The "Tages mirror" superimposed on the Piacenza Liver

I'm back on that Etruscan mirror again from before when I talked about how I was wondering what exactly the haruspicial priest in the center of the scene was looking at. Is he just looking at the liver in general or is there something more specifically being pointed to? What is the overall message of this mirror? Since its contents remain a frustrating mystery to specialists, it won't hurt if I suggest a few new thoughts of my own.

One thing that I've been contemplating for a while is the idea that the artist of this bronze image worked into the back of the mirror had purposely but subtly divided things into an inner section and an outer section. I've highlighted the two sections of the image that I perceive above in different colours. I notice that the central portion pertains to the mortal world, especially if the character assumed to be Tages (without clear proof, mind you) is really just a human priest afterall. Then the outer portion shows a surrounding entourage of four gods, the metaphysical world of the holy.

This outer portion, if I'm seeing this correctly, is rather interesting because it now reminds me of the outer portion of the Piacenza Liver, the bronze liver model used by haruspexes to divine the future. Yet since this is precisely what the priest is doing in the above scene, divining the future with a sheep's liver, this connection seems all the more tantalizing. Is the outer portion symbolic of the horizon and of the four directions just as it's symbolized on the liver? Is the artist symbolically equating the mirror with the cosmos itself?


Taking this notion further, the four gods surrounding the scene may very well be alluding to the four directions, the same directions according to which the Etruscan priest was obligated to align himself in order to perform his rites faithfully at all. The god above is quite clearly the sun and his chariot, appearing much like Sol Invictus. So let's start with what we know.

Consulting the Piacenza Liver as I understand it now, the border shows among other things that Tinia (as sun) represents both the highest position of the sky according to a vertical axis, and also at the same time, it represents south according to a horizontal axis. The position of Tluschva faces that of Tinia on the opposite side of the liver, suggesting that he similarly represents the watery deeps of the universe while also lord of the north. This south-focused orientation, odd as it may seem to us today^[1], properly relates the position of the god of the dead inscribed with Fufluns (an epithet of Pacha, ie. Bacchus), with the west. The west is the direction of the setting sun and by extension the direction of departing souls. Then finally Cilens, god of darkness, is to the east reminding one of classical creation myths where a primordial darkness was envisioned for the beginning of time, much as every morning begins with darkness.

Since the highmost god in the outer portion of the mirror above is without a doubt the sun and can then be identified with Tinia riding in his quadriga, then according to this symbolic comparisons, the bearded Velthune is easily explained as synonymous with death. We might interpret the sun right next to him as the setting sun, the sun of the west, the sun of departing souls. The mirror itself like many of these recovered mirrors, might I remind, was intended as a grave offering and so this interpretation is perfectly à-propos. The youthful god marked as Rathlth (pronounced with two syllables as /'ɾɑtʰl̩tʰ/) to the left then is the east, coincidentally the direction of birth and youth. I'm encouraged by the many interesting matches here. Finally the winged god must be Tluschva, god of depths and the north.

With the left and right deities being connected with East and West, Birth and Death, respectively, my thoughts focus back on our lady Ucernei hiding shyly behind her husband. Does the sun set behind Velthune to convey that she was fated to die? Is this her mirror of destiny?


NOTES
^[1] Egyptians also oriented their geography according to the south. See Moret/Davy, From tribe to empire: Social organization among primitives and in the ancient East (1926), p.279 (see link); Brewer/Teeter, Egypt and the Egyptians (2007), p.18 (see link).

What's the deal with Svutaf?

Who is the young, winged Svutaph or Svutaf in the above drawing of mirror ET Vs S.15?^[1] Many attempts have been made to explain it. Some consider it a transcription error or the real name in reverse. No one has clear answers and the mystery lingers like locker-room odour.

It turns out that Vesuna is an Umbrian goddess.^[2] Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante suggested an "Umbrian influence" on the subject matter of this mirror.^[3] Since word-final -f or -φ is uncommon in Etruscan, it seems likely to me that Svutaφ is Umbrian too. Proto-Italic *-ns became Umbrian -f.^[4] So this fricative occurs in word-final positions quite a lot in that language and can help explain the unexpected spelling in this name.

If we consider an Umbrian origin, it's interesting to note the common comparison of this name with Latin suādēre 'to persuade'. So is this all suggesting an underlying Umbrian deity named something like *Svādaf? On that note, we should recall a Roman goddess of persuasion named Suāda.


NOTES
^[1] This rough illustration was published in De Grummond, Etruscan myth, sacred history, and legend (2006), p.120.
^[2] Opuscula romana, vol 31-32 (2008), p.22; Iguvine Tablets, 4.11-12: Vesune Puemunes Pupřikes 'To Vesona of Pomonus Poplicus'.
^[3] Bonfante/Bonfante, The Etruscan language: An introduction, 2nd ed. (2002), p.210.
^[4] Schwartz/Arbeitman, A Linguistic happening in memory of Ben Schwartz: Studies in Anatolian, Italic, and other Indo-European languages (1988), p.389: "Parallels exist for the change of final *-ns to -f, e.g. Umbrian sif ACC PL 'pigs' < *sūns."