Cultural change in the religious landscape of Umbria between the 4th and the 1st BCE
- Arianna Zapelloni Pavia
- Wednesday 10 May 2017
2333 CC Leiden
How did the Roman conquest a ect religious behavior in the region of Umbria, and what can the archaeological record tell us about the change that followed the Roman takeover?
In this talk, I will first introduce the broad terrain of discussion about cultural change in general, and in the religious sphere specically. Second, I will review the different approaches used by scholars to study religious rituals and the role that they play in shaping the cultural identities of a community.
This will lead me to consider the role of material manifestation of ritual activities in Central Italy, namely the votive deposits. Finally, I will focus on two specific case studies from Umbria, the sacred cave of Grotta Bella and the Large Substructure of Ocriculum, to explore the potential of the archaeological record to reveal aspects of the dynamics of cultural change in the context of the Roman conquest.