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tombs ; they are usually engraved with mythological subjects, and 
the names of the several deities are frequently given. liiese 
representations are of two classes. Sometimes we have scenes 
from a mythology purely Etruscan, with names wholly strange to 
all the Aryan mythologies. For another class of scenes the poems 
of Homer and Hesiod, which were evidently familiar to the cul- 
tured Etruscans, are freely laid under contribution, lhe Greek 
names are sometimes spelt in Etruscan fashion, as achle for 
Achilleus, and utuze for Odysseus. Very often however, thoug 1 
the scenes are plainly taken from the cycle of Hellenic myth, the 
names of the personages who take part in these scenes are neither 
the Greek nor the Roman names, but Etruscan equivalents 01 
translations. . , 
Here, for instance, is a very fine mirror which represents the 
Hesiodic myth of the birth of Athena. We see Athena as she 
springs full-armed from the head of Zeus, which has been cleft open 
by Hephaistos with his axe. This is one of the plainest of the nature 
myths. From the vault of Heaven, which has been cleft by the 
axe of Fire, springs the full-grown Dawn, armed with her spear- 
like rays of light. The Day and the Night stand on either side 
of the Dawn, and assist at the birth of the glorious maid. 
Now in this mirror the Etruscan names of the Deities are exact, 
translations of the Aryan names into Turanian speech lhe 
“ Sky,” instead of being called Zeus or Jupiter, is named tina, 
which seems to be the same word as the Chinese tien, “ heaven, 
“ sky,” the Tartar ten-ri,* “heaven,” “ God,” and the Accadian 
den-ir, which has the same meaning. The wielder of the fiery 
axe, instead of being named Vulcan or Hephaistos, is called seth- 
lans, a word which in Finnic speech means the fiie-god. 
The Day, the spouse of Heaven, is not called Hera or Juno, but 
thal-na, a word which seems to be akin to the Samoyedio tain, 
“ day,” with the common Etruscan formative - na . In like manner, 
the Night, who uplifts the Dawn above her head, is called tiiana, 
a word w'hich we may compare with the Tataric word tin , tun, 
tiinna, “ night.” . , , ■, 
That the Etruscans were Turanians, and that they belonged 
to the North Turanian or Altaic branch of the Turanian stem, can- 
not I think, be denied. To which of the Altaic races they approached 
most nearly is a more doubtful question. My own belief is that there 
were in Etruria two races, more or less blended— a conquered race, 
and a race of conquerors. This conclusion agrees with the testimony 
of Livy, from whom we learn that in Etruria the speech of the 
country folks differed from the speech of the towns-pcople. Count 
* The root is ten , the suffix being only a formative. 
