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syncretized with deities in their own pantheon but also those worshipped by other peoples. For
example, it is often difficult to distinguish the character and features of Faunus, Silvanus, Inuus,
and Pan, who are all woodland deities of the Greco-Roman world, and at the Etruscan sanctuary
of Pyrgi, one witnesses the syncretization of the Etruscan goddess Uni and the Phoenician
Astarte. Pagan gods could possess a wide variety of attributes and their spheres of influence
could change and grow with their introduction to a new culture.
Hybrid imagery is particularly suited to chthonic deities or chthonic aspects of otherwise
celestial divinities. Aesculapius is a heroized healer who both transcends the boundary between
life and death 638 and works through and becomes his sacred animal, the serpent. Juno Sospita is
an excellent example of a celestial goddess who is given a chthonic nature. Aita, the ruler of the
underworld, and Calu, the Etruscan god of death, are represented with a wolf cap or as wolf.
Juno, often thought of as the queen of heaven and a sky or moon goddess, takes on the aspect of
the goat and becomes a warrior/protector of the state who remains tied to the earth through her
connection to a serpent oracle. Artistic representations of Dionysos as a bull god may not be
entirely secure, yet this god’s connection to the earth as both a fertility god and a god of
vegetation are clear. Numerous literary sources present him in taurine fashion. Even though
little is known of him, Picus is always spoken of as a sylvan god of the earth, even though he is a
woodpecker and capable of flight. Each of these deities mentioned here is in some way linked to
the earth or the underworld, thus underscoring the chthonic nature of theriomorphic and
therianthropic deities.
These deities who are represented as a hybrid of man and animal shape or fully take on
animal shape are often associated with oracles and prophecy. I have already mentioned the
serpent oracle linked to Juno Sospita, and she is far from alone in having oracular powers or an
oracular site. Aesculapius and Faunus were both associated with the practice of incubation and
appeared to their worshippers in dreams. Faunus, or Silvanus, was also known for speaking out
from the woods and pronouncing oracles, and Picus, or in the guise of a woodpecker, could be
the mouthpiece of the god Mars but also possessed his own powers of prophecy. The link
between birds and the gods as demonstrated in the practice of augury as well as in the imagery of
prophets such as Chalchas also indicates the prophetic nature of these gods.
638 As noted on p. 38, Aesculapius’ iconography indicated that he is the “other” in relation to both man, because of
his ability to heal and his divine parentage, and also to the gods, because of his mortal mother, death, and even his
clothing.
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