DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0198
chap, xli.] ETRUSCAN MARINE DIVINITIES. 181
of intellectual action, far transcending that of mortals.4
They have not serpent-locks, or the resemblance of their
heads to that of the Greek Medusa would be complete;
but they have sometimes a pair of snakes knotted around
their brows, and uprearing their crests, just like those
which are the distinctive mark of Egyptian gods and
monarchs. These trifold divinities bear sometimes a
trident or anchor, a rudder or oar, to indicate their
dominion over the sea—sometimes a sword, or it may be,
a firebrand or mass of rock, to show their might over
the earth also, and their power of destruction, or their
malignant character; which they further display by
brandishing these weapons over the heads of their victims.
They are often represented with a torque about their
necks. Marine deities would naturally be much worshipped
by a people, whose power lay greatly in their commerce
and maritime supremacy; and accordingly the active
imaginations of the Etruscans were thus led to symbolise
the destructive agencies of nature at sea. For these are
evidently beings to be propitiated, whose vengeance is to
be averted ; very unlike the gentle power to which the
Italian sailor now looks for succour in the hour of peril—
In mare irato, in subita procella,
Invoco te, nostra benigna stella!
It is highly probable that these sea-gods were of
Etruscan origin; yet as we are ignorant of their native
appellations, it may be well to designate them, as is
generally done, by the names of the somewhat analogous
beings of Grecian mythology, to which, however, they
do not answer in every respect. The females then are
4 The wings may be considered an who takes the dolphins' tails to be
Etruscan characteristic, for they are symbols of torrents, regards the wings
rarely found attached to similar figures as emblems of evaporation. Ann. Inst.,
on Greek monuments. Forchhammer, 1838, p. 290.
of intellectual action, far transcending that of mortals.4
They have not serpent-locks, or the resemblance of their
heads to that of the Greek Medusa would be complete;
but they have sometimes a pair of snakes knotted around
their brows, and uprearing their crests, just like those
which are the distinctive mark of Egyptian gods and
monarchs. These trifold divinities bear sometimes a
trident or anchor, a rudder or oar, to indicate their
dominion over the sea—sometimes a sword, or it may be,
a firebrand or mass of rock, to show their might over
the earth also, and their power of destruction, or their
malignant character; which they further display by
brandishing these weapons over the heads of their victims.
They are often represented with a torque about their
necks. Marine deities would naturally be much worshipped
by a people, whose power lay greatly in their commerce
and maritime supremacy; and accordingly the active
imaginations of the Etruscans were thus led to symbolise
the destructive agencies of nature at sea. For these are
evidently beings to be propitiated, whose vengeance is to
be averted ; very unlike the gentle power to which the
Italian sailor now looks for succour in the hour of peril—
In mare irato, in subita procella,
Invoco te, nostra benigna stella!
It is highly probable that these sea-gods were of
Etruscan origin; yet as we are ignorant of their native
appellations, it may be well to designate them, as is
generally done, by the names of the somewhat analogous
beings of Grecian mythology, to which, however, they
do not answer in every respect. The females then are
4 The wings may be considered an who takes the dolphins' tails to be
Etruscan characteristic, for they are symbols of torrents, regards the wings
rarely found attached to similar figures as emblems of evaporation. Ann. Inst.,
on Greek monuments. Forchhammer, 1838, p. 290.