Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University

In general, theriomorphic and therianthropic deities are accepted as a commonplace only
in the context of Egyptian religion. Local and state gods often took the form of a human figure
with an animal head, and these figures abound in Egyptian art. Interestingly enough, the
influence of the Egyptians on the cultures of Greece and Italy has been noted in many contexts,
including religion, and yet the possibility of Etruscan or Roman worship of theriomorphic and
therianthropic deities is still left out of the discussion of Etruscan and Roman cult. For the
Egyptians, “Animals functioned much as did cult statues, and were simply one vehicle through
which the gods could make their will manifest, and through which the faithful could demonstrate
their devotion to the gods.” 62 There is evidence in the religion of ancient Italy for the belief in a
divine presence in the animal world, but scholarly literature primarily focuses on animals as
instruments of revealing divine will. 63 Because of this, the possibility of Egyptian and other
Near Eastern prototypes in the creation of the iconography of Etruscan and Roman therianthropic
deities is one topic explored in this study.
There are various theoretical frameworks we might apply to the myths of theriomorphic
and therianthropic divinities. A useful summary and critical appraisal of these approaches
appears in G.S. Kirk’s The Nature of Greek Myths, 64 and thus, such a summation need not be
attempted here. Nevertheless, some relevant points bear repeating. No universal theory can
wholly account for the variations present in all myths, but the relationships among nature, ritual,
cult, images, and myth must be considered. Each interpretation presents the student of myth with
a tool that may be used to gain insight into an individual tale, and thus I employ a selective use
of mythological theory in this study. By relating theriomorphic and therianthropic gods to these
various theories and examining them through different “lenses,” we can come closer to
understanding these beings.
The theoretical framework in which these gods have been discussed in the past may be
another reason that they are not addressed in more depth in recent studies of Roman and Etruscan
religion; they are associated with older, “out-dated” scholarship and ideas, such as the writings of
62 Thompson 2002, 70.
63 The practice of studying the flight and behavior of birds, augury, is one example of using animals to interpret the
intentions of the gods. Hepatoscopy, examining the liver of a sacrificial victim, is another example of how the
cosmos can be reflected in an animal. On the other hand, at least one of Horace’s poems (Ode 3.18) seems to be
closer to an Egyptian standpoint, in which a god manifests itself as an animal as opposed to using the animal as an
instrument. Animals sent as omens, such as the wolf wandering among the lambs without slaughtering them, are
one example.
64 Kirk 1974, 38-91.
16