The Late Archaic Temple on the Acropolis of Volterra
The Late Archaic Temple (approximately 480–470 BC) represents a crucial monumental phase for the sanctuary on the Acropolis of Volterra, marking the moment of full urban maturity of the settlement.
The building was erected in the north-western sector of the sacred area, functionally replacing an earlier small shrine dating to the mid-6th century BC and decorated with Campanian-style terracotta elements. Its construction belongs to a period of great prosperity for Volterra, coinciding with the completion of the first city wall circuit. The temple remained in use for approximately a century and a half, undergoing maintenance interventions documented by the repainting of some terracotta elements, until its decommissioning at the beginning of the 3rd century BC.
Although much of the structure has been lost due to a landslide affecting the northern slope, archaeological investigations have made it possible to reconstruct its appearance:
Type: It was a large Tuscan-type temple.
Masonry Remains: Sections of the perimeter wall have been identified, constructed in polygonal masonry, with pseudo-parallelepiped blocks alternating with stone slabs.
Orientation: It followed the NE–SW orientation established by the first 7th-century BC temenos, a layout that would also influence the later Temple B.
The temple is renowned for the prestige of its terracotta revetments, which attest to the employment of itinerant coroplasts from Caere (Cerveteri), working in close connection with the workshop active at the same time in Arezzo.
The most significant elements include:
Sima with rider: A frontal architectural element featuring a relief figure of a rider.
Full-figure antefixes: Unique examples in northern Etruria (with the exception of Arezzo), including female busts displaying strong stylistic affinities with models from southern Etruria.
Eaves tiles: Decorated with a refined painted anthemion motif (palmettes and lotus flowers), with parallels found at Veii and even on the Acropolis of Athens.
The temple was dedicated to the pair of founding deities of the sanctuary and the city, identified in the inscriptions as Papa (a figure comparable to Dis Pater, the god of the fertility of the earth) and Xia (his consort, equivalent to Uni/Hera). The cult of this divine pair is confirmed by the discovery of ritual vessels (small cups and plates) marked with the signs χ and z (possibly referring to zan, meaning “parent”).
The end of the temple, which occurred between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC, is documented by a substantial layer of rubble containing the remains of the terracotta roof decoration. Some scholars suggest that its destruction may have been caused by a fire or a military event, such as the Roman incursion of 298 BC mentioned by Livy. At the end of the 3rd century BC, Temple B was built over its ruins, ritually reproducing its plan and orientation as an expression of ideological conservatism.
