Tuchulcha
Etruscan · deity · classical · Recorded classification
Tuchulcha is the most alarming figure the Etruscan underworld has left us: pointed ears, perhaps a donkey's; hair that is a mass of snakes; a beak that may be a vulture's. The daemon is painted and named in the Tomb of Orcus at Tarquinia, looming over the dead held below. The name is recorded here because it is an individual name given to an individual figure in the painting, not a label for a class of demons; the sex is not determinable from the images and is left unknown. No etymology for the name is accepted, and none is guessed at.
Domains
- underworld
- terror
Powers
- to stand over the captive dead and threaten them with serpents
Sources
- Tuchulcha is a named Etruscan chthonic daemon of the underworld, painted in the Tomb of Orcus at Tarquinia with pointed ears — perhaps a donkey's — hair of snakes, and a beak, perhaps a vulture's.: Tomb of Orcus, Tarquinia. (archaeological); Reference article 'Tuchulcha', on the pointed ears, snake hair and beak. (secondary)