Tinia

Short description: Etruscan sky god

Tinia

God of the sky

Terracotta bust of Tinia from 300–250 BCE

Symbol| Thunderbolt
Personal information
Consort| Uni
Children| Hercle and Menrva
Equivalents
Greek equivalent| Zeus
Roman equivalent| Jupiter
Egyptian equivalent| Amun
Tinia on a Roman As from Etruria

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] However, a primary source from the Roman Varro states that Veltha, not Tins, was the supreme deity of the Etruscans.[2] This has led some scholars to conclude that they were assimilated, but this is speculation.[3] He was the husband of Uni and the father of Hercle. Like many other Etruscan deities, his name is gender neutral.[4]

The Etruscans had a group of nine gods who had the power of hurling thunderbolts; they were called Novensiles by the Romans.[5] Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of which Tinia wielded three.[5]

Tinia was sometimes represented with a beard or sometimes as youthful and beardless.[3] In terms of symbolism, Tinia has the thunderbolt.[3][4] Tinia's thunderbolts could be red or blood coloured.[6]

Like Selvans[3] and possibly Laran,[7] Tinia also protected boundaries. His name appears as the guarantor on three boundary stones with identical inscriptions found in Tunisia, originally placed there by the Etruscan colonists.[3]

Some of Tinia's possible epithets are detailed on the Piacenza Liver, a bronze model of a liver used for haruspicy. These inscriptions have been transcribed as Tin Cilens, Tin Θuf and Tinś Θne. There have been a number of suggestions as to their meaning, but the Etruscan language is poorly understood and there is no scholarly consensus for the translation.

## Inscriptions

Chimera of Arezzo

TINSCVIL inscription on foreleg

Tinia appears in several inscriptions, including:

* Kylix painted by Oltos (c. 500 BC):
* Itun turuce venel atelinas Tinas cliniiaras.
* This has given Venel Atelinas for the sons of Tin (ie: The Dioscuri[8])
* On the bronze Chimera of Arezzo:
* Tinscvil
* A gift to Tinia

## See also

* Etruscan religion
* Etruscan civilization
* Uni
* Hercle
* Novensiles

## References

1. ↑ de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History and Legend, page 53
2. ↑ Varro, De lingua Latina V.46.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. 2006.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Etruscan World. Routledge. 2013. ISBN 978-0-415-67308-2.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dennis, George (1848). The cities and cemeteries of Etruria: Vol.I. London.
6. ↑ Nancy T. de Grummond, "Thunder versus Lightning in Etruria," Etruscan Studies, 2016, 19(2), 183-207.
7. ↑ Konstantinos I. Soueref; Ariadni Gartziou-Tatti (2019). Gods of Peace and War in the Myths of the Mediterranean People. Ioannina, Greece: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ioannina - University of Ioannina. ISBN 978-960-233-247-4.
8. ↑ Giuliano Bonfante and Larissa Bonfante (1983). The Etruscan language: an introduction. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719009020. https://archive.org/details/etruscanlanguage0000bonf.

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Time in religion and mythology

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