Santuari Etruschi

Thanks to the increasing multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of votive contexts, a meaningful amount of information about both archaeological finds and associated faunal remains is available, giving way to interpretations about cults and sacrificial practices. This paper deals with the filling of different categories of “cavities” included in Etruscan sacred areas: the deep ones providing a connection with the underworld (mainly holding a primary hydraulic function); the wide ditches and the artificially delimited hollow spaces. In spite of the uneven quality of published data, this paper attempts to discuss and highlight their possible meaning and common distinctive features, taking into account their stratification, the sequence of operations involved and the evidence of specific rituals performed during the definitive land filling.

Greek sanctuaries are well known primarily as places within the community to feast and worship the gods. Since the late 7th century BCE, certain sanctuaries, such as Gravisca, Pyrgi or Naukratis, were founded in frontier zones, where they provided access to other cultural groups and featured peculiar economic characteristics. Karl Polanyi defined these sanctuaries as ‘ports of trade’. Sanctuaries with the function as ‘ports of trade’ or ‘emporia’, typically do not consist of large settlement structures, but offer features for trade and exchange, a protecting neutrality, and function as a gateway between at least two parties. The archaeological record indicates an important Greek presence in ‘ports of trade’ situated in frontier zones. Additionally, administrative structures and exchanged goods suggest a completely transformed trading strategy from the late 7th/early 6th century BCE onwards. This paper argues that ‘emporia’ were the key institution for the beginning of an intensive Mediterranean long distance trade in the Classical World.

The vital link between the site of Pyrgi and the town of Caere is highlighted by the many measures taken by the Etruscan town in order to turn the complex system of the settlement, the sanctuary and the harbour into the outpost of its political power and its enterprises in the Mediterranean Sea. The harbour of Pyrgi played a fundamental role in Caere’s political and military organization. The track of the road connecting Caere and Pyrgi demonstrates that the overall organization of its territory mainly aimed at connecting the town to its most
important harbour according to a model which is also attested in the Greek world (Athens, Corinth). As recorded by ancient authors, the archaeological system of Pyrgi is based on the
strict relation between the harbour and the sanctuary, as they had the same role in the international political context. The building and restoration projects of the central power regarding
the Northern Monumental Sanctuary clearly mirror the ideology of the metropolis through cultic aspects and decorative systems. According to the archaeological data, a crucial
stage for the reorganization of the littoral zone took place in the second half of the 6th century, soon after the battle of Alalia (540 BC). This operation implied progressive interventions
which are documented by recent excavations of the public complex north of the sacred area and culminated in the monumentalization of the Northern Sanctuary at the end
of the 6th century BC. By this time the sanctuary was surrounded by a precinct wall and included Temple B and other infrastructures such as a row of twenty small rooms (so called
“edificio delle venti celle”) and an open-air cult area (Area C). This ambitious urbanistic project was promoted and publicized by the tyrant Thefarie Velianas by means of the extraordinary
inscriptions of the golden tablets, thus conveying the image of his power to the Mediterranean world and those who attended the harbour. South of the Monumental Sanctuary
there was a minor sacred area that differs in its urbanistic features but shares the same building phases. The two sanctuaries were divided by a river course collecting the water
from a plentiful spring and possibly endowed with a cultic meaning. The political interference of the metropolis in the sanctuary of Pyrgi is surely expressed by the intentional
choice of diversifying the two areas and their divinities. The latter sacred area features small buildings and altars but also consecrated spaces where cults were performed, including
bothroi and votive deposits. As the many dedications point out, the Etruscan goddess Cavatha together with her chthonic male mate Suri was worshipped here. Such a couple of local deities, which is attested by a great number of Etruscan inscriptions, does not conflict with the Greek features of the manifestations of the cult, for example the offering of huge Attic (“jumbo”) vases. Such manifestations testify the intended openness towards Greek worshippers who have also dedicated some votive gifts in their own language to goddesses such as Demeter and maybe Kore.

Reviews:
Journal of Roman Archaeology 31.2 (2018) 563–567 [N. De Grummond]; Etruscan Studies 20.1 (2017) 100–107 [I. Edlund-Berry]; Opuscula Romana 10 (2017) 190–91 [F. Tobin]; American Journal of Archaeology [online] 122.3 (2018) [L. Taylor]; Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.04.41 [V. Riedemann Lorca].

Archaeological discoveries in the city of Mantua over recent years have helped identify an area of approximately four hectares that corresponds with the spot occupied by the earliest buildings of the original Etruscan settlement. Within this area various elements have been identified that mark it out as a sacred area dating back as far as the archaic period. Presumably the floors of the buildings would have been of beaten earth and the walls made of degradable materials such as timber and mud. Some of the buildings would have been roofed with terracotta tiles. There is a notably high number, about fifty, of engraved inscriptions on the pottery left as votive offerings. Three of these, dating back to the archaic period, are dedications to Vei and Zipni, providing evidence of the existence of a place of worship dedicated to female divinities at that time. Paleographic and onomastic data highlights a Celtic presence in the area as far back as the late archaic period.

In questo contributo si propone un’analisi d’insieme della situazione storico-topografica dell’intero territorio del Trasimeno tra fine VIII e inizio I secolo a.C., ripercorrendo tutte le notizie edite riguardanti rinvenimenti archeologici nell’area compresa tra il crinale delle colline attorno al lago e il lago stesso. Durante il periodo orientalizzante e l’età arcaica, nel pianeggiante comparto situato ad ovest del Trasimeno si assiste al considerevole quanto repentino sviluppo delle principali vie di comunicazione, in risposta alle crescenti esigenze di collegamento tra i centri di Chiusi, Cortona e Perugia. A questo fenomeno si lega la nascita di diversi piccoli insediamenti nella zona, nel momento in cui Chiusi pare aver iniziato una progressiva azione di controllo di tutto il comparto. Nello stesso periodo, anche in prossimità della riva occidentale del lago ha inizio una frequentazione stanziale, in questo caso a sfruttamento delle risorse del lago. In area cortonese, di particolare importanza doveva essere l’insediamento nato presso Monte Gualandro, che potrebbe anche rispondere alla volontà del dominio cortonese di assicurarsi, attraverso insediamenti stabili di confine, il possesso di territori a vasta vocazione agricola, tra i quali certamente spiccavano quelli verso il Trasimeno. Il movimento assai vistoso che si delinea per i settori occidentale e nord-occidentale non trova corrispettivi nel comparto orientale del territorio. Qui, in età orientalizzante ed arcaica, emerge una diversa logica di frequentazione rispetto alle restanti aree: i pochi e modesti insediamenti sono il riflesso di un popolamento sporadico, legato quasi essenzialmente allo sfruttamento del lago e all’allevamento.
All’inizio dell’età che convenzionalmente viene definita “classica”, le campagne del Trasimeno appaiono, in termini generali, ben inserite nel sistema di controllo delle poleis etrusche emerse nei secoli precedenti, e popolate secondo forme e modalità dipendenti dalle diverse peculiarità territoriali ed ambientali. Nel versante chiusino, nel V secolo sembrano consolidarsi gli insediamenti nati nei secoli precedenti: si ha tuttavia la sensazione che la sua sorte cambi drasticamente nel secolo successivo, com’è convincentemente suggerito dall’esiguità di materiali databili al IV a.C.  Nel quadro di rarefazione demografica e di abbandono di aree precedentemente frequentate, circoscritto, ben inteso, a quest’ultimo secolo, non mancano tuttavia delle importanti eccezioni. Dai dintorni di Gioiella, per esempio, provengono cinque bronzetti della prima metà del IV secolo, che provano la nascita di un santuario dedicato a Cel Ati. A differenza del settore appena descritto, la porzione di territorio a nord-ovest del lago, quella cioè di pertinenza cortonese, sembra essere qualificata da una certa stabilità insediativa per tutto il periodo classico. Più ad est, oltre i monti che ancora oggi separano l’area cortonese da quella perugina, le zone degli attuali centri di Tuoro e Passignano sul Trasimeno paiono ancora disabitate, mentre nell’area collinare situata ad oriente di queste ultime località, assai strategica dal punto di vista del controllo del lago e della rete viaria, nasce l’oppidum di Colle Castelluccio. Anche a settentrione e ad oriente del lago pare saldarsi, proprio in questo periodo, un complesso sistema viario. I numerosi santuari presenti in questa zona, assieme a quelli attestati nei restanti comparti del territorio, invitano a riflettere su una sacralità che, senza dubbio, doveva essere propria di tutto il bacino lacustre. A tale riguardo, è necessario tornare su un celebre articolo del 1976-1977, in cui G. Colonna, muovendo da diversi dati, ipotizza l’antica assimilazione del Trasimeno ad un templum: una chiave di lettura che pare, almeno allo stato attuale, inapplicabile, in quanto mostra non pochi elementi di dubbio.
Nel versante chiusino il III secolo a.C. si apre con timidi segni di ripresa, preludio di quanto succederà in piena età ellenistica. Vi sono realtà che attestano un vasto ripopolamento del territorio, dopo una stasi che sembra prolungarsi dall’inizio del IV alla fine del III secolo a.C.; a partire dal secolo successivo questo territorio pare conoscere un nuovo assetto socio-economico. Nell’area controllata da Cortona rimane un intatto predominio delle famiglie aristocratiche sulle campagne e sui vici di nuova e vecchia formazione; tutto questo senza che si verifichi quel fenomeno di parcellizzazione che a Chiusi, successivamente alla destrutturazione seguita alla guerra annibalica, ha portato alla nascita di numerosi insediamenti rurali sparsi in tutto il territorio. In questo periodo presso Sanguineto, in un’area prossima al lago e al confine tra il territorio cortonese e quello perugino, nasce il santuario di Tec Sanś, luogo sacro di dedica dei celebri Arringatore e Putto Graziani. A oriente del lago, le zone precedentemente non occupate paiono ora ospitare realtà di discreta importanza. Si assiste alla monumentalizzazione dei luoghi di culti nati nei secoli precedenti, indizio di importanti mutamenti socio-economici: da un sistema legato perlopiù al mondo pastorale e piscatorio, si passa verosimilmente ad un modo di produzione basato quasi esclusivamente sull’agricoltura. I santuari diventano punti di riferimento per i piccoli nuclei abitati che nascono nei dintorni a partire dal II secolo a.C.
Alle soglie del I secolo a.C., il territorio lacustre appare capillarmente e variamente popolato. Il complicato e progressivo processo di integrazione e “romanizzazione”, iniziato due secoli prima, giungerà a compimento, come nel resto dell’Etruria. Dopo il 90-89 a.C., con la concessione della cittadinanza romana a tutte le città italiche, Chiusi, Cortona e Perugia verranno inserite rispettivamente, in qualità di municipia, nelle tribù Arnensis, Stellatina e Tromentina. Da questo momento ha inizio l’età romana propriamente detta, segnata dal nuovo assetto municipale che le città e le campagne del Trasimeno subiranno, omologandosi al resto del territorio romano.

During the final excavation seasons of the archaeological site at Colle Plinio
(San Giustino, Perugia), contexts were discovered containing many fragments of ce-
ramic wasters dating to circa the mid-3rd century BC, which came from a nearby kiln.
These include different forms of black and red glazed pottery, common wares, and also
architectural terracottas, as well as building materials. They demonstrate a particular
type of ceramic production of the Republican period in the Upper Tiber Valley which,
on the basis of technical and typological similarities, can be paralleled with contempo-
rary ceramic deposits in central Italy. The importance of this discovery lies not only in
the fact that it demonstrates the existence of local, specialised, ceramic production of a
high quality, but primarily it furthers our understanding of the Upper Tiber valley in
the general historical context of the 3rd century BC. This period is poorly understood
in this area due to the little information available from written sources andof the archaeological evidence which tends to be sporadic or out of context.

This paper challenges the common ethnocentric notion of the Faliscans as an autonomous and autochthonous group inside Etruria and emphasizes the Faliscan ethnicity as a ductile ideology linked with the geopolitical changes which occurred in the middle Tiber Valley between the 8th and the 3rd centuries BC.
Within this framework the paper analyses the landscape history of the ager Faliscus between the 10th and the 3rd centuries BC  to identify significant changes in the territorial organization such as aspects of the political identity of the Faliscans.
The Faliscans appear as allied or dependent communities of the powerful Etruscan city of Veii from the 8th century BC onwards, but substantial changes in Faliscan political unity could have occurred from the 6th century and particularly after the fall of Veii in 396 BC.
The political identity of the Faliscans is newly negotiated after 241 BC, despite the drastic modifications occurring in the territory because of the military conquest by Rome.
This paper also proposes to identify the area around the via Flaminia as the part of the territory directly  controlled by Rome after the peace treaty with the Faliscans, and where the expropriation of lands known from the literary tradition can be identified thanks to the remains of land divisions found by recent archaeological surveys.

This paper analyses the structure of the composition of the Phoenician text of Pyrgi, particularly in the light of typical formulae and structures found on similar Phoenician inscriptions. Its aim is to reach a better understanding of the general meaning of the text, its function and the circumstances in which it was produced. The analysis reveals that whoever created the text (no doubt an expert Phoenician scribe) tried to make use of the rigid formulae and structures that characterize Phoenician epigraphs. He fitted into a standard layout the basic information of what seems to be perceived as a single votive act, then extended this to include and develop further particulars, always attempting to make full use of the scribal resources in wich he had been trained. The text thus reveals a certain tension between the Phoenician nature of the forms of expression used and the seemingly non-Phoenician nature of important elements of its contents

The study of the urban alignment of the settlement of Pyrgi and of the arrangement of the sacred areas was favoured by its abandonment after the phase of Romanization and by the possibility of performing large-scale research over its territory. The harbour and the sanctuary of Pyrgi were a fundamental pole of attraction for foreign haunters as the outpost of the metropolis of Caere. Their development was strictly linked to Pyrgi’s favourable geographical position along the Tyrrhenian maritime routes and to the presence of a water spring. The settlement
was founded at the end of the 7th century BC, and was connected to Caere by means of a large road. The excavations conducted since 1957 by the Sapienza University of Rome next to the terminal section of the Caere-Pyrgi road brought to light a large sacred district.
The new excavation area (2009-2016) is located in the district between the sanctuary and the settlement. It includes different buildings datable to 600 BC-4th century BC erected along a pebbled road that departs from Caere-Pyrgi and leads towards the harbour. The buildings, together with votive deposits and a fire-altar, outline a residential quarter that was perhaps attended by a priesthood, where ceremonial practices were also performed. The new evidence can be related to the sanctuary itself and sheds light on its overall organisation. The results of recent fieldwork have also contributed to a better understanding of Pyrgi’s urban alignment, possible defensive systems (suggested by the Greek name Pyrgoi) and the topographic relationship with the later Roman maritime colony. Thanks to the involvement of scholars from different disciplinary fields, wide-range research is being carried out to reconstruct the original
landscape and the evolution of the coastline, with an aim to determining the morphology of the coast and the harbour in the Etruscan period.

Funde, Eigennamen und Schriftzeichen beweisen Roms lange Zugehörigkeit zur etruskischen Kultur. Die historisch faßbaren Anfänge des Etruskertums in Italien fallen mit der mythischen  Gründungzeit Roms (datiert auf 753 v. Chr.) zusammen. Die Sage berichtet vom korinthisch-etruskischen Ursprung der letzten römische Könige und von Einfällen der Etrusker unter dem König von Clusium Lars Porsenna nach dem Sturz der Tarquinier.  Die zwei römischen Gründungsmythen, die Äneas- und die Romulus-Sage, bezeugen die enge Verbindung Roms mit den etruskischen Nachbarn. Von den sieben sagenhaften Königen Roms, von Romulus bis Tarquinius Superbus, waren vier etruskischer Herkunft. Romulus ist der mythische Ahnherr der *Ruma, eines aus lat. Roma erschlossenen Geschlechternamens. Die erschlossene etruskische Form von Romulus lautet *Rumle. Von ihm leiten sich auch die Gentilizien Romulius bzw. Romilius ab. Auf die Romulii oder Romilii ist auch die erste der  sechzehn ältesten römischen Landtribus, die Romulia zurückzuführen. Remus gilt als der Ahnherr der Remmii, eines Geschlechts, das es wohl im ältesten Rom gegeben haben muß. Dem Gentilnamen liegt der etruskische Name  Rem-ne oder Rem-ni zugrunde. Von diesem Gentilizium leiten sich in und um Rom die Toponyme Rem-ona und Rem-oria her. Tyrrhener  und Römer wurden von den Griechen häufig synonym benutzt: Tyrrhenoì  è Rhomaîoi („Tyrrhener oder Römer“), ebenso wie Tyrrhenía è Italía. Einige Sprachelemente seien zusätzlich genannt: Im Etruskischen lauten die Namensbezeichnungen für Rom Ruma, für Römer Rumach, für Troja Truia, für Trojaner Truial. In der Frühzeit herrschte ein Priesterkönig (lauchme oder lochume, lat. lucumo) in jeder etruskischen Stadt, ein Titel, der möglicherweise auf die Heilskönige und Richter der nordostgeorgischen Bergstämme verweist, die häufig den Namen Luchumi trugen.

Das etruskische Erbe Roms gelangte erst Jahrhunderte später, während des Humanismus und in der Renaissance wieder zum Vorschein. Bei der Hinwendung zur Antike in der Rinascita spielte in der Toskana und in Latium, vor allem in Florenz und Viterbo, die Etruscheria, die Begeisterung für die Etrusker, eine besondere Rolle. Das Etruskertum diente als Modell gesellschaftlicher Erneuerung und fand Eingang in die kulturellen Programme der Renaissancefürsten, nicht zuletzt  der Medici. Der römische Baumeister Vitruv hatte  in seinem Augustus gewidmeten Werk De architectura  die tuskische Säulenordnung beschrieben. Diese Schrift regte die Renaissancearchitekten Andrea Palladio und Giorgio Vasari an. Der Palladianismus bildet zwei Jahrhunderte später eine der wichtigsten Stilrichtungen des Klassizismus. Durch die Lektüre von Palladio inspiriert, errichtete Thomas Jefferson sein Haus „Monticello“ mit toskanischem Portikus – die  erste toskanische Villa in der Neuen Welt.  Den Etruskern verdankt das  abendländischen Denken  schließlich  eine zentrale Kategorie – die Person.

Si presentano i frammenti di statue acroteriali e
frontonali provenienti dall’area sacra di S. Antonio
(testa di sfinge del 530 a.C. ca) e altri materiali
rinvenuti nell’area urbana di Cerveteri purtroppo
non in scavi regolari ma provenienti da recuperi
effettuati ormai qualche anno addietro in circostanze
fortunose che permettono di ricostruire un sistema
decorativo del tipo Veio-Roma-Velletri, con grandi
volute acroteriali, un gruppo di Eracle ed Atena,
e lastre di sima con la sequenza toro con squame,
sbaccellatura e scena figurata.
Numerosi i frammenti pertinenti a statue di diverso
modulo, sia maschili che femminili, databili
nell’ultimo quarto del VI secolo.
Si ricostruisce un panorama estremamente interessante
che attesta il ruolo che anche Cerveteri ha avuto
nell’adozione di elaborate creazioni di coroplastica
– gruppi acroteri ali e frontonali – con soggetti
analoghi a quelli attestati a Roma e nel Lazio, in cui
venivano chiamate le stesse maestranze alle quali
una ben precisa committenza pubblica richiedeva
comuni contenuti propagandistici.