Voltumna
Voltumna, also known as Veltune or Veltha[1] was a chthonic deity[2] of uncertain sex in Etruscan religion,[1][3] who became[4] the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the deus Etruriae princeps, according to Varro.[5]
Voltumna's cult was centered in Volsinii (modern-day Bolsena), a city of the Etruscan civilization of central Italy. Voltumna is shown with contrasting characteristics, such as a maleficent monster, a chthonic vegetation god of uncertain sex, or a mighty war god.[2][6] The volcanic activity of Lake Bolsena were believed to be caused by Voltumna's destructive aspects.[2]
The bond of the twelve Etruscan populi was renewed annually at the sacred grove of Fanum Voltumnae, the sanctuary of Voltumnus sited near Volsinii, which was mentioned by Livy.[2][7] During this assembly, a long nail would be ritually driven into a cell of the temple, in order to fix the passage of time for the Etruscan's sacred calendar.[2] At the Fanum Voltumnae ludi were held, though whether they were athletic or artistic in nature is unknown.[citation needed]
In the Roman Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux stood a shrine dedicated to Voltumna in the Vicus Tuscus.[8]
They were associated with the Roman Fortuna[2] and were eventually adopted into Rome as Vertumnus.[9]
See also
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tranquil Sergius, "The Religion of the Etruscans, according to Massimo Pallottino" Archived 2007-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Visciola, Elvira (2020-11-02). "The Etruscans, Female Primacy, the Sibyls and the cult of Voltumna - Prehistory in Italy". Preistoria in Italia. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
- ↑ Cartwright, Mark (2017-03-02). "Etruscan Pantheon". World History Encyclopedia.
- ↑ "A typical example of the process of the individualization and the transformation of a local earth spirit, pertaining to a territory of southern Etruria, into a superior divinity." (Pallottino).
- ↑ Varro, De lingua Latina V.46.
- ↑ “Androgynous Gods in Archaic Rome.” Sexing the World: Grammatical Gender and Biological Sex in Ancient Rome, by Anthony Corbeill, Princeton University Press, Princeton; Oxford, 2015, pp. 104–142.
- ↑ Livy, iv 23, 25 and 61; v 17, vi 2.
- ↑ A. Alföldi, "Die Etrusker in Latium und Rom", Gymnasium 70 (1963), p 204.
- ↑ "Key to Umbria". www.keytoumbria.com. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
References
[edit | edit source]- Briquel, Dominique 2003 "Le Fanum Voltumnae: remarques sur le culte fédéral des cités étrusques", in Dieux, fêtes, sacré dans la Grèce et la Rome antiques, edited by André Motte and Charles Ternes: 133–59. (Brepols, Turnhout). The last ten pages of this paper contain a highly technical discussion of the identity of the Etruscan god Voltumna in relation to the Latin gods Vertumnus and Janus.
- Fontana Elboj, Gonzalo, 1992. Ager: estudio etimológico y functional sobre Marte y Voltumna (University of Zaragoza) (Spanish) ISBN 84-600-8279-2
- Hederich, Benjamin. (1770) 1996. Gründliches Mythologisches Lexikon (Darmstadt) ISBN 3-534-13053-7
- Pliny 8, 20.
- Vollmer,Mythologie aller Völker, (Stuttgart) 1874.
- L. Niebuhr, Römische Geschichte 2, 216.
- Wissowa, Religion und Cultus des Römer, 243, 3.
- Müller-Deecke, Die Etrusker, 1, 329 skk.
- Theodor Mommsen, Römisches Staatsrecht, 3, 666
- Pallottino, Massimo. "The Religion of the Etruscans"