In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Mary Caponegro 41 An Etruscan Catechism Mary Caponegro Fiction (1997) The priest plows a straight line with the assistance of one white ox and one white cow, the furrow he makes acknowledged by all Etruscans as a sacred boundary . The city stands watching, reverent, attentive; the engineers stand ready to build and to tunnel. Then what sprouts up from the new-plowed earth? A flower? A rock? A colony of worms? No, a head; a baby’s head, or rather face, grafted onto a white-haired head, is birthed from the earth, but attached to this head is a dwarf’s stunted body. The body’s hand thrusts something toward us: a book. It is written in The Book of Tages that the liver of the sacrificed sheep will be divided into four sections, which are each in turn divided into four, and these comprise the organ’s outer edge only, within which still more divisions occur, repeating some of those found in the sixteen. The whole of the liver’s houses’ sum is forty-four, and each is affiliated with particular gods in the heavens. WHO IS TAGES? He is the source of Etruscan sacred law. He is unmistakable: a creature with the body of a dwarf, the smooth face of a child, and the head of an old man, who emerged from the soil like a beetle or worm to deliver our sacred knowledge. WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF GODS IN THE HEAVENS? The sum of our gods is sixteen. WHERE ARE THE GODS LOCATED ON THE LIVER? In all three regions of the northeastern quadrant we find Tinia, whose head squeezed out his goddess daughter, Menvra, at birth, winged and in full armor, bearing a shield. The liver’s seat, meanwhile, is occupied by Ani Thne and Mulciber . Cetha is in the eighth, while Letham in the twelfth and thirteenth, comprises the Fates. In the sixteenth dwells Nocturnus, god of night. After many years of tactile practice, the haruspex’s fingers know one god from another, even without the assistance of his eyes. WHERE ARE THE SUN AND MOON LOCATED? On the liver’s underside which is divided into the two major divinities of sun and moon: Usils and Tivr. 42 an etruscan catechism HOW ARE THE BOLTS ASSIGNED TO THE VARIOUS GODS? Nine gods are designated to hurl one or more of the eleven kinds of thunderbolts available. Tinia hurls three thunderbolts whereas Uni his wife hurls one. WHEN DO THEY PERFORM THEIR ACTIVITY? Menvra Cilens, guardian of the gates, hurls by night, and Sethlans and Mars participate as well. A trained haruspex does not have to make an equation but will know when the rumble or flash occurs, that this is the hand of Mars, or Tinia, that this bolt is Uni’s sign. There will be no need to convert, it will be as quick as the flash itself, just as the calculation of a temple’s length is automatic when its width is known, just as ejaculation of the gods is sure to send white shooting through the sky and cause the body of the mortal who receives it to tingle in a corresponding manner. WHAT CAN THE GODS DO? In addition to the hurling of thunderbolts and lightning, they are responsible for all fortune, good and ill, of mortals. They can also do injury to each other, as did Sethlans—to his mother Uni— imprisoning her in the throne he built, and from which later he released her. They can decorate the sky in a variety of ways: make it awash with light, as when sleeping Hera’s breast was wrenched in astonishment from the lips of full-grown suckling Hercules, spawning the milky way, or they can sear it with a lightning bolt from any arbitrary quadrant. WHAT CAN AN ETRUSCAN DO? Many things, both remarkable and unremarkable. An Etruscan can build and plan and drain, change the course of rivers, irrigate, navigate, play and dance persuasively enough to drive away the plague, if for instance called upon by unsuccessful Roman neighbors, less renowned in arts of movement, creativity and divination—neighbors who might prove useful in Etruscan games when blood is required to appease the ghosts of our ancestors. This is required only on special occasions, however, whereas on any given day an Etruscan, male or female, is likely to wear a tebennos if a man, and a chiton only partially covering his body; a lightweight longer pleated...

Share