Śuri
Śuri, Latinized as Soranus, was an ancient Etruscan infernal, volcanic and solar fire god, also venerated by other Italic peoples – among them Capenates, Faliscans, Latins and Sabines – and later adopted into ancient Roman religion.
He was variously depicted as: a crowned young man wielding a spear or bow and arrows; an enthroned black-bearded man with a wolf-skin cap or wolf-like appearance; or even a winged humanoid monster, usually wielding a sledgehammer or a sword.
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The Etruscan theonym Śuri means both 'black' and 'from the black ', i.e. the underworld.Śuri was essentially a chthonic solar deity: the volcanic fire god of light and darkness, lord of the sun and the underworld, with powers over health and plague as well.
Furthermore, as god of volcanic lightning, he was considered to be among the Novensiles, the nine Etruscan thunder gods.
He was also an oracular god.
His sacred animals were wolves and goats.
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Because of his multiple attributes, the Etruscan fire god Śuri bore many epithets, among them– consistently associated with kingship over the Manes, infernal and volcanic attributes, fire, lightning, wolves and goats – like Manth, Vetis, Calu,, and – by interpretatio graeca – the equivalent foreignism Aita, from,, syncretised with Roman Dīs Pater;
as well as – consistently associated with solar and volcanic attributes, fire, lightning, wolves and goats – like Rath, Usil,, and the equivalent foreignism Apulu, from the Greco-Roman Apollo, identified with Śuri and later syncretised by the Romans as Apollo Soranus or Apollo Soractis. These theonyms were also associated on Pyrgi inscriptions.
Worship
Cult centers
The center of his cult was Mount Soracte, a sacred mountain located north of Rome, isolated in the middle of the countryside, in an area characterized by deep karst cavities and secondary volcanic phenomena; these phenomena were associated in antiquity with underworld deities, whom the area was hence sacred to, such as the Roman Dīs Pater, syncretised with Śuri.Multiple cities were dedicated to this deity, among them the twin cities of Surina and, in the present-day province of Viterbo, Latium, as well as the city of Sorano, in the present-day province of Grosseto, Tuscany.
Furthermore, his theonym Manth is the eponymous of Mantua, birthplace of Virgil, who also mentioned the volcanic god in the Aeneid.
This theonym was primarily used in the Po Valley, as described by Servius, but a sanctuary with dedications from the Archaic period was also found in Pontecagnano, province of Salerno.
Besides, according to Mauro Cristofani, the sun god was also worshipped in Cortona, Populonia and Magliano.
Temples and votives were also found in Tuscania and Tarquinia, where there are also traces of a priestly college.
Worshippers
The priests of Soranus were called Hirpi Sorani, .They were considered skillful ornithomantists and firewalkers; during the ceremonies, they walked on hot coals, holding the entrails of sacrificed goats.
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.
The Lupercalia, in the Roman religion, probably derive from these priests.
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 and devoted themselves to the cult of Soranus, later identified with Dīs Pater due their shared volcanic and underworld attributes.
Partners
Śuri has been historically associated with two female partners: the [|aforementioned] Feronia, celebrated alongside him and considered to be his sister-in-law, whose major sanctuary was located near Mount Soracte; and Catha, considered to be his consort, goddess of the moon and the underworld.Paired with Śuri and all his, his consort Catha also bore several ones, which varied accordingly, e.g.: his theonym Manth was paired with Mania, whereas his theonym Aita was paired with Persipnei, equivalent to the Greco-Roman theonym Persephone.Under the solar theonym Usil, Śuri is named alongside Catha on the right lobe of the bronze Liver of Piacenza, which is separated into two lobes.
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.
In fact, his name appears next to the word tiur, that was purported to be the name of a lunar goddess, allegedly his consort, but since tiur actually meant "moon" and "month", that inscription was most likely meant as a datation, as in the Pyrgi Tablets, while his consort, also known by multiple epithets, was actually named Catha.
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Even outside his, Śuri is mentioned in multiple archaeological sites and artifacts, e.g. the bilingual Phoenician–Etruscan Pyrgi Tablets, the Lead Plaque of Magliano, and the Tabula Capuana.His mentions and depictions also reflect his multiple and, for example his in Pyrgi, Caere, and the aforementioned.
Mentioned as son of the supreme sky god Tinia and the earth goddess Semla, brother of Fufluns and twin brother of Aritimi, he is primarily known for his powers over the sun, lightning, healing and plague, and divination, as well as for his volcanic and infernal characteristics.
Chthonic sun deity
Frequently in associatiation with the aforementioned foreignism Apulu, equivalent to his native theonyms Rath, Usil and Vetis, he is often depicted in art with a crown and laurel branches.His most famous representation, known as the Apollo of Veii, is a painted terracotta statue from Veii, Latium, attributed to Vulca.
File:Chariot fitting Usil Hermitage GR-4876.jpg|thumb|Chariot fitting representing the sun god. Vulci,. State Hermitage Museum.
In the Etruscan iconography, his theonym Usil is the representation of power and strength.
His iconic depiction features the sun god rising out of the sea, with a fireball in either outstretched hand, on an engraved Etruscan bronze mirror in late Archaic style, formerly on the Roman antiquities market. On Etruscan mirrors in Classical style, he appears with a halo.
Syncretised with the Greek Helios and Roman Sol, and later Apollo, the sun god also appears on an Etruscan mirror from the Vatican dating from the 4th century BC, on which Usil is seen holding the bow of Apulu.
Besides, in artwork Usil is shown in close association with Thesan, the dawn goddess, something almost never seen with Helios and Eos.
However, while Usil is depicted as male in most artworks, there are also feminine depictions.
Chthonic wolf deity
The god – also known as Manth, king of the Manes – also acts as psychopomp: he guides the souls of the deceased into the underworld, getting occasionally nicknamed Charun and associated with the feminine counterpart Vanth.He is also known as a trickster god and bringer of misfortune, because he would attract the attention of his victims through trickery, thus stealing their souls.
As such, he is often depicted on Etruscan coffins as a black-bearded animalistic man or satyr, with pale skin, pointed ears, and enormous wings, wearing a tunic and sometimes a crown or a cap, usually wielding a sledgehammer or a sword.
File:Hades Persephone Tomb of Orcus II.jpg|thumb|Aita and Phersipnai. Tomba dell'Orco II, Tarquinia.
File:Tomba Golini.jpg|thumb|Tomba Golini, Orvieto.
This animalistic god of the dead, also called Calu, is equally identified by his wolf attributes, such as a wolf-like appearance or a wolf-skin cap; and although the equivalent grecism Aita is very rarely depicted, he may appear enthroned and sometimes wears a wolf-skin cap, borrowing a key attribute from earlier Calu.
Indeed, the theonym 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.
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, he is shown with his consort Persipnei or Phersipnai, the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Persephone.
Other examples of Aita in Etruscan art depict his abduction of Persipnei.
Aside from tomb painting, he 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.
Chthonic lightning deity
In addition to their inherent attributes over light and darkness, Śuri and all his were consistently associated with kingship, fire and lightnings, health and plague, wolves and goats; attributes also shared with his aforementioned theonyms Manth and Vetis, as well as their Roman spin-off.Romans believed that Vejovis was one of the first gods to be born.
Portrayed as a young man, holding a bunch of arrows, pilum or lightning bolts in his hand, and accompanied by a goat – he was consistently associated with volcanic eruptions and healing, getting occasionally identified as a young version of Jupiter, Apollo, or Asclepius.
Aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae, speculated that Vejovis was an ill-omened counterpart of Jupiter, observing that the particle ve- that prefixes the name of the god also appears in Latin words such as, and thus interpreting the name Vejovis as the anti-Jove.
Vejovis had three festivals in the Roman Calendar: on 1 January 7 March, and 21 May.
He was mostly worshipped in Rome and Bovillae, in Latium.
On the Capitoline Hill and on the Tiber Island, temples were erected in his honour.
Among them, there was a temple between the two peaks of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where his statue carried a bundle of arrows and stood next to a statue of a she-goat.
In spring, multiple goats were sacrificed to him to avert plagues. Gellius informs us that Vejovis received the sacrifice of a female goat, sacrificed ritu humano; this obscure phrase could either mean "after the manner of a human sacrifice" or "in the manner of a burial." These offerings were less about the animal sacrificed and more about the soul sacrificed.