Truth will shine forth (2)

(Continued from Truth will shine forth (1).)

Isn't this medieval Christian image glorious? I don't mean glorious in a faith sense since I'm a heartless atheist who equates baseless faith with cognitive dysfunction. No, I mean glorious in how it captures the solar divinity in Etruscan mythology. Oh wait, I forgot, I have to explain this currently unknown trinity before you're let in on this exquisitely divine joke.

According to my previous blog entry, the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, Tinia, was split into three specialized functions by ancient priests: Tin Thufl, Tin Thneth and Tin Cilensl. I reject the overwhelmingly popular mistranslation of tin as 'sky' which has led to stupid yet unchallenged paradoxes by numerous noted specialists. As will be seen, 'sun' is the correct value, thereby making this ancient trinity a solar one with its ultimate origin lying in Asia Minor and Egypt.


Tin Thufl 'Sun of Oath'

Tin Thufl is the sun in his function as lord of justice. With Etruscan θuf properly translated as 'oath' and equated with Latin fidius, Tin Thufl too may be equated with Fidius, the Roman god. This aspect may be associated not only with oath and testimony but with truth and justice as a whole (cf. Greek Ζεὺς Πίστιος, Sabine Sancus). He might remind us of Babylonian Shamash and his like position as supreme judge. We might also infer that he was, like Shamash, the source of omen and patron of augurs. He is also connected with sacral boundaries, their disputes and their resolutions (cf. Roman Iupiter Terminus). He is the daytime sun at zenith, in all its glory, highest of high (cf. Roman Iupiter Optimus Maximus). Thus it makes sense that he takes central position on the liver between his other two facets. He reigns directly above within the glowing face of the sky as its All-Seeing Eye atop a conceptual, triadic pyramid but this is hardly the New World Order; it's rather quite old actually. In a Dumézilian sense, if I'm permitted to indulge, this is clearly Tinia's judicio-religious function.


Tin Thneth 'Thundering Sun'

Tin Thneth may be conceived of as fundamentally the sun towards the evening with aggressive elements of storm, thunder and lightning added to emphasize a warrior role. The giver of rain and reliever of droughts (cf. also Roman Iupiter Pluvius). I interpret θne as an abbreviation for the word *θneθ 'thundering', a stative participle of *θun 'to thunder' which in turn is an early borrowing from Latin tonēre. In this way, Tin Thneth means precisely the same as Latin Iupiter Tonans and refers to the same specific god, an originally Etruscan one.


Tin Cilensl 'Sun from Darkness'

From its meaning, Tin Cilensl must be the sun rising out of the darkness of night and the darkness of the underworld below. After shining over the dead in Aita (Hades) during the night, the sun emerges from Cilens, the Darkness. One may confidently identify the many Etruscan scarabs found as indicative of this protective, afterworld solar aspect also popular in Ancient Egypt under the name Khepri 'the Becoming One' with his death-rebirth symbolism. Tin Cilens may be summarized as Tinia in his earthly life-giving role, particularly in spring.


Yet one more reason why Etruscan tin cannot mean 'sky'

Note, if tin meant 'sky' as is the current mistranslation of all famed Etruscanists to date, there is therefore no meaningful semantic difference between Tin Cilensl *'Sky of Night' and Cilens 'Night', yet we know they're different gods because they're placed side-by-side each with their own distinct sections on the border of the Piacenza Liver. This is how the explanations offered by current specialists are stagnant and incompetent. For example, notice how De Grummond and company trip over their own reasoning when claiming that *both* Cilens and Tin Cilens are God of Night between page 149 and page 48 of Etruscan myth, sacred history, and legend (2006) without addressing the paradox. Jannot in his Religion in ancient Etruria (2005) likewise lumps Cilens and Tin Cilens under a same lazy "Underworld conceptual blob" on page 164 wasting the ink of two long paragraphs and the reader's time by essentially saying, "I have no clue." Nothing new in Etruscan mythology has been learned for the past 60 years? It's hard to believe.

So let's now separate ourselves from the clueless and finally understand that Cilens himself is the true Night Sky while Tin Cilensl is the hidden Underworld Sun, also expressed by Tinia Calusna 'Underwordly Tinia'. Furthermore, let's now stop misinterpreting Tin Cilensl as the God of Death par excellence, which is already represented by Aita.