Voltumna

Voltumna is the nearest thing the Etruscans had to a national god: Varro calls the deity deus Etruriae princeps, first god of Etruria, and it was at the Fanum Voltumnae, near Volsinii, that the twelve peoples of the Etruscan league met each year to renew their bond, hold their council and run their games. The sanctuary has very probably been found at Campo della Fiera, on the plain below Orvieto. The god's own character is much less clear than the institution: the sources give a chthonic vegetation power, a war god, and a maleficent monster, and even the deity's sex is uncertain. The Latin Vertumnus, god of change and of the turning year, grew out of the same name.

Variant accounts

• Voltumna's character and sex are reported inconsistently.The god appears in the sources as a maleficent monster, as a chthonic vegetation deity of uncertain sex, and as a mighty war god. The record carries the uncertainty rather than choosing; `sex` is recorded as unknown for the same reason.Reference article 'Voltumna', on the contrasting characterisations. (secondary)

Domains

• supreme sovereignty
• vegetation

Powers

• to hold the yearly bond of the twelve peoples of Etruria at his own sanctuary

Epithets

• deus Etruriae princepsVarro, quoted in the reference literature as calling Voltumna the chief god of Etruria. (primary)

Sources

• Voltumna (Etruscan Veltha/Velthune) is the god at whose sanctuary near Volsinii the twelve peoples of Etruria renewed their bond each year, called by Varro deus Etruriae princeps; his character is variously reported as chthonic vegetation god, war god, or monster, and his sex is uncertain.: Livy, on the annual assembly of the twelve peoples at the Fanum Voltumnae. (primary); Varro, on Voltumna as deus Etruriae princeps. (primary); Reference article 'Voltumna' and reports of the Campo della Fiera excavations identified with the Fanum Voltumnae. (secondary)