- chapter 25: Gods and demons in the Etruscan pantheon –
Figure 25.12 Plate, Pontic. Rome, Villa Giulia 84444: wolf demon.
Photo Mus. detail, tondo: wolf demon.Figure 25.13 Tarquinia; Tomba dell’Orco II, head of Aita. After DAI Rom neg. 82.635.Aita is an exception inasmuch as animal parts are more frequently seen on “lesser” gods
and on demons. But in their realm, the hybrid form became accepted: there are youths
above whom a swan appears^47 (Fig. 25.14); they probably personify the stimulating,
refreshing coolness, which radiates from bodies of water during the summer heat. Gods
or demons of the sea wear a cap in the form of a Ketos-head (reptilian sea-monster, Fig.
25.15), or of an entire dolphin; on some coins,^48 the animal reproduced (boar?) cannot be
exactly identifi ed.
On the basis of all of these depictions, however, one should not conclude that the
Etruscans thought of the gods in an earlier phase as animals and then later as human
beings. It is much rather a question of two possibilities for giving an abstract concept,