View source for Voltumna

{{Short description|Etruscan deity}}
In [[Etruscan mythology]], '''Voltumna''' or '''Veltha'''<ref>[http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/643090 Pallottino,   "The Religion of the Etruscans"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502141551/http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/643090 |date=2007-05-02 }}</ref> was the [[chthonic]] (relating to or inhabiting the underworld)<ref>Oxford Dictionary of English</ref> deity, who became<ref>"A typical example of the process of the individualization and the transformation of a local earth spirit, pertaining to a territory of southern Etruria, into a superior divinity." (Pallottino).</ref> the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the ''deus Etruriae princeps'', according to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]].<ref>Varro, ''De lingua Latina'' V.46.</ref>  Voltumna's cult was centered in Volsini (modern-day [[Orvieto]]), a city of the [[Etruscan civilization]] of central Italy. Voltumna is shown with contrasting characteristics, such as a maleficent monster, a chthonic vegetation god of uncertain sex, or a mighty war god.<ref>“Androgynous Gods in Archaic Rome.” ''Sexing the World: Grammatical Gender and Biological Sex in Ancient Rome'', by Anthony Corbeill, Princeton University Press, Princeton; Oxford, 2015, pp. 104–142.</ref>

The bond of the twelve Etruscan ''populi'' was renewed annually at the [[sacred grove]] of [[Fanum Voltumnae]], the sanctuary of Voltumnus sited near Volsinii (present day [[Bolsena]]), which was mentioned by [[Livy]].<ref>Livy, iv 23, 25 and 61; v 17, vi 2.<!--see ix 39 too--></ref> At the Fanum Voltumnae ''[[ludi]]'' were held, the precise nature of which, whether athletic or artistic, is unknown.

In the [[Roman Forum]], near the [[Temple of Castor and Pollux]] stood a shrine dedicated to Voltumna in the [[Vicus Tuscus]].<ref>A. Alföldi, "Die Etrusker in Latium und Rom", ''Gymnasium'' '''70''' (1963), p 204.</ref>
 
He was the equivalent of the [[Roman mythology|Roman]] [[Vertumnus]].

==See also==
*[[Tinia]]

==Notes==
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==References==
*[[Dominique Briquel|Briquel, Dominique]]  2003 "Le Fanum Voltumnae: remarques sur le culte fédéral des cités étrusques", in ''Dieux, fêtes, sacré dans la Grèce et la Rome antiques'',  edited by André Motte and Charles Ternes: 133–59. (Brepols, Turnhout). The last ten pages of this paper contain a highly technical discussion of the identity of the Etruscan god Voltumna in relation to the Latin gods Vertumnus and Janus.
*Fontana Elboj, Gonzalo, 1992. ''Ager: estudio etimológico y functional sobre Marte y Voltumna'' (University of Zaragoza) (Spanish) {{ISBN|84-600-8279-2}}
*[[Benjamin Hedericus|Hederich, Benjamin]]. (1770) 1996. ''Gründliches Mythologisches Lexikon'' (Darmstadt) {{ISBN|3-534-13053-7}}
*[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] 8, 20.
*[http://www.vollmer-mythologie.de/voltumna/ Vollmer,''Mythologie aller Völker'', (Stuttgart) 1874]. 
*L. Niebuhr, ''Römische Geschichte'' 2, 216. 
*Wissowa, ''Religion und Cultus des Römer'', 243, 3. 
*Müller-Deecke, ''Die Etrusker'', 1, 329 skk. 
*Theodor Mommsen, ''Römisches Staatsrecht'', 3, 666
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070502141551/http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/643090 Pallottino, Massimo. "The Religion of the Etruscans"]

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[[Category:Etruscan gods]]
[[Category:Etruscan religion]]
[[Category:Nature gods]]


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