A Companion Roman Religion - Spiritual Minds

of S. Felicità. If this reconstruction of the place of cult is right, it had truly vast pro-

portions: 700 meters as the crow flies and 100 meters of slope separate the sulfurous

lake from the top of the hill of S. Felicità (de Cazanove and Scheid 2003: 145–79).

This cannot, however, be considered an isolated case. In central Sicily, the sanctu-

ary of Palikoipresents very similar geomorphological characteristics: over the slopes

of Roccichella, a recently discovered architectural complex composed of a hestiato-

rionand perhaps a temple towers over the plain where the sulfurous lake of Naftia

lies. A third example of the vast dimensions of certain Italic sanctuaries, which jux-

tapose a natural site and a monumental sector, is provided by the grove of the Marsian

goddess Angitia. It dominated the banks of Lake Fucino, drained in 1875 by Prince

Torlonia, so that the site of the sanctuary lost much of its expressiveness. Recent

excavations have brought to light three temples from the third to first centuries bc

(Campanelli, in Ribichini forthcoming), along a way parallel to the ancient bank,

which leads to the church of S. delle Maria Grazie (Sancta Maria de Lucois men-

tioned from the tenth century). An enclosure in polygonal masonry, dated to the

fourth century bc, also runs parallel to the bank for approximately 600 m, then climbs

the heights by forming a prominence in the south, in order to shelter the church.

Once more, we find an Italic sanctuary of astoundingly vast proportions.

The erection of proper temples in the Italic sanctuaries is a rather late phenomenon,

more or less contemporary with the Roman conquest of Italy. Exemplary from this

point of view is the evolution of the Samnite sanctuary of Pietrabbondante (Coarelli

and La Regina 1984: 230 –56). It appears to have been related from the beginning

to the rites of victory and the exhibition of enemy weapons. The majority of these

weapons date from the Samnite Wars (343–290 bc). Almost nothing is known about

the structure of the sanctuary at that time: perhaps there was a simple square enclosure.

We must wait until the second half of the third century before we can observe an Ionic

temple, with a short existence before its destruction during the Second Punic War.

The rebuilding of the sanctuary began around 180–170 bcwith the erection of

temple A. It is in fact in the second century that the majority of the monumental

temples of Samnium were built. The great Samnite families, grown rich after the

Roman conquest, played a decisive part in this. In Pietrabbondante, there are espe-

cially the Staii, the ones who supervise as meddices tuticithe works. Are these “pub-

lic magistrates” of a community or of an ethnic league? An incomplete inscription

mentions a safinim sak[araklum, apparently a “Samnite temple,” which could have

related to the whole ethnos. In the years 100 –90 a vast temple-theater complex,

whose pattern comes from Latium and Campania, was built. The tripartite temple

B is characteristically Tuscan. The cult ceased to exist after the Social War.

The Italian Cults in Roman Italy:

Ruptures and Continuities

The development of the sanctuaries of Italy after the Roman conquest is more diverse

than has previously been thought. For a long time it was believed that there had

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