The Ridge-Pole Status from the Late Archaic Temple at Satricum, Vol. 5 Book

During the Late Archaic period the city of Satricum (Latium) saw the building of a monumental temple dedicated to Mater Matuta, the Latin Goddess of Birth. The temple roof was extensively decorated with painted terracotta elements and the ridge was crowned with a row of ten terracotta statues, representing a Gigantomachy. Nineteenth-century excavations, conducted almost 2500 years after sanctuary of Satricum was at its height, unearthed thousands of terracotta fragments belonging to the various roof-systems.This book presents an annotated catalogue of 387 fragments belonging to the ridge- pole status. It also attempts to reconstruct and interpret the statues, both individually and as a group. Separate sections discuss their production, their position within the roof-system and their style. Close study suggests that the statues originate from a single period and a single region and that they form a technical and stylistic unity. The Workshop which produced the Ridge-pole status from Satricum clearly possessed an artistic and technical mastery which was matched only by the Greeks.