
Vanth is an Etruscan Goddess of the Underworld, perhaps a psycho pomp, whose presence indicates recent or impending death.
Her character is a little ambiguous--for while She is present at these scenes She does not usually take an active role, and thus some authorities call Her an "angel", others a "demon". Aside from the occasional statue or other independent representation, Vanth is nearly always depicted in scenes with an Underworld or death-theme—funerary monuments are an especially popular setting for Her—and Her part appears to be mostly one of observation. She is quite frequently depicted as a partner to Kharun, the Etruscan version of the Greek Charon, the Underworld guardian whose job it was to ferry souls over the River Styx.
Despite Vanth's presence in some gruesome scenes—of battles or prisoner sacrifices—She seems to have had a distant, if not benevolent, role in things: though a harbinger of death, She does not appear to cause it. Her torch points to a possible role as a psycho pomp, a God or other being who guides or escorts the newly-dead on the dark paths to the Underworld; perhaps, then She calmly waits near battles or other scenes of death so that She may fulfill this function. She does appear, at least in one depiction, to have some influence in saving someone from death.
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