Usil

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Usil
God of the Sun
Chariot fitting Usil Hermitage GR-4876.jpg
Bronze funerary chariot fitting depicting Usil with a halo and wings (c. 500-475 BCE)
Venerated in Etruria
Symbols Halo, wings
Equivalents
Greek Helios
Roman Sol

In ancient Etruscan religion, Usil was the god of the sun. After the Etruscans were defeated by the Romans and assimilated into the Roman Empire, Usil was identified with the Roman sun god Sol. While the deity was typically portrayed as a male, there are also a number of female depictions. [1] [2]

Contents

Role

Usil first appeared in Etruscan art in the late 6th century BCE, although he undoubtedly existed prior to this period. Etruscan artists rarely depicted celestial objects like the sun, so Usil and other celestial deities only began to appear in art after the influence of Greek mythology and culture on Etruscan society. [3] [4] Usil was the equivalent of the Greek sun god Helios.

Usil is mentioned in the Liber Linteus (c. 3rd century BCE) and Tabula Capuana (c. 470 BCE). These two Etruscan texts potentially served as ritual calendars: detailing yearly festivals and worship practices. [5] [6] However, Usil is not named in any surviving votive offerings. Therefore, his exact role, significance, and methods of worship are unknown.

Bronze mirror from Tuscania (c. 350 BCE). Usil stands in the center, flanked by the water god Nethuns on his left, and the dawn goddess Thesan on his right. Usil, Nethuns, Thesan.jpg
Bronze mirror from Tuscania (c. 350 BCE). Usil stands in the center, flanked by the water god Nethuns on his left, and the dawn goddess Thesan on his right.

Usil was associated with the Etruscan dawn goddess Thesan, and the pair were frequently pictured together, sometimes in a chariot. [2] [7] He may have also been connected to the goddess Catha, who was sometimes referred to as "Daughter of the Sun" (Solis Filia) and "Eye of the Sun." This may mean that Catha was Usil's daughter; however, scholars are not in agreement about the nature of the pair's relationship. [8]

Liver of Piacenza

Diagram depicting the underside of the Liver of Piacenza. Usil's name can be seen on the right (northern) half of the object. Drawing of the bronze liver of Piacenza rear.jpg
Diagram depicting the underside of the Liver of Piacenza. Usil's name can be seen on the right (northern) half of the object.

Usil's name appears on the Liver of Piacenza (c. 2nd century BCE), a bronze model of a sheep's liver depicting the Etruscan heavens. The object was possibly used in haruspicy, a form of divination. [3] The object is inscribed with the names of 27 deities. Usil's appears on the convex underside of the object, next to the name Tiur ("moon"). [9] Tiur was likely a moon goddess, and her name was also used as the Etruscan word for "month." [10] [11] The two gods' names split the 16 heavenly realm into two divisions: that of usils ("of the sun") and tivs ("of the moon"). [12]

Imagery

His iconic depiction features Usil 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. [13] On Etruscan mirrors in the Classical style, Usil appears with an aureole.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Haynes, Sybille (2000). Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. ISBN   9780892366002.
  2. 1 2 De Grummond, Nancy Thomson; Simon, Erika, eds. (2006). The Religion of the Etruscans. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292782334.
  3. 1 2 Turfa JM. An Ominous Time: Thunder, Lightning, Weather, and Divination. Divining the Etruscan World: The Brontoscopic Calendar and Religious Practice . Cambridge University Press; 2012:37-70.
  4. ↑ de Puma, Richard. “Etruscan Art.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, 1994, pp. 55–61. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4112951. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
  5. ↑ Turfa JM. "Etruscan religion at the watershed: before and after the fourth century BCE." In: Schultz CE, Harvey PB, eds. Religion in Republican Italy. Yale Classical Studies. Cambridge University Press; 2006:62-89.
  6. ↑ Turfa JM. "Etruscan religion." In: Bredholt Christensen L, Hammer O, Warburton DA, eds. The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe. Acumen Publishing; 2013:139-155.
  7. ↑ de Grummond, Nancy T. (2008). "Moon over Pyrgi: Catha, an Etruscan Lunar Goddess?" . American Journal of Archaeology. 112 (3): 419–428. doi:10.3764/aja.112.3.419. ISSN   0002-9114. JSTOR   20627480. S2CID   193046316.
  8. ↑ de Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2004). "For the Mother and for the Daughter: Some Thoughts on Dedications from Etruria and Praeneste". Hesperia Supplements. 33: 351–370. ISSN   1064-1173. JSTOR   1354077.
  9. ↑ Aveni, Anthony, and Giuliano Romano. "Orientation and Etruscan ritual." Antiquity 68.260 (1994): 545-563.
  10. ↑ Adiego (2016). "The Etruscan Texts of the Pyrgi Golden Tablets: Certainties and Uncertainties". In Bellelli, Vincenzo; Xella, Paolo (eds.). Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscizione in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta. Vol. I–X. Verona. p. 155.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ↑ Bonfante, Larissa; Swaddling, Judith (2006). Etruscan Myths. The Legendary Past (77). British Museum/University of Texas. ISBN   9780714122380.
  12. ↑ Stevens, Natalie L. C. “A New Reconstruction of the Etruscan Heaven.” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 113, no. 2, 2009, pp. 153–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20627565. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
  13. ↑ Noted by J. D. Beazley, "The World of the Etruscan Mirror" The Journal of Hellenic Studies69 (1949:1–17) p. 3, fig. 1.

Bibliography

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