The Sanctuary at Grasceta Dei Cavallari As a Case-Study of the E-L-C Votive Tradition in Republican Italy

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Sanctuary at Grasceta Dei Cavallari As a Case-Study of the E-L-C Votive Tradition in Republican Italy Actors and Agents in Ritual Behavior: The Sanctuary at Grasceta dei Cavallari as a Case-Study of the E-L-C Votive Tradition in Republican Italy by Kevin D‘Arcy Dicus A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Classical Art and Archaeology) in The University of Michigan 2012 Doctoral Committee: Professor Nicola Terrenato, Chair Professor Elaine K. Gazda Professor Carla M. Sinopoli Professor Janet E. Richards © Kevin D‘Arcy Dicus 2012 Alla gente di Tolfa e ai miei genitori che potrebbero essere bravi tolfetani ii Acknowledgements The acknowledgements are conventionally the final addendum to the dissertation. These opening lines signal the closure of the magnum opus which has been defended, revised, formatted; it is primed for its formal inclusion in the high society of academic discourse, as if being presented at the dissertation debutante ball. The passage to this ultimate stage, from the incipient twinkle in the author‘s cerebral cortex, is littered with the corpses of euthanized chapters and passages, made blurry by sleepless nights and paludal from sweat and tears. All of the struggles make the conclusion of the labor that much more rewarding. The acknowledgments allow for what William Wordsworth called ―emotion recollected in tranquility.‖ I would not consider tranquility to be a defining characteristic of the dissertation process. Its completion, however, has allowed me to find some refuge in this unfamiliar state where I am able to reflect back on the past years and recollect not only the struggles but also the people and experiences that made this project the most valuable and memorable time of my life. Without the help from the faculty of the Department of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Michigan, this project would not have been what it was. Thanks go to Professor Nicola Terrenato, whose phone call to Dottore Mario Torelli first made available the sanctuary at Grasceta dei Cavallari to me for study. Thanks also go to him for agreeing to become my dissertation chair and patiently bearing the idiosyncrasies of a graduate student whom he had only just met. I also wish to recognize Professor iii Elaine Gazda, who was a very important mentor to me throughout the course of my studies. Her comments, always plentiful, on my papers have made me a better writer. Thanks go also to Professor Carla Sinopoli, whose class on Material Culture Theory first sparked my interest in this focus, and to Professor Janet Richards, who helped me compile a bibliography on sacred landscape studies and provided many of the articles themselves. All of their comments about my dissertation, furthermore, were insightful, necessary, valuable, and greatly appreciated. It goes without saying that any errors are solely those of the author. I moved to Tolfa, Italy, in August 2008 with the intention of staying for five months to study the sanctuary, its votives, and the landscape of the region. I ended up living here for two years. It is precisely this recollection that I am calling up with my ―emotion recollected in tranquility.‖ I arrived at this mountaintop village on the bus with my suitcases, not knowing anyone. By the time I left in 2010, I felt, and still feel, like a real part of the Tolfa community. I will always be indebted to the wonderful Tolfetani who made me feel so welcome. Whatever list of people I acknowledge here will certainly be inadequate to the numbers that deserve acknowledgment, but I will do my best. I thank the mayor, Alessandro Battilocchio, who welcomed me very soon after I arrived and always expressed interest in my research. Next, the town‘s extraordinarily erudite historian, Giovanni ―Johnny‖ Padroni, who first told people who I was and what I was up to. Johnny‘s help was invaluable; often he knew what I needed to do next before I knew what I needed to do next. I always enjoyed running into him in the streets, or having him over at home; it always meant something interesting was about to happen. iv This work also owes very much to Dottore Paolo Brocato and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Etruria meridionale, in particular Dott.ssa Anna Maria Moretti and Dottore Gianfranco Gazzetti. Without their permission, my work could not have proceeded. I especially thank Gianfranco Gazzetti for allowing me to participate in his excavations around Tolfa. They brought me a much better understanding of the region‘s settlement patterns. They also introduced me to a group of wonderful new friends, including Mascia Zullo, Manuela Mentasti, Matteo Trucco, Susanna Pacchetti, and Walter Accialini. This appreciation extends also to the staff of the Museo Civico di Tolfa, and in particular to the director, Fabrizio Vallelonga. Without his knowledge of the archaeology of the area, and his willingness to share this with me, I would have drifted without a current. Of course those people who occasionally helped me forget about my dissertation deserve my thanks as well. Special mention goes to the Pierantozzi family who welcomed me like one of their own. Pino, you were my first friend at Tolfa, and Mara, my greatest. You and your parents will always have a special place in my heart. There were so many other friends that deserve mention and it is foolish to think I can name them all. Some that come to mind: Stefano ―Sgaretta‖ Felicini, Corrine Padelli, Elisabetta Riversi, Fè Bianchi, Emanuela Giannini, Angelo Paoletti, Paola Battilocchio, Marianna Brocco, Giuseppe Piroli, Angelo Virgili, Fra Sgammix, Francesco Marcelli, Giorgia Monterubbiano, Pier Luigi Pascucci, Antonio Morra, Alicja Podemska, Elisabetta Lisi, Sara Fiore, Gianna Pinardi, Mirko Guiducci, Piero Alocchi, Piera Battilocchio, and Ac Chirone. Thank you all. I hope to see you soon in Tolfa. v To everyone at Collina Verde, the local palestra, thank you for letting me lift weights with you, thank you for picking me up in your cars when you spotted me trudging up the hill to home, thank you for your friendship. Again, there are too many to list in full: Livio, Andrea Mariani, Maurizio Sestili, Stefano Iacomelli, Carola Bartoli, Vincenzo Bencini, Brunella Carolini, Federica Sforzini, and Francesca Filabozzi. This only brushed the surface. To the Bargiacchi family, for allowing me to stay in your apartment on the top floor of your house, thank you. For one year I was more or less an extended part of your family. I miss you all very much. Back in the United States, there are a host of people to acknowledge. To my cohort who suffered with me, thank you. Special thanks go to James Cook and Alex Conison who helped me forget the stress of writing and, at times, helped me forget my own name. A huge thank you to Leilani Howard, my best friend for over a decade, whose unflagging support was the greatest help I could have received. Finally, to Jenny Kreiger, who made my return to the United States one of the best things I could have done. All of this could not have been accomplished without generous financial aid. I thank the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and Rackham Graduate School for their continued fellowships. I also wish to thank The Etruscan Foundation, whose generous support at the beginning of the project was of paramount help while I was getting established in Tolfa I offer my thanks to those who allowed me to use their images, including the Soprintendenza di Etruria Meridionale (figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.4), Gianna Gandosi (figure vi 4.1), the Walters Art Museum (figure 6.5), and Dan Diffendale (figure 6.8). The remaining photographs are my own. vii Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xii List of Tables................................................................................................................. xv List of Appendices ........................................................................................................xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................1 A Discussion of the Terms ......................................................................................... 11 Style ...................................................................................................................... 11 Agency .................................................................................................................. 14 Style and Agency in the E-L-C Tradition ................................................................... 16 Chapter 2: The History of Caere and its Territory .......................................................... 20 The Orientalizing Period and the Aristocratic Boom .................................................. 21 The Archaic Period and the Rise of the Middle Class ................................................. 27 The Fifth Century and Decline ................................................................................... 32 The Fourth Century and the Rise of Rome.................................................................. 36 The Third to First Centuries BCE and Rome‘s Arrival ............................................... 39 Conclusion ................................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • No. 40. the System of Lunar Craters, Quadrant Ii Alice P
    NO. 40. THE SYSTEM OF LUNAR CRATERS, QUADRANT II by D. W. G. ARTHUR, ALICE P. AGNIERAY, RUTH A. HORVATH ,tl l C.A. WOOD AND C. R. CHAPMAN \_9 (_ /_) March 14, 1964 ABSTRACT The designation, diameter, position, central-peak information, and state of completeness arc listed for each discernible crater in the second lunar quadrant with a diameter exceeding 3.5 km. The catalog contains more than 2,000 items and is illustrated by a map in 11 sections. his Communication is the second part of The However, since we also have suppressed many Greek System of Lunar Craters, which is a catalog in letters used by these authorities, there was need for four parts of all craters recognizable with reasonable some care in the incorporation of new letters to certainty on photographs and having diameters avoid confusion. Accordingly, the Greek letters greater than 3.5 kilometers. Thus it is a continua- added by us are always different from those that tion of Comm. LPL No. 30 of September 1963. The have been suppressed. Observers who wish may use format is the same except for some minor changes the omitted symbols of Blagg and Miiller without to improve clarity and legibility. The information in fear of ambiguity. the text of Comm. LPL No. 30 therefore applies to The photographic coverage of the second quad- this Communication also. rant is by no means uniform in quality, and certain Some of the minor changes mentioned above phases are not well represented. Thus for small cra- have been introduced because of the particular ters in certain longitudes there are no good determi- nature of the second lunar quadrant, most of which nations of the diameters, and our values are little is covered by the dark areas Mare Imbrium and better than rough estimates.
    [Show full text]
  • Feature of the Month – January 2016 Galilaei
    A PUBLICATION OF THE LUNAR SECTION OF THE A.L.P.O. EDITED BY: Wayne Bailey [email protected] 17 Autumn Lane, Sewell, NJ 08080 RECENT BACK ISSUES: http://moon.scopesandscapes.com/tlo_back.html FEATURE OF THE MONTH – JANUARY 2016 GALILAEI Sketch and text by Robert H. Hays, Jr. - Worth, Illinois, USA October 26, 2015 03:32-03:58 UT, 15 cm refl, 170x, seeing 8-9/10 I sketched this crater and vicinity on the evening of Oct. 25/26, 2015 after the moon hid ZC 109. This was about 32 hours before full. Galilaei is a modest but very crisp crater in far western Oceanus Procellarum. It appears very symmetrical, but there is a faint strip of shadow protruding from its southern end. Galilaei A is the very similar but smaller crater north of Galilaei. The bright spot to the south is labeled Galilaei D on the Lunar Quadrant map. A tiny bit of shadow was glimpsed in this spot indicating a craterlet. Two more moderately bright spots are east of Galilaei. The western one of this pair showed a bit of shadow, much like Galilaei D, but the other one did not. Galilaei B is the shadow-filled crater to the west. This shadowing gave this crater a ring shape. This ring was thicker on its west side. Galilaei H is the small pit just west of B. A wide, low ridge extends to the southwest from Galilaei B, and a crisper peak is south of H. Galilaei B must be more recent than its attendant ridge since the crater's exterior shadow falls upon the ridge.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalogue-Guided-Tours-Kids.Pdf
    C A T A L O G U E G U I D E D T O U R S K I D S E D I T I O N The Colosseum, the largest amphitheater in the world Duration: 2 hours Our guide will be waiting for you in front of the Colosseum, the largest and most famous amphitheater in the world. You will discover together what happened inside this "colossal" building where about 50,000 spectators could enter to watch the gladiator shows offered by the Roman emperors until the fifth century. Place of incredible fun for the ancient Romans. Exotic animals, gladiators acclaimed and loved as heroes, spectacular death sentences and grandiose naumachiae. We will unveil many curiosities and false legends about the largest amphitheater in the world. The Palatine, from the Hut of Romulus to the Imperial Palace Duration: 2 hours A long time ago, between history and legend, Rome was born ... but where exactly?! On the Palatine Hill! We will start from the mythical origin of the Eternal City, when the two brothers Romulus and Remus fought for its dominion, discovering that everything started from small wooden huts, to arrive in an incredible journey through time and archaeology to the marbles and riches of the imperial palaces, admired throughout the ancient world. You will meet kings and emperors, but also shepherds and farmers! Castel Sant'Angelo, the Mausoleum of Hadrian Duration: 2 hours Our guide will be waiting for you in front of the Castle's main door to let you discover the secrets of one of the most famous monuments of ancient Rome.
    [Show full text]
  • SPEECH in DEFENCE of TITUS ANNIUS MILO Marcus Tullius Cicero
    52 BC SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF TITUS ANNIUS MILO Marcus Tullius Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge, A.B. Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC) - Rome’s greatest orator, philosopher, and rhetorician, he developed a style of speaking that was emulated for centuries thereafter. Cicero was influential in the development of Latin as more than just a utilitarian language. Speech in Defence of Titus Annius Milo (52 BC) - Milo, a candidate for consulship, and Clodius, a candidate for the praetorship, were in- volved in a streetfight in which Clodius was slain. Milo was tried for his murder. THE ARGUMENT Titus Annius Milo, often in the following speech called only Titus Annius, stood for the consulship while Clodius was a candidate for the praetorship, and daily quarrels took place in the streets between their armed retainers and gladiators. Milo, who was dictator of Lanuvium, his native place, was forced to go thither to appoint some priests, etc.; and Clodius, who had been to Africa, met him on his road. Milo was in his carriage with his wife, and was accompanied by a numerous retinue, among whom were some gladiators. Clodius was on horseback, with about thirty armed men. The followers of each began to fight, and when the tumult had become general, Clodius was slain, probably by Milo himself. The disturbances at Rome became so formidable that Pompey was created sole consul; and soon after he entered on his office, A.U.C. 702, Milo was brought to trial. This speech, however, though composed by Cicero, was not spoken, for he was so much alarmed by the violence of Clodius’s friends, that he did not dare to use the plain language he had proposed.
    [Show full text]
  • Statistical Bulletin 20 17 1 - Quarter Quarter 1
    quarter 1 - 2017 Statistical Bulletin quarter 1 Statistical Bulletin Statistical publications and distribution options Statistical publications and distribution options The Bank of Italy publishes a quarterly statistical bulletin and a series of reports (most of which are monthly). The statistical information is available on the Bank’s website (www.bancaditalia.it, in the Statistical section) in pdf format and in the BDS on-line. The pdf version of the Bulletin is static in the sense that it contains the information available at the time of publication; by contrast the on-line edition is dynamic in the sense that with each update the published data are revised on the basis of any amendments received in the meantime. On the Internet the information is available in both Italian and English. Further details can be found on the Internet in the Statistics section referred to above. Requests for clarifications concerning data contained in this publication can be sent by e-mail to [email protected]. The source must be cited in any use or dissemination of the information contained in the publications. The Bank of Italy is not responsible for any errors of interpretation of mistaken conclusions drawn on the basis of the information published. Director: GRAZIA MARCHESE For the electronic version: registration with the Court of Rome No. 23, 25 January 2008 ISSN 2281-4671 (on line) Notice to readers Notice to readers I.The appendix contains methodological notes with general information on the statistical data and the sources form which they are drawn. More specific notes regarding individual tables are given at the foot of the tables themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Map 44 Latium-Campania Compiled by N
    Map 44 Latium-Campania Compiled by N. Purcell, 1997 Introduction The landscape of central Italy has not been intrinsically stable. The steep slopes of the mountains have been deforested–several times in many cases–with consequent erosion; frane or avalanches remove large tracts of regolith, and doubly obliterate the archaeological record. In the valley-bottoms active streams have deposited and eroded successive layers of fill, sealing and destroying the evidence of settlement in many relatively favored niches. The more extensive lowlands have also seen substantial depositions of alluvial and colluvial material; the coasts have been exposed to erosion, aggradation and occasional tectonic deformation, or–spectacularly in the Bay of Naples– alternating collapse and re-elevation (“bradyseism”) at a staggeringly rapid pace. Earthquakes everywhere have accelerated the rate of change; vulcanicity in Campania has several times transformed substantial tracts of landscape beyond recognition–and reconstruction (thus no attempt is made here to re-create the contours of any of the sometimes very different forerunners of today’s Mt. Vesuvius). To this instability must be added the effect of intensive and continuous intervention by humanity. Episodes of depopulation in the Italian peninsula have arguably been neither prolonged nor pronounced within the timespan of the map and beyond. Even so, over the centuries the settlement pattern has been more than usually mutable, which has tended to obscure or damage the archaeological record. More archaeological evidence has emerged as modern urbanization spreads; but even more has been destroyed. What is available to the historical cartographer varies in quality from area to area in surprising ways.
    [Show full text]
  • HCS — History of Classical Scholarship
    ISSN: 2632-4091 History of Classical Scholarship www.hcsjournal.org ISSUE 1 (2019) Dedication page for the Historiae by Herodotus, printed at Venice, 1494 The publication of this journal has been co-funded by the Department of Humanities of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the School of History, Classics and Archaeology of Newcastle University Editors Lorenzo CALVELLI Federico SANTANGELO (Venezia) (Newcastle) Editorial Board Luciano CANFORA Marc MAYER (Bari) (Barcelona) Jo-Marie CLAASSEN Laura MECELLA (Stellenbosch) (Milano) Massimiliano DI FAZIO Leandro POLVERINI (Pavia) (Roma) Patricia FORTINI BROWN Stefan REBENICH (Princeton) (Bern) Helena GIMENO PASCUAL Ronald RIDLEY (Alcalá de Henares) (Melbourne) Anthony GRAFTON Michael SQUIRE (Princeton) (London) Judith P. HALLETT William STENHOUSE (College Park, Maryland) (New York) Katherine HARLOE Christopher STRAY (Reading) (Swansea) Jill KRAYE Daniela SUMMA (London) (Berlin) Arnaldo MARCONE Ginette VAGENHEIM (Roma) (Rouen) Copy-editing & Design Thilo RISING (Newcastle) History of Classical Scholarship Issue () TABLE OF CONTENTS LORENZO CALVELLI, FEDERICO SANTANGELO A New Journal: Contents, Methods, Perspectives i–iv GERARD GONZÁLEZ GERMAIN Conrad Peutinger, Reader of Inscriptions: A Note on the Rediscovery of His Copy of the Epigrammata Antiquae Urbis (Rome, ) – GINETTE VAGENHEIM L’épitaphe comme exemplum virtutis dans les macrobies des Antichi eroi et huomini illustri de Pirro Ligorio ( c.–) – MASSIMILIANO DI FAZIO Gli Etruschi nella cultura popolare italiana del XIX secolo. Le indagini di Charles G. Leland – JUDITH P. HALLETT The Legacy of the Drunken Duchess: Grace Harriet Macurdy, Barbara McManus and Classics at Vassar College, – – LUCIANO CANFORA La lettera di Catilina: Norden, Marchesi, Syme – CHRISTOPHER STRAY The Glory and the Grandeur: John Clarke Stobart and the Defence of High Culture in a Democratic Age – ILSE HILBOLD Jules Marouzeau and L’Année philologique: The Genesis of a Reform in Classical Bibliography – BEN CARTLIDGE E.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Etruscan Biophilia Viewed Through Magical Amber
    University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) Spring 5-9-2020 Etruscan Biophilia Viewed through Magical Amber Greta Rose Koshenina University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, and the Other Classics Commons Recommended Citation Koshenina, Greta Rose, "Etruscan Biophilia Viewed through Magical Amber" (2020). Honors Theses. 1432. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1432 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ETRUSCAN BIOPHILIA VIEWED THROUGH MAGICAL AMBER by Greta Rose Koshenina A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Oxford May 2020 Approved by ___________________________________ Advisor: Dr. Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons ___________________________________ Reader: Dr. Molly Pasco-Pranger ___________________________________ Reader: Dr. John Samonds © 2020 Greta Rose Koshenina ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis with gratitude to my advisors in both America and Italy: to Dr. Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons who endured spotty skype meetings during my semester abroad and has been a tremendous help every step of the way, to Giampiero Bevagna who helped translate Italian books and articles and showed our archaeology class necropoleis of Etruria, and to Dr. Brooke Porter who helped me see my research through the eyes of a marine biologist.
    [Show full text]
  • A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite? Jodi Magness University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Etruscan Studies Journal of the Etruscan Foundation Volume 8 Article 4 2001 A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite? Jodi Magness University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies Recommended Citation Magness, Jodi (2001) "A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite?," Etruscan Studies: Vol. 8 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies/vol8/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Etruscan Studies by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Near EasTern EThnic ElemenT Among The ETruscan EliTe? by Jodi Magness INTRODUCTION:THEPROBLEMOFETRUSCANORIGINS 1 “Virtually all archaeologists now agree that the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of the “indigenous” theory of Etruscan origins: the development of Etruscan culture has to be understood within an evolutionary sequence of social elaboration in Etruria.” 2 “The archaeological evidence now available shows no sign of any invasion, migra- Tion, or colonisaTion in The eighTh cenTury... The formaTion of ETruscan civilisaTion occurred in ITaly by a gradual process, The final sTages of which can be documenTed in The archaeo- logical record from The ninTh To The sevenTh cenTuries BC... For This reason The problem of ETruscan origins is nowadays (righTly) relegaTed To a fooTnoTe in scholarly accounTs.” 3 he origins of the Etruscans have been the subject of debate since classical antiqui- Tty. There have traditionally been three schools of thought (or “models” or “the- ories”) regarding Etruscan origins, based on a combination of textual, archaeo- logical, and linguistic evidence.4 According to the first school of thought, the Etruscans (or Tyrrhenians = Tyrsenoi, Tyrrhenoi) originated in the eastern Mediterranean.
    [Show full text]
  • SOLAR ECLIPSE NEWSLETTER SOLAR ECLIPSE November 2003 NEWSLETTER
    Volume 8, Issue 11 SOLAR ECLIPSE NEWSLETTER SOLAR ECLIPSE November 2003 NEWSLETTER The sole Newsletter dedicated to Solar Eclipses INDEX 2 SECalendar November Dear SENL reader, 6 Artis planetarium 6 CNN tonight 6 Antiquity of 'Dragon's Head and Tail' When we are finishing this newsletter, some of the die 7 New Sony videocamera with 3 Megapixel CCD hards are on its way to observe the total solar eclipse 8 Total irradiance graph 9 Eclipse retrocalculations of 23 November 2003. Indeed, some of the eclipse 10 Saros 139/144 and 129/134 chasers left with the icebreaker from South Africa to- 11 Question about eclipse seasons 11 Virus wards the Antarctic. Hopefully they will have a safe 11 Nasa Eclipse Site CD journey and we hope of course a safe return. 11 Picture Logo NASA WebPages 12 Fast question...... Many others will leave for Australia and will observe the 13 "Our Mr. Sun" 13 An eclipse/transit calculator for your mobile phone! eclipse from the air. We wish them of course all suc- 14 3d pix of eclipse cess with the observations of the eclipse. Hopefully we 15 25 october Mercury occultation by new moon 16 Giant sunspot approaching the Sun's centre will see some nice images of the eclipses, and their ac- 16 Live solar images , and northern lights counts in a few weeks time. 17 Satellites eclipsed 18 New Moon Oct 2003 The total lunar eclipse is another challenge for this 19 NASA Scientist Dives Into Perfect Space Storm 20 On the shortest time lap between tw o totalities in the same month.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovering a Roman Resort-Coat: the Litus Laurentinum and The
    DISCOVERING A ROMAN RESORT-COAST: THE LITUS LAURENTINUM AND THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF 1 OTIUM* Nicholas Purcell St John's College, Oxford I. Introductory Otium - the concept of leisure, the elaborate social and cultural definer of the Roman elite away from its business of political and military power - is famous. We can see in Roman literary texts how the practice of otium patterned everyday experience, and how it was expressed in physical terms in the arrangement, on a large and on a small scale, of all aspects of Roman space. The texts likewise show that much of what we would regard as social life, and nearly all of what we think of as economic, belonged in the domain of otium. The complexities and ambiguities of this material have been much studied.2 Roman archaeology equally needs to be an archaeology of otium, but there has been little attempt to think systematically about what that might entail. Investigating the relationship between a social concept such as otium and the material culture that is the primary focus of archaeology must in the first place involve describing Roman culture in very broad terms. The density of explicit or implicit symbolic meaning, the organisation of space and time, degrees of hierarchy of value or prestige: it is at that level of generalisation that the archaeologist and the cultural historian will find the common denominators that enable them to share in the construction of explanations of Roman social phenomena. In this account, which is based on research into a particular locality, we shall have to limit ourselves to one of these possibilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Hammond2009.Pdf (13.01Mb)
    Postgraduate Programmes in the SCHOOL of HISTORY, CLASSICS and ARCHAEOLOGY The Iconography of the Etruscan Haruspex Supervisor: Name: Sarah Hammond Dr Robert Leighton 2009 SCHOOL of HISTORY, CLASSICS and ARCHAEOLOGY DECLARATION OF OWN WORK This dissertation has been composed by Sarah Hammond a candidate of the MSc Programme in MScR, Archaeology, run by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. The work it represents is my own, unless otherwise explicitly cited and credited in appropriate academic convention. I confirm that all this work is my own except where indicated, and that I have: Clearly referenced/listed all sources as appropriate Referenced and put in inverted commas all quoted text of more than three words (from books, web, etc) Given the sources of all pictures, data etc. that are not my own Not made any use of the essay(s) of any other student(s) either past or present Not sought or used the help of any external professional agencies for the work Acknowledged in appropriate places any help that I have received from others (e.g. fellow students, technicians, statisticians, external sources) Complied with any other plagiarism criteria specified in the Course handbook I understand that any false claim for this work will be penalised in accordance with the University regulations Signature: Name (Please PRINT): SARAH HAMMOND Date: 22/06/2009 The Iconography of the Etruscan Haruspex by Sarah Naomi Hammond MSc by Research, Archaeology The University of Edinburgh 2009 Word count: 25,000 Abstract The religious rituals of the Etruscans incorporated several forms of divination including the practices of extispicy and hepatoscopy, the arts of divining through the examination of sacrificed animal entrails, and specifically the liver.
    [Show full text]