Fondatori di città, antenati eroici, fondatori di culti. Tracce di figure eminenti in ambito urbano, funerario e sacro in Etruria meridionale tra l’età del Ferro e il V sec. a.C.

Ancient Greek and Roman written sources draw a complex picture of the phenomenon of the mythic origins of the Etruscan cities. However the use itself of the category of ‘founding hero’ is not straightforward in connection to the Etruscan world and must be instead cautiously adopted. The paper critically examines the possibility to recognise in the archaeological record different kinds of outstanding figures possibly connected to specific foundations: from the ancestor to whom a specific cult was connected in the heart of the city (Veii), to two cases of founding heroes (Falerii and Lavinium), to a lieu de mémoire (the sanctuary of Montetosto at Caere) and finally to the ‘founder’ of a specific cult (Pyrgi).