
Catha, or Cautha, is an Etruscan Goddess
of the Sun who is sometimes shown as male. As a male Solar Deity, Catha is equated
with the Greek Sun-God Helios. Other sources, however, name Usil as the Etruscan
Sun-God, though on one mirror Usil is shown as a goddess as well. Catha is from
the Etruscan root cath-, meaning "the sun", and was also in
use as a family name among the Etruscans. Both Usil and Catha are sometimes
described as rising from the Sea at dawn, though how the Sun manages to rise
from the ocean off the coast of Etruria, which is located on the western
side of the Apennines, is anyone's guess, unless that particular iconography
originally comes from another culture. That said, Usil is depicted on a mirror-back
with Nethuns (Neptune, the Sea-God) and Thesan (the
Goddess of the Dawn).
Catha is sometimes called the daughter
of Usil, and associated with daybreak or sunrise; as such She may be equivalent
or a sister-Goddess to Thesan. On the Liber Linteus, a fragmentary book
of Etruscan ritual, which was only preserved because the linen it was written
on was torn into strips and used to wrap a mummy, Catha is called Ati Catha,
"Mother Catha". Ati is a title used of a few other Etruscan
Goddesses such as Cels, the Earth Goddess, and Turan,
the Goddess of Love. It may show especial honor or indicate that She was held
in high regard among the other Goddesses.
Catha is associated in cult with Fufluns,
the Etruscan Dionysos, and they may have been worshipped together, perhaps in
a manner similar to Dionysos and Ariadne (whose legend was brought to Etruria,
and where She was renamed Areatha), who does have attributes of a Light-Goddess,
albeit starlight rather than sunlight. That Catha received organized worship
is evidenced by the Etruscan phrase maru Cathsc, or "priest of Catha",
and Her importance in the Etruscan Pantheon is demonstrated in Her inclusion
on the Piacenza liver, a bronze representation of a liver used as a teaching
tool in the art of haruspixy, or divination using animal entrails (of which
the Etruscans were the acknowledged masters). She is in charge of several houses
on the liver, representing different aspects of the universe; and in Etruscan
sky-divination, which divides the sky in a similar manner, She occupies one
of the most auspicious regions among the earth and nature Deities, that of the
south-south-east (appropriate to a Sun-Goddess), right next to Fufluns.
Alternate spellings: Cautha, Cath, Ati
Catha
