Etrusco-Italic Hercle: A Study in the Formation of Image, Cult, and Regional Identity
Martinez, Victor Manuel
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/87382
Description
Title
Etrusco-Italic Hercle: A Study in the Formation of Image, Cult, and Regional Identity
Author(s)
Martinez, Victor Manuel
Issue Date
2009
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Eric Hostetter
Department of Study
Art History
Discipline
Art History
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Classical Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
"My dissertation traces the Italic roots for the iconographies and roles of Herakles in central and northern Italy (i.e., Etrusco-Italic Hercle) prior to Roman hegemony (ca. 1000--300 BCE). The thesis begins with the premise that this hero-god, commonly known as Hercle, after his Greek namesake, may have had an indigenous ancestry on the Italic peninsula. I argue that, although one cannot trace a direct teleological evolution for Hercle 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 Hercle. In shaping my theorization of the indigenous, Italic roots of Hercle, 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."
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