The contribution of coroplastics for the reconstruction of the pantheon of Akrai

Abstract

In the field of the history of ancient religions, coroplastic art provides one of the greatest contributions of useful information for the reconstruction of the pantheon in the ancient Greek poleis. Akrai, a sub-colony founded by Syracuse in 664 BC on the Hyblaean mountains, is proposed as a study paradigm. Inside the archaeological Collection formed by Baron Gabriele Judica (1760-1835), the first explorer of the ancient city near Palazzolo Acreide, and today exhibited in the halls of the small Civic Museum, there are many clay specimens that indicate how much Greek and Oriental cults had a variegated and diachronic presence, from foundation to the Roman age. Analyzing some specimens present there and others exhibited in other museums, one can guess the religious horizon of the ancient residents, squeezed between an earthly existence linked to agriculture and their unshakable faith in the Olympic deities.

The papers published in this volume were presented at the International Conference “What Can Terracottas Tell Us: Coroplastic Polysemy in the Ancient Mediterranean” (Cagliari – Cittadella dei Musei, 10–12th November 2022) organized under the scientific direction of Romina Carboni, Claudia Cenci and Nicola Chiarenza.