The origin of the name of the Vatican
"The origin of the name of the Vatican is not biblical, nor Latin or Greek. The Etruscans took the place as a cemetery on a hillside outside an ancient city, which would eventually end up being Rome. The name of the Etruscan goddess that guarded the necropolis was Vatika. Another meaning of Vatika was a bitter grape of not very good flavor used by the peasants to produce cheap wine that together with an herb of the same name, were ingested experiencing hallucinations and the word was transmitted to Latin as a synonym for "prophetic vision." The Latin word predictor means "to predict, to prophesy" of vatis "poet, teacher, oracle." Centuries later, that hillside was the place destined for a circus and, according to legend, San Pedro had been executed there, crucified upside down and buried not far away. Constantine, the first Catholic emperor, founded a sanctuary there when the place was already known as the Vatican Hill. A few centuries later, the papal palace was built there and that is how the Vatican, a word of Etruscan origin and corresponding to a pagan goddess, gives its name to the very heart of the Church. " bibliotecapleyades.net "Image of the Etruscan goddess of the underworld Vatika who guarded the necropolis or city of the dead, where the Vatican is today. (Altes Museum, Berlin)
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