following the destruction of Troy by Agamemnon's Greek alies. To view more murals and paintings click on the panel below: