Aita

For other uses, see Aita (disambiguation).

Aita (also spelled Eita in Etruscan inscriptions) is the name of the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Hades, the divine ruler of the underworld.

Images

Aita is pictured in only a few instances in Etruscan tomb painting,[1] such as in the Golini Tomb from Orvieto and the tomb of Orcus II from Tarquinia.[2]

Aita is also pictured with his wife Persipnei, the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Persephone.[3]

On one ash urn appears humanized Aita, bearded and fur-capped, about to lead away into the Underworld the man whose ashes were inside the box, and whose spirit is seen on the outside passing through the portal to the world beyond. He wears the pointed metal cap of a haruspex, a seer.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jean-René Jannot, La peinture etrusque
  2. ↑ De Grummond, 2006. Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Pages 229-231.
  3. ↑ Conway, D. J. (1994). Maiden, mother, crone: the myth and reality of the triple goddess. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 93. ISBN 0-87542-171-7.
  4. ↑ Sybille Haynes, Etruscan Civilization. Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000, p. 342. Image of the urn
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