Forme associative e collegi in Etruria

The existence and features of Etruscan political, military and cult associations represent an unclear topic in ancient religious studies, due to the lack of Etruscan literature. Therefore, the presence of Etruscan collegia and their competences have been mainly reconstructed thanks to Greek and Latin literary sources, whereas several Etruscan monuments remain ambiguous in their specific connection to eventual ancient associations (e.g. for banqueting, sacrifice, funerals or public games and festivals). However, an overview of Etruscan contexts, which are probably connected to the Etruscan collegia, seems to offer a new perspective on the matter. For this purpose, a general evaluation of archaeological, epigraphic and iconographical documents relating to possible ancient associations has been carried out, taking into account all the different chronological phases in the history of Etruria.