Authority and Display in Sixth-Century Etruria: The Vicchio Stele

Abstract

The discovery of an inscribed stele at the sanctuary of Poggio Colla (Vicchio, FI) provides new information about the sanctuary and its cults and raises important questions about literacy and elite authority at the northern edge of Etruria in the Archaic Period. The Vicchio stele has a very long series of inscriptions, possibly the longest Etruscan lapidary inscription to date. As law, the stele could have been consulted and interpreted by the literate few, but its authority would have been easily understood even without being read. It is as powerful a symbol as the imposing temple that arose in its place in the next century, a temple whose own authority rested on the foundation, physical and symbolic, of the Vicchio stele.