Mantus

In Etruscan myth and religion, Mantus was a god of the underworld in the Po Valley, as described by Servius.[1] A dedication to the god manθ from the Archaic period was found in a sanctuary at Pontecagnano. His name is thought to be the origin of Mantua (Italian Mantova, the birthplace of Virgil).[2]

Elsewhere in Etruria, the god was called Śuri, probably to be identified with Soranus, a Sabine deity associated with the underworld.[3]

The consort of Mantus was Mania. The names of this divine couple indicate that they were connected to the Manes, chthonic divinities or spirits of the dead in ancient Roman belief and called man(im) by the Etruscans.[4]

Mantas is also a common Lithuanian name.

References

  1. ↑ Servius, note to Aeneid 10.199.
  2. ↑ Giovanni Colonna, "Sacred Architecture and the Religion of the Etruscans," in The Religion of the Etruscans (University of Texas Press, 2006), p. 141.
  3. ↑ Colonna, "Sacred Architecture," p. 141.
  4. ↑ Pallottino, Massimo (1992 (from original french edition of 1981)). Roman and European Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. p. 30 and 36. Check date values in: |date= (help)


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