Vanth is a chthonic figure in Etruscan mythology shown in a variety of forms of funerary art, such as in tomb paintings and on sarcophagi. [1]
Vanth is a chthonic figure in Etruscan mythology shown in a variety of forms of funerary art, such as in tomb paintings and on sarcophagi. [1]
Vanth is a female demon in the Etruscan underworld that is often accompanied either by additional Vanth figures or by another underworld demon, Charun (later referred to as Charu). Both Vanth and Charun are only seen in iconography beginning c. 400 BC, in the middle period of Etruscan art, although some earlier inscriptions mention her name. [2]
Vanth has no direct counterpart in Greek mythology, and is very frequently, but not always, seen winged. Although Vanth has no real Greek counterpart, she has been compared to the Greek Furies, the Erinyes, especially in older publications. [3] This is an unlikely association since she is almost always shown in Etruscan iconography to be a benevolent guide, not an avenging spirit, which the Furies often represent. Her other attributes include the possession of a torch, key, or scroll, and she is shown often to be bare-chested with cross-straps across her breast, adorned with fur boots, a rolled short chiton, and sometimes with unattached sleeves. In fact, her dress has been attributed by Scheffer as specifically the dress of a huntress. [4]
Vanth is involved in a variety of different types of scenes in Etruscan art; [5] the most common types associate her presence with occasions of slaughter and murder, including scenes from the Trojan cycle. Occasionally she is shown rising up out of the ground in such contexts, as seen on an ash urn from Chiusi. [6] Sometimes she is even shown as a solitary figure decorating the sides of ash urns. Other scenes in which Vanth is present involve the meeting and escort of the dead, in the role of psychopompos, who are either walking or being transported on horseback, wagon, or chariot. [7]
In general, Vanth is associated with death and the journey of the deceased to the Underworld, but in a variety of different ways; she is present in scenes of the moment of death as well in scenes where the deceased is already fully dead and journeying to the Underworld. She is depicted as a benevolent psychopompian figure, in contrast to the menacing Charun, her sometime companion.
The materials that Vanth is identified as carrying, which include a torch, key, scroll, or sword, also relate to her role as a guide in the Underworld. The torch can be used to light the way for travellers to the Underworld, although some scholars interpret it as a status symbol or as an indication of office, [8] and the key unlocks its doorway. Additionally, the scroll may reveal more about Vanth, as one instance actually displays her name inside, vanθ. [9] Vanth has been interpreted as a goddess of fate, and using this association, the scroll may contain the destiny of the deceased. However, in total, Vanth is depicted as a young, vibrant female chthonic figure, sometimes in the company of other Vanths, and sometimes with Charun; she is a figure who assists with the journey of the deceased to the underworld.
Other Etruscan chthonic (or underworld) figures include Charun, Calu, Phersipnai, Turms, Aita, and Culsu.
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and the dead. Archaeology confirms that, in some burials, low-value coins were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased, or next to the cremation urn containing their ashes. This has been taken to confirm that at least some aspects of Charon's mytheme are reflected in some Greek and Roman funeral practices, or else the coins function as a viaticum for the soul's journey. In Virgil's epic poem, Aeneid, the dead who could not pay the fee, and those who had received no funeral rites, had to wander the near shores of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river.
Psychopomps are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. Appearing frequently on funerary art, psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows, and cuckoos. In the case of birds, these are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying.
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In Etruscan mythology, Charun acted as one of the psychopompoi of the underworld. He is often portrayed with Vanth, a winged figure also associated with the underworld.
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A funerary cult is a body of religious teaching and practice centered on the veneration of the dead, in which the living are thought to be able to confer benefits on the dead in the afterlife or to appease their otherwise wrathful ghosts. Rituals were carried on for the benefit of the dead, either by their relatives or by a class of priests appointed and paid to perform the rites. These rituals took place at the tombs of the dead themselves or at mortuary temples appointed to this purpose. Funerary cults are found in a wide variety of cultures.
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