“CANONICAL” TEMPLES AND ALTARS
Vitruvius (De architectura [On Architecture] 4.7) considered the appearance of the Tuscan temple old-fashioned, an expression of religious conservatism, with deep eaves and colonnaded porch, high podium, gabled roof, and closed back walls and cella.
The attribution of a triple cella or central cella and flanking alae (wings/side rooms) to Etruscan design is not universal: different cults may have produced variations. The materials used (wood, mudbrick, terracotta) made the structures look very different from Greek marble temples. The siting and orientation of temples, altars and tombs was determined by the etrusca discipline! according to a scheme dividing the cosmos into sixteen segments, as on the Piacenza liver (Vitruvius On Architecture 1.7.1-2). The alignment of cult structures corresponds (where space was available) to the “seat” of the patron deity in the heavens, whence he or she contemplated the human world (van der Meer 1979; Prayon 1991; Aveni & Romano 1994a, 1994b). The dromoi (entry corridors) of tumuli were aligned with the cosmic region designated for infernal gods (north-west). Propertius’s statue of Vertumnus (4.2.6) is pleased to observe the Roman forum from his perch on the vicus Tuscus (“Etruscan lane”, first c. BCE, Torelli 1966; 1999: 121 n. 17).Urban sanctuaries followed the fortunes of the cities. At Tarquinia, the “Ara della Regina” (“Altar of the Queen”, a modern name) comprised a large temple, possibly dedicated to Artumes, erected during the sixth century BCE and remodelled in the fourth century BCE under the influence of Greek models, but with a terracotta sculpture decorating the gable (the famous terracotta horses drew a goddess’s chariot). Votive deposits show massive dedication of anatomical votives from around 300 BCE on, reflecting a change in social traditions.
Volsinii-Orvieto held several Tuscan temples with terracotta sculpture, for example the Belvedere temple, which may have had a triple cella, and another at via San Leonardo with a famous head of Tinia in Pheidian style, showing the influence of fifth-century Athenian sculpture (Baldelli et al. 2000: 623-5; Bruni 2000: 381-6). Within the Cannicella necropolis a small sanctuary with a spring and unusual nude female cult statue (Vei/Demeter?) was used from the sixth through third centuries, even after the Roman destruction of Orvieto (Andren 1967; 1984: 30-33; Santuari 116-21 n. 6.1). Sanctuaries within necropoleis are known from other Etruscan cities, such as Sovana (Bianchi-Bandinelli 1929: 36- 77, 126-7, pl. 30).