Fufluns

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Fufluns is the Etrurian god of fertility and wine. He is equated with the Greek Dionysus .

Originally, Fufluns seems to have been an Etrurian god of growth and vegetation. At least that's what the name suggests, which is derived from the Etrurian root * pople or * puple ("bud", "sprout"). This root is also found in the Latin populus ("people").

One of his places of worship seems to have been the Etruscan city of Populonia , which is apparently named after him . In coinage, the place name appears as pupluna , pufluna or fufluna , or something like "City of Fufluns".

Insofar as the myth can be deduced from Etruscan inscriptions and images, it largely corresponds to the stories from Greek mythology. Fufluns was founded in the 5th and probably as early as the 7th century BC. Identified with Dionysus / Bakchos. Accordingly, the name Fufluns Pacha , which has also been handed down , where “Pacha” stands for “Bakchos”.

In the representations (ceramics, mirror engravings) Fufluns is the son of Tinia ( Zeus ) and Semla ( Semele ). He, too, is delivered from the hip or thigh of Tinia. An Etruscan mirror engraving shows the scene: besides Tinia-Zeus, there are two wet nurses, Mean and Thalna, and Apulu ( Apollon ). Representations of Fuflun with his wife / bride Areatha (corresponding to Ariadne ) are also known. A black-figure Etruscan hydria from the 6th century depicts the pirates turning into dolphins who captured Fufluns-Dionysus.

So far there are no significant deviations from the Greek myth. What is striking about Fuflun's iconography is that he appears more often than in the Greek depictions as a naked boy, and that his mother Semla-Semele is relatively prominent. Often they are presented together. On a mirror engraving, for example, you can see the naked Fufluns of his mother with his head tilted backwards in a kiss.

The cult of Fufluns may have been related to the bacchanalia scandal in 186 BC. Oppressed by the Roman state. Livy suggests that the "infection" had Etrurian roots. In any case, there is no evidence of further veneration of Fuflun in later times. Presumably his cult is fused with that of Bacchus or Liber .

Quote

" An pris caruns flucuthukh " Mr. Cardan made a sign to the guide. "Hold the lamp here a little more," he said in Italian and when the light drew nearer he went on to slowly decipher the primitive writing on the wall of the tomb, letting the mysterious sounds melt on his tongue: " Flucuthukh now tithuial khues khathc anulis mulu vizile ziz riin puiian acarsi flucuper pris an ti ar vus ta aius muntheri flucuthukh. ". He straightened up. “Lovely language,” he says, “lovely. Ever since I heard that the Etruscans called the god of wine Fufluns, I have become most interested in their language. Fufluns - how incomparably more apt than Bacchus or Liber or Dionysus! Fufluns, Fufluns! ”He repeated with delighted emphasis. "Could not be better. They had real linguistic genius, these guys. What kind of poets they must have produced! When Fufluns flucuthukh the ziz . One can imagine the odes in praise of wine that began like this. In English, for example, you couldn't find eight juicy, palatable syllables, could you? ” Aldous Huxley - parallels of love ( Those Barren Leaves ). 1925

Web links

Commons : Fufluns  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ M. Cristofani: La legenda de un tipo monetale etrusco. In: L'Italie préromain et la Rome républicaine .: Mélanges offerts à J. Heurgon. Rome 1976
  2. ↑ Naples, National Museum. See: B. Gerhard, A. Klugmann, G. Korte: Etruscan mirrors. Berlin 1840-1897. No. 82
  3. ↑ Toledo Museum of Art 82.134
  4. ^ Berlin, Antikenmuseum. See: B. Gerhard, A. Klugmann, G. Korte: Etruscan mirrors. Berlin 1840-1897. No. 83
  5. ^ Titus Livius from urbe condita 39, 8-19. See also A. Pfiffig: Religio etrusca. Graz 1975. Cleverly believes that Livy's report does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the cult of Fuflun in Etruria.

literature

  • Larissa Bonfante : Fufluns Pacha: The Etruscan Dionysus. In: Thomas H. Carpenter, Christopher A. Faraone (eds.): Masks of Dionysos. Cornell University Press, Ithaca + London 1993. pp. 221-235