Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction X 27 September 2015
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Etruria, Populonia AR 20 Asses. 3rd century BC. Bearded head of Tinia facing three-quarters right, open wreath (of ivy?) suspended above, ties hanging loose to either side; X on either side of forehead; thunderbolt with arrow-head shaped tip to right / Large winged thunderbolt within a circle of smaller thunderbolts. EC I, 69.2 (O1/R2, this coin); HN Italy 160; Sambon -; Vicari -. 7.00g, 23mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine. Of the Highest Rarity - one of only two known examples, and easily the finest and most complete (the other being the ADM specimen sold in NAC 2, 17 = NAC 7, 46, which lacked most of the reverse design).
From the VCV Collection.
Tinia, the local equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter, was the supreme Etruscan thunder-god who wielded three of the eleven types of thunderbolts known to what the Romans called the Etrusca disciplina - the Etruscan systematic teachings about how to divine the will of the gods and act in accordance with it.
Inscriptions and representations in art confirm beyond doubt that Tinia was the head of the Etruscan pantheon, though unlike his Greek and Roman counterparts he stood at the centre of a council or circle of gods and was bound by their will in a way that seems irreconcilable with the temperamental and unruly Zeus/Jupiter. According to Etruscan lore preserved by the Romans, the three types of bolts Tinia might throw were: a benign bolt that served as a warning; a bolt that could do either good or harm, for which he needed the approval of the Twelve Gods; a completely destructive bolt, for which he had to have permission from a group called the Shrouded Gods (Dii Involuti).
The Etruscan belief in a wide variety of lightning bolts is reflected in the many different sizes and shapes of such bolts depicted with Tinia in Etruscan art. A bronze mirror c. 470 BC in the Vatican Museums illustrates the entreaties of Thethis (Thetis) and Thesan (Eos) to spare their sons, Achilles and Memnon. Tinia is shown holding two types of thunderbolts; in his left hand are three undulating serpent-like bolts; in his right hand is a single pointed bolt, the other end appearing not unlike the feathered end of an arrow. The bolts he is shown with in other artistic depictions vary wildly from each other, quite unlike the Hellenic Zeus or Roman Jupiter, whose bolts are regularly symmetrical. The Etruscan belief in a rich and widely varying lightning repertoire is therefore quite consistent with its representations alongside Tinia in their artworks, and indeed on this particular coin we can observe several very different types of thunderbolt.
Extremely Fine. Of the Highest Rarity - one of only two known examples, and easily the finest and most complete (the other being the ADM specimen sold in NAC 2, 17 = NAC 7, 46, which lacked most of the reverse design).
From the VCV Collection.
Tinia, the local equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter, was the supreme Etruscan thunder-god who wielded three of the eleven types of thunderbolts known to what the Romans called the Etrusca disciplina - the Etruscan systematic teachings about how to divine the will of the gods and act in accordance with it.
Inscriptions and representations in art confirm beyond doubt that Tinia was the head of the Etruscan pantheon, though unlike his Greek and Roman counterparts he stood at the centre of a council or circle of gods and was bound by their will in a way that seems irreconcilable with the temperamental and unruly Zeus/Jupiter. According to Etruscan lore preserved by the Romans, the three types of bolts Tinia might throw were: a benign bolt that served as a warning; a bolt that could do either good or harm, for which he needed the approval of the Twelve Gods; a completely destructive bolt, for which he had to have permission from a group called the Shrouded Gods (Dii Involuti).
The Etruscan belief in a wide variety of lightning bolts is reflected in the many different sizes and shapes of such bolts depicted with Tinia in Etruscan art. A bronze mirror c. 470 BC in the Vatican Museums illustrates the entreaties of Thethis (Thetis) and Thesan (Eos) to spare their sons, Achilles and Memnon. Tinia is shown holding two types of thunderbolts; in his left hand are three undulating serpent-like bolts; in his right hand is a single pointed bolt, the other end appearing not unlike the feathered end of an arrow. The bolts he is shown with in other artistic depictions vary wildly from each other, quite unlike the Hellenic Zeus or Roman Jupiter, whose bolts are regularly symmetrical. The Etruscan belief in a rich and widely varying lightning repertoire is therefore quite consistent with its representations alongside Tinia in their artworks, and indeed on this particular coin we can observe several very different types of thunderbolt.