Le immagini di culto

The Author proposes a synthesis on the Pompeian cult statues, examining findings and iconography to try to reconstruct the chronological sequence of the dedications. The result is a profile of the different phases in which the apparatus of local simulacra is developed; several materials and various construction tecniques mark consecutive phases and ever-changing patterns of models and needs of the community. Even through the cult statues, in this way, it's possible to outline the transformation of the Pompeian town, his inclusion in the Mediterranean network, his cultural orientations and the sources of local figurative tradition. In this reesarch, the attention given to each individual context and to the overall documentation is compared to the observations already made in the bibliography on the style and dating of the sacred images considered. This survey allows to recover the historical and functional dimension of the simulacra of Pompeii as elements of a specific rapresentative system. It is a cognitive path to continue also to investigate and compare the situations of other Italic contemporary communities, less thoroughly known.