Nymphs with baby Dionysos

Relief at Sebasteion: Ancient Aphrodisias School of Sculpture...

A heavily wrapped baby Dionysos is handed from one nymph to another for suckling. A bearded Silenos gestures excitedly with his arms and taps his foot as though singing or about to dance. The scene is set at nearby Nysa in the Meander valley, where Zeus had his gifted child Dionysos, born to him by Semele, brought up in the wilds out of view of his wife Hera. - Museum of Aphrodisias, Turkey.

Hattians - First Civilizations in Anatolia

The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in Asia Minor in the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC. They spoke a non-Indo-European language of uncertain affiliation called Hattic (now believed by some to be related to the Northwest Caucasian language group). They eventually merged with or were replaced by the Hittites, who spoke the Indo-European Hittite language.

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Etruscans: Anatolian Italians?

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. The ancient Greeks' word for them was Tyrrhenoi, or Tyrrsenoi. The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.

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Hattic mythology

The Hattian mythology deals with the myths and stories of the Hatti gods, as they were handed down by the Hittites. They can be captured quite well by the source position, in contrast to Hattian cults, rituals and religious beliefs that can not be separated satisfactorily from Hittite and other elements.

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