Etruscan Religion

Long before the Romans, the Etruscans had evolved a sophisticated anthropomorphic pantheon of deities, presided over by Tinia who employed three kinds of lightening as his special power. The iconography of those gods was influenced by Greek art and sculpture, as can be seen from some surviving statues at the shrine of Piazza d'Armi at Veii, but the theology was probably always purely Etruscan.

Unlike the Greeks, the Etruscans paid particular attention to the cult of the dead; their necropolises constitute the richest of all their surviving remains. In some cities, tombs are build like underground houses and are decorated with all the usual household paintings and furnished with all the usual household equipment so that the dead man can simply resume and continue his daily life. Hundreds of such tombs have been discovered at Caere, Tarquinii, Vulci, Orvieto and elsewhere that gives us a vivid picture of every day life.

The Etruscans developed a highly specialized art of divination, by which they were able to foretell the future or, at least, the will of the gods. Sometimes this was done by observing the flight of birds (auspicy, augury), which the Romans inherited. More often they consulted the entrails of sacrificed animals. Almost all of the Etruscan literature of which we know consisted of ritual books concerned with the interpretation of supernatural phenomena, such as lightening, augury and the like.

Livy said that the Etruscans were more religious than any other people. It is difficult to give much meaning to such a statement but ritual was certainly important and the remains of sanctuaries show that the Etruscans sought divine help for their daily needs. They created a pantheon of gods drawn from many sources, some local, some Greek. (Two thirds of the Olympian gods have an Etruscan equivalent) Each god had his or her own place in the sky, and an understanding of the pleasure or displeasure of the gods could be gained from watching the flight of birds, flashes of lightning or any other unusual event. The augurs, responsible for interpreting the signs, would then prescribe the correct rituals for their appeasement.

The augurs would carry out their duties standing within a sacred area set apart on high ground. (The area was known to the Romans as a templum, the origin of the word 'temple') Perhaps as early as 600 BCE the Etruscans built temples immediately behind the sacred area. The model is the Greek temple but the emphasis is on a highly decorated facade and an entrance only at the front. The podium on which the temple rested is much higher than in Greece and the augur may have stood on its edge to make his divinations. This model was the one adopted by the Romans most notably in the great temple to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva on Capitoline HIll begun in the late sixth century when an Etruscan 'king' still ruled Rome. The Romans drew heavily on Etruscan beliefs, and the rules of divination, the disciplina, were carefully preserved by them.

The Penquin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations