Aplu
Etruscan · deity · archaic · Recorded classification
Aplu is the Etruscan Apollo — son of Tinia and Letun, twin of Artume, and the god of the great archaic sanctuary at Veii whose acroterial terracotta Apollo is the most famous Etruscan statue to survive. His position in the pantheon is complicated by a live scholarly question: one strand of current work treats Apulu not as an independent theonym at all but as an epithet of Śuri, the fire god, in his chthonic sky-god character. This registry keeps both records and links them explicitly rather than choosing, since the cult at Veii is substantial on any reading and the identification is an argument rather than a settled fact.
Parentage
Variant accounts
- Whether Aplu is a god in his own right or an epithet of Śuri is disputed.One position, reflected in current reference treatment, makes Apulu/Aplu an epithet of Śuri in his character as chthonic sky god. Another treats Aplu straightforwardly as the Etruscan reception of Apollo, with his own major cult at Veii and elsewhere. Both records are kept in this registry and joined by an explicit equated-with edge, because collapsing them would decide a live scholarly question by data-modelling fiat; keeping them unlinked would hide it.Reference article 'Apulu', treating Apulu as an epithet of Śuri as chthonic sky god. (secondary)
Domains
- prophecy
- sun and light
Relations
- twin sibling: ArtumeTwin of Artume, the two forming the Etruscan pair of divine archers.Reference article 'Artume': Artume had a twin brother named Aplu. (secondary)
- equated with: ŚuriOne scholarly position treats Aplu not as a separate god but as an epithet of Śuri. Both records are kept, with this edge marking the identification rather than silently collapsing them.Reference article 'Apulu': Apulu, syncopated Aplu, is an epithet of the Etruscan fire god Śuri as chthonic sky god. (secondary)
Sources
- Aplu (Apulu) is the Etruscan Apollo, son of Tinia and Letun and twin of Artume, worshipped at native sanctuaries including the great temple at Veii; one line of scholarship holds Apulu to be an epithet of the fire god Śuri rather than an independent theonym.: Portonaccio sanctuary, Veii, and its terracotta Apollo. (archaeological); Reference article 'Apulu', on the name, the Śuri epithet position and the Apollo equivalence. (secondary); Reference article 'Artume', on the twin relationship and the parentage. (secondary)