Maris (or Mariś) was an
Etruscan god often depicted as an infant or child and given many
epithets, including ''Mariś Halna'', ''Mariś Husrnana'' ("Maris the Child"), and ''Mariś Isminthians''. He was the son of
Hercle, the Etruscan equivalent of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
. On two
bronze mirrors, Maris appears in scenes depicting an immersion rite presumably to ensure his immortality.
Massimo Pallottino noted that Maris might have been connected to stories about the
centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
Mares, the legendary ancestor of the
Ausones, who underwent a triple death and resurrection.
Some scholars think he influenced Roman conceptions of the god
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, but this is not universally held; more likely he was the god of fertility and love, similar to the Greek Eros.
[N.T. DE GRUMMOND, "Maris´, the Etruscan Genius," in ''Across Frontiers. Studies in Honour of D. Ridgway and F.R. Serra Ridgway'', London 2006, pp. 413–426]
In the
Lead Plaque of Magliano, he is called ''Maris Menita '' "Maris the Maker", the full dedicatory line translated:
::For Maris Menita (="the Maker"), for the ancestors, also this previously mentioned annually appointed village-priest must make a dedication in the ''ciala,'' and in addition in the place of offering, and in the ''ichu'' house
References
Etruscan gods
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