DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0052
lii SHROUDED GODS—NINE THUNDER-GODS, [introduction.
forbidden to utter. Yet they were not deemed eternal, but
supposed to rise and fall together.4
Still more awful and potent were "the shrouded Gods,"—Dii
Involuti—whose appellation is suggestive of their mysterious
character; they ruled both gods and men, and to their decisions
even Tinia himself was obedient.5
The Etruscans believed in Nine Great Gods, who had the
power of hurling thunderbolts ; they were called Novensiles by
the Romans.6 Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of
which Tinia, as the supreme thunder-god, wielded three/
Cupra, or Juno, as one of the nine, also hurled her bolts.8
Menerva, the third, hurled hers at the time of the vernal
equinox.9 Summanus hurled his bolts by night as Jupiter did
by day, and received even more honour from the old Romans
as a thunder-wielding god, than Jupiter himself.1 Vejovis, or
Vedius, though with a Latin name, was an Etruscan deity,
whose bolts had the singular effect of making those they struck
so deaf, " that they could not hear the thunder, or even louder
noises."2 Vulcan, or as the Etruscans called him Sethlans,
was another bolt-hurling god.3 Mars was also one of these
4 Arnob. adv. Nat. III. 40 ; Varro, 6 Plin. II. 53 ; Manilius ap. Arnob.
de Re Rust. I. 1 ; Martian Capella, III. 38. Varro (Ling. Lat. V. 74) says
de Nupt. I. 14. Gerhard thinks they the name of Novensiles is derived from
must include the eight thunder-wielding the Sabines. Gerhard considers the
gods known to us, to which he would Novensiles to belong, without doubt, to
add Vertumnus, Janus or Apollo, Nortia the Etruscan mythology. Gotth. Etrusk.
or Fortuna, and Voltumna. Gotth. d. p. 3.
Etrusk. p. 23. 7 Plin.; II. 53; cf. Senec. Nat.
5 They were also called Dii Supe- Quaest. II. 41. Servius (ad Mn. I. 42)
riores. Seneca, Nat. Quaest. II. 41 ; states that in the Etruscan books on
Festus, v. Manubise. Gerhard (Gottheit. Things struck by Lightning, mention was
Etrusk. taf. VII.) gives a singular plate made of twelve sorts of thunderbolts,
of two veiled figures, sitting back to s Serv. ad Mn. I. 42 ; VIII. 429.
back, and with their hands to their * Serv. loc. cit ; XI. 259.
mouths, which he thinks may represent • Plin. II. 53 ; Augustin. de Civ.
"the shrouded gods." They are taken Dei, IV.23.
from a drawing in the public archives 2 Ammian. Marcell. XVII. 10, 2.
of Viterbo, supposed to be a copy Jrom 3 Serv. ad Mn. I. 42. It is " Vul-
some Etruscan monument, found in canum" in some editions, and Muller
former times ; perhaps a mirror, as (Etrusk. III. 3, 5) prefers it to
Gerhard suggests, but more probably a " Junonem," which is Burmaun's
bas-relief. reading.
forbidden to utter. Yet they were not deemed eternal, but
supposed to rise and fall together.4
Still more awful and potent were "the shrouded Gods,"—Dii
Involuti—whose appellation is suggestive of their mysterious
character; they ruled both gods and men, and to their decisions
even Tinia himself was obedient.5
The Etruscans believed in Nine Great Gods, who had the
power of hurling thunderbolts ; they were called Novensiles by
the Romans.6 Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of
which Tinia, as the supreme thunder-god, wielded three/
Cupra, or Juno, as one of the nine, also hurled her bolts.8
Menerva, the third, hurled hers at the time of the vernal
equinox.9 Summanus hurled his bolts by night as Jupiter did
by day, and received even more honour from the old Romans
as a thunder-wielding god, than Jupiter himself.1 Vejovis, or
Vedius, though with a Latin name, was an Etruscan deity,
whose bolts had the singular effect of making those they struck
so deaf, " that they could not hear the thunder, or even louder
noises."2 Vulcan, or as the Etruscans called him Sethlans,
was another bolt-hurling god.3 Mars was also one of these
4 Arnob. adv. Nat. III. 40 ; Varro, 6 Plin. II. 53 ; Manilius ap. Arnob.
de Re Rust. I. 1 ; Martian Capella, III. 38. Varro (Ling. Lat. V. 74) says
de Nupt. I. 14. Gerhard thinks they the name of Novensiles is derived from
must include the eight thunder-wielding the Sabines. Gerhard considers the
gods known to us, to which he would Novensiles to belong, without doubt, to
add Vertumnus, Janus or Apollo, Nortia the Etruscan mythology. Gotth. Etrusk.
or Fortuna, and Voltumna. Gotth. d. p. 3.
Etrusk. p. 23. 7 Plin.; II. 53; cf. Senec. Nat.
5 They were also called Dii Supe- Quaest. II. 41. Servius (ad Mn. I. 42)
riores. Seneca, Nat. Quaest. II. 41 ; states that in the Etruscan books on
Festus, v. Manubise. Gerhard (Gottheit. Things struck by Lightning, mention was
Etrusk. taf. VII.) gives a singular plate made of twelve sorts of thunderbolts,
of two veiled figures, sitting back to s Serv. ad Mn. I. 42 ; VIII. 429.
back, and with their hands to their * Serv. loc. cit ; XI. 259.
mouths, which he thinks may represent • Plin. II. 53 ; Augustin. de Civ.
"the shrouded gods." They are taken Dei, IV.23.
from a drawing in the public archives 2 Ammian. Marcell. XVII. 10, 2.
of Viterbo, supposed to be a copy Jrom 3 Serv. ad Mn. I. 42. It is " Vul-
some Etruscan monument, found in canum" in some editions, and Muller
former times ; perhaps a mirror, as (Etrusk. III. 3, 5) prefers it to
Gerhard suggests, but more probably a " Junonem," which is Burmaun's
bas-relief. reading.