Avile Vipinas

Avile Vipinas — Aulus Vibenna to the Romans — is one of the two warrior brothers of Vulci whose deeds the Etruscans remembered in paint and on bronze. In the great frieze of the François Tomb he and his companions fall on champions of Volsinii, Sovana and Rome in a night attack, while Macstrna cuts his bound brother free. On mirrors he appears with that brother, closing in on the seer Cacu. Whether the Vibennas were historical condottieri or purely legendary is not settled; what is certain is that the Etruscans treated them as named individuals with a story of their own, which is why they are recorded here as mortals rather than as figures of cult.

Domains

• war

Relations

• sibling: Caile VipinasBrother of Caile Vipinas, with whom he is named throughout the Vulcian tradition.Reference article 'Caelius Vibenna': Caelius Vibenna (Etruscan Caile Vipina) was the brother of Aulus Vibenna (Etruscan Avile Vipina). (secondary)
• enemy: CacuAdvances on the seer Cacu in the mirror scene; readings differ over whether the brothers come to overhear the prophecy or to seize him.Etruscan mirrors in which Aule and Caile Vipinas advance on the seated seer Cacu. (iconographic)

Sources

• Avile Vipinas (Aulus Vibenna) is an Etruscan warrior-hero of Vulci, brother of Caile Vipinas, named in the battle frieze of the François Tomb and on mirrors advancing with his brother on the seer Cacu.: François Tomb, Vulci, battle frieze. (archaeological); Etruscan mirrors depicting the Vibenna brothers and Cacu. (iconographic); Reference articles 'Aulus Vibenna' and 'Caelius Vibenna', on the brothers and their tradition. (secondary)