Aita

Tomba Golini, Orvieto

Aita (also spelled Eita in Etruscan inscriptions) is the name of the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Hades, the god of the underworld.^[1]

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Aita is a relatively late addition to the Etruscan pantheon, appearing in iconography and in Etruscan text beginning in the 4th century BC, and is heavily influenced by his Greek counterpart, Hades.^[2][3] Aita is pictured in only a few instances in Etruscan tomb painting, such as in the Golini Tomb from Orvieto and the tomb of Orcus II from Tarquinia.^[4] In these tomb paintings, he is shown with his consort Phersipnai, the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Persephone.^[5]

Although Aita is very rarely depicted, he may appear enthroned and sometimes wears a wolf cap, borrowing a key attribute from the earlier Etruscan underworld wolf-deity, named Calu.^[6] Other examples of Aita in Etruscan art depict his abduction of Phersipnai. Aside from tomb painting, Aita may be identified in a few examples in other media, including on a 4th-century painted vase from Vulci, two 2nd century alabaster ash urns from Volterra, and a Red Figure 4th-3rd century Oinochoe.^[7]

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