Constructing histories

Abstract

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.