In class we talked about many issues surrounding the Etruscans and our understanding of Etruscan societies based off of the ruins and artifacts that they left behind. At one point during class we discussed how temples were often built to accent a natural feature such as a stream, river, or a hill. We also discussed the differences between scared and non-sacred boundaries in Etruscan societies. I would like to look back on these discussions for a moment and contribute some new thoughts that I hadn’t necessarily worked out earlier In both the Edlund and the Warden articles they discuss how in Etruscan society everything was sacred and under “divine protection” and that there was no division between the divine and the earthly. In a society where there is no distinct line between sacred and secular, meaning everything is somewhat …show more content…
According to Alcock Monuments are objects deliberately created to provoke memories. They both link to the past, and the future can be made through their materiality. Landscape however is a physical environment influenced by settlement patterns, boundaries, and the like. As I was reading this I began to think back on the Edlund article and Etruscan mountain and spring sanctuaries. In a way I think that Etruscan sanctuaries fill the hole that Alcock creates between monuments and landscapes because both the monument and the landscape are used to create one sacred space. Alcock says that monuments are set within the landscape, and while this is true of Etruscan sanctuaries, they are placed within that landscape to accent a certain aspect of that landscape that is important. Therefore the monument is engaging the landscape as opposed to just being set within it. The same can be said for the landscape in some cases where the landscape, or features of the landscape, can be used to accent the height or approach to a