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cited to demonstrate the importance of canines in myth and their relationship to the underworld
in particular. 225
In Italy, though, the wolf was an animal of singular importance. In the guise of the Lupa
Capitolina or Capitoline She-Wolf, the wolf was a protectress and surrogate mother for the twin
founders of Rome. Lupa was also a word associated with the sexual appetite; a lupa could either
be a she-wolf or a prostitute, 226 and a lupanar was a brothel. The Latin word for wolf, lupus, is
also remarkably similar to the Etruscan verb to die, lupu. 227 This is not likely a coincidence, as
the Etruscan lord of the underworld, Aita, wore a wolf-skin cap, perhaps as an indicator of his
fearsome nature. As with all of the animals dealt with in this study, the wolf possessed a
complex nature and was a symbol of life and death. A number of gods worshipped in Italy were
associated with the wolf or other canines, and the ones treated here include Aita, Apollo Soranus,
Faunus, and Silvanus. 228
It seems best to begin with the god for whom we possess the most concrete evidence,
Aita. Unlike his Greek equivalent Hades, Aita sometimes possesses a wolf-skin cap in addition
to other regalia such as a scepter. 229 The monuments in which he appears wearing this cap
include the Tomb of Orcus at Tarquinia (Fig. III.1), the Golini Tomb at Orvieto (Fig. III.2), a
red-figure oinochoe of the Torcop group (Fig. III.3), 230 and a sarcophagus from Torre San Severo
at Orvieto (Fig. III.4); all of these objects date from the late 4 th to early 3 rd C BCE. Aita’s
iconography is similar in each of these images; he is shown as a bearded, mature, regal male
whom, outside of a chthonic context, we might mistake for either of his brothers, Tinia or
Nethuns, were he not wearing his distinctive headgear.
225
In a discussion of a terracotta plaque from the Regia (Rupp Fig. V.5) Brendel (1995, 137), notes the presence of a
dog on a so-called Totenbett of the early 6 th century BCE. I would like to speculate that the significance of this
animal goes beyond the presence of a pet and suggest that it may be part of the funerary iconography of the dog in
Etruscan art.
226
This alternate meaning led some Roman antiquarians to interpret Romulus and Remus’ foster mother as a
prostitute instead of a she-wolf. To my knowledge, this tradition is not recorded in art and seems to be a
rationalization of the myth.
227
Elliot 1995, 24.
228
Faunus and Silvanus are not always accepted by scholars as wolf deities, but evidence will be presented to secure
this connection.
229
Hostetter 1978, 263.
230
Del Chiaro (1970, 293) notes that Aita’s beard is shown in an “early stage, somewhat neglected and shaggy,”
which he links to other characters of the Etruscan underworld such as the demon Charu and to the practice of
allowing one’s physical appearance to become more rugged during times of mourning. Del Chiaro also posits that
the confronting female figure must be Phersipnai, and this seems likely.
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