Tinia
Tinia (also Tin, Tinh, Tins or Tina) was the god of the sky and the highest god in Etruscan mythology, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus.[1]
He was the husband of Thalna or Uni and the father of Heracle.
Tin means; the combination of power and wisdom, literally in the beginning.[2] The Etruscans believed in Nine Great Gods, who had the power of hurling thunderbolts; they were called Novensiles by the Romans.[3] Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of which Tinia, as the supreme thunder-god, wielded three.[3] Tinia was also part of the powerful "trinity" that included Menrva and Uni and had temples in every city of Etruria.[4] Tinia was sometimes represented as seated and with a beard or sometimes standing and beardless.[4] In terms of symbolism, Tinia has the thunderbolt and the rod of power, and is generally accompanied by the eagle[2] and sometimes has a wreath of ivy round his head, in addition to the other insignia of Jove.[2]
Some of Tinia's defining epithets are detailed on the Piacenza Liver, a bronze model of a liver used for haruspicy. Some of his epithets inscribed there include Tin Cilens, Tin Θuf and Tinś Θne.
Some inscriptions in which he appears are as follows.
- On a kylix painted by Oltos (ca 500 BC):
- Itun turuce venel atelinas Tinas cliniiaras.
- This has given Venel Atelinas for the sons of Tin (ie: The Dioscuri[5])
- On the bronze Chimera of Arezzo:
- Tinscvil
- A gift to Tinia
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The Chimera of Arezzo Tinia's name can be seen inscribed on its foreleg
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Inscription on foreleg
[edit] References
- ^ de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History and Legend, page 53
- ^ a b c Betham, Sir William (1842). Etruria-Celtica: Vol.II. Dublin.
- ^ a b Dennis, George (1848). The cities and cemeteries of Etruria: Vol.I. London.
- ^ a b von Döllinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz (1862). The Gentile and the Jew: Vol.II. London.
- ^ Giuliano Bonfante and Larissa Bonfante (1983). The Etruscan language: an introduction. Manchester University Press.
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