CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

RELIGION: THE GODS AND THE PLACES

Ingrid Edlund-Berry

There is no spring that is not sacred (Nullus enim fons non sacer, Servius Aen. 7.84).

S

prings are an important part of the Etruscan landscape, as are rivers, hills and

mountains, valleys and plains, forests and groves, and, as far as we can tell, each could

serve as a place of worship under divine protection.^1 The deities were known by name,

and their sphere of power was carefully defi ned in the sky and on earth, as shown on the

Piacenza liver and in the text of Martianus Capella.^2

To the Romans this all-encompassing practice of defi ning sacred space was known as

Etrusca disciplina, and as puzzled as they were by all the rituals observed by their neighbors

and rivals, many such traditions were absorbed into Roman religion, including the desire

to negotiate with the deities about the future through observations of signs in the sky

and through sacrifi ces. In the process, many names of Greek, Etruscan, Latin, and Italic

deities became assimilated, while in each culture the gods and goddesses maintained

their own identity and their specifi c places of worship.^3

In examining the sacred places within the geographic area dominated by Etruscan

culture from the Iron Age into the Roman Republic, it is clear that the Etruscans,

identifi ed primarily through their non-Indo-European language and certain cultural

characteristics in terms of habitations, art, and trade, shared much with their neighbors

in other parts of Italy. While certain practices may be common to all or most of ancient

Italy, there are also signifi cant differences between individual Etruscan sanctuaries, and

any general statement of what the Etruscans did or believed usually needs to be qualifi ed

with specifi c examples.^4

Although Etruscan speakers lived as far north as the Po valley and as far south as

Campania, the area considered the homeland of Etruscan culture ranges from the river

Arno in the north to the Tiber in the east and south.^5 Bordering areas such as Umbria

and Latium display many Etruscan cultural features, and Rome in particular shows a

cultural affi nity with Etruria, documented by the reign of Etruscan kings in the seventh

and^ sixth centuries bc, but questioned by many who prefer to see Rome as mainly part

of Latium.^6