Śuri

Śuri (Etruscan: 𐌉𐌛𐌖𐌑, romanized: Śuri, from Etruscan: 𐌛𐌖𐌑, romanized: Śur, lit. 'black'), later latinized as Soranus, was an ancient Etruscan deity, also venerated by other populations of central Italy (Capenates, Faliscans, Latins and Sabines) and later adopted into ancient Roman religion.

Śuri
Member of Novensiles
Major cult center
World
Weaponsvolcanic lightning, fire, lava
Animalswolf, goat
Symbolsolar disc, halo, bow and arrows, pilum, lead
AdherentsHirpi Sorani
Gendermale
RegionItaly
Ethnic groupEtruscans, Capenates, Faliscans, Latins, Sabines
Personal information
Parents
Siblings
ConsortCatha
Equivalents
Greek equivalentHades + Apollo
Roman equivalentDīs Pater + Apollo
Norse equivalentSurtr

Name and attributes

The theonym[1] Śuri (Etruscan: 𐌉𐌛𐌖𐌑, romanized: Śuri, from Etruscan: 𐌛𐌖𐌑, romanized: Śur, lit. 'black'),[2][3][4][5][6] cognate to Surtr (Old Norse: Surtr, lit. 'black')[7] and latinized as Soranus, means both 'black' and 'from the black [place]', i.e. the Underworld.[2][4][5][6]

Primarily the god of volcanoes and fire, which were associated with the underworld,[8] Śuri also was the chthonic god of the Sun and light,[lower-alpha 1] as well as an oracular god, with powers over health and plague;[8] as god of volcanic lightning, he's thought to have been among the Novensiles, the nine Etruscan thunder gods.[3][6]

His sacred animals were wolves and goats.[lower-alpha 2]

Epithets and Greco-Roman equivalents

Śuri had many epithets,[3][4] among them Calu,[9][10][4] Manth,[11][3][4] Rath,[3][4][12] Usil[13] and Vetis,[14][4] but also Greco-Roman epithets.

By interpretatio graeca, Śuri was identified with both the underworld god Dīs Pater/Hades (Epic Greek: Ἄϊδης, romanized: Áïdēs; Etruscan: 𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌀, romanized: Aita)[3][4][15][16][8] and the sun god Apollo (Etruscan: 𐌖𐌋𐌖𐌐𐌀, romanized: Apulu);[3][4][17][18][9][8][19] their names are associated on Pyrgi inscriptions too.[20][3] After his cult had been syncretised with Apollo, the Romans also nicknamed him Apollo Soranus[10] or Apollo Soractis.[17]

Worship

Cult centers

The center of his cult was Mount Soracte, a sacred mountain located north of Rome, in an area characterized by deep karst cavities and secondary volcanic phenomena; these phenomena were associated in antiquity with underworld deities,[8] hence the area was sacred to underworld gods, such as the Roman Dīs Pater, with whom Soranus is sometimes identified.[15] Other centers dedicated to this deity were the ancient twin cities of Surina (Soriano) and Surina (Viterbo), in the present-day province of Viterbo, Lazio, and the city of Sorano, in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany.[3][5][6]

Worshippers
See also: Calu, divination, and augury

The priests of Soranus were called Hirpi Sorani[10][21][5][6] ("wolves of Soranus", from Sabine: hirpus, lit. 'wolf').

Servius has preserved the following legend about them: once, during a sacrifice to Dīs Pater, several wolves ran up to the altar and stole the sacrificial pieces. The shepherds gave chase and ran to a cave – into Mount Soracte – from which such suffocating fumes emanated that those who pursued fell dead. The pestilence that soon spread throughout the country was connected with the death of the shepherds, while the oracle, to whom they turned for advice on how to get rid of the plague, replied that the plague would stop as soon as the inhabitants, like wolves, began to lead a robber life. These people took the name Hirpi Sorani (from Sabine: hirpus, lit. 'wolf') and devoted themselves to the cult of the god Soranus, who was later identified with Dīs Pater due the volcanic properties of the mountain and the underground nature of the god.[15][8]

They were firewalkers; during the ceremonies, they walked on hot coals, holding the entrails of sacrificed goats.[15][18][22][23][6] They were also considered skillful ornithomantists.[8]

During the annual festivities in honor of Apollo Soranus and Feronia, they walked barefoot among burning logs without being burned, for which they were forever released by the Roman Senate from military service and other liturgies.[8] The Lupercalia, in the Roman religion, probably derive from these priests.[10]

Partners

He had two female partners: his Etruscan consort Catha (or Cavatha), goddess of Moon and Underworld;[16][24][3] and his Faliscan sister-in-law Feronia, whose major sanctuary[lower-alpha 3] was located near Mount Soracte.[23][19]

See also
Annotated links
  • Dīs Pater – Roman god of the underworld
  • Catha (mythology) – Etruscan goddess
  • Feronia (mythology) – Italic goddess of wilderness and liberty
  • Fufluns – Etruscan god of growth
  • Orcus – Roman god of the underworld
  • Surtr – Norse mythical character

Notes and references

Notes
  1. A black sun, i.e. a sun god of the underworld,[5][6] rather that a celestial god, was also defined by the Etruscans as Tinia Calusna (Jupiter of the Underworld = Zeus Chthonios).[6]
  2. See § Worshippers.
  3. Latin: Lucus Feroniae.

References
  1. De Simone 2012.
  2. Colonna 2009.
  3. National Etruscan Museum.
  4. Maras 2010.
  5. Di Silvio 2014.
  6. Romano Impero 2021.
  7. Orchard 1997.
  8. Obnorsky 1900.
  9. Bouke van der Meer 2013, pp. 323–341.
  10. Rissanen 2013.
  11. Colonna 2006, p. 141.
  12. Bonfante & Bonfante 2002, p. 204.
  13. Nonoss 2015.
  14. Kenney & Clausen 1983.
  15. Servius 380b, 11.785.
  16. De Grummond 2004, p. 359.
  17. Virgil, 11.786.
  18. Pliny the Elder, 7.2.
  19. Myth Index.
  20. Colonna 2009, pp. 101–126.
  21. Di Fazio 2013.
  22. Silius Italicus, 5.175.
  23. Strabo, 5.
  24. De Grummond 2008, pp. 422, 425.

Bibliography
  • Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier (2016). "The Etruscan Texts of the Pyrgi Golden Tablets: Certainties and Uncertainties". In Bellelli, Vincenzo; Xella, Paolo (eds.). Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscrizione in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta. Vol. I–X. Verona. p. 155 – via Academia.edu.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Bonfante, Giuliano; Bonfante, Larissa (2002) [1983]. The Etruscan Language: An Introduction (2 ed.). Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719055409.
  • Bonfante, Larissa; Swaddling, Judith (2006). Etruscan Myths. The Legendary Past (77). British Museum/University of Texas. ISBN 9780714122380.
  • Bonnefoy, Yves, ed. (1992) [1991]. Roman and European Mythologies. Translated by Doniger, Wendy. University of Chicago Press. pp. 30, 36. ISBN 9780226064550.
  • Briquel, Dominique (1997). Chrétiens et haruspices: La religion étrusque, dernier rempart du paganisme romain (in French). ISBN 9782728802326.
  • Capella, Martianus (1836) [Carthage, c. 420]. De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (in Latin). Vol. II. Frankfurt am Main: Varrentrapp. 164.
  • Classical Association (1918). Postgate, John Percival; Arnold, Edward Vernon; Hall, Frederick William (eds.). Classical Quarterly. Translated by Postgate, John Percival. Clarendon Press. p. 107.
  • Colonna, Giovanni (2001). "Divinazione e culto di Rath/Apollo a Caere (a proposito del santuario in loc. S. Antonio)". Archeologia Classica (in Italian). L'Erma di Bretschneider. LII (2): 151–173. doi:10.1400/258393.
  • Colonna, Giovanni (2009). "L'Apollo di Pyrgi, Śur/Śuri (il «Nero») e l'Apollo Sourios". Studi Etruschi (in Italian). LXXIII: 101–134. ISSN 0391-7762.
  • Cristofani, Mauro, ed. (2000) [1984]. "Apulu/Aplu". Etruschi: una nuova immagine (in Italian). Florence: Giunti Editore. pp. 161–162. ISBN 9788809017924.
  • Cristofani, Mauro, ed. (1985). "Aplu". Dizionario illustrato della civiltà Etrusca (in Italian). Florence: Giunti Editore. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-88-09-21728-7.
  • 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. JSTOR 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.
  • De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2008). "Moon Over Pyrgi: Catha, an Etruscan Lunar Goddess?". American Journal of Archaeology. 112 (3): 419–428. doi:10.3764/aja.112.3.419. S2CID 193046316 – via University of Chicago Press.
  • De Grummond, Nancy Thomson (1 November 2016). "Thunder versus Lightning in Etruria". Etruscan Studies. 19 (2): 183–207. doi:10.1515/etst-2016-0011.
  • De Simone, Carlo (2012). "Il teonimo Šuri: riflessioni ad alta voce". Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici (in Italian) (32–33).
  • Di Fazio, Massimiliano (2013). "Gli Hirpi del Soratte". In Cifani, Gabriele (ed.). Tra Roma e l’Etruria. Cultura, identità e territorio dei Falisci (in Italian). Edizioni Quasar. pp. 231–264. ISBN 978-88-7140-519-3 – via Academia.edu.
  • Di Silvio, Paola (18 November 2014). "Suri: L'Apollo Nero Degli Etruschi". EreticaMente (in Italian).
  • Elliott, John (1 January 1995). "The Etruscan Wolfman in Myth and Ritual". Etruscan Studies. 2 (1): 17–33. doi:10.1515/etst.1995.2.1.17. S2CID 194102662.
  • Haynes, Sybille (2000). Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. ISBN 9780892366002.
  • Jannot, Jean-René (2005). Religion in Ancient Etruria. Translated by Whitehead, J.K. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299208448.
  • Kenney, Edward John; Clausen, Wendell Vernon (1983). The Cambridge History of Classical Literature. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521273732.
  • Lecce, Vittoria. "Novembre e il dio Suri - Il Nero Signore" (in Italian). Museo Nazionale Etrusco.
  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Vol. I–VIII. Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler Verlag. 1981–1999. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1.
    • Krauskopf, Ingrid (1988). "Aita/Calu". In LIMC. Vol. IV. pp. 394–399.
    • LIMC. Vol. VII. 1994.
  • Lübker, Friedrich (1855). Real Lexicon of Classical Antiquity (in German and Russian). Leipzig: B. G. Teubner Verlag. pp. 1303-1304: Sorānus
  • Maras, Daniele F. (2010). "Suri. Il nero signore degli inferi". Archeo (in Italian). No. 305. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014.
  • Moore, Daniel (2018). "The Etruscan Goddess Catha". Etruscan Studies. 21 (1–2): 58–77. doi:10.1515/etst-2017-0030. S2CID 188353013.
  • Nonoss (2015). "Turan, Aritimi, Usil et l'énigmatique Letham..." Au Fil du Temps (in French). Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  • Obnorsky, Nikolai Petrovich (1900). "Соран, прозвище Аполлона". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. XXXa. Saint Petersburg: Brockhaus–Efron. p. 895.
  • Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Vol. VII. 2 – via Perseus Digital Library.
  • Rissanen, Mika (2013) [2012]. "The Hirpi Sorani and the Wolf Cults of Central Italy". Arctos: Acta Philologica Fennica. Helsinki: Klassillis-filologinen yhdistys. 46. ISSN 0570-734X – via Academia.edu.
  • Servius (380). Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil (in Latin). Vol. I–XII. Georgius Thilo – via Perseus Digital Library.
  • Silius Italicus. Punica (in Latin). Vol. V. 175 – via Perseus Digital Library.
  • Simon, Erika (1998). "Apollo in Etruria". Annali della Fondazione C. Faina di Orvieto V (in Italian): 119–141.
  • Strabo. Geography. Vol. V – via Perseus Digital Library.
  • Bouke van der Meer, Lammert (2013). "Lead Plaque of Magliano". Interpretando l'antico. Scritti di archeologia offerti a Maria Bonghi Jovino. Quaderni di Acme (134). Milan. pp. 323–341 (335) – via Academia.edu.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Virgil. Aeneid. Vol. XI. 786 – via Perseus Digital Library.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.