The actual name of one of Tuscany's most famous tourist destinations was Velathri or Felathri in the Early Iron Age (~750 B.C.), which is the Sanskrit term “Velaadhri”, meaning a mountain situated near the coast. Sanskrit letter ‘V’ is pronounced between the phonetic sounds ‘B’ and ‘V’ in the Roman alphabet, perhaps yielding an ‘F’ or 'V' sound for the Etruscan people. 'Vela' means tide, shore, coastline, or any boundary of land and sea; the second part of the compound 'Adri' means stone, rock, or mountain. The Romans called it Volaterrae by the 3rd century B.C. and later this word came to be shortened as Volterra in English spelling. Conveniently visited on a day trip (1 hour drive, 75 km) from Florence, the center of Europe's renaissance, Velathri overlooks the Era and Cecina river valleys, adding many shorelines to its landscape.
Volterra today is a small town located about 1800 feet or 550 meters above sea level, by far the highest elevation among the twelve major cities in the ancient Etruscan League. Also the Tyrrhenian or Ligurian coastline in Cecina is about 40 kilometers or 25 miles away from the city of Volterra, which is not a particularly far distance. According to tourist website http://www.tripsite.com/road-bike/tours/tuscany/: “The city
is situated on the back of a mountain right in the middle of the Tuscan
landscape. Thanks to its impressive position, according to the weather,
you can enjoy a wonderful view from the Apuan Alps to the Tyrrhenian
Sea.” Etruscan tribes also once occupied the territory of Campania, including the cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Surrentum (Sorrento), as attested by Aldo Massa (World of the Etruscans, pg. 33-34). Therefore this civilization must have spread across most or all of Italy before it became confined to modern day Tuscany. This demonstrates that the original heritage of Italy is Etruscan, not Roman, and their language must be either partially related to the Indo-European family or at the very least they borrowed liberally from Sanskrit.
The above map indicates that Etruscans were the dominant power in the northern mountainous areas and on the western coastline of Italy by the end of the sixth century. Notice that Felathri (Volterra), Vetluna (Vetulonia), and Velch (Vulci) are all located near the sea. The Sanskrit word 'Vela', as it relates to sea or ocean coasts, is also found in Latin terminology and place names. Vela is a constellation in astronomy, literally meaning "sails of a ship" because of the word's intimate connection with bodies of water in Sanskrit. Not incidentally, the ancient city of Velia in Magna Graecia, Campania lies right on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Because Roman and Greek languages are classified as Indo-European due to their close affinity with Sanskrit, the Tyrrhenians (another name for Etruscans) must have learned some Sanskrit vocabulary words like 'vela' from their neighbors. But modern Italians themselves seem oblivious to any vestiges of Indian influence on their geographical nomenclature.
To illustrate the confusion of Italian scholars regarding the name Velathri, an online travel guide states, "Etruscan names containing the root 'Vel' usually indicated a height, a hill. By extension, the same root as 'Vel' was found in the names of families of 'high' status." This vague definition has problems, most notably the lack of any explanation for the 'athri' suffix in 'Velathri'. Most Etruscan aristocratic family names (Porsenna, Tarquin, Remzna, Vipinana) are totally unrelated to 'Vel', so the guide's deceptive reasoning that 'Vel' was associated with higher classes is almost baseless. Simply because one important king of Caere (i.e. Thefarie Velianas) or some other prominent person had the same prefix in his family name does not automatically make 'Vel' an adjective of nobility! How stupid and gullible are we as readers to digest such facile logic? It goes to show that internet posters can write almost anything with no substantiation whatsoever. Certainly drawing the conclusion that some families derived their names from cities where they started out is reasonable (e.g. the Velcha clan who must have hailed from Vulci), but specious arguments such as those found in travel guides should not be taken seriously.
Similarly, it could well be that Volterra constituted or encompassed a larger urban region, including nearby Cecina on the coast. Hence, "In the city (Volterra) and in the rural regions surrounding it a particular type of grave stela was developed during the sixth century for the monumental tombs of eminent aristocratic men, showing them in their social aspect of warrior or priest," author Sybille Haynes writes, hinting at this unusual phenomenon of spreading local culture through funeral art (Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History, pg. 248). Around 550-500 B.C. many artifacts point to a growing consciousness of the Ramayana in Etruria, especially those discovered at the city of Caisra (i.e. Caere or Cerveteri). There is a strong possibility that the celebration of Rama's story reached its zenith in Italy during the reign of the Tarquins in Rome, which spanned the entire sixth century (616-509 B.C.) and below is an example from Volterra that appears to match Rama and Lakshman's walking stance in the Campana paintings:
Rama and Lakshman were Eastern paragons of the virtuous and courageous kshatriya caste, so naturally Greek and Etruscan artists gravitated to them. Their valiant struggle as forest dwellers to overcome an indomitable force like Ravana must have appealed to the predominantly rural civilization of Etruria. "Of wielders of weapons I am Rama," sings Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (10.31), justifying how Rama could overcome the powerful demon Ravana. Despite access to all these available details in a global information age, the Louvre feigns ignorance like a stumped schoolboy when discussing the walking scene from Caere (Campana slab) above:
"The exact identification of the subjects represented by these paintings are still causing controversy today. The location in which they were discovered does not allow us to conclude that this is a strictly funerary iconography. Mythological interpretations are hardly more conclusive."
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/campana-slab-man-altar
Since they never bother to examine Oriental or Eastern mythology, the curators at this eminent French museum, arguably the most important collection in the western world, will continue to fail in their half-hearted attempts to solve this so-called mystery. Inscribed swastikas on a gold pendant from Velzna or Bolsena (7th century B.C.), as shown earlier from the Louvre, should alert them of Vedic culture's potential relationship to the Campana painting.
Orvieto's museum also contains an impressive stone-headed warrior from the second half of the sixth century B.C. that may not be directly associated with Rama, but nonetheless is reflective of the emphasis on martial art in the Orientalizing period. A short, quality youtube video on this sculpture and an unidentified female divinity with possible Vedic origins can be seen here.
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| Scenic View of Volterra, Tuscany Fig. 1, pg. 4 of Sybille Haynes' book - Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History |
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| Etruscan Cities from National Geographic Magazine, Vol. 173 No. 6, June 1988 |
The above map indicates that Etruscans were the dominant power in the northern mountainous areas and on the western coastline of Italy by the end of the sixth century. Notice that Felathri (Volterra), Vetluna (Vetulonia), and Velch (Vulci) are all located near the sea. The Sanskrit word 'Vela', as it relates to sea or ocean coasts, is also found in Latin terminology and place names. Vela is a constellation in astronomy, literally meaning "sails of a ship" because of the word's intimate connection with bodies of water in Sanskrit. Not incidentally, the ancient city of Velia in Magna Graecia, Campania lies right on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Because Roman and Greek languages are classified as Indo-European due to their close affinity with Sanskrit, the Tyrrhenians (another name for Etruscans) must have learned some Sanskrit vocabulary words like 'vela' from their neighbors. But modern Italians themselves seem oblivious to any vestiges of Indian influence on their geographical nomenclature.
To illustrate the confusion of Italian scholars regarding the name Velathri, an online travel guide states, "Etruscan names containing the root 'Vel' usually indicated a height, a hill. By extension, the same root as 'Vel' was found in the names of families of 'high' status." This vague definition has problems, most notably the lack of any explanation for the 'athri' suffix in 'Velathri'. Most Etruscan aristocratic family names (Porsenna, Tarquin, Remzna, Vipinana) are totally unrelated to 'Vel', so the guide's deceptive reasoning that 'Vel' was associated with higher classes is almost baseless. Simply because one important king of Caere (i.e. Thefarie Velianas) or some other prominent person had the same prefix in his family name does not automatically make 'Vel' an adjective of nobility! How stupid and gullible are we as readers to digest such facile logic? It goes to show that internet posters can write almost anything with no substantiation whatsoever. Certainly drawing the conclusion that some families derived their names from cities where they started out is reasonable (e.g. the Velcha clan who must have hailed from Vulci), but specious arguments such as those found in travel guides should not be taken seriously.
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| Swastika Symbols on Gold Pendant, Bolsena, Italy (700-650 B.C.) at Louvre Museum |
Velzna (modern Bolsena or Roman Volsinii) is another subject of controversy, which is unwarranted. A Byzantine historian of the 12th century A.D. (Joannes Zonaras) claims that Etruscan Velzna must have been perched on a steep hill but Bolsena today is situated on level plains. Since Orvieto and Montefiascone are located at elevated sites nearby, there has been debate about which place represents the bygone city of Velzna. None of this speculation will yield any satisfactory result if ancient Velzna contained all of these different areas under its control and administration. For our purposes, we first want to discern why it was called 'Velzna', and the answer is that it straddled Lake Bolsena on both sides. Remember 'Vela' signifies any major boundary of land and water in Sanskrit. Orvieto is 14 km from Bolsena, which was established by the Romans on the northeastern shore of the lake after they destroyed the original Velzna in 264 B.C. Montefiascone is right next to the southern tip of Lake Bolsena, so probably the entire region was governed by the Etruscan leaders of Velzna, but after Roman subjugation it got pigeonholed to one spot on the map - modern Bolsena (Volsinii Novi or New Volsinii).
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| Modern Names of Italian Cities in Etruria, including Bolsena & Volterra |
"A bearded man with long, horizontally furrowed hair and dressed in a short tunic, Avile Tite walks in profile to the left, holding a spear in his right and a sword with a curved handle in his left hand. His massive, muscular body betrays East Greek prototypes" (pg. 249, Haynes). Her dating of this stela is exactly the same as that of the Louvre's Campana plaques found in Cerveteri - the third quarter of the sixth century B.C. (550-525). As an investigator, I believe that all these similar findings from a particular time period are linked by some core values and beliefs. Avile Tite is likely representative of the ideal noble warrior, modeled after two of the greatest heroes in Eastern religion, Rama and Lakshman.
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| Rama, Sita, and Lakshman (right to left): Archeological Museum, Bologna, Italy |
Rama and Lakshman were Eastern paragons of the virtuous and courageous kshatriya caste, so naturally Greek and Etruscan artists gravitated to them. Their valiant struggle as forest dwellers to overcome an indomitable force like Ravana must have appealed to the predominantly rural civilization of Etruria. "Of wielders of weapons I am Rama," sings Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (10.31), justifying how Rama could overcome the powerful demon Ravana. Despite access to all these available details in a global information age, the Louvre feigns ignorance like a stumped schoolboy when discussing the walking scene from Caere (Campana slab) above:
"The exact identification of the subjects represented by these paintings are still causing controversy today. The location in which they were discovered does not allow us to conclude that this is a strictly funerary iconography. Mythological interpretations are hardly more conclusive."
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/campana-slab-man-altar
Since they never bother to examine Oriental or Eastern mythology, the curators at this eminent French museum, arguably the most important collection in the western world, will continue to fail in their half-hearted attempts to solve this so-called mystery. Inscribed swastikas on a gold pendant from Velzna or Bolsena (7th century B.C.), as shown earlier from the Louvre, should alert them of Vedic culture's potential relationship to the Campana painting.
Orvieto's museum also contains an impressive stone-headed warrior from the second half of the sixth century B.C. that may not be directly associated with Rama, but nonetheless is reflective of the emphasis on martial art in the Orientalizing period. A short, quality youtube video on this sculpture and an unidentified female divinity with possible Vedic origins can be seen here.
