Etrusco-Italic Herclé: a study in the formation of image, cult, and regional identity
My dissertation traces the Italic roots for the iconographies and roles of Herakles in central and northern Italy (i.e., Etrusco-Italic Herclé) prior to Roman hegemony (ca. 1000-300 BCE). The thesis begins with the premise that this hero-god, commonly known as Herclé, after his Greek namesake, may have had an indigenous ancestry in central and northern Italy. I argue that, although one cannot trace a direct teleological evolution for Herclé that goes back to the beginning of anthropomorphization, earlier and more anonymous Italic hero-figures embody indigenous and deeply rooted cultural meanings that are evident in subsequent representations of Herclé. In shaping my theorization of the indigenous, Italic roots of Herclé, I draw especially on the work of Richard White and Mary Helms. White’s concept of the “middle ground,” which refers to both a geographic location (literally a space of interaction) and a cultural stance (the overlap or place between two differing cultures) is a compelling lens through which to understand the interaction between Greeks and Italic populations. Helms outlines a theory of how distance affects the formation of ideology among ruling elites, such that spatial and temporal distances become linked and equivalent on a cosmological scale. In applying these ideas to the study of objects, I used quantitative elements such as iconography and materiality to get at underlying socio-cultural structure and meaning at both local and regional levels.
Etruscan, Herakles, Hercle, Iconography, Richard White, Mary Helms
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign