I tempi del rito

This book gives an account of the sanctuary of Monte Li Santi-Le Rote at Narce, the southern town of the Ager Faliscus. Excavation began at this site in 1985, and annual excavations were carried out by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Etruria until 2004. An excavation also took place in October 2014 in order to investigate the area where new pillars of the renovated roof will be placed. The results of both excavations are cataloged in this book. The sanctuary shows a continuity of cults from the 6th to the 2nd century BC, as well as cult activity after the Roman conquest. In early periods, cult activity focuses on Demeter and Persephone; in the second half of the 3rd century BC, a new cult is attested in the sanctuary by a space sacred to Minerva Maia and Fortuna. The abandonment of the existing cults in favor of the latter deity appears as a peculiar change of ownership of the sanctuary. At the same time, the core of the cult, as witnessed by the medical votives, is still focused on women as the center for the protection of the family and of all stages of their growth.