Culsans
Etruscan · deity · archaic · deity
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.
Domains
- boundary
- tutelary protection
Powers
- to watch the gate with two pairs of eyes, inward and outward at once
Relations
- ally: Culsu
Sources
- Bronze statuettes of Culśanś from gate contexts; British Museum term record for Culsans.
- Reference article 'Culsans', on the bifrons iconography, the gate function and the Janus comparison.