Culsans
Culsans (Culśanś) is an Etruscan deity, known from four inscriptions[2][3] and a variety of iconographical material which includes coins, statuettes, and a sarcophagus.
Many scholars recognize the deity Janus as a Roman equivalent to Culśanś because he is also rendered as a bifrōns (two-faced god) and his divine realm also includes the protection of doorways and gates.
[8] His rendering on coins from Volterra and his inclusion in a dedicatory inscription found in Firenzuola, however, preclude the notion that his worship was limited to Cortona.
[14] Not all renderings of Culśanś are the same, but based on the available evidence, he is most often represented as a youthful, beardless deity with two faces, wearing nothing but a pair of rustic boots and a cap.
[8] Ingrid Krauskopf [de] points out that since the two figures both wear boots and a torque in common, these items are not likely special clothing, characteristic of either god in particular.
There is a passage by the Roman author Pliny the Elder in which he describes a statue of Janus where his fingers are positioned to represent the 365 (CCCLXV) days of the year.
[21][12][22] If the finger positions were meant to render a number value related to the calendar, it could suggest that Culśanś had an association with time and the cycle of the year just like Janus.
The typical portrayal of Culśanś and Selvans as beardless youths exemplified by these Cortona figures stands in contrast to renderings of their Roman counterparts, Janus and Silvanus, who are usually shown as bearded, older men.
[23] Krauskopf includes a 2nd c. BCE terracotta bust from Vulci of a double-faced bearded figure on her list of possible representations of Culśanś.
[5] A (possible) representation of Culśanś that is of a very different nature than the Cortona figure, occurs on a stone sarcophagus from Tuscania, dating to 300 BCE.
[34] Maggiani sees a parallel between Culśanś and the Greek deity, Argos, whom Hera placed as a watchful guardian over Io after she had been turned into a cow.
