- Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni –
altar: the stone chest was cut and left partially protruding under the east side of altar
α in order to receive liquid offerings. The altar is evidently symbolic, because it is now
impossible to reach it from its regular entrance from the south-east (Fig. 29.14). Connecting
the evidence of the stone chest, which has the dimensions of a sarcophagus, with a Latin
inscription quoting the hero-founder Tarchon, found by P. Romanelli on the same side of
the Temple terrace, M. Bonghi Jovino^14 thinks that the sanctuary maintains across time
the memory of the cenotaph where Tarchon the hero-founder of Tarquinia was worshipped.
Figure 29.13 Tarquinia, Ara della Regina sanctuary, the stone chest from the north-east.
Courtesy of Università degli Studi di Milano, “Progetto Tarquinia” archive.Figure 29.14 Tarquinia, Ara della Regina sanctuary, altar α from the west.
Courtesy of Università degli Studi di Milano, “Progetto Tarquinia,” archive.