UNI
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One of the most significant Etruscan discoveries in decades names female goddess Uni
Archaeologists translating a very rare inscription on an ancient Etruscan temple stone have discovered the name Uni -- an important female goddess. The discovery indicates that Uni -- a divinity of fertility and possibly a mother goddess at this particular place -- may have been the titular deity worshiped at the sanctuary of Poggio Colla, a key settlement in Italy for the ancient Etruscan civilization.
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Archaeologists translating a very rare inscription on an ancient Etruscan temple stone have discovered the name Uni -- an important female goddess.
The discovery indicates that Uni -- a divinity of fertility and possibly a mother goddess at this particular place -- may have been the titular deity worshipped at the sanctuary of Poggio Colla, a key settlement in Italy for the ancient Etruscan civilization.
The mention is part of a sacred text that is possibly the longest such Etruscan inscription ever discovered on stone, said archaeologist Gregory Warden, professor emeritus at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, main sponsor of the archaeological dig.
Scientists on the research discovered the ancient stone embedded as part of a temple wall at Poggio Colla, a dig where many other Etruscan objects have been found, including a ceramic fragment with the earliest birth scene in European art. That object reinforces the interpretation of a fertility cult at Poggio Colla, Warden said.
Now Etruscan language experts are studying the 500-pound slab -- called a stele (STEE-lee) -- to translate the text. It's very rare to identify the god or goddess worshipped at an Etruscan sanctuary.
"The location of its discovery -- a place where prestigious offerings were made -- and the possible presence in the inscription of the name of Uni, as well as the care of the drafting of the text, which brings to mind the work of a stone carver who faithfully followed a model transmitted by a careful and educated scribe, suggest that the document had a dedicatory character," said Adriano Maggiani, formerly Professor at the University of Venice and one of the scholars working to decipher the inscription.
"It is also possible that it expresses the laws of the sanctuary -- a series of prescriptions related to ceremonies that would have taken place there, perhaps in connection with an altar or some other sacred space," said Warden, co-director and principal investigator of the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project.
Warden said it will be easier to speak with more certainty once the archaeologists are able to completely reconstruct the text, which consists of as many as 120 characters or more. While archaeologists understand how Etruscan grammar works, and know some of its words and alphabet, they expect to discover new words never seen before, particularly since this discovery veers from others in that it's not a funerary text.
The Mugello Valley archaeologists are announcing discovery of the goddess Uni at an exhibit in Florence on Aug. 27, "Scrittura e culto a Poggio Colla, un santuario etrusco nel Mugello," and in a forthcoming article in the scholarly journal Etruscan Studies.
Text may specify the religious ritual for temple ceremonies dedicated to the goddess
It's possible the text contains the dedication of the sanctuary, or some part of it, such as the temple proper, so the expectation is that it will reveal the early beliefs of a lost culture fundamental to western traditions.
The sandstone slab, which dates to the 6th century BCE and is nearly four feet tall by more than two feet wide, was discovered in the final stages of two decades of digging at Mugello Valley, which is northeast of Florence in north central Italy.
Etruscans once ruled Rome, influencing that civilization in everything from religion and government to art and architecture. A highly cultured people, Etruscans were also very religious and their belief system permeated all aspects of their culture and life.
Inscription may reveal data to understand concepts and rituals, writing and language
Permanent Etruscan inscriptions are rare, as Etruscans typically used linen cloth books or wax tablets. The texts that have been preserved are quite short and are from graves, thus funerary in nature.
"We can at this point affirm that this discovery is one of the most important Etruscan discoveries of the last few decades," Warden said. "It's a discovery that will provide not only valuable information about the nature of sacred practices at Poggio Colla, but also fundamental data for understanding the concepts and rituals of the Etruscans, as well as their writing and perhaps their language."
Besides being possibly the longest Etruscan inscription on stone, it is also one of the three longest sacred texts to date.
One section of the text refers to "tina?," a reference to Tina, the name of the supreme deity of the Etruscans. Tina was equivalent to ancient Greece's Zeus or Rome's Jupiter.
Once an imposing and monumental symbol of authority
The slab was discovered embedded in the foundations of a monumental temple where it had been buried for more than 2,500 years. At one time it would have been displayed as an imposing and monumental symbol of authority, said Warden, president and professor of archaeology at Franklin University Switzerland.
The text is being studied by two noted experts on the Etruscan language, including Maggiani, who is an epigrapher, and Rex Wallace, Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who is a comparative linguist.
A hologram of the stele will be shown at the Florence exhibit, as conservation of the stele is ongoing at the conservation laboratories of the Archaeological Superintendency in Florence. Digital documentation is being done by experts from the architecture department of the University of Florence. The sandstone is heavily abraded and chipped, so cleaning should allow scholars to read the inscription.
Other objects unearthed in the past 20 years have shed light on Etruscan worship, beliefs, gifts to divinities, and discoveries related to the daily lives of elites and non-elites, including workshops, kilns, pottery and homes. The material helps document ritual activity from the 7th century to the 2nd century BCE.
The report can be found online at: http://www.etruscanfoundation.org/.../2015/08/ES1-17toc.pdf
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Materials provided by Southern Methodist University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
The Goddess Uni and What She Had to Do With Ancient History
We can at this point affirm that this discovery is one of the most important Etruscan discoveries of the last few decades. It’s a discovery that will provide not only valuable information about the nature of sacred practices at Poggio Colla, but also fundamental data for understanding the concepts and rituals of the Etruscans, as well as their writing and perhaps their language.” – Professor Gregory Warden.
MUGELLO VALLEY, ITALY – In north central Italy, just northeast of Florence, in the final stages of digging at Mugello Valley, archaeologists have finally found something that may be the most important Etruscan find ever. It’s a sandstone stele dating back to the 6th century BC. It’s four feet tall and two feet wide, and it references the goddess Uni – an important mother goddess for the Etruscan people.
The mention is part of a text that is, perhaps, the longest Etruscan inscription carved in stone that we have on record. It indicates that worship of this mother goddess was central to life at Poggio Colla, an important settlement in Italy for ancient Etruscans.
Who were the Etruscans? Why is understanding them so important? Well, they once were the dominating culture in Italy before Rome came along and changed the world. The Etruscans were responsible for teaching early Roman settlements the basics of urban infrastructure, including drainage systems. Eventually, they would be completely absorbed into the new Roman Empire, and would fade out of our memory, only existing as a brief mention in history textbooks.
Not much is known about the Etruscans. Most of what we know about them comes from the leftovers of their culture found in Roman cities. This stele is immensely important to understanding who the Etruscans were on their own, and, therefore, in understanding the roots of Rome itself. Until now, archaeologists have rarely found firsthand written accounts of Etruscan religion. Most of what we know about their religious beliefs comes from grave goods. This stele is changing that.
It was found embedded in a temple wall at Poggio Colla. It’s an Etruscan settlement that has a long archaeological history. Historians have been debating whether or not there was a fertility cult at Poggio Colla ever since they found a ceramic fragment there with the first birth scene ever depicted in European art. This stele seems to confirm that theory.
“The location of its discovery — a place where prestigious offerings were made,” Professor Warden explained, “– and the possible presence in the inscription of the name of Uni, as well as the care of the drafting of the text, which brings to mind the work of a stone carver who faithfully followed a model transmitted by a careful and educated scribe, suggest that the document had a dedicatory character.”
So perhaps the stele was inscribed when the temple was built and was meant to hold the inscription that would dedicate the temple to the fertility goddess. It would make sense, then, why the builders added it into the architecture in such a prominent position. The fertility cult had been literally built in as part of the physical framework of the temple.
Professor Warden has another theory about the purpose of the stele, though.
“It is also possible that it expresses the laws of the sanctuary,” he said, “– a series of prescriptions related to ceremonies that would have taken place there, perhaps in connection with an altar or some other sacred space.”
We won’t know that until the linguists working on the stele decipher it completely, which could prove to be quite a feat. The text consists of over 120 characters. Archaeologists have a basic understanding of Etruscan grammar, and there are a few in the world who can roughly translate the words and the alphabet, but the stele contains several words that nobody has ever seen before now – mostly because our only previous examples of the Etruscan language have been funerary texts.
It’s clear that this sandstone slab has a wealth of knowledge to offer concerning not only the language of the Etruscans, but their culture too. The find is proving invaluable to understanding the ancient civilization that had such a big influence on the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
Uni was the supreme goddess of the Etruscan pantheon and the patron goddess of Perugia. Uni was identified by the Etruscans as their equivalent of Juno in Roman mythology and Hera in Greek mythology.[1] She formed a triad with her husband Tinia and daughter Menrva.
Uni appears in the Etruscan text on the Pyrgi Tablets as the translation of the Phoenician goddess Astarte.
Livy states (Book V, Ab Urbe Condita) that Juno was an Etruscan goddess of the Veientes, who was adopted ceremonially into the Roman pantheon when Veii was sacked in 396 BC. This seems to refer to Uni. She also appears on the Liver of Piacenza.
Uni is the Great Goddess of the Etruscans, who has facets of a mother Goddess, birth Goddess, star Goddess, and love Goddess, and Who is the forerunner or parallel of the Roman Juno. She was worshipped from very ancient times by the tribes of the Sabines, Umbrians, and Latins of central Italy and the Oscans of south-central Italy, as well as by the Etruscans. She is usually said to be the wife of Tinia, as Juno was of Jupiter, and Hera of Zeus, but in some cases it seems Thalna was Tinia's wife. Uni was the pre-eminent Goddess of the Etruscan pantheon and was one of a select number of Etruscan Deities with the power to hurl thunderbolts. She watched over and protected women, and all cities were under Her care, most especially the cities of Perugia (Latin Perusia), and Pyrgi, the port-town of Cisra (the Latin Caere, modern Cerveteri). She was considered the mother of Hercle (the Etruscanized Heracles), unlike the Greek myth, where Heracles is the son of Alcmene by Zeus. She forms a triad with Menrfa and Tinia that lasted into Roman times as the Capitoline triad of Juno, Minerva and Jupiter.
It is not known if the Etruscan name Uni or the Latin name Juno came first, for while they do seem to be related, there is not enough evidence for a definitive answer: Juno may be derived from Uni, or Uni from Juno. If Juno was first, and the Etruscans borrowed the name of the Latin Goddess as a name for the Greek Hera, then the name is most likely connected to a root meaning "young", probably in reference to Her role as birth Goddess. If the Etruscan name was first, then Uni's name means "She Who Gives", and likely refers both to Her position as a kindly mother Goddess as well as one who receives and grants the prayers of Her followers. Related words in Etruscan would then be una "benevolence", une "reward" or "thanks", unxva, "favor", un "to grant", and unata "favorite", as well as uneitha, "satisfaction" or "pleasure", which may have helped to connect Her with the Phoenician Goddess Astarte, who is a love Goddess (among other attributes). The worship of Juno in Rome was traditionally said to have been brought there from the great Etruscan city of Veia (Latin Veii), about eleven miles northwest of Rome, so my guess is that the Latin derives from the Etruscan and Uni is first.
Uni had two sanctuaries in Pyrgi (the Latin name of the city), the port of the city of Cisra or Chaisra: the older one dates to the sixth century BCE, the newer one to the fifth century, and both are dedicated to Her as Uni-Astarte. Uni had been equated with the Phoenician Goddess Astarte by the Etruscans, probably due to the proximity of the Phoenician outpost of Carthage. Pyrgi was famed for its wealth in ancient times, and the shrine of Uni there was said to be very richly furnished. Classical writers referred to Her temple at Pyrgi as belonging to Ilithiya or Lucina, Greek and Roman names, respectively, of birth Goddesses, suggesting that Uni's cult in Pyrgi was especially focussed on Her aspect as mother and childbirth Goddess; however this must have been only one of Her facets worshipped there, as the connection with Astarte gave Her a decidedly celestial slant. Three gold sheets have been found there with inscriptions to Uni-Astarte describing the dedication of the temple and of a statue to Her (coincidentally in the month of Khurvar or June, the month the Romans named for Juno). This emphasis on Her aspect as star Goddess likely came about by finding the commonalities between the Sky-Goddess Uni and the Goddess of the planet Venus Astarte; Dea Caelestis, a late Roman name for the Carthaginian Goddess Tanit, may reflect a similar identification.
Uni was the patron Goddess of Perusia, which was one of the main cities of Etruria, and one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan Federation. She had a temple there; after Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus beseiged the place and Perusia was almost entirely destroyed by a terrible fire, only the temples of Uni and Sethlans (the Etruscan Vulcan) survived. After the fire, however, it is said that Uni was replaced by Sethlans as the patron deity: perhaps this was out of fear of another fire, or as a belated appeasement to Sethlans; for as the Fire-God, He was believed to be able to prevent fires if propitiated.
Uni has a house on the Piacenza liver, a bronze model of a sheep's liver used for teaching diviners which is divided into symbolic "houses" representing areas of the sky or cosmos. Her house is located in the northeast of the sky, in the 2nd house, just after Tinia (the Etruscan equivalent to Jupiter), in the region of the summa felicitas, or "greatest good fortune".
Uni was assimilated to the Greek Hera from an early time and many depictions of Uni in Etruscan art show Her in Hera's role in scenes from the Greek myths, such as being freed by Hephaestos/Sethlans from a trick throne He had made to punish Her. However on one Etruscan mirror She is depicted nursing Hercle as a full-grown man; this is very much at odds with the Greek interpretation of this myth, which states that Hera had to be tricked into suckling the infant Herakles (symbolically indicating Her acceptance of Him, or a transfer or giving of power through Her breast milk). I have always been suspicious of the antagonism between Hera and Herakles; for though in the Greek legend His name (which means "Glory of Hera") is given to him as a means of appeasing Hera's jealousy (for Zeus had fathered him by another woman), my hunch is that the true, older tale is one in which Herakles is genuinely Hera's son. It would seem that the Etruscans had the same hunch (or access to an earlier, lost, Greek myth), for they name their Hercle as Uni's son.
Alternate spellings: Unei
Also called: Uni Mae or Mae Uni. It is not sure what "Mae" means, but it could be related to the Goddess Maia Maiestas, Maia the Majestic, a Roman Goddess of the warming earth of springtime Who gives Her name to the month of May. If so, the epithet "Mae" would mean "large", "great" or "powerful", and refer to Uni's role as the principal Goddess in the Etruscan pantheon. Cupra is Her name among the Picene, Sabine, and Umbrian tribes of central Italy.
