Thesan
| Thesan | |
|---|---|
Goddess of the dawn | |
_e_tinthun_o_giove_semele,_III_sec_ac.,_da_perugia.JPG) | |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek equivalent | Eos |
| Roman equivalent | Aurora and Mater Matuta |
Thesan (Eos) , Morning, Dawn, Aurora.
In Etruscan Religion and mythology, Thesan is the Etruscan goddess of the dawn.[1] Thesan is the Romans equivalent of Aurora and Mater Matuta.[2] In Etruria, she received offerings together with the sun god Usil in the liber linteus.[1]She was especially worshipped at Caere's harbour of Pyrgi, where a temple was dedicated to her and a singular series of "daybreak antefixes" was excavated.[1]
Thesan was depicted with wings and sometimes nude, such as a clay acroterium from Astrone valley.[3] According to scholar De Grummond: "Although Thesan is often compared with the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora, Greek texts suggest that they understood her cult persona at Pyrgi to be rather a counterpart of Leukothea, the “White Goddess,” who had a special connection with the sea, and who in turn was assimilated to the Roman Mater Matuta, a goddess of the morning and of childbirth."[2]
Unlike Eos in the Greek religion, Thesan is worshipped in the Etruscan religion. Her name appears on the mummy wrappings of the Zagreb mummy (Liber Linteus) and on a bronze tablet from Pyrgi.[4]
Etymology
[edit]Thesan was depicted on several bronze Etruscan mirror backs, bearing a great pair of wings on her back like many other Etruscan goddesses, especially appropriate to a sky-goddess. One meaning of her name is simply "dawn", and related words are thesi, meaning "illumination", and thesviti, "clear or famous". The other meaning of her name connects her with the ability to see the future, for thesan also means "divination", as seen in the related Etruscan word thesanthei, "divining", "illuminating", or "brilliant". This relates to her function as a dawn goddess – since divination throws light on the dark future and enables one to see what may happen, like the dawn, which illuminates what was previously dark. She was called by some as a childbirth goddess, as she was present at the beginning of the day, which finds its parallel in the beginning of a new baby's life. Similar to the Roman goddess Lucina, goddess of light and childbirth, who brought the infant into the light of day.[5]
Mythology
[edit]The Curse of Aphrodite
[edit]The Etruscans identified their Thesan with the Greek dawn goddess Eos. In the Greek legend, Aphrodite had found Eos in bed with her lover Ares; to punish Eos, Aphrodite "tormented with constant passion, and Eos became infamous for her many young lovers.[6] The Etruscans seemed to quite like these stories and easily transferred them to their dawn goddess Thesan; the stories depicted on the mirrors are generally straight out of Greek myth.[3] Thesan, the goddess of the dawn, “,” is depicted abducting a younger mortal on several engraved Etruscan mirrors dated from 530 to 450 B.C., w
Depictions of Thesan
[edit]with Cephalus
[edit]On one relief mirror back (kind of a rarity in Etruscan mirrors since the decoration on the back is almost always engraved rather than cast), Thesan is shown in the act of abducting Cephalus, a young man of Athens who was married to the King Erechtheus’ daughter, Procris. Thesan is winged here, wearing a chiton and diagonal himation that flows in the breeze; about her head is a halo, to emphasize her function as a goddess of light. She runs off to the left carrying Cephalus in her arms, who is shown as nude and much smaller than she is. He does not look at all distressed at the situation and he rests in her arms with his right hand on her shoulder. Like many depictions of Etruscan women and their lovers, she is shown as larger and therefore more important or powerful than the man: This has been taken as an indication of the high status of Etruscan women.
The same scene is depicted on a mirror handle in high relief openwork; Cephalus is again quite a lot smaller (and younger) than Thesan, who is not winged this time, but whose cloak billows behind her in the breeze. She smiles down at young Kephalos as She lifts him up, and he is nude save for a short cloak and hunting boots.
with Memnum (Memrun)
[edit]Another favorite scene of Thesan/Eos depicts a far more somber affair. Her son's Etruscan name is recorded as Memnum (Memrun)[4] and Latinized as Memnon. This son by Tithonus, another young man she abducted to be her lover, called Thinthun by the Etruscans and was killed in the Trojan War.Eos grieved so terribly that she threatened never to bring forth the dawn again. She was finally persuaded to return, but in Her grief she weeps tears of dew every morning for Her beloved son. One mirror-back shows Her before Tinia (Zeus) with Thethis (Thetis), the mother of Achle (Achilles). Both goddesses plead with Tinia to spare their sons' lives; but both were already doomed to die. This is known as the Memnon Pieta[8]. The relief mirror mentioned (right) depicts Thesan carrying off the body of her dead son Memnun. Often in ancient art there are different interpretations as often figures were not labelled. However Etruscan mirrors with figures do have names engraved beside them.[9]
with Tinia
[edit]
As with Greek art depictions, Thesan is depicted in bronze mirrors entreating upon Tinia along with Thethis (=Thetis) to spare the lives of their sons, Memnun and Achle respectively. The goddesses were him to affect the destiny of their sons in their battle against each other.
with Usil and Nethuns
[edit]The Liber Lintaeus connects Thesan with the Etruscan sun god Usil, equivalent to the Greek Helios and Roman Sol.[3][11] She has her arm around Usil’s back, implying a connection that Helios and Eos do not have.[11] A fourth century mirror now shows her in conversation with both Usil and Nethuns (Etruscan Neptune / Poseidon).[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Simon, Erika (2006). De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (ed.). The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0292721463.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2006). Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. pp. 19, 54, 107. ISBN 9781931707862.
- ^ a b c
MacIntosh Turfa, Jean, ed. (2013). The Etruscan World. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-67308-2, ISBN 978-1-134-05523-4. - ^ a b Bonfante, Giuliano; Bonfante, Larissa (2002). The Etruscan Language: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. pp. 201, 206–207. ISBN 978-0719055409.
- ^ Crane, Mary (2006–2012). "Thesan". The Obscure Goddess Online Directory (thaliatook.com). Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca. book 1, chapter 4, section 4.
- ^ "Bronze mirror | Etruscan | Classical". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ "CONA Iconography Record". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ "Mirror with Engraved Scene: Thesan and Memnun (Eos and Memnon) | Cleveland Museum of Art". www.clevelandart.org. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ "Specchio Inciso con codolo: Zeus, Eos, Thetis e Athena Didascalie". The Gregorian Etruscan Museum. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
- ^ a b
de Grummond, Nancy Thomson; Simon, Erika, eds. (2006). The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292-78233-4, ISBN 0-292-78233-0. - ^ Carpino, Alexandra Ann (2003). Discs of Splendor: The relief mirrors of the Etruscans. The University of Wisconsin Press. p. 109. ISBN 0-299-18990-2 – via Google Books.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Thesan at Wikimedia Commons
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