Abstract:
This thesis will argue for a new vocabulary for the assessment of Archaic Central Italian space, using the ideas of ‘communication’ and ‘negotiation’, particularly between previously mobile gentilicial ‘elites’ and the general urban population within the region’s communities, to reassess the construction of ‘public spaces’. The role and importance of ‘elites’ in these Archaic communities, typically embodied by the reges and the leaders of the gentes, has often been the focus of studies on Central Italian architecture. While useful, this neglects the other aspects of the equation: the role of the wider community, the hired skilled tradesmen and labourers, and ‘outsiders’. Unlike previous studies, this thesis will analyse the evidence, both archaeological and literary, and attempt to offer a new, more inclusive paradigm, featuring interaction, negotiation, and communication, to revaluate the circumstances and agency involved in the construction of Archaic Central Italian ‘public spaces’.