Esia is an Etruscan mythological figure depicted on engraved Etruscan bronze mirrors. She appears on the mirrors in the presence of Fufluns and Menrva, carried in the arms of Artumes. Esia is shown as a small female figure swaddled in cloth, barefoot, and wearing her hair bound up with a headpiece.
Archaeological Evidence
editTwo engraved Etruscan bronze mirrors, very similar in appearance, have an image of Esia with the name inscribed beside her.[1] One mirror is now located in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels, dating to the late 5th century BCE. Esia is shown as a small figure swaddled in the arms of the Etruscan goddess Artumes along with her arrows. Also shown are the Etruscan deities Fufluns and Menrva. Esia is likely being presented to them. These figures are all identified by the inscriptions of their names next to them. At the bottom is a Silenus head, a uniquely Etruscan feature indicating a prophecy theme.
Discussion
editThere are two major theories about Esia'a identity. One theory says that she is the personification of the deceased soul of a maiden who died young.[2] Another proposes that she is the Etruscan counterpart to Ariadne, a goddess in Greek mythology.Part of the controversy over Esia’s identity in Etruscan mythology has to do with the presence of a bearded Fufluns on the mirror. His beard indicates the maturity of the figure and has led some scholars to propose the idea that Esia could be a counterpart of Ariadne. In Greek mythology, Fufluns’ counterpart Dionysos was married to Ariadne. There are no other visible elements indicating Fufluns’ intent to marry Esia on the mirror other than depicting Fufluns as a mature man.
The presence of Artumes, the counterpart of the goddess Artemis in Greek mythology, adds to the other theory about Esia's identity as in Greek mythology she is associated with the transportation of the souls of deceased young women to the underworld.
The second mirror with a similar mythological scene is in the Museo Civico in Bologna, Italy.