DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0056
lvi
MANTUS AND MANIA.—CHARUN. [introduction
man, wearing a crown, with wings at bis shoulders, and a torch,
or it may be large nails in his hands, to show the inevitable
character of his decrees.7 Of Mania we have no decided repre-
sentation, but she is probably figured in some of the female
demons who were supposed to be present at scenes of death and
slaughter. She was a fearful deity, who was propitiated by
human sacrifices.8 Intimately connected with these divi-
nities was Charun, the great conductor of souls, the infernal
Mercury of the Etruscans, the chief minister of Mantus, whose
dread image, hideous as the imagination could conceive, is often
introduced on sepulchral monuments; and who, with his
numerous attendant demons and Furies, well illustrates the
dark and gloomy character of the Etruscan superstition.9
The government and religion of a country being ascertained,
7 Mantus is the Etruscan Dispater.
Serv. ad Ma. X. 199. From him the
city Mantua received its name. Muller
(III. 4, 40) tliiuks that the figure often
introduced on Etruscan sepulchral urns
in charge of the dead, is Mantus;
though generally called Charun. Ger-
hard (Gottheit. taf. VI. 2, 3) gives two
figures from urns in the Museum of
Volterra, which, being crowned, most
probably represent the King of Shades.
When two Charontic males are intro-
duced into the same scene, as on the
vase illustrated in the frontispiece to
Vol. II. of this work, one may be in-
tended for Mantus, or that which is not
Charun may be a Thanatos, a perso-
nification of Death, or its messenger.
Muller (III. 4, 9) suggests a relation
to the Mundus, the pit in the Comi-
tium, which was regarded as the mouth
of Orcus, and was opened three days in
the year, for the souls to step to the
upper world. Varro, ap. Macrob. I. 16;
Test. <m. Mundus, Manalem Lapidem.
8 Mania is called the mother of the
Lares (Varro, L. L. IX. 61 ; Macrob.
I. 7 ; Arnob. adv. Nat. III. 41), or the
mother or grandmother of the Manes
(Festns, sub voce). Boys used annually
to be offered to her at the festival of
the Compitalia, till, on the expulsion of
Tarquinius Superbus, the heads of
garlic and poppies were substituted.
Macrob. Sat. I. 7. Muller (Etrusk.
III. 4, 12, 13) thinks she is almost
identical with Acca Larentia, the foster-
mother of Romulus, a divinity who was
transferred from the Etruscan into the
Roman mythology; and that she an-
swers also to the Lara or Larunda of
the Romans. Cf. Gerhard, Gottheit.
p. 36. The Roman grammarians, ever
forcing etymological analogies, inter-
preted Manius (or Mania) as " qui
mane natus" (Varro, L. L. IX. 61),
or derived it from "manare" (Fest.
v. Manias ; Serv. ad Ma. III. 63).
"Manum" was an old word for "good"
(Serv. ad ^n. I. 139; III. 63), used,
as Servius says, by antiphrasis or
euphemism. Gerhard (Gottheit. p. 16)
hints at maneo as the origin of Mantus,
but if the name of this deity be Etrus-
can it is useless to seek its source in
other languages.
9 See Vol. II. pp. 206—9.
MANTUS AND MANIA.—CHARUN. [introduction
man, wearing a crown, with wings at bis shoulders, and a torch,
or it may be large nails in his hands, to show the inevitable
character of his decrees.7 Of Mania we have no decided repre-
sentation, but she is probably figured in some of the female
demons who were supposed to be present at scenes of death and
slaughter. She was a fearful deity, who was propitiated by
human sacrifices.8 Intimately connected with these divi-
nities was Charun, the great conductor of souls, the infernal
Mercury of the Etruscans, the chief minister of Mantus, whose
dread image, hideous as the imagination could conceive, is often
introduced on sepulchral monuments; and who, with his
numerous attendant demons and Furies, well illustrates the
dark and gloomy character of the Etruscan superstition.9
The government and religion of a country being ascertained,
7 Mantus is the Etruscan Dispater.
Serv. ad Ma. X. 199. From him the
city Mantua received its name. Muller
(III. 4, 40) tliiuks that the figure often
introduced on Etruscan sepulchral urns
in charge of the dead, is Mantus;
though generally called Charun. Ger-
hard (Gottheit. taf. VI. 2, 3) gives two
figures from urns in the Museum of
Volterra, which, being crowned, most
probably represent the King of Shades.
When two Charontic males are intro-
duced into the same scene, as on the
vase illustrated in the frontispiece to
Vol. II. of this work, one may be in-
tended for Mantus, or that which is not
Charun may be a Thanatos, a perso-
nification of Death, or its messenger.
Muller (III. 4, 9) suggests a relation
to the Mundus, the pit in the Comi-
tium, which was regarded as the mouth
of Orcus, and was opened three days in
the year, for the souls to step to the
upper world. Varro, ap. Macrob. I. 16;
Test. <m. Mundus, Manalem Lapidem.
8 Mania is called the mother of the
Lares (Varro, L. L. IX. 61 ; Macrob.
I. 7 ; Arnob. adv. Nat. III. 41), or the
mother or grandmother of the Manes
(Festns, sub voce). Boys used annually
to be offered to her at the festival of
the Compitalia, till, on the expulsion of
Tarquinius Superbus, the heads of
garlic and poppies were substituted.
Macrob. Sat. I. 7. Muller (Etrusk.
III. 4, 12, 13) thinks she is almost
identical with Acca Larentia, the foster-
mother of Romulus, a divinity who was
transferred from the Etruscan into the
Roman mythology; and that she an-
swers also to the Lara or Larunda of
the Romans. Cf. Gerhard, Gottheit.
p. 36. The Roman grammarians, ever
forcing etymological analogies, inter-
preted Manius (or Mania) as " qui
mane natus" (Varro, L. L. IX. 61),
or derived it from "manare" (Fest.
v. Manias ; Serv. ad Ma. III. 63).
"Manum" was an old word for "good"
(Serv. ad ^n. I. 139; III. 63), used,
as Servius says, by antiphrasis or
euphemism. Gerhard (Gottheit. p. 16)
hints at maneo as the origin of Mantus,
but if the name of this deity be Etrus-
can it is useless to seek its source in
other languages.
9 See Vol. II. pp. 206—9.