Conclusions

This book began by stating that histories of religious architecture can be accounts of both buildings and people. This particular history, focused on the archaeological evidence for the development of cult buildings in early central Italy, has reconsidered traditional narratives about the form and function of Etrusco-Italic religious architecture and proposed an alternative reconstruction of how their architects and audiences may have interacted with one another in Rome, Latium, and Etruria between the ninth and the sixth centuries BC. Comparison with the construction of monumental temples elsewhere also indicated that settlements including Rome, Satricum, Pyrgi, and Tarquinia can perhaps be considered part of a network of Archaic Mediterranean settlements with material, commercial, and religious connections, and that monumental architecture may have been a mechanism for successful social interaction. This study has therefore supported the suggestion that the physical and social fabric of ancient communities were closely linked, and that regional studies of Latium and Etruria may furthermore benefit from being set in Italic and Mediterranean contexts. This concluding chapter briefly recapitulates the arguments made in the main body of the book and the significance of each of those arguments for studies of ancient architecture and society. It also assesses how these findings relate to broader debates about Archaic Italy. Finally, it acknowledges the limitations of this analysis and highlights opportunities for future research. Part I of this book demonstrated that ancient religious architecture was a protean phenomenon. Three chapters analysed the ambiguous evidence for Iron Age sacred huts, the range of different buildings types associated with ritual activities in the seventh century BC, and the emergence of a separate architectural language for religious buildings during the Archaic period. Detailed analyses of foundations and roofs revealed that as changes in technology and society led to the widespread use of more permanent building materials, the physical fabric of central Italic settlements was also increasingly marked by the use of particular architectural forms and decorations to differentiate cult buildings from other structures, setting them apart in a form of architectural consecration.

Ritual topographies: landscapes, cityscapes, and temples

The construction of monumental temples and sanctuaries during the sixth century BC changed the appearance of cult sites and settlements in Archaic Tyrrhenian Italy. The relationship between monumental cult buildings and their settings, however, is not well understood. As will be discussed below, scholars have argued that the placement and orientation of Archaic temples was influenced by the terrain, pre-existing cult sites, ritual geography, and the requirements of those within settlements. It has also been unclear whether religious monumentalization followed recognizable topographical patterns, particular to each region, culture, or religion, or alternatively varied according to local needs and customs. Thus, although the archaeology of landscapes and settlements has become an increasingly common element of Latial and Etruscan studies, the religious dimension of these landscapes and cityscapes may benefit from further analysis. This chapter accordingly examines the topography of early monumental temples in Latium and Etruria both in terms of their position in the landscape and in relation to features such as votive deposits, roads, and other buildings. The first part of the chapter presents an overview of the organization and characteristics of settlements in central Italy in the seventh and sixth centuries BC to establish the context for the introduction of the first monumental temples. The second and third parts test hypotheses about the location of Archaic cult buildings against the archaeological evidence. It will be suggested that what at first appears to be great diversity may actually represent a variety of responses to the same concern, namely a desire to be accessible to visitors, travellers, and an increasingly mobile population. The fourth and final part uses these findings to argue that it may be timely to review traditional typologies for cult sites that are based upon topographical relationships with urban centres. The incorporation of landscape archaeology into Etruscan and Latial studies over the last five decades has generated new data and models for reconstructing regional settlement hierarchies, population densities, and relationships with the physical environment. It is now possible to recognize broad, if complex, patterns in the location and organization of settlements as well as changes to those patterns over time.

The first religious buildings: ‘sacred huts’

The votive assemblages that form the primary archaeological evidence for non-funerary cult in the Neolithic, Bronze, and early Iron Ages in central Italy indicate that there is a long tradition of religious activity in Latium and Etruria in which buildings played no discernible role. Data on votive deposits in western central Italy is admittedly uneven: although many early votive assemblages from Latium have been widely studied and published, there are few Etruscan comparanda; of the more than two hundred Etruscan votive assemblages currently known from all periods, relatively few date prior to the fourth century BC, while those in museum collections are often no longer entire and suffer from a lack of detailed provenance as well as an absence of excavations in the vicinity of the original find. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize broad patterns in the form and location of cult sites prior to the Iron Age, and thus to sketch the broader context of prehistoric rituals that pre-dated the construction of the first religious buildings. In the Neolithic period (c.6000–3500 BC), funerary and non-funerary rituals appear to have been observed in underground spaces such as caves, crevices, and rock shelters, and there are also signs that cults developed around ‘abnormal water’ like stalagmites, stalactites, hot springs, and pools of still water. These characteristics remain visible in the evidence from the middle Bronze Age (c.1700–1300 BC). Finds from this period at the Sventatoio cave in Latium include vases containing traces of wheat, barley seed cakes, and parts of young animals including pigs, sheep, and oxen, as well as burned remains of at least three children. The openair veneration of underground phenomena is also implied by the discovery of ceramic fragments from all phases of the Bronze Age around a sulphurous spring near the Colonelle Lake at Tivoli. Other evidence of cult activities at prominent points in the landscape, such as mountain tops and rivers, suggests that rituals began to lose an underground orientation during the middle Bronze Age. By the late Bronze Age (c.1300–900 BC) natural caves no longer seem to have served ritual or funerary functions.

Ritual activation: altars, cult statues, and temples

Religious buildings, altars, and cult statues are often conceived of as complementary, if not indivisible, elements of Roman republican and imperial cult sites. The design and function of religious architecture have been ascribed to their interaction, with the result that it is not uncommon for one to be used to explain the presence of the others: buildings were constructed to shelter cult statues, which were aligned with external altars to provide sightlines between the gods and their worshippers. Together the three components shaped ritual space and made communication with the divine intelligible and tangible. Yet these three elements were not inherent parts of all ancient religious rituals and venues. There is no evidence of dedicated religious buildings, altars, or cult statues at the water sources that received some of the earliest votive deposits in central Italy, such as the spring at Campoverde, and the arrangement of accumulated votive offerings and statuettes in caves such as the closed deposit of the Caverna della Stipe similarly suggests that no image was accorded particular prominence or accompanied by a permanent altar. Proposals that some Iron Age residences hosted ritual meals do not theorize the complementary presence of cult statues and open-air altars, nor do suggestions that Greco- Roman temples developed from aristocratic banqueting halls. If the resulting impression of an era without cult statues and prominent altars is correct, then histories of religious architecture should consider the evidence for the introduction of such features and their influence on the form and function of relevant cult buildings. This chapter will accordingly examine the archaeological evidence for pre-republican altars and cult statues in Latium and Etruria. It will explore the problematic identification of these religious accessories, and identify the quantity and nature of those that can be connected with cult buildings. The significance of altars and cult statues as religious markers, or potential means of distinguishing cult buildings from other structures, will also be considered. Finally, it will evaluate the theory that the introduction of altars and anthropomorphic cult statues stimulated the construction of monumental temples.

Accounting for religious monumentality

The evidence collected in the previous chapters has shown that the appearance and prominence of central Italic religious architecture changed significantly between the ninth and fifth centuries BC. Technological changes led to the use of more permanent materials and roofing systems, while the incorporation of podia and the increasingly specialized use of architectural terracottas saw a distinctive visual aesthetic develop for temples that differentiated them from other buildings. They also became a focus for investment, dominating their settlements, and were often constructed at sites that were highly accessible rather than defensible. These developments occurred at different times in Latium and Etruria but resulted in a largely standardized set of architectural, decorative, and topographic features for central Italic temples that can also be recognized in many cult buildings constructed in subsequent centuries. This book has so far paid more attention to the form and arrangement of monumental religious architecture than to its function. In part this is due to the inherently problematic nature of identifying precise building functions in early Italy, using archaeological evidence with a tendency for ambiguity and a general absence of contemporary, relevant literary information. It is clear, however, that not all of the functions of later Roman temples, as described by literary sources, can simply be retrospectively assigned to their Latial and Etruscan predecessors. Few Archaic cult buildings functioned as conspicuous landmarks on the highest point in their settlements, and many may not have necessarily sheltered cult statues that received sacrifices at external altars. Evidence of votive depositions that pre-date and post-date the presence of cult buildings at sites such as Pyrgi, Veii, Orvieto, and Gravisca furthermore makes it clear that architecture was not integral to ritual practice. But if temples did not meet essential religious needs, then what purpose was served by their construction? And, more importantly, why did sixth-century communities decide to invest great resources in building monumental temples rather than maintaining relatively modest shrines? This chapter will explore old and new answers to these questions.

The decoration of early shrines and temples

An integral part of the transition from ‘huts’ to ‘houses’ in the seventh and early sixth century BC was the adoption of a new roofing system using wooden beams and terracotta tiles instead of traditional thatch. The two elements of the new system formed an integrated unit, with special tiles designed and positioned to protect the perishable wooden beams from rain, wind, and fire; many also carried painted and moulded decorations that have encouraged study of their iconography as well as function. The disappearance of wooden trusses and supporting mud-brick walls from the archaeological record means that thousands of these durable tiles and architectural terracottas now comprise the primary evidence for the size, form, and decoration of many early Etruscan and Latial superstructures. Excavations in the last seventy years have yielded new information about the distribution of the decorative elements of these roofs in Etruria and Latium, and in particular about the different types of buildings on which they appeared. It is clear that architectural terracottas were initially placed on a wide variety of buildings, unlike their Greek counterparts, but gradually became the preserve of religious architecture. This chapter will examine the nature and location of these roofs, their imagery, and explanations for their increasingly limited use. As such it will offer a detailed analysis of the process by which terracottas became a means of differentiating religious buildings from vernacular architecture during the sixth century BC. Tile production appears to have begun in central Italy by the middle of the seventh century BC and can be associated with significant changes in society and economy. With an approximate weight of 60 kilograms per square metre for tiles and up to 85 kilograms per square metre for the supporting roof beams, the downward and outward pressure of tiled roofs had to be countered with strong, preferably stonebased, walls following rectangular or square plans, the careful selection of timbers to span greater distances, and specialized craftsmen to make, fit, and repair the roofs. All of these factors imply more sedentary communities than hut architecture, growing technical infrastructure, and an ability and readiness to invest in the greater capital expense of a tiled roof.

The architecture of early shrines and temples

The architectural transformations of the seventh and early sixth centuries, often described as the change from huts to houses, generated a range of building types that some scholars have associated with particular types of religious activities. Some small buildings with one or two rooms have been interpreted as oikos shrines; some buildings with multiple adjacent rooms are thought to have been venues for ritual banquets; and some courtyard complexes have been cast as political sanctuaries or residences where the inhabitants observed familial cults. The archaeological evidence for religious activities associated with any of these building types, however, is not straightforward. The first part of this chapter examines whether it is possible to identify any preferred plan for structures that sheltered and complemented religious rituals during the seventh and early sixth centuries BC. The second part then contrasts this inquiry with the relatively straightforward identification of religious buildings during and after the sixth century BC permitted by the introduction of a distinctive, religious architectural marker, namely podia. As such this chapter explores the emergence of a formal architectural vocabulary for Etrusco-Italic religious buildings and identifies when and where cult buildings became architecturally differentiated from other structures within settlements. Although the architectural changes of the seventh and early sixth centuries BC in Latium and Etruria are not linear or uniform, it is clear that round, oval, and rectangular huts with wattle-and-daub walls and thatched coverings were gradually replaced by rectangular structures with stone foundations and tiled roofs. From the middle of the seventh century plans of the new buildings were regularized to the point where it is possible to identify three main types. The names of these types, however, vary both within and between different scholarly traditions, with the result that a rectangular, tile-roofed building thought to have a religious function can be variously labelled an oikos shrine, a proto-temple, or a temple, and a more elaborate building may be described as a Breithaus, a casa a vani affiancati, a courtyard building, a palazzo, a regia, or an elite residence.

Constructing histories

Religious buildings are central to histories of ancient architecture and reconstructions of ancient societies. While this is in large part due to the prominence of their remains in the archaeological record, it also reflects the variety of ways in which religious buildings dominated early settlements. Their construction affected the appearance of towns and landscapes; the activities that occurred in and around them were closely connected to religious beliefs and the economy; and the resources involved in their creation and maintenance demonstrated the authority and priorities of certain individuals and communities. These factors allow religious architecture to be studied as either a corpus of structures displaying technical and artistic achievements or, alternatively, as a diagnostic tool for assessing how ancient societies functioned and changed. The ability of histories of religious architecture to be histories of both buildings and people means that they are now referenced in a variety of scholarship ranging from archaeology to anthropology and social and religious histories, and as such have an impact far beyond the formulation of architectural typologies. Religious architecture is so often incorporated into studies of the ancient world that it is important to regularly review, and sometimes revise, what we know about these buildings. This is particularly the case for cult buildings in pre-Roman central Italy, as five decades of new excavations, artefact studies, and interdisciplinary analyses have transformed our knowledge of Etruscan and Latial societies and their material cultures. The systematic excavation of settlements including Luni sul Mignone, Ficana, and Marzabotto, for example, now allows Etruscan scholars, long reliant on information from cemeteries and burials, to examine evidence of the living alongside that of the dead. Standard histories of Etruscan buildings and architectural decoration have been revised as a consequence of data from sites such as Poggio Civitate and Acquarossa. New excavations of sanctuaries at Tarquinia, Veii, Gravisca, and Pyrgi have given form to cult sites and practices that were previously reconstructed using only literary texts, and landmark conferences and publications on votive deposits have yielded unprecedented information on Etruscan gods and rituals. The study of sites and communities in Latium has also been enriched.