The Obituary
Voltumna, also called Veltha, was a principal god of the Etruscans, whose sanctuary the Fanum Voltumnae near Volsinii served as the federal meeting place of the twelve-city Etruscan League for annual games and councils. Associated with change, the seasons and the growth of plants, he was the unifying deity of the Etruscan nation. As Rome conquered Etruria and sacked Volsinii in 264 BCE, the league dissolved and his festival died with it. The Romans folded him into their own god Vertumnus, and by the first century BCE the distinct cult of Voltumna had been assimilated away.
Worth remembering
- Every year the twelve cities of the Etruscan League met for games and council at his sanctuary, the Fanum Voltumnae, near Volsinii.
- He was thought to govern change itself — the turning of the seasons and the growth of plants — and the Romans remembered him as the shape-shifting Vertumnus.
Sources
- Voltumna (Veltha) was a chief god of the Etruscans, whose sanctuary the Fanum Voltumnae was the meeting place of the Etruscan League. Wikipedia
- The Romans identified Voltumna with Vertumnus, a god of seasons, change and plant growth. World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.