5.02.12 Etruscan Phrases showing Etruscan conjugation and declension patterns and vocabulary.

Script GA - This inscription dating from the 2nd to 1st c. B.C., was discovered in a tomb of the necropolis of Gouraya, ancient Gunugu, 150 km west from Algiers on the Mediterranean coast, in modern Algeria. It was written on a small bronze disk, 7 cm in diameter, and was recorded by specialists in African antiquities StéphaneGsell in1906, PierreWuillemier in1928, Marcel Le Glay in1956, Jehan Desanges in1980 and was not noticed by specialists of ancient Etruria. It is located in the Musée National des Antiquités of Algiers. The script has been translated as "Pumpun Larthal" interpreted to mean, "Pumpun, son of Larth."

The disk is significant because it testifies to trade between Punic Africa and Etruria. Abundant pottery of the so-called Campana B ware of the 2nd to 1st c. B.C., apparently produced in Etruria, were also found in the Acropolis. Another script, the gold tablets of Pyrgi, written in Punic and Etruscan, testifies to the links between the Etruscans and Phonecians / Carthaginians. ["A neglected Etruscan inscription," by Dominique Briquel, Etruscan News, Newsletter of the American Section of the Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies, Winter 2006]

The script reads as follows, following the "Etruscan Phrases" Glossary:

GA-1 IOMPON or IOM PON (IVM PVN) [Translation: name, Iom, possibly Ion (L. Io, Ion -us, an Argive girl loved by Jupiter and changed into a cow) PVN, the Carthaginian (L. puniceus-a-um, Punic, Carthaginian; L. Poeni-orum, the Carthaginians; sing. Poenus-i); See also PONIG (PVNIb) Tavola Eugubine, N160. ]

GA-2 LAR RAL [Translation: of the houshould godess (L. Lar, laris) Ral. RAL, RALNA, a consort of the god Tinia, is the mother of Helen of Troy, as seen in the Divine_Mirror.html, Script DM and LAR RAL is also in the Perugia Cippus, K59]

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Script MR - Etruscan mirror in the Musée Royale de Mariemont, Belgium (Image from http://bcs.fltr.ucl.ac.be/FE/02/Miroirs.html). The names on the mirror are the following:

MR-1 HERCLE (Hercules) - Hercules, Heracles is a popular character on Etruscan Mirrors, found in the Divine_Mirror.html Script DM, and the Volterra mirror, Uni Suckling Heracles.html, Script AH.

MR-2 MENRFA - Minerva, goddess of wisdom and patroness of arts and sceinces (L. Minerva-ae; Gr. Athena). She appears on several mirrors and perhaps on the Magliano Disk, Script M13. There are variant spellings of her name: MANRIFA, M13, MANFRA?, Mirror #696, British Museum, and the Oberlin University Museum, _ _NRFA, Script OB-1 (See the Divine_Mirror.html; Script OB, Etruscan (Corneto or Tarquinia) Hand Mirror with the Judgment of Paris, ca. 300 - 150 B.C. Oberlin University, Allen Memorial Art Museum.

MR-3 ERIS - Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife (L. Discordia-ae). Note the Greek spelling of her name on this mirror. This mirror is believed to be of three Greek goddesses, Eris, Athena (L. Minerva) and Thetis, the Neried (sea nymph) impregnated by Zeus, mother of the hero Achilles. The spelling of Thetis on this mirror is unusual.

MR-4 THETHIS (EIS) - Normally this would be read as RERIS ( the "O" = "R") assuming the transliteration is as shown in this image. For images from Greek vases of Thetis and a background on her see http://www.fjkluth.com/thetis.html. She is normally shown with a crown with prongs or leaves (the trident symbol?), a shell and rides on a hippocampus (sea serpent with a horses head, popular in Etruscan tombs and on Phoenician coins). She delivered the shield and armor to her son, Achilles, during the Trojan War, flying from the forge of Hephaestus under Mt. Aetna to Troy. Earlier Thetis had saved Hephaestus when Hera threw him out of Heaven after she bore him. He was lame and disgusted his mother. Hephaestus was married to the Grace Aglaea or Aphrodite.

The Etruscan "TH" had a dot within a circle "target," following the Greek character, theta. This transcription does not show the target, but a closer examination of the original mirror may clear up this discrepancy. Notethe distinct form of the Etruscan "theta" in the name of These (Theseus) as he is being tormented by Tuchulcha in Hades. Not shown in the image is the name TVKVLKA above the demon's head.

Unlike Minerva and Eris, Thetis is shown here with wings. Thetis was a shape changer and did fly, so the wings are appropriate in this image. If this is Thetis, the mirror is recalling the story of Thetis' wedding and the cause of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is a popular theme on the Etruscan mirrors.

Eris, the goddess of discord, is a little more than a personification of strife, except in the familiar tale of the golden apple. Because of her disagreeable nature she was the only one of the gods not to receive an invitation to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. She came anyway and was refused admittance. Furious, she threw a golden apple, inscribed "For the fairest," among the guests. Three goddesses claimed it and Paris was asked to judge among them. The ultimate result was the Trojan War.*

The judgment of Paris (See Script OB on the Divine_Mirror.html) involved Aphrodite (L. Venus, Etr. Turan), Hera (L. Juno, Etr. Uni), Athena (L. Minerva) and Alexander / Paris (L. Alexander-dri, Etr. varied spellings: ELCHINTRE, DM-6, and ELACHSNTRE, OB-4).

Hera, the sister of Zeus and his favorite wife, was the mother of Ares (L. Mars, Martis [old form Mavors]), Hebe and Eileithya. Zeus produced a daughter, Athena, but not by Hera, who was born out of his head or hip. Hera became jealous over Athena and Zeus' affairs with six other goddesses made the problem worse. One of the affairs involved Thetis, but Hera was the personification of jealousy and spent much of her time persecuting her husband's mistresses and their children. One of these children persecuted by Hera was Heracles, pursuing him from the crib all his life, even through his 12 labors. Heracles' mother was married to Amphtryon, son of Perseus' son Alcaeus. When Amphitryon killed his father-in-law, Electryon, King of Tiryns, he was exiled by Electryon's brother, Stheneleus. Alcmene fled with her husband to Thebes, where they were welcomed by King Creon. She refused, however, to lie with her husband until he had avenged the murder of her brothers by Taphian pirates. While Amphitryon led an expedition against the pirates Zeus disguised himself as Amphitryon and shared Alcmene's bed, when Amphitryon returned home she was somewhat aloof and thought it odd that he was telling her the tales from the expedition which she had heard the night before (from Zeus). The seer Teresias cleared up the matter and everyone anxiously awaited the birth, including Hera. She had long suffered from her husband's philandering, and her implacable hostility toward the sons that Zeus had fathered on mortal women was notorious (Thetis' son Achilles was by Zeus). Nine months after his visit to Alcmene, Zeus boasted before the other gods on Olympus that on that day a son would be born of his lineage who would rule over all the land about him. Hera, pretending not to believe her husband, made him swear that it would be as he had declared. Zeus had no sooner made his unwary vow than Hera sent Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to delay the hour of Alcmene's delivery at Thebes. She herself saw to it that a son was born immediately at Tiryns to the wife of Stheneleus, who had usurped the throne that should have belonged to Amphitryon. As a grandson of Zeus' son Perseus, this boy, Eurystheus, was guaranteed by Zeus' vow the rule of Tiryns and Mycennae. Zeus was furious at Hera, but could not revoke his oath.

Alcmene, meanwhile, might have died in childbirth if one of her attendants, Galanthis, had not found a way to trick Eileithyia. The goddess was sitting outside Alcmene's bedroom with legs and fingers tightly crossed as a charm to hold back the delivery. Galanthis rushed from the room crying out joyfully that the child was born. The startled goddess, forgetting the charm, leaped up. In that moment Alcmene was delivered, giving birth to twin sons, Alcaeus, or Heracles, and Iphicles. According to Diodorus Siculus (4.91-4.10.1), Alcmene exposed the baby Heracles for fear of Hera's anger. Athena found him and persuaded the unsuspecting Hera to suckle him. Hera did so until he bit her. Other versions of this incident claim that Zeus put the baby to the sleeping Hera's breast. When she awoke, the spilled milk became the Milky Way. Another mirror, the Volterra Mirror, Uni_Suckling_Heracles.html, shows a bearded Heracles suckling at Uni's breast.*

This appears to be the background story behind this curious mirror showing Eris, Minerva (Gr. Athena), Heracles and Thetis together. However, the appearance of Hercules with these women seems out of context and there may be another myth held among the Etruscans that would directly explain the connection. In short, Heracles in this scene seems to include too obtuse of a connection.

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Script MM - Mirror in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Acc. # 21.88.28 (Image from http://bcs.fltr.ucl.ac.be/FE/02/Miroirs.html)

Names on this mirror are interesting. Two of the three male figures are holding up two fingers. The older, bearded man seated in the center of the scene is wearing a cloak with a star pattern on it, suggesting royalty, as in the royal characters of the Divine_Mirror.html, Script DM, such as Agamemnon. He seems to be instructing the two men who are armed, with knives slung on their sides. The one on the left either has a spear or a staff. There are two women standing behind the old man in this scene.

The names on this mirror are probably MENLE (Menelaus), his wife, ELINEI (Helen), ORSTE (Orestes), THETHIS (Thetis) and ACHLE (Achilles). The arrangement of the names on the mirror should be over the heads of the characters to whom they apply, and following this arrangement the center figure would be VRSTE (Orestes) and the two women behind him would be ELINEI (Helen) and THETHIS (Thetis). The two young men on either side would thus be ACHLE (Achilles) and MENLE (Menelaus).  We earlier thought MENLE was NEPLE (Achilles son Neoptolemus), but the first character in the name appears to be a partially written "M" and the third character a partially written "N." MENLE appears also in the Divine Mirror: http://www.maravot.com/Divine_Mirror.html 

Thus, MM-1: MENLE, Menelaus or NEPLE, Neoptolemus
MM-2: ELINEI, Helen of Troy
MM-3: VRSTE, Orestes
MM-4: THETHIS , Thetis
MM-5: ACHLE, (A↓LE) Achilles

We find in other Etruscan mirrors rather complex stories, and the one in this mirror appears to be just as complex as the others. Because Orestes is the seated figure who is central to the scene, with Helen, the sister of his mother upon whom Orestes will commit a revenge-murder, we may conclude that the subject has to do with revenge murders. Orestes would revenge the murder of his father, Agamemnon, by his mother Clytemnestra and her cuckold. Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, murdered King Priam in revenge for killing his father Achilles. Helen is also the object of the revenge story, since she was abducted by Priam's son, Alexander.  Menelaus  was, of course, married to Helen and her abduction caused Menelaos and Agamemnon to launch a thousand ships to redeem her from Troy, where Alexander (Paris) had taken her and untold riches from Menelaos' palace in Sparta.

THETHIS (Thetis) accompanies her son AKLE (Achilles). The marriage of Thetis was the cause of the abduction of Helen and the Trojan War, in as much as Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding. In spite Eris threw a golden apple into the wedding ceremony with the words "for the fairest" inscribed upon it. Orestes' role was to take revenge on his mother, Clytemnestra, who, together with her lover, Aegisthus, murdered his father, King Agamemnon, on his return from the Trojan War.

ACHLE appears in several texts: ACHLE, MM-2, CG-1, DP-1, LM-4, ACHL or ACHLA, CH-2, ACHVLE, CQ-2.

General description:

ELINEI would be Helen's name and the cause of the war, as she was abducted by Prince Alexander (Paris) who was promised the hand of the married Helen of Sparta because he named Aphrodite (Turan) as the fairest woman in the "Judgment of Paris," leaving Hera and Athena furious that Paris had not picked them. Helen's name is spelled with an "ai" case in Script DM, "Divine Mirror.html." The "ei" declension seen here would be, in Latin, the 5th Declension singular Dative cases. The case "ai" does not exist as a declension in Latin. However, as can be seen at "Etruscan Grammar-3.html" the following Etruscan words decline with the "ai" suffix:

ARAS, ARAI ( ARAS, Scripts K-31, PQ-11; ARAI, Script S-40)
CROTHAI (Script BM-2)
AECAI (name of Aesecus, son of Priam who prophesied Alexander would be the cause of Troy's destruction (Script DM-6)
RONAI (name of a woman in a mural, Script BS-6)
SIFAI (name,? Script S-15, S30, S40)
CRAI (name? Script AM-2)
TFA, TFAI (L. duo-as-o? TFA, Script AH-3, K152; TFAI, Script VG-5)
ARMAI (L. arma-orum?, Script S-37)
PERAEM, PERIAI (Perae-arum, Roman port?; PERAE, Script R314, R325; PERAEUM, Script Q500)
TIR, TIRO?, TIRI, TIRAI (TIR, Scripts Z969, Z1789, K58, TC46; TIRI, Script L-38; TIRO, Script F-11; TIRAI, Script AM-2)

If  NEPLE is intended in this mirror, he was the son of Achilles. Neoptolemus who took revenge upon his father's death by killing King Priam on the altar of Zeus at Troy and throwing Hector's youngest son, Astyanax, over the walls of Troy. In addition he sacrificed Priam's daugher Polyzena on Priam's grave. He was reported as being every bit the ferocious warrior his father had been. He also was awarded Hector's wife, Andromache, as a concubine. He alone seems to be connected to the other characters in this mirror, since Helen was the aunt of Orestes (sister of Clytemnestra) and the daughter of Helen and Menelaus, Hermione, was given to him by Menelaos after the war, though Menelaus had previously promised her to Orestes.  Like Orestes he went to Delphi to demand redress from Apollo, who had guided Paris' hand when he killed Achilles at Troy. Some say that he even stole the votive offerings and set fire to the god's temple. The horrified Delphians killed him for this outrage, mercilessly cutting him down at the altar of Apollo -- just as he had cut down Priam on the altar of Zeus -- according to one story. From this act came the sense of poetic justice called "the punishment of Neoptolemus." Hermione, who feared her husband's anger at her cruel treatment of Andromache, is reported to have supported Orestes in spreading rumors at Delphi, warning of Neoptolemus' evil intentions.

In this mirror NEPLE is a young, armed man seated in the company of ACHLE (Achilles), THETHIS (Thetis, the mother of Achilles, who is looking towards Helen) ELINEI (Helen of Troy) and in the center, as an older man, is ORSTES (Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, nephew of Helen). Both Achilles and Orestes are holding up two fingers, no doubt signifying an agreement to kill both Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. 

Red-figure vase of Apollo purifying Orestes with the blood of a pig, (from vroma.org) Note the star pattern of Apollo's robe matches that of Thetis and the dress of Orestes.

Orestes' killing of both his mother and her lover was ordered by Apollo, when Orestes went to Delphi to obtain direction on how to handle the matter, when Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon. Orestes balked at the idea of having to kill both of them and made much to do about it. After he killed them, aided by his companion Pylades, he was haunted by the Erinyes of his mother, and these drove him mad. He then went back to Delphi to seek help for his madness. Apollo sent him to Athens where he was tried by the Areopagus and would have been convicted there were it not for the goddess Athena's deciding vote to acquit him. Although appeased to some degree, the Erinyes still continued to persecute Orestes. Seeking the Delphian oracle again, Orestes was told by Apollo that he would regain his sanity if he stole the wooden statue of Artemis that had fallen from heaven in the land of the Taurians — a barbaric Scythian tribe — and brought it to Attica. On his return Orestes became king of Mycenae.

ACHLE (Achilles) would thus be the name of the armed young man with the spear or staff. In this scene Achilles would have to be a shade, as he had been killed at Troy when an arrow shot from Paris upon the walls of Troy struck him in his heel. The wound festered and caused his death. After the war, when Agamemnon and the fleet returned from Troy to their homes, Agamemnon discovered that his wife was having an affair with Aegisthus. The two murdered Agamemnon when he was in his bath. After the murder the child Orestes was sent away for safety to Phocis by his sister Electra or by an old retainer. There he was reared by the old king 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 of his adventures. Electra is also believed to have urged Orestes to kill their mother and her lover. Electra may even have aided in the murder, together with Pylades.

ACHLE is looking towards VRSTE and his mother, THETHIS, appears to be addressing ELINEI. ORSTE is holding up his two fingers, looking at NEPLE. Thus, VRSTE appears to be seeking council of the shade of AKLE and his mother, with ELENEI in agreement with them, that he must kill both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. If the final vote is in NEPLE's hands, we don't see him holding two fingers up in his right hand, as is the case with VRSTE and ACHLE. Naupulis would not likely be consulted in this scenario, since he attempted to wreck Agamemnon's ships and encouraged Orestes' mother to cuckhold his father, Agamemnon. So NEPLE must be another, probably Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles (AKLE).

Achilles mother, the sea nymph Thetis (THETHIS), feared that Achilles would fight in a war with Troy and be killed. To avert this end she had Achilles secreted away and reared at the court of Lycomedes, king of the Aegean island of Scyrus. To further avoid his turning into a warrior, Thetis had him dressed as a girl. Though dressed and reared like a girl, Achilles had an affair with Lycomedes' daughter, Deidameia, who bore a son. The child was called Pyrrhus. After Achilles death at Troy the Greeks learned from Helenus, the captured Trojan seer — brother of Hector — that Troy was not fated to be taken unless three events occurred: the bones of Pelops must be brought to Troy; and both Philoctetes, who owned the bow and arrows of Heracles, and the son of Achilles must fight on the Greek side. All three events occurred, and it is said to have been old Phoenix, Achilles' tutor, who renamed Pyrrhus "Neoptolemus" (Young Soldier) because either Achilles or the youth himself had joined the war at so early an age. Neoptolemus distinguished himself at Troy, being one of the men in the Trojan Horse, and among his many deeds — some describe him as a cruel warrior — he killed many Trojans, including Cassandra's Phrygian suitor Coroebus and Antenor. It was Neoptolemus who killed Priam at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard, and when Achilles' ghost demanded the blood of Priam's daughter Polyxena, Neoptolemus sacrificed her on his father's grave. Some say it was he, not Odysseus, who killed Hector's little son, Astyanax, flinging him from the city walls. Andromache, Hector's widow, was awarded to Neoptolemus as a concubine.

Some say that after the war, Thetis told Neoptolemus to wait two days, so to avoid returning with the fleet that ended up getting wrecked; others say he returned home via an overland route. He then returned to his home, Epeirus, and became king. Leaving his three sons by Andromache, Molossus, Pielus, and Pergamus, in the charge of Helenus, Neoptolemus took to wife Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Neoptolemus' descendants ruled Epeirus for many generations, down to Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. Thus, taking all of this into consideration, with VRSTE (Orestes) looking towards NEPLE, no doubt seeking his concurrence, there would be a strong connection in the context of revenge. Neoptolemus took revenge on the killing of his father by Priam's son, Paris, by killing Priam on the altar of Zeus. Then he killed Priam's grandchildren by Hector. (Achilles, the champion of the Greeks, had killed Hector, the champion of the Trojans).

By his marriage to Hermione, Neoptolemus was also a son-in-law to Helen of Troy who also was his aunt, as the sister of Clytemnestra, his mother. In a sense we can see a family gathering discussing revenge. Helen must have concurred with the murder of Clytemnestra - according to this mirror - and by the history of the matter of giving her daughter Hermione in marriage to Neoptolemus, who also would inherit the throne of Sparta.

An odd picture is presented in this mirror, if NEPLE is Neoptolemus, since Menelaus had previously promised his daughter Hermione in marriage to Orestes when Orestes was a boy and at the time he was leaving for Troy. Somehow at Troy Menelaus changed his mind and promised his daughter in marriage to the champion and general Neoptolemus. When Menelaus kept his word to Neoptolemus, he raised the ire of Orestes. It is said that when Neoptolemus went to Delphi to demand recompense from Apollo for his father's death at Troy, Orestes either killed him or arranged to have him killed. Some say that the Delphians killed him for rifling the shrines, distraught over Apollo's role in his father's death. In any event, once Hermione's husband was out of the way , Orestes married her and she bore him a son, Tisamenus, who eventually succeeded his father as king of Sparta and Argos (Mycenae).

Orestes may have killed Aletes, the son of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, who was believed to have occupied the throne of Mycenae. He might have killed Aletes' sister, Erigone as well, but Artemis saved her by carrying her off to Attica to be her priestess. Some say that Erigone had a son, Penthilus, by Orestes. There are differing stories about Orestes' death and burial place. His bones were believed to have been in a coffin under a forge in Tegea, after which the bones were moved to Sparta.

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Script OU, Wine Amphora, 7th c. B.C. (Image from University of Oklahoma, www.ou.edu)

OU-1 MI - My, mine (L. mei, mehi, me)

OU-2 LARISA (Name, Larisa?)

OU-3 AKS, probably vinegar (L. acetum-i; Gr. aksos; It. aceto). Note that the character has been written with a "foot" as in Script CH below.

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Script VG, Bucchero amphora, ~600 B.C., from Formello, near Veii. Museum of the Villa Giulia, Rome (Image: "The Etruscans," by Raymond Block, 1969)

VG-8 VARAR TVASVA VT ARCAS [Translation: to vary. change (L. vario-are; It. variare, Fr. varier; Sanskrit, vihara) you watched over (L. tueo-are) how! in whatever way (L. ut) you lead, command? (Gr. archo, to command, rule; archon, leader)

VG-1 VRVR [Translation: he, it speaks, entreats (L. oro-are; 3rd. person sing. indic. pres.)]




VG-2 XX RaCHSA VRVAS TVAI [Translation: XX (twenty) Rachsa, Rigsa, bunches of grapes? (L. racemus-i, cluster of grapes) a unit of measure? of the dawns (L. aurora-ae) two (L. duo-ae); two solstices?] Note: As presented in the Banquet.html, the early Indo-Europeans in particular worshipped at dawn and the two solstices would be the main "dawns" in which to worship. As an example we have Herodotus recounting Xerxes' dawn worship at the Hellespont, before crossing into Europe, where he threw two golden bowls and a sword into the waters.

VG-6 SATARV AST [Translation: satisfied (L. satio-are, satur-ura-orum, sated, rich, copious; It. saziare; Fr. satisfaire, to satisfy) I stand by (L. adsto-star )

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Script VA, Wine-bowl, red-figured chalice from Vulci, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. (Image: "The Etruscans," by Raymond Bloch.

VA-1 AIFAS - Ajax (L. Aiax-acis, name of two Homeric heroes, sons of Telamon and of Oileus). Here we see Ajax (Etr. AIFAS) cutting the throat of a Trojan prisoner while the Ferryman of the Styx, Charon, looks on. The Greek name of Ajax is the clue to the Etruscan spelling of the name: AIFAS. When Heracles prayed to Zeus to send a brave son to his friend Telamon, an eagle (Gr. aietos) appeared, signaling the god's assent. The son who was born was named Ajax (Aias) for the eagle. The word for a bird in Latin is avis-is, often meaning a bird of omen and in general an omen.

VA-2 CHARON (ARVN)

Both of the heroes named Ajax fought in the Trojan War, often side-by-side. One of them, the son of Telamon, was a head higher and stronger than other Greek warriors and was one of the men sent to Achilles to persuade him to join them in battle. Achilles had taken a beutiful Lyarnessan girl, Briseis, as his concubine. Some time later Agamemnon was forced by the insistance of Achilles and the other leaders to give up his own concubine, Chryseis, to save the Greeks from plague. Enraged, he took Briseis from Achilles. Achilles surrendered her but refused to fight any longer or to allow his troops to do so. His mother, Thetis, appealed to Zeus to give the Trojans victory so that the Greeks should be forced to heap honors on Achilles in order to win his help. Zeus consented. As a result, the Greeks were gradually beaten back to their ships in an assault led by Hector. Agamemnon sent old Phoenix, together with Odysseus and Ajax, to offer not only Briseis but a great deal of treasure as well if Achilles would rejoin the fighting. Achilles refused, and kept Phoenix with him. Shortly thereafter Patroclus, seeing the Trojans threatening to burn the Greek ships, begged to be allowed to wear Achilles'' armor into battle. Achilles consented. Patroclus, after distinguishing hemself in a spectacular manner, was killed by Hector.

Filled with grief and rage, Achilles turned back the Trojans with a shout and rejoined the fighting. In a fury and with vengeance he killed dozens of Trojans, including Hector, whom he chased several times around the walls of Troy. He drug the body of Hector back to his camp, desecrated it, and refused to give it up for burial until Hector's father, King Priam, came alone to the Greek camp to plead with him. Achilles finally allowed the old man to ransom the corpse. He was later killed by Paris, aided by Apollo, who shot him with an arrow from the safety of the Trojan walls. Achilles' ashes were placed in a golden urn, mixed with those of Patroclos, buried under a great barrow. Games were held around the barrow for about a week, involving events traditional to the later Olympic games. Before the barrow was thrown up the Greeks were sent into the nearby mountains to collect trees for a funeral pyre for Patroclus. Achilles conducted a sacrifice of horses, treasures, and twleve Trojan captives before the huge stack of trees that formed the pyre.*

We know that this scene does not involve the "Lesser Ajax," son of Oileus, a Locrian king. He was known as fine spearman and the fastest runner of the Greeks except Achilles. He was expecially successful at the capture of fleeing enemies. Ajax became one of tghe most respected of Greek warriors, but brought disaster on the whole force after the fall of Trou by alienating their chief patroness, Athena. This he did by dragging Cassandra from Athena's shrine in order to rape her. Odysseus wanted Ajax stoned for angering the gods (Some say Athena's statue was knocked down, others say that its eyes looked up in heaven in horror). Ajax clung to the image he desecrated and Athena enlisted the aid of Zeus and Poseidon to avenge the outrage. Together they caused the Greek fleet to be wrecked off Cape Caphareus, in southern Euboea. Some say that Athena struck Ajax dead with a thunderbolt, others that Poseidon let him swim in safety to a huge rock called Gyrae. There the rash man boasted that he had saved himself in spite of any god. Poseidon thereupon struck the rock with a thunderbolt, causing Ajax to drown.

It is curious that the Etruscan artist placed the name of Ajax above the warrior who is plunging his sword into the chest of the captive. This is part of an overall pattern, however, that we have seen in the Etruscan myths recorded on mirrors, where there is a peculiar slant to the story not passed down to us by the Romans and Greeks.

The Illiad can be read online at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~joelja/iliad.html. Another scene of the sacrifice of the Trojan captives is at Etruscan Phrases Murals: http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_mural_francois.gif

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Script CH, Bronze mirror from Vulci, Vatican Museum. Mirror with image of Calchas, a seer attached to the Greek forces during the Trojan War. Calchas, a son of Thestor, enjoyed such a reputation before the war broke out that Agamemnon came in person to his home in Megara to persuade him to accompany the army. The seer is said to have predicted when Achilles was only nine years old that Troy could not be taken without his aid. Calchas also prophesied while the ships of Agamemnon were becalmed as they prepared to leave Aulis. Calchas then divined that Agamemnon had offended Artemis with a careless boast, no doubt when Agamemnon had earlier built a temple to Artemis. Calchas announced that the goddess would send favorable winds only if Agamemnon were to sacrifice to her his daughter Iphigeneia. Iphigeneia was the sister of Orestes and in some accounts was a priestess among the Taurians (Scythians) when Orestes was captured by them. She saved the life of him and his crew.

CH-1 CHALCHAS (↓AL↓AS) — Calchas. Note the initial character is written like the character on the vase at OU-3.

Script MH - Mirror with Minerva and Heracles.