#lanuvium

Etruscan antefix - satyr, maenad and a pantheress

Lanuvium

460-440 BCE

terracotta

Painted Etruscan Antefixes - part I

An antefix (from Latin antefigere, to fasten before) is a vertical block which terminates and conceals the covering tiles of a tiled roof. It also serves to protect the join from the elements.

During the Archaic period, antefixes were produced in great numbers throughout Etruria, especially in Caere, southern Etruria (modern-day Cerveteri). Accordingly, many examples have survived. These painted terracotta objects were commonly used on the eaves of a roof, in order to protect the end tiles from the elements. They also formed part of the architectural decoration of buildings and were believed to banish bad luck.

Antefix with a head of Silenus and anthemia nimbus / Cerveteri, Lazio, Italy /  4th century BCE 

Antefix with a Maenad head /  Portonaccio Temple at Veii, Italy / 510 BCE

Antefix with the head of Silenus / Cerveteri, Italy / 480 BCE 

Antefix with female head with nimbus / Lanuvium, late-Archic temple of Juno Sospita /  5th century BCE

Antefix with the head of Silenus / Italy / 4th century BCE

Sphinx of Lanuvium

* 120-140 CE

* marble

* Lanuvium

“At Lanuvium a serpent lived in a sacred cave within a grove of Juno. On certain appointed days a number of holy maidens, with their eyes bandaged, entered the grove carrying cakes of barley in their hands. Led, as it was believed, by the divine spirit, they walked straight to the serpent's den and offered him the cakes. If they were chaste, the serpent ate the cakes, the parents of the girls rejoiced and farmers prognosticated an abundant harvest. But if the girls were unchaste, the serpent left the cakes untasted, and ants came and crumbled the rejected viands and so removed them bit by bit from the sacred grove thereby purifying the hallowed spot from the stain it had contracted by the presence of a defiled maiden.”

—J. G. Frazer, Spirits of the Corn & of the Wild, part 2 (The Golden Bough, vol. VIII, 1912, p. 18)

Blindfolded holy maidens bring offerings of barley cakes to the serpent in the cave of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium (reconstruction drawing).

  Hail, Diana, great goddess! Hail, Diana of Lanuvium! Hail, Diana Nemorensis! Hail, goddess of the groves! Hail, queen to the sacred king! Hail, protectress of the golden bough! Hail, companion of Antinous Master of Hounds! Hail, goddess of the wilderness! Hail, huntress par excellence! Hail, mistress of the hounds and the deer! Hail, protectress of women! Hail, deliverer of women in labor! Hail,…

Around the Roman Table: FOOD AND FEASTING IN ANCIENT ROME

Patrick Faas, 2015

Baths of Diocletian - sanctuary of Lanuvium

Terracotta antefix with a head of Silen from Lanuvium (c. 500-490 BCE). Rather blurry photo since lighting was poor.