My DPhil thesis examines terracotta roof decoration from Archaic Central Italy within its archaeological, architectural, and cultural contexts in order to assess its religious value. It synthesizes data from the entire known corpus of late Orientalizing and Archaic architectural terracottas to determine and describe broad trends; it interrogates commonly held assumptions about their religious meaning; and it grounds analysis in specific archaeological contexts by focusing on eight case study sites in Latium and Etruria. The case studies include religious and non-religious sites with evidence for decorated roofs throughout the Archaic period, allowing for diachronic and synchronic analyses of both sacred and profane contexts across two culturally distinct regions. Each of the analytical chapters (Chapters 3 to 7) evaluates a different aspect of architectural terracottas using contemporary archaeological evidence: production; deposition; the relationship between rooftop sculptures (acroteria) of Greek deities and the cults practiced within sanctuaries; distribution and limitation to buildings of certain functions; and iconography.
Answering two key questions – whether or not architectural terracottas had inherent religious value, and whether or not the imagery depicted on them communicated religious meaning – is at the crux of understanding other fundamental issues of late Orientalizing and Archaic Central Italy: for the Archaic period especially, when architectural terracottas became more varied and widespread, they have important ramifications for how a building’s function is interpreted, how a temple’s cult is identified, and how religion is characterized more broadly. The implications thus go beyond the sub-field of terracotta studies and affect religious, cultural, and architectural histories of the region. Ultimately, this thesis argues that architectural terracottas did not have religious value during the Archaic period. Instead, the production, distribution and limitation, and iconography of Archaic architectural terracottas were essential elements of the construction and display of elite identity and power.
