Editing Iguvine Tablets (section)

===Other deities===

====Hondos Iovios====

Many scholars, from Bücheler to Prosdocimi, opine this deity is an underworld god of agricultural fertility and plenty on the grounds of the sacrifice of puppies he receives at his festival. Prosdocimi calls it the ''intermestruae cereales'': the declaration of the dog is set at the climax of the ''feriae''.<ref>TI II a 15-44. Aldo Luigi Prodocimi "L'Umbro." in ''Lingue e dialetti dell' Italia antica'' (= Popoli e civiltá 1. Italia antica VI) Roma e Padova 1978 a cura di A. L. Prosdocimi p. 713-717; 761-762. ''Hondra'' in Umbrian means under(neath), below.</ref> [[Jörg Rüpke]] remarks the association of Hondos with Jupiter is one among the numerous in the tablets, in which a complex multilevel and hierarchic structure of relationship among theonyms is envisaged. This phenomenon would put the god into a sort of host–guest relationship with the one given in the attributive. In the case of Hondos this feature is apparent also in the fact that his cults at the Hondia festival take place in the Jovian Grove but those at the lustration of the citadel (when the god bears the epithet of Çerfios) in the Coredian Grove.

It has been suggested that the theonym ''Hunte Çefi'' (''Honde Serfi''), referring to a chthonic god,<ref>Lacam, Jean-Claude Lacam. "Le «prêtre danseur» de Gubbio. Étude ombrienne (iiie-iie s. av. J.-C.)". In: ''Revue de l’histoire des religions'' [En ligne], 1 | 2011. §20, mis en ligne le 01 mars 2014, consulté le 13 février 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rhr/7709. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rhr.7709</ref><ref>Pfiffig, Ambros J. (1972). "Megalithische Elemente in den altitalischen Kulten". ''Almogaren III/1972'', Graz 1973. pp. 111 and 114.</ref> derives from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European root]] ''*[[Dʰéǵʰōm|ǵʰōm-to]]'' 'earth',<ref>Lacam, Jean-Claude. "Le sacrifice du chien dans les communautés grecques, étrusques, italiques et romaines: approche comparatiste". In: ''[[Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité]]'', tome 120, n°1. 2008. Antiquité. p. 45. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/mefr.2008.10414]; www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-5102_2008_num_120_1_10414</ref><ref>Lacam, Jean-Claude Lacam. "Le «prêtre danseur» de Gubbio. Étude ombrienne (iiie-iie s. av. J.-C.)". In: ''Revue de l’histoire des religions'' [En ligne], 1 | 2011. §18, mis en ligne le 01 mars 2014, consulté le 13 février 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rhr/7709. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rhr.7709</ref> a stem attested in several branches.

====Çerfos Martios, Praesta(o)ta Çerfia, Tursa Çerfia, Tursa Iovia====

These deities are invoked and receive sacrifices aimed at obtaining their favour for the protection of the ''arx'' itself, of the community and of the fields in connexion to the lustration rites of the Iguvian citadel at different locations of augural relevance.

The rites concerning the ''Praestota'' and the two ''Tursae'' involve a complex of libations aimed at obtaining a twofold action: the safety for the Iguvine community and the offsetting and expulsion of its traditional enemies.

The debated points are few as far as the ''Praestota'' and ''Tursa'' are concerned. The two theonyms correspond to the Latin ''Iuppiter Praestes'', ''Iuppiter Praestitus'', ''Iuppiter Praestabilis'' and the ''[[Lares]] Praestites''. ''Tursa'' corresponds to god ''[[Terminus (god)|Terminus]]'', being the deity that represents the boundaries of the city at different locations of augural relevance: these are without and within the city for ''Tursa Çerfia'' and ''Tursa Iovia'' respectively (TI I b; VII a). Such a meaning is connected to the Umbrian word for border, ''tuder'': ''Tursa'' is written ''Tuda'' in the Etruscan tablets, the intervocalic ''d'' being pronounced as a weak ''rs'' (i.e.: ḍ). Dumézil on the other hand, on the grounds of the function of ''Tursa'', a deity whose action is to scare, inspire terror into the enemies, opines the theonym derives from a verbal root equivalent to Latin ''terreo'', I scare (interpreting accordingly ''tursitu, tremitu'' in VIb 60).<ref>G. Dumézil ''La religione romana arcaica'' Milan 1977 p. 222-223.</ref>

There is no agreement among scholars on the meaning of the epithet ''Çerfios'' and as to whether this is also a theonym, i. e. ''Çerfos Martios'' is a god different from [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] or not. An inscription from [[Corfinium]] reads: ''Çerfom sacaracicer Semunes sua[d'', "priest of the Çerfi and the Semones", placing side by side the two categories of entities, the ''çerfi'' and the ''semunes''. ''Çerfos'' is most times associated to IE root *ker(s) and Latin theonyms ''Ceres'' and ''Cerus''. This view though might create interpretative problems concerning the theology of Mars and of the two deities who in Rome are associated with the sphere of law and defence, i. e. gods [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and Semo [[Sancus]] Dius Fidius. [[Georg Wissowa]] and [[Dumézil]] both underline that the derivation from root *ker(s) is not certain: Umbrian group -''rf'' could have a different origin than -''rs''.<ref>G. Wissowa ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'' Munich 1912 p. 192 n. 9; Dumézil ''Archaic Roman Religion'' It. tr. Milan 1977 p. 222-223. Derivation from IE root *kerr (horn) would seem to suit the functions of these gods.</ref>

====Marte Hodie; Hondos Çerfios====

Marte and Hondos appear also under these epithets. Here too the only certain indication is from Roman ''Heres'' (or ''Here'') ''Martea'', connected with ''heres'', he who inherits and also ''dominus'', the position of master of the house.<ref>Gellius XIII 23, 1 and 18; Festus s. v. p. 89 L; Ennius ''Annales'' 104 "''...Nerienem Mavortis et Herem...''". [[Hendrik Wagenvoort]] ''Pietas.Selected Essays on Roman Religion'' Leiden 1980 p. 175.</ref> Some scholars though connect the epithet to Latin adjective ''fodius'', he who destroys. The two gods both receive sacrifices of male calves in the rites for the lustration of the citadel at the Iovian and Coredian groves respectively; theirs are the last in the series of sacrifices after the two triads and before the execration of the enemies.

God Hondos receives the epithet ''Iovios'' in II and that of ''Çerfios'' in VI. This fact raises the question of whether these epithets were used alternatively in connexion with local or temporal constraints. Another similar instance is that of ''Tursa Çerfia'' and ''Tursa Iovia'', who are found without and within the ''pomerium'' respectively.

====Puemonos Pupricos and Vesuna of Puemonos Pupricos====

This divine couple appears only in tablets III and IV, the most ancient ones. Puemonos's name seems to be related with Roman goddess [[Pomona (mythology)|Pomona]]; moreover both the name itself and the epithet ''Popricos'' (''Publicus'') hint towards a universal fertility god, similar to Latin god [[Liber]]. [[Vesuna]] is also found on a coin from [[Marsian]] territory.<ref>Newman p. 4 citing Mommsen.</ref><ref>According to toponomastic studies, Vesuna is a [[hydronym|potamonym]]. i.e. a river-name in the hydronymy of Central Italy.</ref>