Aita- Etruscan GodDeity"King of the Underworld"
Also known as: Eita
Description
In the painted darkness of the Tomb of Orcus, a figure in a wolf-skin cap presides over the Etruscan dead. Aita, lord of the underworld, sits enthroned beside Phersipnai in a realm populated by demons and spirits who serve at his court.
Mythology & Lore
The Tomb of Orcus
In the second chamber of the Tomb of Orcus at Tarquinia, painted in the fourth century BCE, Aita sits enthroned in the underworld. A wolf-skin cap covers his head, the animal's features still visible in the rendering, its snout pulled forward over his brow. Beside him sits Phersipnai, his consort and queen of the dead. The two of them occupy the center of the composition. Other figures arrange themselves around them in postures of attendance.
The wolf-skin cap is how you know him. Even in damaged paintings, even when the colors have faded and the plaster has crumbled, the cap marks the figure as the king of the dead. No other Etruscan deity wears it.
The Court Below
Aita ruled a crowded realm. Charun stood at its gates with his hammer. Vanth moved through it with her torch, lighting the way for new arrivals. Other demons with bestial features served as functionaries and guardians.
The name Aita appears in funerary inscriptions, with the variant Eita attested at some sites. To paint him on the walls of a burial chamber was to turn the tomb into a threshold of his kingdom. The dead did not simply lie in the earth. They entered a court, and the king was already seated.
Relationships
- Family
- Rules over
- Equivalent to