Tarchon

Tarchon is the founder-hero of Etruria: with his brother Tyrrhenus he is said to have laid out the dodecapolis, the league of twelve cities, and his name is that of Tarquinia and of the Roman Tarquins. He is also remembered as a haruspex, in one account taught the art by Tyrrhenus — which places him beside Tages, the child-seer of Tarquinia already in this registry, at the origin of Etruscan divination. Virgil brings him into the Aeneid as king of the Tyrrhenians, leading the Etruscan contingent in alliance with Aeneas. He is recorded as a mortal culture hero, which is how the tradition presents him; no divine parentage is attested and none is supplied.

Domains

• city founding
• divination

Relations

• sibling: TyrrhenusBrother of Tyrrhenus, with whom he founded the twelve cities; one account also makes Tyrrhenus the source of his haruspical art.Reference article 'Tarchon': he co-founded the Etruscan dodecapolis along with his brother Tyrrhenus. (secondary)

Sources

• Tarchon is an Etruscan culture hero who founded the twelve-city league with his brother Tyrrhenus, is remembered as a haruspex, and appears in Virgil's Aeneid as king of the Tyrrhenians allied with Aeneas against Turnus.: Virgil, Aeneid, on Tarchon as king of the Tyrrhenians. (primary); Reference article 'Tarchon', on the founding of the dodecapolis, the brotherhood with Tyrrhenus and the haruspical art. (secondary)