Charun & Vanth on an ash urn

Author: * Sin UtNapishtim - 14 Posts on this thread out of 23 Posts sitewide.
Date: Oct 30, 2004 - 23:58

Charun and Vanth leading a dead man into Hades. Alabaster relief panel from a 3rd century BC cinerary urn in the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum in Casale Marittimo, Volterra, Italy.*

In this fine carving from an urn bearing the ashes of an Etruscan man, perhaps a soldier, we see him on horseback, on his favorite war horse, being led into Hades by two underworld guides.

Guarding and goading him from the rear is Charun, no longer a pop-eyed, hook-nosed comic-book character, but portrayed here with a sword, as a soldier himself. Yet he's still ass-eared Charon, with that dreaded two-headed hammer he uses to dispatch the dead. And if you look closely you can see, on the underside of one wing, that all-seeing Big Brother eye nobody can hide from.

The other angel of death, leading the dead man along by tugging at his horse's bridle or reins, is the goddess Vanth. I say this with confidence, despite her boots and tunic (identical to Charon's), for four reasons. She seems to have her hair done up and bound with a headband or ribbon, as Etruscan women did. She is usually shown as Charon's partner, and usually in this position, as leading and guiding, rather than guarding and goading, the deceased. To light the dead man's way down to Hades, her left hand holds, as it usually does, a torch -- even though here it seems to be dragging on the ground. (Sorry, most of it was cut off in transmission!) Finally, and again you must look closely to see them, she has her usual two snakes wrapped around her arms.

*Picture source: an Etruscan museum guide written by Rico del Viva, an archeology student from Pisa, for Hotels Pisa Toscana, Tuscany, in La Gozzetta -Toskana-Italy (www.lagozzetta.it/toscana/ english/etruschiilpopoloeng.ht)