#soranus

Titles and Other names: Soranus, Apulu, Tivr (maybe), Sol, Dis Pater

Attributes

The Sun

The Underworld

Infernal fire or Volcanic fire

The moon (possibly)

Darkness

Plague

The Morning Dew

Lighting (mostly attune to volcanic lighting)

Health

Light

Prophecy and other Oracular beliefs

Symbols/Sacred Animals

Wolf

Goat

Sun areole or rays

Lighting bolt

A bow

Sledgehammer

Sword

Spear

Lead

Halo

General Information

What we know of Usil is mostly from a bronze artifact called Piacenza liver it was a guide or map shaped in a sheep’s liver found in northern Italy near Piacenza made around 100 BCE. A tool used in haruspicy or reading omens through entrails of animals which the Etruscans were well know in this practice that which the Romans admired and adopted their knowledge in their own practices. Basically the liver is section mirroring how the sky is section during Augury each section has a domain of a god one side of the right contains celestial and light gods. Usil is mentioned quite a few times and there is evidence that he was popular in everyday life of Etruria he also appears on many mirrors depiciting him with another deity named Thesan goddess of Dawn he is seen with Nethuns/Neptune. There is Etruscan inscriptions but their language is not well known nor translated but what we do have is a concessive evidence of Usil and with pieces we can put together of what the Etruscans did left behind.

Who is Usil?

Through depictions of Usil that we have and art pieces like the mirrors depict Usil in the similar fashion of Apollo, he carries a bow in his right hand, he is depicted of rising out of the sea and joining by Thesan and waving farewell to Nethuns who is seated, it depicts a close relationship with the sun and dawn which isn’t seen in Ancient Greek mythology. Another myth is hard to decipher and not really understood so don’t take it as fact but it’s Usil as a youth running with a cock-headed companion it’s suggested that this might be a myth of the morning dew when daybreak happens however due to lack of translation we don’t really know for certain of the companion’s name or the full context. It also shows two stars in hands of a winged goddess speculated being Thesan carrying the morning and evening star.

Apollo is known to the Etruscans went by as Apulu/Aplu, however Usil like the other deities of Etruscan is more connected to the Cthonic sphere, when sunsets Usil is in the underworld and is know as Suri “Black” or Soranus scholars presume it’s similar how in Egyptian afterlife where their dead is also have their time in the sun. So why the connection to Apollo? Well Apollo has connections to the dead and dying which the Etruscans noticed in several myths of Apollo taking care of the corpses of Hector and Sarpedon, during the beginning of Euripides “Alketis” Apollo leaves the house of a friend whose wife is dying. Etruscans called him the god of Mount Soracte which is north of Rome, known as Apollo Soranus and alongside him was Dis Pater of the underworld. In the Aeneid Etruscan Arruns/Princes pray to him “Summe deum, sancti custos, Soractis Apollo.” Meaning “The supreme god, the guardian of the holy, Apollo of Soractus” due to votive inscriptions throughout Etruria Archaeologist Giovanni Colonna who specializes in historical excavations of Etruscan sites including finding a temple of Apollo in Veii has identified that through archeological evidence that Súri is Soranus, many amulets given to the dead and painted in tombs were sacred laurels of Apulu or Usil. Usil was connected with the Sibylline Oracles which the Romans would equate it with Apollo and Helios later on to establish a cult.

He also shared a cult under the name Súri with another goddess named Catha/Kavtha referring to her as a “daughter” or “daughter of the sun”

Sooo what does all this means?

Usil was a sun god similar to how the Greeks saw Helios but he had attributes and domains similar to Apollo. Etruscans notice how in certain aspects Apollo was associated with death or the dying a Cthonic aspect, which they gave him a epithet named after the mountain which he was worshipped as Apollo Soranus (latinized) after Mount Soracte along with Dis Pater the king of the underworld since the Etruscans merged Apulu with Usil he also took the name as Soranus. Súri is an infernal aspect as well and the underworld venerated at multiple sites like Viterbo and Surrina which was named after him due to the extensive work of Giovanni Colonna who made a great contribution towards preserving Etruscan history and archeology was able to piece together that Súri is Apulu who had underworld connections like his Greek counterpart.

Usil and Tivr or Tiv

Tivr is a goddess of the moon but this name is also used for Usil, the name “Tivr” means “Bright one” but it can be used as a word for month or the moon. It can be said that Usil was a deity of the moon or at least a control over time or that he was also can be seen as a goddess as well. It was a common among the Etruscans to see their deities more gender neutral using same names for other deities.

But her name appears on the back of the Piacenza Liver next to Usil hence all these theories but it can be just a division of two skies night and day with two separate deities but I’m putting this here to make it known have your own thoughts on it.

Súri

Súri’s name means “black” or “from the black place/underworld” A lot of symbols and associations of Usil comes from the deity Súri, the Cthonic Sun deity with a lot of connections to other Dii inferi (gods of below/underworld) like Charun a deity with a monstrous face of a wolf carries a sledgehammer but acts like a guide of the dead, Manth is the King of The Underworld similar to that of Hades, Calu who is also a wolf like deity name means darkness or dark. He is considered to be an oracular god sacred animal is the goat and along with oblivious the wolf His priests were called Hirpi Sorani “Wolves of Soranus”. He was also known as Vetis an Etruscan god of healing counterpart was Asclepius holding bunch of arrows. Soranus he became associated with volcanic and infernal fire and Volcanic lightning.

He was also linked with nocturnal lightning as Summanus who was the “opposed twin” of Jupiter and one of the Novensiles the nine deities to wield lightning bolts as wells as personification of the night. Every June 20th of the Summer Solstice people would make round cake called Summanalia he was typically offered black oxen or any dark fur animal like any other Cthonic deity

Rupe Tarpea, Monte Caprino, Vico Jugario e la zona di San Nicola in Carcere - Tempio di Giunone Sospita domenica 2 febbraio 2025. Proprio alle mie spalle (a sinistra guardando la facciata di San Nicola) i fratelli della Communitas Populi Romani stavano celebrando il rito a Iuno Sospes.

Mi trovo ai piedi della casina dei Pierleoni, superstite dalle demolizioni che, tra 1926 e 1940, trasformarono definitivamente l'aspetto dell'area, oggi via Petroselli, allora erigenda via del Mare, il cui tracciato doveva condurre (come in effetti fa tuttora) al quadrante Ostiense e, da lì, al porto romano. Siamo alle origini dell'insiediamento di Roma: il tempio di Iuno Sospes, assieme a quello di Giano e di Spes, sorgevano dove ora si vede San Nicola in Carcere, e alle sue spalle, presso l'Isola Tiberina, si apriva il più antico e facile guado tra le rive della città ancora non nata. Si ritiene che questo che intravedete dietro di me, dalla parte della rupe Tarpea, sia l'insediamento più antico, databile al XIV secolo a. C.: non si vede benissimo, ma alla mia sinistra, opposto cioè al Teatro di Marcello, abbiamo l'area sacra di Sant'Omobono, riemersa proprio con le demolizioni di cui sopra, dove avevano sede i templi di Mater Matuta e Fortuna. Si trattava di un quadrante dedicato alla purificazione, ai passaggi e a divinità femminili protettrici di benessere e fertilità: il Vico Jugario, che si trova sotto le arcate appena visibili alla mia sinistra, deve il suo nome da due possibili etimologie. Una è Jug- di giogo, legatura, forse per la sua posizione di "sella" tra il Campidoglio e il guado tiberino, forse per la pratica di condurre al porto tiberino le imbarcazioni legate, non è chiaro. La seconda, possibile etimologia - ma, si ritiene comunque plausibile che essa sia collegata semanticamente alla prima - è proprio Iug- per Iuno, nome della dea Giunone che era a sua volta, molto probabilmente, connesso a Ianus, con cui condivideva il luogo di culto. Ci sono evidenze di un legame tra Giano, Feronia e Soranus, che potrebbero far pensare alla confluenza (già nota) delle figure di Hecate, Selene ed Artemide nella Giunone romana, dea che si presenta con molte facce, tra cui almeno una selvaggia (Caprotina), e al suo collegamento con Giano Bifronte, Soranus/Sole e, quindi, Diana ed Apollo, di cui pure, proprio qui, sorgevano i templi (quello di Diana, distrutto, non fu più ricostruito).

Ancient African Origins Of Birth Control

Black History:  Special Delivery!! Silphium coins used in ancient Cyrene in Northern Africa Early forms of birth control were documented in Africa, dating as far back as 1850 BC.  Papyrus scrolls have been discovered with instructions on making birth control with ingredients such as honey, acacia leaves, and lint which was used as a type of cervical cap to prevent sperm from entering the womb. …

There are many other Greeks that lived, wrote, and taught among the Romans, aided by the Roman's near worship of Greek culture and thinking. In addition to those already presented, two more who made an impact are Soranus of Ephesus and Pendanius Dioscorides, both of whom lived during the 1st century CE, and both of whom wrote extensively but only a small portion of their work survives.

Soranus likely practiced during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian (98-138 CE) between Alexandria and Rome, and was definitely dead in about 178. He was said to be the son of Menander and Phoebe and was born in Ephesus, an Ionian coastal city that is in present-day Turkey. He followed in the steps of Asclepiades in the Methodic school, which was founded by Asclepiades' students, focusing on the 'treatment of diseases rather than the history of the individual patient'. Soranus was conisidered 'one of the most eminent physicians of the school', though little of his work survives to today. He wrote a treatise called Gynaecology that we have a Latin translation of from the 6th century, that, among other things, described the position of embryos within the uterus. Fragments exist of his On Signs of Fractures and On Bandages. He wrote On Acute and Chronic Diseases that also only exists in a Latin translation from the 5th century. In addition to these practical guides, he also worked on the Life of Hippocrates, one of the only remaining authorities about the physician. The rest of his works remain only in quotes and references in the writings of later writers.

Dioscorides lived from about 40-90 CE and is known as 'the father of pharacognosy', or the 'study of crude drugs obtained from medicinal plants, animals, fungi, and other natural sources', leaving behind a work called De materia medica (On Medical Material) that 'was widely read for more than 1,500 years'. He wrote that he had a 'soldier-like life', but his writings focus on 'plants found in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean, making it likely that he served campaigns, or travelled in a civilian capacity, less widely than supposed'. Given his name Pedanius, he was likely an aristocrat or was sponsored by someone from the Pedanius gens (family) to become a Roman citizen. He wrote his 5-volume magnum opus between 50-70 CE. His On Medical Material never left circulation, unlike many Greco-Roman works which were reintroduced via Arabic translations in the Renaissance, and was often expanded and updated as it was reproduced. It covered about 600 plants and some animals and minerals, and about 1000 medicines that could be made from these substances, as well as preserving the names of these plants and materials in Dacian, a language that has been largely otherwise lost and was spoken by people in Dacia, a region near the Carpathian Mountains. The entries within On Medical Material consist of a description of the substance, how to use it medically, and other potential usages along with potential side effects, such as for food, such as noting that opium poppy seeds could be made into bread. He also described how to detect counterfeit preparations and how to collect the useful part of the plant before giving a list of names in various cultures.