Selvans/Silvanus in Etruria: dio di spazi aperti e pratiche integrate

Abstract

This paper wants to explore the possibility to consider some peculiar deities and their attributes for reconstructing the natural environment and the economic activities practiced within it. In other words if it is possible to write an economic history of agro-sylvo-pastoral activities from the point the view of deities functions, because they do not represent a mere religious superstructures. In order to do this I will consider a peculiar cult of Selvans, attested mainly in the Etruscan and Early Republican period, who could enlighten through the sacred landscape some particular economic practices. Several authors have associated this deity to the agrarian activities and consequently the God has been seen as the protector of the fields. Our hypothesis is that the attribute that he holds in the right hand in the common iconography must be interpreted as a pruning hook notoriously used by shepherds to cut branches for fodder.