Ways of Seeing: On Temples and Their Terracottas in Republican Rome (20 min)
Presenters
Fay Glinister, Cardiff University
Abstract
In central Italy
architectural terracotta sculptures have been ascribed multiple meanings in
multiple contexts: They are seen to act as expressions of elite ideals, as
markers of civic and social identities, as statements of participation in
shared mythic communities. More recently scholars have begun to focus on them
as the nexus between these elements and the ephemeral rituals undertaken
within, around, and sometimes between temples. This paper will consider the
ways in which architectural terracottas interacted with other kinds of
decorative and design elements to help channel and direct religious
experiences. It will reflect on the idea that architectural terracottas (which
typically represent the only surviving evidence for the decorative schema of temple
buildings) were merely one part of a wider sacred complex, were never viewed in
isolation by worshippers and visitors, and sometimes perhaps not “seen” at all.
AIA-3H