The book documents some three thousand votive terracottas recovered by archaeologists at Santa Venera, one of the sanctuaries at Paestum. While each terracotta represents an act of religious devotion, the assembled corpus of votive gifts bears witness to the repeated performance of a dedicatory rite. In this way, the terracottas offer a window on the collective religious beliefs which motivated such ritualized giving in the classical world.
The volume treats systematically each type of figurine recovered at Santa Venera and includes its illustration. Careful analysis of technology, style, and iconography is given. This contributes new understanding to the full development of the terracotta industry at this important Greek and Roman city-state. Each terracotta from Santa Venera is also considered within the context of the broader distribution of technologically related figurines. This includes not only those terracottas dedicated at other sanctuaries within the territory of Paestum, but also those which occur at sites throughout southern Italy.
The study will appeal to advanced students of archaeology, classical art, Greek and Roman religion, and ancient history. As one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, it is likely to become a reference work in this field of study.
Rebecca Ammerman is Associate Professor of Classics, Colgate University.