Templi senza altare, Thesauroi e Oikoi. Un'indagine sugli aspetti economici del santuario greco

The research analyzes economic aspects of the Greek sanctuary, paying special attention to the relation between temenos and polis in the management of public finance during the Arcaic and Classical period. Greek sanctuaries were in fact marked by a relevant economic dimension. In this respect, golden and silver chremata kept inside them did not only mean to be sacred properties belonging the deity, to be used to build sanctuaries’ edifices and to perform ritual practices, but were actually intended as a public financial fund the polis could use for civic purposes in case of need. The work mainly exams archaeological, literary and epigraphic documentation concerning the Athenian Acropolis, the Heraion of Samos, the Heraion and Athenaion of Argos.