Stregheria

[CrimsonGrimm]

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[CrimsonGrimm]

Stregheria is an archaic Italian word meaning "witchcraft", that has been revived, principally by Raven Grimassi, to refer to an Italian-based tradition of religious witchcraft. It is sometimes called La Vecchia Religione (the Old Religion). The word "stregheria" also appears in a modern Italian dictionary as a rare usage in place of the modern word stregoneria (Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana, edited by Nicola Zingarelli, 1970).

Italian-American Leo Martello claimed to belong to a "family tradition" of religious witchcraft in his 1970s book Witchcraft: The Old Religion. Martello does not use the word Stregheria when referring to his personal practice, but refers to it as the Strega tradition. However, the word "Stregheria" does appear in the nineteenth century writings of folklorist Charles Leland who interviewed people in old Italy claiming to be witches (as evidenced in his books Etruscan Romain Remains, and Aradia: Gospel of the Witches). Usage of 'Stregheria' was later revived by Raven Grimassi with his publication of Ways of the Strega in 1994. Unlike most other religious witchcraft traditions, with the exception of Gardnerian Wicca, Stregheria has received attention from the academic community.

While Grimassi, whose books on the subject have been through a number of reprints, remains the principal name associated with Stregheria, there are also people who identify with the tradition, and Grimassi's history of it, but do not recognize him as a religious leader, and other parties interested in Italian witchcraft have been critical of both him and his writing.

Grimassi formerly taught the "Aridian Tradition", a modernized public system presented in his published works, and currently teaches the Arician tradition, an initiate level variant of Stregheria that Grimassi describes as based upon an older system taught to him . Regarding his published material, Professor Sabina Magliocco points out that "Grimassi never claims to be reproducing exactly what was practiced by Italian immigrants to North America; he admits Italian-American immigrants "have adapted a few Wiccan elements into their ways".

Origins and history

Stregheria, as described in Grimassi's books, especially Ways of the Strega, claims a seven-hundred year history. This history incorporates historical and anthropological evidence from Italian history with a religious origin myth unique to the tradition.

Witchcraft in Italy

Italy in the late medieval period and early Renaissance was a stronghold of Roman Catholicism, and was less affected by the witch craze that gripped much of Europe during that period, to the point that it was somewhat overlooked by mainstream witchcraft historians, such as Jeffrey Russell. Witchcraft trials nevertheless took place in Italy, where witchcraft was largely conflated with heresy in the view taken by Inquisitors.

Microhistorian Carlo Ginzburg, after studying manuscripts of these trials, discerned an unusual constellation of beliefs about witchcraft amongst some of the accused. In his two books on the subject, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath and, especially, Night Battles, Ginzburg described the beliefs of a group of people called the Benandanti. While the Inquisition treated the Benandanti much the same as it did others suspected of witchcraft in Europe, the Benandanti themselves believed that they were Christians engaged in a supernatural fight against witches (or the "Malandanti"). Grimassi views the Benandanti as secretly being part of the witches' sect.

Anthropologist Sabina Magliocco has criticized interpreting Italian folk traditions as a religious survival as doing "violence to the way practitioners perceive themselves. It is important to remember that practitioners think of themselves as Catholic.". However, some Italian scholars, such as David Gentilcore, view elements of Italian folk traditions and folk magic "as a surviving pre-Christian magical formula on to which has been tacked the Christian historiola".

In 1899 Charles Godfrey Leland published Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. Leland claimed that the material in the book, which describes a secret messianical Pagan religion, was found for him by his assistant Maddalena in the course of studying Italian folklore. In the myths given in the text, the goddess Diana has a daughter named Aradia, who comes to Earth to teach witchcraft to the oppressed. Leland's claims of authenticity have been disputed, but the book became very influential, fifty years after its publication, as a primary source for Wicca and other Neo-paganism. Grimassi's position on Aradia is that Leland's published version is a "distorted version" of the story of Aradia, and that, instead, there really had existed a mortal woman named Aradia di Toscano.

Grimassi's history

Grimassi describes the roots of Stregheria as a syncretic offshoot of Etruscan religion, that later blended with "Tuscan peasant religion", medieval Christian heresy, and Saint worship.

Grimassi claims that Aradia di Toscano passed on a religion of witchcraft, based on ancient Etruscan Paganism, to her followers (whom Grimassi calls "The Triad Clans"). The Triad Clans, "an alliance of three related Witch Clans known as the Tanarra, Janarra, and Fanarra" in turn, passed on the myths and practices until the modern day, when Grimassi published a modernized version of them in Ways of the Strega.

Along with references to Ginzburg and Leland, Grimassi points to a number of historians, anthropologists and other scholars who have mentioned witchcraft beliefs in Italy as demonstrating the survival of Aradia di Toscano's religion.

Stregheria popularized

Grimassi has been teaching his Aridian Tradition since 1980 in the San Diego area. After the release of Ways of the Strega, people who had not studied under Grimassi began to adopt Stregheria practices, using the book as either a guide or as an addition to Eclectic Wiccan practice. Grimassi published additional books on the topic, such as Hereditary Witchcraft, now manages an annual spiritual retreat for practitioners, and is developing a "mystery school".

Practices

Like Wicca, Stregheria uses a pentagram as an important symbol. Grimassi and other members wear a pentagram ring, which Grimassi claims was also used by Roman Pythagoreans. Stregheria uses the ritual tools of cup, wand, pentacle and blade, which are seen in the suits of the tarot and amongst many systems of Western occultism. Stregheria rituals take place in a circle, with an altar facing North. Ritual actions include prayer, and the blessing of food.

Stregheria celebrates eight holidays, called "Treguendas", and practices "ancestor reverence through spirits known as Lare". Some Stregheria groups (a Stregheria group is called a Boschetto) practice their religion skyclad. The Arician tradition contains a rite of initiation, similar to some Wiccan traditions. Unlike Scott Cunningham and Silver RavenWolf, his contemporaries at Llewellyn Publications, Grimassi emphasizes the importance of initiation.

Practitioners of Stregheria are encouraged to think of themselves as witches, and to believe that magic can have an effect upon reality. Like other books published by Llewellyn Publications, Ways of the Strega contains a great deal of information on casting spells (as did Leland's Aradia). Stregheria contains a specific belief about the influence of spiritual beings on magic. Grimassi believes that the Grigori, or "Watchers", a kind of guardian Lare, must witness the "ritual display of prescribed signs and gestures", and that they have the power to "negate magickal energy" from the "astral plane". Grimassi notes that those outside Stregheria erroneously "dispute the role of the Grigori".

Relationship with other traditions

Stregheria shares commonalities with both Wicca and polytheistic Reconstructionism. Stregheria is one of a number of ethnicity or culture-oriented traditions of religious witchcraft, such as Celtic Wicca, Kemetic Wicca, or Seax-Wica. Some Stregheria members attempt to distance themselves from Wicca, in a manner similar to Pagan Reconstructionism, or argue that their belief system pre-dates it. Some adherents of these traditions also reject the label of "Neopaganism", preferring to emphasize a cultural continuity with the past. While those interested in the pre-Christian belief systems of the Celts, "Kemetic" (Egyptian) religion, or the beliefs of the Norse, can readily find information on either associated Wiccan traditions or as Reconstructionist projects in books and websites, information on Etruscan or Roman Reconstructionism has yet to become available through book publishing.

In comparing Stregheria to Wicca, Grimassi notes both similarities between the two and differences. The differences include holiday dates, and the element of "ancestor reverence". Grimassi has defended his material as being significantly different from Wicca at the roots level, and asserts that many of the foundational concepts in Gerald Gardner's Wicca can be found earlier in works on Italian Witchcraft and ancient Mediterranean mystery sects.  

[CrimsonGrimm]

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Diana and Dianus - Etruscan Mythology

The main Deities in the Stregheria Tradition are the Gods Diana and Dianus (pronounced dee-ana and dee-an-us). The creation myth of the Vangelo delle Streghe (Gospel of the Witches) states that Diana was the first created before all creation. She existed as chaos, and having in herself the seeds of all creation yet to come. It is said that out of herself, she divided into the darkness and the light. She, Diana being the darkness, and her brother and son, Dianus (or commonly known as Lucifer - "light bearer") was the light. When Diana saw the light, she saw it was beautiful, as she had existed before the light, before the darkness; before all creation. She longed for the light, with great desire, and wished to receive the light into herself so that light and dark could be one again. This desire that was, became the first dawn. But Dianus fled from Diana, and fled to the furtherest depths of the universe.

In Stregheria, she is seen to be the eternal Mother of all creation, the first that is and the last that will be. In Roman times, Lake Nemi was often known as "The Mirror of Diana, and thus Diana came to be represented by the Moon in both mythology and Stregheria, and her time of worship is the Full Moon. She is also intimately concerned with the affairs of women, especially childbirth. The Greek influence (in Rome) of Artemis is thought to have contributed to her attributes as Goddess of the Hunt and of the Underworld. She is seen as a Triformis - Triple Goddess. She is Luna, Goddess of the Moon, Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, and Hecate, Goddess of the Underworld. She is often (wrongly) seen as the counterpart of the Greek's Artemis, the virgin Goddess, who is particularly fierce about her chastity, and twin sister to Apollo. She is a great huntress, often seen carrying an arrow and a quiver of bows, and accompanied by her hounds or a stags.

Diana was originally worshipped at the sacred grove of Lake Nemi. There, guarding the grove was Rex Nemorensis, the King of the Woods. The story of the Rex Nemorensis tells of "a runaway slave who was favored by the Goddess Diana. Because She had freed him, he desired to worship Her, and She gave him sanctuary. One day Diana appeared to him beneath a large tree which stood in the center of a clearing, within a large grove. Then just after sunset She proclaimed Her love for him, but at the same time demanded that he prove himself worthy of Her favors. So Diana brought before him a mighty warrior, who was Guardian of the Grove. Then She told the runaway slave to challenge the Guardian. But the Guardian would not accept the challenge, unless the former slave could prove his strength and courage. So the runaway climbed the great tree, and broke off a large branch with his hands. The branch was so strong that no ordinary man could break it. So the Guardian accepted the challenge, and the two battled for the favor of Diana. The Guardian was defeated and met his end at the hands of the runaway slave. Then Diana touched his shoulders, placed a wreath upon his head, and said "Thou art Rex Nemorensis (King of the Woods)". This is one of the mystery texts, and deals with parts of our inner self. Look at the characters in the Myth as yourself, and at Diana as Enlightenment." (unknown source)

Sources are from:
La Luna Bella  

[CrimsonGrimm]

The Lare House or Lasa Shrine. Although not really a tool, it is an important part of Stregheria. All Strega must have one of these. It resembles a temple roof supported by two columns set on a landing. The landing section extends out to form a place where offerings can be placed. It is a focal point for the old spirits to commune with all Strega.

The Lasa are beings who have already lived as humans and are now moving up to becoming demi-gods. The Tuscan witches call upon them for help in all matters and work closely with them. I guess you can determine that this would be Stregheria's version of spirit guides. In central and southern Italy they are referred to as Lare and are viewed as the "collective consciousness" of former Strega. They are called for with respect to assistance in matters as the Lasa are.

Information found at:
La Vecchia Religione

Another link that has an image of what the shrine looks like and information about the shrine and how to set it up:
Raven's Loft

"A lot has been written on the subject of Faeries, so we will try not to add too much to the pot.In any case enjoy your journey through fairyland. Fairies have evolved from primitive beliefs concerning departed souls and their burial sites. These burial mounds were themselves the basis for fairy mounds seen in later fairy lore. The earliest origin for the stereotypical image of the fairy in Western culture are in ancient Mediterranean art.The winged creatures of the spirit world were first portrayed in ancient tomb paintings. The earliest depiction of fairies as small winged beings appeared in Etruscan art around 600 B.C.,in the form of the Lasa,who were spirits of the feilds and forests.Images of fairies in Celtic art do not appear until well after the rise of Christianity, following the Roman occupation.Etruscan art also depict the lasa in human size,usually when in the company of a God or Goddess.The small winged Lasa were usually depicted with humans and hovering over incense or offering bowls.The Lasa were also associated with ancestor worship,and are found in Etruscan shrines.This is also true of the spirits known as Lare,whom the Romans later absorbed and modified from Etruscan Lasa beliefs. Below we are going to give you a way to conjure up a fairy.There are many ways one can go about doing this such as guided meditation into fairyland, offerings to fairies,ritual,reading the messages hidden in fairytales,etc..."

Information found at:
The Nature and Mystics of the Superstitions  

[CrimsonGrimm]

ETRUSCAN HISTORY

Etruscan history is rooted in many layers of mystery. Throughout time art historians and archaeologists have tried to milk truths of Etruscan culture from sources plagued by holes and ambiguities.

Much of what we have come to know of Etruscan culture has stemmed from the writings of other cultures, mainly that of the Greeks and the Romans, and directly from archaeological evidence gathered from the objects they left behind.

The land of Etruria occupied what is now Tuscany in central Italy. The origin of the Etruscans is still an object of debate and a mystery that has sparked investigation by many great writers and scholars. In the first century B.C., a Greek named Dionysius of Halicarnassus studied the early cultures of Italy in Rome; he came to believe that the Etruscans originated from the Pelasgians who settled with natives of the area, only to be taken over by the Tyrrhenians.

In the beginning of the first century AD, Livy and Virgil believed that the migration of the Etruscans to central Italy was resultant of the fall of Troy and flight of Aeneas.

Then in fifth century Greece, Herodotus insisted that the Etruscans traveled from Lydia to Italy due to famine; their leader at that time was Tyrrhenos, from whom they adopted the name the Tyrrhenians.

Now, modern thinkers follow the postulations of Herodotus or Dionysius. And, new research shows that the Etruscans were descendants of people who thrived in the ninth to eighth centuries BC known as the Villanovans. Etruscan cities began to arise in the seventh century BC where Villanovan villages had been.

The first Etruscan pieces to be discovered were two bronzes found in 1553 and 1556 during the Renaissance. Etruscan excavations began in the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth century major archaeological evidence was found at Tarquinia, Cerveteri, and Vulci.

At that point, Estrucan culture and the mysteries surrounding it gained notice by museums which started to collect the objects unearthed in the digs. In the twentieth century, archaeologists began to use sonar photographic sound, a means that determines whether or not excavation would be lucrative before entering a burial chamber; this and other technology has allowed for more than 6,000 grave sites to be examined.

Among all that has been discovered through these various times and means of investigation and excavation, there are no Etruscan literary works or historical accounts. There are, however, many writing samples carved on tombs. The Etruscan writing system is unique in that its letters come from the Greek alphabet, yet its grammatical structure is unlike any other European language. The epitaphs usually tell of the person's name, class, occupation, and also sometimes delineate whom he or she was related to, thus enabling experts to elicit certain genealogies.

Other conclusive information about the Etruscans comes from writers of other times. Religion was at the heart of Etruscan culture. The Romans themselves depended on some Etruscan books of divination, that is, the practice of foretelling the future, and determining the will of the gods through signs. The Etruscans followed three books of divination concerned with reading entrails of animals, lightning, and the flight patterns of birds respectively.

The Etruscans myths were heavily influenced by the Greeks, mainly the fact that their gods possessed human attributes and dispositions. The Etruscans often combined Greek influences with stories of their own. There is also mythology purely Etruscan, in accordance with which many cults gathered in dedication to their gods. In Etruscan religion, the realms occupied by humans and by the gods are very specific, and their practices followed very exact procedures to avoid ill will of the gods.

On a political and economical level, the Etruscans are known as great seafarers, and wealthy miners of iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver. These two sources of wealth lead them to the zenith of their cultural and political power in the sixth century. Also around this time, Latin cities were erected and influenced greatly by the flourishing Etruscan culture surrounding them.

However, Latin cultures soon united with some of the Greek settlements, and in 504 BC, the Etruscans were driven from Latium when their army was defeated.

After this, Tarquinius Superbus the Etruscan king of Rome fell, and the Roman republic formed; from this point on, Roman history is rooted in Latin culture instead of that of the Etruscans.

The decline in Etruscan wealth manifested itself in their tombs, ever growing in modesty, the end of public building and importing of Attic pottery, and a dramatic decrease in political participation.

In 386 B.C., the Gauls took over Rome and the Po valley, causing the Etruscans to lose their trading routes across the Alps. Toward the end of fourth century B.C., the Etruscans rebelled against the Roman republic , but were defeated despite help from allies of Gauls, Samnites, and Lucancians.

In 282 B.C. they accepted a peace treaty after suffering another defeat. Within a few years, all Etruscan cities were taken over by Rome, and the Etruscans thus vanished from the political realms of the world.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITUTIONS AND RITES

One day a farmer from Tarquinia, while he was busy working in the fields, ploughing the white land with long and straight furrows, drove his harrow into the ground and saw the body of a young boy coming to the surface. According to the Etruscan tradition the young boy was Tagetes, the wise and worshipped prophet-child whose words were listened to by a crowd of people whose number apparently rose hugely with the passing of time.

Tagetes taught the Etruscans the difficult discipline of haruspicy, the art of divining the future by observing the entrails of sacrificed animals, namely the liver.

The haruspex was a priest highly thought of by this people; he was so important in divining the future that his "profession" outlived the Etruscan civilization itself for centuries, after the latter was absorbed in the Roman civilization.

The Tagetic Books were part of the sacred tradition of the Etruscan people which is famous all over the world for its deep religion: they contained the rules and the indications for better understanding the will and the signs of the divinity, and consequently for behaving through actions such as sacrifices, libations and different rites.

The Etruscan religious literature and particularly those books were greatly successful in the ancient Roman world; they were appreciated especially in the II and III centuries A.D., when similar esoteric doctrines became widespread in opposition to the dawning Christianity.

Other famous volumes are the Vegonic Books, containing the indications dictated by Vegoia, the nymph who dictated the rules to establish the boundaries of fields, real estates and the territory of cities. A short passage was handed down by Tarquitius, a I-century-b.C. writer who had had the possibility of reading some passages of those books in Apollo's temple in Rome,
where a copy of them was kept with other "pagan" volumes that were then apparently burnt by Stilicho: this passage relates the famous prophecy of the nine-centuries duration of the Etruscan people and nation.

And this is, in fact, the duration of the period of political independence of the Etruscans, if we consider the time from the Villanovan phase to the beginning of the I century b.C., that is when the Etruscans obtained the civitas, the Roman citizenship.

The relationship the Etruscans had with their divinities was quite different from the one of other peoples in the ancient world: while the Greeks believed the gods lived in their own world, often careless of the human world and accustomed to the same passions and weaknesses of humanity, the Romans had a relationship with gods merely based on juridical rules.

The Romans had a strict series of rules that often consisted of a sort of a mere exchange: if I receive a particular grace I will dedicate this ex-voto to the divinity: this is what some of them seemed to say, similarly to what happens today in the religions of the South and Centre of Italy where it often borders on paganism and fetishism.

On the contrary, the Etruscans had a relationship with the gods based on submission: the divinities lived in the sky or under the ground and it was necessary to understand their will by observing the ostenta, the signs that, through the haruspex and the augur priests, indicated the behavior one had to have.

This sense of deep religiousness, it may be said almost of inferiority towards anything concerning the divine, suggests a feeling of oppression. Every single action of a human being was "controlled" by that particular divinity, similarly to the popular religiousness of the other peoples in ancient Italy, namely the Latins.

Therefore all religious practices, rites, sacrifices, the division of space into "dwellings", each of them inhabited by a particular divinity, were so important in the life and culture of this people that it was admired by the other peoples for its dedication and devotion;
on the other side, Christian writers came to deprecating the Etruscan religion, like Arnobius (IV century A.D.) who apparently accused Etruria itself of being the "land of all superstitions".

Though very little of the Etruscans religious literature has survived, we know it contained not only the indications of the divinatory practices but also the rules and the practices concerning the civil, political and military life of this people.

The divinities of the Etruscan pantheon were numerous; some of them, entirely new, were introduced during the profound Hellenization of culture, others were identified with analogue divinities, others preceded the coming of the Greek gods.

In order to know their names and position in the universe, a bronze model of sheep liver can be helpful: it is the famous "Piacenza liver" (II-I century b.C.) divided into specific cells with the inscription of the names of the divinities of the sky such as Tinia (Jupiter) and Uni (Juno), of the sun such as Nethuns (Neptune), of the earth such as Fufluns and Selvans, and of the hell such as Cel, Culsu, Vetis, Cilens, Vanth, Charun (Charon).

We can also remember, among the divinities borrowed from the Hellenic culture, Menerva (Minerva), Aplu (Apollo), Artumes (Artemis), Maris (Mars), Turms (Mercury), Hercle (Hercules). An important divinity was Voltumna, worshipped in a shrine at Orvieto, the ancient Volsinii destroyed by the Romans in 264 b.C.;

it became the federal sanctuary of the Etruscans and, consequently, its god too became the main divinity. Some people suggested he could be identified with Vortumnus, the god worshipped in Rome on the Aventine after the destruction of Volsinii.

Maybe the name doesn't refer to a particular god, but it could be a designation of Tinia, that is Jupiter, the main divinity.

Among the main temples whose ruins can be seen in the province of Viterbo, there is the important temple of Artemis at Tarquinia, in the area of the ancient town - a relief model can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of the town itself where one can also admire the very famous winged horses that are part of the image of our home page.

In the study of temple architecture, the various temples of the ancient Falerii are really important; today they can be admired at Civita Castellana and their finds are kept in the Archaeological Museum of the Agro Falisco situated inside the town itself. Numerous small sacred areas are scattered, throughout Etruria:

we can remember the big volcanic-stone cylindrical altar of Grotta Porcina at Vetralla and also all the terraces of the cube- and semi-cube-tombs of the rupestrian necropolis, where Etruscan priests performed the rites and ceremonies in honor to the divinities of the next world and in memory of the dead.

In order to know the procedures of some of these rites, epigraphic sources can be helpful, and particularly two extraordinarily valuable documents: the Capua tile, a big terra-cotta tile with the inscription of the rules for the offering to the gods, and the Zagreb mummy, a book made of inscribed linen rolls reused in Egypt in the I century b.C. to wrap up the body of a dead person.

This mummy was taken to the West by a XIX-century merchant and precisely in the Croatian town towards the half of last century, but its importance was recognized only at the end of that century. The book arrived in Egypt with a group of Etruscans (maybe coming from Romanized northern Etruria) who went to Africa (a Roman colonial territory too) looking for a better life.

The linen bands show the black-ink inscription of a sort of religious feast-days calendar, offers and prayers that had to be dedicated time after time to the divinity of a particular day. Not all the text has been understood.

The Etruscan people, therefore, has amazed its contemporaries with their meticulous, respectful and accurate religious rites and they continue to amaze us today for the complexity of their sacred world and maybe for the strong spirituality emanated by the ancient sepulchres, the places of living and the sacred grounds of our forefathers.

The Etruscans attributed great importance to the cult of the dead, because it was also a means of asserting the prestige and power of a family.

We can distinguish different periods in this cult and its development is also reflected in the typologies of the necropolises.

In the earliest times, the Etruscans were closely attached to the conception of the continuation of a vital activity by the deceased after death.

The tomb was thus built like a house and given furnishings and decorations, both real and reproduced in miniature. Sometimes the walls were frescoed with scenes from daily life or the most important, serene and pleasant moments in the deceased's life.

In the same way, cornices, beams, ceilings and frontons, intended to reconstruct the home environment, were painted or sculpted in the rock.

The most ancient examples of monumental tombs were built on the model of the dwelling then in use: a hut with a round or oblong floor-plan.

These circular tombs were built using large blocks of stone and covered with a false dome obtained from the progressive inward projection of the rows of blocks until a last slab closed the roof.

Access to the sepulchral chamber was through a short corridor where offerings of food or furnishings were often placed.

When this type of tomb was abandoned, tombs excavated underground, first of all with a single room and then with several chambers, were used.

The tombs excavated completely underground, generally in hillsides, are defined as "hypogeal" tombs, whilst those excavated in flat land and covered by soil and gravel are known as "tumuli".

This new type was characterized by a central chamber accessible from a long passage beyond which there were other chambers. The floor-plan could be very complex with a passageway, lateral chambers and a central hall with columns and benches.

At times, the tumuli assumed monumental dimensions, with a diameter of over 90 feet and they often contained various tombs of members of the same family. Examples of the first period can be seen in Cerveteri and can be linked to the evolution of the dwelling typologies contemporary with the necropolis (second half of the 7th century BC) when houses were divided into two or three rooms flanked and preceded by a sort of vestibule or built around a central courtyard.

From the mid 6th century BC and throughout the 5th century BC, there was another change in the plans of the necropolises. The new tombs were called "cubes" and were built side by side in rows, forming real cities of the dead with streets and squares. Inside the tombs there were only two chambers, and outside there were lateral steps leading to the top of the cube where there were altars for worship.

This change reflects a profound modification in the social structure, with the establishment of a non-aristocratic class encouraging less ostentatious houses.

Furthermore, due to the influence of the Greek world, the basic conceptions regarding the destiny of the dead had also undergone a change. The primitive faith in the "survival" of the deceased in their tombs had been replaced by the idea of a "kingdom of the dead", imagined along the model of the Greek Avernus.