Tinia (also Tin, Tinh, TinsorTina) was the sky god and the highest deity in Etruscan religion, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus.[1]
| Tinia | |
|---|---|
Terracotta bust of Tinia from 300–250 BCE
| |
| Symbol | Thunderbolt |
| Genealogy | |
| Consort | Uni |
| Children | Hercle and Menrva |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek equivalent | Zeus |
| Roman equivalent | Jupiter |
| Egyptian equivalent | Amun |
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]
Tinia 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.
Tinia appears in several inscriptions, including:
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