Culsans
Etruscan · deity · archaic · Recorded classification
Culsans looks two ways at once. He is rendered as a bifrons, a god with a face front and back, and at least two inscribed bronze statuettes of him have come to light close by city gates — which is why his sphere is taken to be the doorway, watched with two pairs of eyes so that nothing passes unseen in either direction. He is habitually called the Etruscan Janus, and the comparison is fair, but the reference literature treats him as a native Etruscan figure rather than a borrowing, and the registry keeps him as his own record. The abbreviation cul alp on the Liver of Piacenza is generally read as his, with the caution that liver abbreviations are disputed almost across the board.
Variant accounts
- Culsans is compared with Roman Janus.He is routinely called 'the Etruscan Janus' because both are two-faced keepers of the gate. The reference literature nonetheless describes Culsans as a purely Etruscan divinity, and the registry keeps him separate from any Janus record; the comparison is stated, not encoded.Reference article 'Culsans', calling him the Etruscan Janus, keeper of the gate, while treating him as a purely Etruscan divinity. (secondary)
Domains
- boundary
- tutelary protection
Powers
- to watch the gate with two pairs of eyes, inward and outward at once
Relations
- ally: CulsuCounterpart of Culsu, who keeps the gate of the underworld as he keeps the gate of the city; the pairing is one of function and name, and neither source makes them kin.Reference discussion of Culsu as the female counterpart of Culsans, both concerned with the guarding of a threshold. (secondary)
Sources
- Culsans is a purely Etruscan two-faced god of doorways and gates, known from inscribed bronze statuettes found in close association with city gates and usually identified with the abbreviation cul alp on the Liver of Piacenza.: Bronze statuettes of Culśanś from gate contexts; British Museum term record for Culsans. (archaeological); Reference article 'Culsans', on the bifrons iconography, the gate function and the Janus comparison. (secondary)