Tinia

{{Short description|Etruscan sky god}}

{{for|the immunological technique TINIA |Turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay}}

{{Infobox deity

| type = Etruscan

| name = Tinia

| image = File:Tinia Staatliche Antikensammlungen München 2013.jpg

| caption = Terracotta bust of Tinia from 300–250 {{abbr|BCE|Before Common Era}}

| deity_of = sky god

| abode =

| symbol = Thunderbolt

| consort = Uni

| parents =

| siblings =

| children = Hercle and Menrva

| mount =

| Greek_equivalent = Zeus

| Roman_equivalent = Jupiter

| equivalent1_type = Egyptian

| equivalent1=Amun

}}

File:Etruscan inscription on a altar stone from Bolsena detail.jpg]]

Tinia (also Tin, Tinh, Tins or Tina) was the sky god and the highest deity in Etruscan religion, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus.de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History and Legend, page 53

However, a primary source from the Roman Varro states that Veltha, not Tins, was the supreme deity of the Etruscans.Varro, De lingua Latina V.46. This has led some scholars to conclude that they were assimilated, but this is speculation.{{Cite book|title=The Religion of the Etruscans|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2006}}

Tinia was the husband of Uni and the father of Hercle. Like many other Etruscan deities, his name is gender neutral.{{Cite book|title=The Etruscan World|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-0-415-67308-2}}

The Etruscans had a group of nine gods who had the power of hurling thunderbolts; they were called Novensiles by the Romans.{{cite book|title=The cities and cemeteries of Etruria: Vol.I |first=George |last=Dennis |year=1848 |place=London}} Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of which Tinia wielded three.

Tinia was sometimes represented with a beard or sometimes as youthful and beardless. In terms of symbolism, Tinia has the thunderbolt. Tinia's thunderbolts could be red or blood coloured.Nancy T. de Grummond, "Thunder versus Lightning in Etruria," Etruscan Studies, 2016, 19(2), 183-207.

Like Selvans and possibly Laran,Konstantinos I. Soueref; Ariadni Gartziou-Tatti (2019). Gods of Peace and War in the Myths of the Mediterranean People. Ioannina, Greece: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ioannina - University of Ioannina. {{ISBN|978-960-233-247-4}}. Tinia also protected boundaries. His name appears as the guarantor on three boundary stones with identical inscriptions found in Tunisia, originally placed there by the Etruscan colonists.

Some of Tinia's possible epithets are detailed on the Piacenza Liver, a bronze model of a liver used for haruspicy. These inscriptions have been transcribed as Tin Cilens, Tin Θuf and Tinś Θne. There have been a number of suggestions as to their meaning, but the Etruscan language is poorly understood and there is no scholarly consensus for the translation.