Nortia
The goddess on the wall.
Nortia was the Etruscan goddess of fate, fortune, and destiny, worshipped at Volsinii from roughly the 6th century BCE. Each year a nail was driven into a designated wall of her temple to mark the passage of another year — an act of marking time on a wall that the name of this site recalls.
Articles in this section explore her mythology, her rituals, and the artifacts that survive.
Nortia
The Etruscan goddess of fate, fortune, and destiny — worshipped at Volsinii for eight centuries and preserved almost entirely through the eyes of her Roman observers.
The Nail Ritual
Once a year at Volsinii, a nail was driven into a temple wall to mark another year. The clavus annalis — the oldest known practice of marking time on a wall.
