Uni is the Etruscan goddess of love, marriage, fertility, family and women. She rules the Etruscan Pantheon alongside with her husband (who is also her brother), Tinia, god of sky and thunder, as king and queen of the Gods. Tinia, Menrva and herself is also the member of the Etruscan Triad.
She is often depicted wearing a goatskin cloak and wearing a sandal whilst holding a spear. Similar to her roman counterpart, Juno the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. Uni is also generally depicted wearing a bridal veil or completely nude.
A Roman historian Livy, states (Book V, Ab Urbe Condita) that Juno was an Etruscan goddess of the Veientes, who was adopted ceremonially into the Roman pantheon when Veii was sacked in 396 BC. This seems to refer to Uni. She also appears on the Liver of Piacenza.
Etymology[]
The name Uni is of uncertain etymology, however may be related to an Indo-European root iuni meaning "young", connecting to her association with fertility, love, and marriage. In relation, it has also been suggested that the Latin Iuno (Juno) originated from Etruscan, changed from a feminine -i Etruscan ending.
The Etruscan Triad[]
Uni, alongside Tinia and Menrva, acts as one of the three deities which make up the Etruscan Trinity, equivalent to the Roman Capitoline Triad. Most scholars agree that this triad was imported by the Romans from original Etruscan custom, where Uni and Menrva traditionally played larger roles than their counterparts Juno and Minerva. Ancient sources have described the expectation of towns to dedicate temples to Tinia, Uni, and Menrva at the end of three roads, leading to three gates, as a part of Etruscan disciplina. Further, it was suggested by Vitruvius that these such temples should have been located on the most elevated sites of the town, and spread apart from one another.