Antiquity Studies

Le pratiche performative collettive e individuali. Le fonti iconografiche

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Abstract

This article examines iconographic sources found in pre-Roman and Roman places of worship in the Veneto region. A. Ruta Serafini and L. Zaghetto analyze bronze plates and bronze figurines from the pre-Roman and early Roman periods; L. Sperti examines Roman bronze figurines. The first study highlights how both categories of finds – among the richest iconographic corpora in Europe from the Second Iron Age – depict images of men and women who can be interpreted as devotees and offerings. The absence of a deity accords well with the predilection for ritual, rather than myth, typical of Italic cultures. The second study highlights the innovations in Roman figurative production in bronze, where typical pre-Roman themes give way to representations of deities and personifications, sometimes in syncretic forms.


open access | peer reviewed

Submitted: July 17, 2025 | Accepted: Sept. 12, 2025 | Published Oct. 19, 2026 | Language: it

Keywords Iron Age • Roman statuettes • Roman age • Iconography • Cult

Copyright © 2026 Angela Ruta Serafini, Luigi Sperti, Luca Zaghetto. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-967-2/004


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