January 16: Lecture by Gretchen Meyers

Seeing is Believing: Communal Religion at the Sanctuary of Poggio Colla (Ancient Etruscans)

The Etruscan hilltop site of Poggio Colla, located in the Mugello Valley approximately 22 miles north east of Florence, provides unique evidence for a community within an important sanctuary setting. Excavation from 1995-2015 revealed this major sacred space in Northern Etruria with a sequence of monumental buildings stretching from the seventh to the second centuries B.C.E. A number of votive depositions indicate varied acts of religious devotion at the sanctuary throughout its history, including several dedications from women. The recent discovery of a stele dating to the sixth century B.C.E. inscribed multiple times with visible texts that have been interpreted as sacred in nature further confirms a long history of cult continuity at the site. Excavated evidence for habitation and a significant ceramic and roof tile production center on the hillside in a region known as the Podere Funghi serves as an example of such a satellite community.

This lecture examines the archaeological remains from Poggio Colla to reconstruct a community shaped by its geography, architecture or economic growth. In addition the different types of votive actions testify to a steady stream of diverse worshippers and suggest that Poggio Colla can be viewed as a community of individuals joined by common beliefs, as much as by its built structures.

(AIA-NY Society Haupt Lecture; Co-sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute)

January 16 at 6:00 pm
Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue (between 68th & 69th Streets)

RSVP Required (click here)

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