Aita

Short description: Etruscan underworld deity

Tomba Golini, Orvieto

Aita (Template:Lang-ett), also spelled Eita (Template:Lang-ett), is an epithet of the Etruscan chthonic fire god Śuri[1][2][3][4] as god of the underworld, roughly equivalent to the Greek god Hades (Template:Lang-grc-ion).[5]

## Images

Aita is a relatively late addition to the Etruscan pantheon, appearing in iconography and in Etruscan text beginning in the 4th century BC, and is heavily influenced by his Greek counterpart, Hades.[6][7] Aita is pictured in only a few instances in Etruscan tomb painting, such as in the Golini Tomb from Orvieto and the tomb of Orcus II from Tarquinia.[8] In these tomb paintings, he is shown with his consort Persipnei (Template:Lang-ett), also spelled Phersipnai (Template:Lang-ett), the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Persephone.[9]

Although Aita is very rarely depicted, he may appear enthroned and sometimes wears a wolf cap, borrowing a key attribute from the earlier Etruscan underworld wolf-deity, named Calu.[10] Other examples of Aita in Etruscan art depict his abduction of Persipnei. Aside from tomb painting, Aita may be identified in a few examples in other media, including on a 4th-century painted vase from Vulci, two 2nd century alabaster ash urns from Volterra, and a Red Figure 4th–3rd century Oinochoe.[11]

## References

1. ↑ Servius 380b, 11.785.
2. ↑ De Grummond 2004, p. 359.
3. ↑ National Etruscan Museum.
4. ↑ Maras 2010.
5. ↑ De Grummond 2006, p. 231.
6. ↑ Jannot 2005, pp. 153–154.
7. ↑ Helmut Rix, 1991. Etruskische Texte. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
8. ↑ De Grummond 2006, pp. 229–231.
9. ↑ Jannot 2005, pp. 66–67, 153–154.
10. ↑ Elliott 1995, pp. 17–33.
11. ↑ Krauskopf 1988, pp. 394–399.

## Bibliography

* De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2004). "For the Mother and for the Daughter: Some Thoughts on Dedications from Etruria and Praeneste". Hesperia Supplements (The American School of Classical Studies at Athens) 33: 351–370. ISBN 9780876615331. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1354077.
* De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2006). Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. ISBN 9781931707862.
* De Grummond, Nancy Thomson; Simon, Erika, eds (2006). The Religion of the Etruscans. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292782334. https://books.google.com/books?id=hQtbJyFCd40C.
* Bonfante, Larissa. "Etruscan Inscriptions and Etruscan Religion". In De Grummond & Simon (2006).
* Colonna, Giovanni. "Sacred Architecture and the Religion of the Etruscans". In De Grummond & Simon (2006).
* Krauskopf, Ingrid. "The Grave and Beyond". In De Grummond & Simon (2006), p. vii, pp. 73–75.
* Simon, Erika. "Gods in Harmony: The Etruscan Pantheon". In De Grummond & Simon (2006).
* Elliott, John (1995-01-01). "The Etruscan Wolfman in Myth and Ritual". Etruscan Studies 2 (1): 17–33. doi:10.1515/etst.1995.2.1.17.
* Jannot, Jean-René (2005). Religion in Ancient Etruria. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299208448.
* Lecce, Vittoria. "Novembre e il dio Suri - Il Nero Signore". Museo Nazionale Etrusco. https://www.museoetru.it/etru-a-casa-aiser/novembre-e-il-dio-suri.
* Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. I–VIII. Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler Verlag. 1981–1999. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1.
* Krauskopf, Ingrid (1988). "Aita/Calu". In LIMC. IV. pp. 394–399.
* Maras, Daniele F. (2010). "Suri. Il nero signore degli inferi". Archeo (305). http://www.archeo.it/rivista/2010/Luglio/suri-il-nero-signore-degli-inferi.
* Servius (380). Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil. I–XII. Georgius Thilo. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053.
* Servius (380a). Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil. X. 199. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=10.199&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053.
* Servius (380b). Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil. XI. 785. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=11.785&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053.

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