Interregional and Cross-Cultural Networks as Economic Resources in Sanctuaries of Central Italy (7th to 5th Centuries BCE)

During the Orientalising and Archaic periods, that is during the 7th to the 5th cent. BCE, sanctuaries in Central Italy could serve as important sociopolitical
spaces for the developing Etruscan, Latial and Italic city-states and communities. Cult places provided visitors and worshippers with specific functions and activities, such as political meetings, public space for representation, fairs, festivals as well as markets and even institutions for longdistance trade. It is argued here that sanctuaries in Central Italy provided these services and functions with clear socio-economic strategies in order to create specific networks of participants and attendants. This article discusses three case studies
and reconstructs their individual networks, each with different scales, functions and characteristics: (1) the Portonaccio Sanctuary of Veii served as a cross-cultural and political gathering place for social elite members of Etruria and Latium vetus, (2) Gravisca was a port of trade and connected to a vast Mediterranean network for long-distance trade, and (3) the Forum Boarium at Rome established a central nexus for the trade, distribution and control of the crucial commodities salt and cattle in all of Latium vetus from the coast to the
Central Apennines. The different networks can be interpreted as key resources for each of the sanctuaries to gain supra-regional significance and influence in Central Italy.