Charun & Vanth: Tomb of the Anina Family 300 BCE

November 18, 2019

Charun & Vanth: Tomb of the Anina Family 300 BCE

"Vanth is usually depicted with hunting boots, a short pleated skirt, and straps across her bare breasts – the attire of a Greek huntress. This is one of the reasons why she’s been suggested to have a Greek origin, perhaps inspired by the Erinyes, infernal Goddesses of vengeance, also winged, but far more fearsome.

She is often accompanied by a less benevolent-looking hybrid figure, one with animal ears, pointed teeth, and snakes twined around his arms. Funerary inscriptions reveal his name is Charun – probably an adaptation of Charon, the Greek ferryman who begrudgingly escorts souls to Hades. Showing the decay of death in his bluish complexion, the Etruscan Charun is armed with a hammer, which he sometimes swings over a person’s head in a threatening manner. His brutish impulse may indicate that he isn’t merely a psychopomp, but also a protector of the dead, in charge of fending off evil spirits from the tomb."

-taken from folklorethursday link below