The Urban Sanctuary of Metapontum: a Review and Reanalysis

Abstract

The city Metapontum was one of the most important Greek apoikiai of Magna Graecia. In the urban sanctuary, stood four monumental temples and several other religious buildings, of which only the foundations remain. For most of these temples, the identity of the deity worshipped in them is still debated. In lieu of relevant literary evidence, the attribution of the temples relies almost exclusively on the categorization and analysis of archaeological remains. This thesis explores the development of sacred spaces within the urban sanctuary, examining the archaeological data for each structure. The proposals for each temple’s attribution have been consolidated and compared in order to better understand how these arguments affect and interact with one another and to reconstruct the Metapontine pantheon. This thesis considers recurrent thematic motifs which reflect the religious beliefs of the inhabitants and may contribute to future investigations on communal religion in the urban sanctuaries of Magna Grecia.