Votives Places And Rituals In Etruscan Religion

By considering votive, mortuary and secular rituals, the volume offers a contribution to the continued study of Etruscan culture and gathers new material, interpretations and approaches to the less emphasized areas of Etruscan religion.

The articles in this publication are presentations given during and offered to the Colloquium Material Aspects of Etruscan Religion, organised by the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University on 29 and 30 May 2008. They shed much new light upon religious aspects of sanctuaries, cities, settlements, necropoles, and tombs in Etruria, in the Po valley and in Campania. Also several, hitherto unpublished artefacts with ritual representations are commented on. A new analysis of the role, gestures and instruments of haruspices (divination experts) suggests that Etruscan divination is of Near Eastern origin. Interdisciplinary research on the function of litui proves that this curved staff of priests (but not of seers) probably originates also from the Near East. Finally, the religious background of Etruscan theatrical plays, always related to historical events in Roman history, is analysed. This BABESCH Supplement casts light on Etruscan gods, the process of anthropomorphisation, the cults, votive deposits, the cult places, also in necropoles, architectural decoration of temples and the relationship with representations on vases in the Faliscan border area of Etruria, rituals, and attributes of seers and priests. Further a new typology of altars is included. Extremely important are the results of very recent excavations in Tarquinia, at Gravisca, a multicultural harbour sanctuary near Tarquinia, at Marzabotto and several other places. The introduction sketches the main lines of the development of Etruscan religion with references to the contents of the colloquium papers.

A comprehensive overview, by period and region, of the archaeology of ritual and religion. The coverage is global, and extends from the earliest prehistory to modern times. Written by over sixty renowned specialists, the Handbook presents the very best in current scholarship, and will also stimulate further research.

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC presents the first comprehensive treatment of cult buildings in western central Italy from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period. By analysing the archaeological evidence for the form of early religious buildings and their role in ancient communities, it reconstructs a detailed history of early Latial and Etruscan religious architecture that brings together the buildings and the people who used them. The first part of the study examines the processes by which religious buildings changed from huts and shrines to monumental temples, and explores apparent differences between these processes in Latium and Etruria. The second part analyses the broader architectural, religious, and topographical contexts of the first Etrusco-Italic temples alongside possible rationales for their introduction. The result is a new and extensive account of when, where, and why monumental cult buildings became features of early central Italic society.

Devotion to religion was the distinguishing characteristic of the Etruscan people, the most powerful civilization of Italy in the Archaic period. From a very early date, Etruscan religion spread its influence into Roman society, especially with the practice of divination. The Etruscan priest Spurinna, to give a well-known example, warned Caesar to beware the Ides of March. Yet despite the importance of religion in Etruscan life, there are relatively few modern comprehensive studies of Etruscan religion, and none in English. This volume seeks to fill that deficiency by bringing together essays by leading scholars that collectively provide a state-of-the-art overview of religion in ancient Etruria. The eight essays in this book cover all of the most important topics in Etruscan religion, including the Etruscan pantheon and the roles of the gods, the roles of priests and divinatory practices, votive rituals, liturgical literature, sacred spaces and temples, and burial and the afterlife. In addition to the essays, the book contains valuable supporting materials, including the first English translation of an Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar (which guided priests in making divinations), Greek and Latin sources about Etruscan religion (in the original language and English translation), and a glossary. Nearly 150 black and white photographs and drawings illustrate surviving Etruscan artifacts and inscriptions, as well as temple floor plans and reconstructions.

This new collection presents a rich selection of innovative scholarship on the Etruscans, a vibrant, independent people whose distinct civilization flourished in central Italy for most of the first millennium BCE and whose artistic, social and cultural traditions helped shape the ancient Mediterranean, European, and Classical worlds. Includes contributions from an international cast of both established and emerging scholars Offers fresh perspectives on Etruscan art and culture, including analysis of the most up-to-date research and archaeological discoveries Reassesses and evaluates traditional topics like architecture, wall painting, ceramics, and sculpture as well as new ones such as textile archaeology, while also addressing themes that have yet to be thoroughly investigated in the scholarship, such as the obesus etruscus, the function and use of jewelry at different life stages, Greek and Roman topoi about the Etruscans, the Etruscans’ reception of ponderation, and more Counters the claim that the Etruscans were culturally inferior to the Greeks and Romans by emphasizing fields where the Etruscans were either technological or artistic pioneers and by reframing similarities in style and iconography as examples of Etruscan agency and reception rather than as a deficit of local creativity

This handbook has two purposes: it is intended (1) as a handbook of Etruscology or Etruscan Studies, offering a state-of-the-art and comprehensive overview of the history of the discipline and its development, and (2) it serves as an authoritative reference work representing the current state of knowledge on Etruscan civilization. The organization of the volume reflects this dual purpose. The first part of the volume is dedicated to methodology and leading themes in current research, organized thematically, whereas the second part offers a diachronic account of Etruscan history, culture, religion, art & archaeology, and social and political relations and structures, as well as a systematic treatment of the topography of the Etruscan civilization and sphere of influence. 

This volume brings together scholars in religion, archaeology, philology, and history to explore case studies and theoretical models of converging religions. The twenty-four essays offered in this volume, which derive from Hittite, Cilician, Lydian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman cultural settings, focus on encounters at the boundaries of cultures, landscapes, chronologies, social class and status, the imaginary, and the materially operative. Broad patterns ultimately emerge that reach across these boundaries, and suggest the state of the question on the study of convergence, and the potential fruitfulness for comparative and interdisciplinary studies as models continue to evolve.