The Etruscan Goddess Uni
Episode 20 Etruscan Families
The Mysterious Etruscans
Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)
Film Review
The Western world owes their adoption of surnames to Etruscan tradition, which differed significantly from other ancient naming practices. In Hebrew civilization, the first name was followed by a patronymic.* In early Greek civilization, the first name was followed by a patronymic plus a name corresponding to the person’s tribe. After the rise of cities in the fourth century BC, Greeks used the first name plus a locative indicating where the person was born (eg Socrates of Athens).
The Etruscans were the first to introduce a family name, a practice Romans adopted and passed on to the Western world. Some Etruscan women took both their husband’s and father’s name as a family name, a process replicated in Spanish culture.
In early Rome women only had one name, a feminine version of either their father’s or husband’s first name name (eg Julius Caesar’s daughter was Julia). Subsequent daughters added secundo or tertia to their names.
Greek women were forbidden to engage in any financial transactions beyond weekly food shopping. Unlike Greek homes, which had an exclusively male space called the Anderon (where men held their symposiums), Etruscan homes had no exclusively men’s, women’s or children’s rooms.
Greek culture also tended to emphasize individual rather than collective achievements (there were no Olympic team sports). This is born in striking differences between Greek and Etruscan gods. Zeus, the chief Roman got was a serial adulterer and occasional rapist, with a jealous wife (Hera) who brutalized his rape victims and their offspring. In Greek creation myth, every male ruler was eventually attacked and overthrown by his son. Plato banned the immoral Olympian gods from his ideal Republic.
In contrast, the Etruscan chief god Tinia and his consort Uni were loving and faithful. Unlike Zeus, Tinia exerts no male dominance and control over Uni and tends to use his lightning bolts for peacekeeping.Tinia always consulted with other gods (usually Terms and Ablo) in making important decisions.
The Etruscans altered numerous Greek myths of violence and doom to reflect positive societal wide values, such as care for the young. Unlike the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite with her string of adulterous love affairs, her Etruscan counterpart Una is more focused on the care of infants and children.
In Etruscan mythology even children of adulterous relationships are raised lovingly. Contrary to Greek myth, in which Helen of Troy returns to her husband Menelaus, in Etruscan mythology Paris and Helen end up together as an exemplary couple.*
Life expectancy in Etruria was 46 for men and 48 for women. This compares with 1900 US life expectancy of 48 years for men and 51 years for women in white populations and 32 years for men and 35 years for women in non-white populations.
*A patronymic is a second name based on the father’s given name.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/239710/239649
The Most Revolutionary Act 