TAGES (Tăgēs), a minor Etruscan deity, grandson of Jupiter, and founder of the art of divination in Etruria. According to the story, during the ploughing of a field near Tarquinii a being of boyish appearance sprang out of the furrow. The shouts of the ploughman (Tarchon) brought to the spot all the people of Etruria, whom the boy proceeded to instruct in the art of divination. Having done this, he suddenly disappeared. His instructions were for some time handed down orally, but were subsequently committed to writing, and formed the twelve books of Tages, containing a complete system of Etruscan lore.
See Cicero, De Div. ii. 23; Ovid, Metam. xv. 553; Festus, s.v.; Mommsen, Hist. of Rome (Eng. tr.), bk. i. ch. 12.