Chariot fitting representing the Etruscan solar god, 500–475 BCE, Hermitage Museum. Epithet: Usil.The Etruscan solar god on a coin from Populonia. Epithet: Apulu.
Because of his multiple attributes, the Etruscanfire god Śuri bore many epithets,[6][3] among them
infernal theonyms – consistently associated with kingship over the Manes (underworld deities), infernal and volcanic attributes, fire, lightning, wolves and goats – like Manth (𐌈𐌍𐌀𐌌, Manθ, Latinized as Mantus),[9][6][3][c]Vetis (𐌔𐌉𐌕𐌄𐌅, Vetis, also spelt 𐌔𐌉𐌅𐌉𐌄𐌅, Veivis, Latinized as Vēdiovis),[11][3]Calu (𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌂),[12][13][3] lit.'dark'or'darkness'or'underworld',[14][15][a] and – by interpretatio graeca – the equivalent[16][17] foreignerism Aita (𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌀, Aita, also spelt 𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌄, Eita),[18][19][6][3] from Epic Greek: Ἄϊδης, romanized: Áïdēs, lit.'Hades'or'underworld',[7] syncretised with Roman Dīs Pater;[20][18][3][12][13][5]
as well as solar theonyms – consistently associated with solar and volcanic attributes, fire, lightning, wolves and goats – like Rath (𐌈𐌀𐌛, Raθ),[6][3][21][d]Usil (𐌋𐌉𐌔𐌖),[22] lit.'light'or'sun',[23][e] and the equivalent foreignerism Apulu (𐌖𐌋𐌖𐌐𐌀, Apulu, also spelt 𐌖𐌋𐌐𐌀, Aplu),[6][3] from the Greco-RomanApollo,[6][3][4][24][7][25] later syncretised by the Romans as Apollo Soranus[12][13][5]orApollo Soractis.[26][18] These theonyms were also associated on Pyrgi inscriptions.[27][6]
The center of his cult was Mount Soracte[26][18][13][28][6][4][5] (Italian: Monte Soratte), 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,[7] hence the area was sacred to underworld gods, such as the Roman Dīs Pater, with whom Śuri (Latin: Soranus) is sometimes identified.[18]
The priests of Soranus were called Hirpi Sorani, lit.'Wolves of Soranus' (from Sabine: hirpus, lit. 'wolf').[13][28][4][5]
They were considered skillful ornithomantists[7] and firewalkers; during the ceremonies, they walked on hot coals, holding the entrails of sacrificed goats.[18][24][29][30][5]
Furthermore, 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.[7]
The Lupercalia, in the Roman religion, probably derive from these priests.[13]
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 Soranus, later identified with Dīs Pater due their shared volcanic and underworld attributes.[18][7][5]
Śuri has been historically associated with two female partners: the aforementioned Faliscan goddess Feronia, considered to be his sister-in-law,[f] whose major sanctuary (Latin: Lucus Feroniae) was located near Mount Soracte;[30][25][5] and the Etruscan goddess Catha (𐌀𐌈𐌀𐌂), considered to be his consort, goddess of the moon and the underworld.[19][31][6][5]
Under the solar theonym Usil (lit.'light'or'sun'), Śuri is named alongside Catha on the right lobe (convex face) of the bronze Liver of Piacenza, which is separated into two lobes.[32][22]
Initially, some researchers supposed that the first lobe, where the gods of the lights and heavens are listed, could represent him, whereas the second an hypothetical partner named Tiur.[33]
In fact, his name appears next to the word tiur (lit.'moon'or'month'),[34] that was purported to be the name of a lunar goddess, allegedly his consort, but since tiur actually meant "moon" and "month" (lunar month, equivalent to Greek mēnē), that inscription was most likely meant as a datation, as in the Pyrgi Tablets,[35] while his consort, also known by multiple epithets, was actually named Catha.[36]
Surtr with the Flaming Sword (1882) by F. W. Heine, based on a plaster frieze designed by Friedrich Wilhelm Engelhard (1859)
The Etruscan theonym Śuri, lit.'black', is somehow cognatetoOld NorseSurtr, lit.'black'.[37][38]InNorse mythology, Surtr – king of the fire giantsofMúspell,[g][h][i] birthplace of the Sun and other stars[42] – is "a mighty giant who ruled the volcanic powers of the underworld"[43] and will cover the Earth in fire during Ragnarök, causing the entire world to burn.[44]Rudolf Simek notes that jötnar – frost and fire giants – are usually described as living to the east in Old Norse sources, yet Surtr is described as being from the south.[43]
Indeed, Surtr is mentioned twice in the poem Völuspá, where a völva divulges information to the god Odin. The völva says that, during Ragnarök, Surtr will come from the south with flames, carrying a sword brighter than the sun:[i]
Old Norse
English
Sutr ferr sunnan
með sviga lævi:
skinn af sverði
sól valtiva.[45]
Surtr moves from the south
with the scathe of branches:
there shines from his sword
the sun of Gods of the Slain.[45]
These and other apparent coincidences[46] inspired the hypothesis that Surtr's mythic south could be identified in Śuri's Etruscan Italy,[37] but, despite the archaeological findings confirm ancient exchanges among the Tyrrhenians and the Proto-Germanic peoples,[j] systematic studies of compared mythology and linguistics, as well as additional archaeological surveys, may still be needed to confirm deeper connections.[37]
^ abA black sun, i.e. a sun god of the underworld,[4] rather that a celestial god, was also defined by the Etruscans as TiniaCalusna (Jupiter of the Underworld, equivalent to Greek Zeus Chthonios).[5]
^Feronia was considered to be the consort of Śuri/Apulu's brother Fufluns, god of growth, vital energy and wine.
^Drawing in part on various eddic poems, the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda contains an account of the development and creation of the cosmos: Long before the Earth came to be, there existed the bright and flaming place called Muspell – a location so hot that foreigners may not enter it – and the foggy land of Niflheim. In Niflheim was a spring, Hvergelmir, and from it flow numerous rivers. Together these rivers, known as Élivágar, flowed further and further from their source. Eventually the poisonous substance within the flow came to harden and turn to ice. When the flow became entirely solid, a poisonous vapor rose from the ice and solidified into rime atop the solid river. These thick ice layers grew, in time spreading across the void of Ginnungagap.[39]
^The etymology of "Muspelheim" is uncertain, but may come from Mund-spilli, "world-destroyers", "wreck of the world".[40][41]
In the midst of this clash and din the heavens are rent in twain,
and the sons of Muspell come riding through the opening.
Surtr rides first, and before him and after him flames burning fire.
He has a very good sword, which shines brighter than the sun.
As they ride over Bifrost it breaks to pieces, as has before been stated.
The sons of Muspel direct their course to the plain which is called Vigrid ....
The sons of Muspel have there effulgent bands alone by themselves.
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