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In Etruscan mythology, Voltumna or Veltha Pallottino, "The Religion of the Etruscans" was the chthonic (relating to or inhabiting the underworld)Oxford Dictionary of English deity, who became"A typical example of the process of the individualization and the transformation of a local earth spirit, pertaining to a territory of southern Etruria, into a superior divinity." (Pallottino). the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the deus Etruriae princeps, according to Varro.Varro, De lingua Latina V.46. Voltumna's cult was centered in Volsini (modern-day Orvieto), a city of the Etruscan civilization of central Italy. Voltumna is shown with contrasting characteristics, such as a maleficent monster, a chthonic vegetation god of uncertain sex, or a mighty war god.“Androgynous Gods in Archaic Rome.” Sexing the World: Grammatical Gender and Biological Sex in Ancient Rome, by Anthony Corbeill, Princeton University Press, Princeton; Oxford, 2015, pp. 104–142.
The bond of the twelve Etruscan populi was renewed annually at the sacred grove of Fanum Voltumnae, the sanctuary of Voltumnus sited near Volsinii (present day Bolsena), which was mentioned by Livy.Livy, iv 23, 25 and 61; v 17, vi 2. At the Fanum Voltumnae ludi were held, the precise nature of which, whether athletic or artistic, is unknown.
In the Roman Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux stood a shrine dedicated to Voltumna in the Vicus Tuscus.A. Alföldi, "Die Etrusker in Latium und Rom", Gymnasium 70 (1963), p 204.
He was the equivalent of the Roman mythology Vertumnus.
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