ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

defined themselves through their use of religious space. In Paestum, the Latin colonistscreated cults to Mater Matuta, Marsyas, Magna Mater, Fortuna/Venus, and Mens Bona,through which they advertised their status as free citizens of Paestum who were willinglyentering into a cooperative relationship with Rome, their patron. At the same time, theycontinued to worship at local temples alongside the other inhabitants of Paestum. Thecolonists used religion to define themselves in relation to Rome, but also to create acommunity with the local population. Now, they all were the people who lived in thiscity and maintained the pax deorum with these gods.Finally, the cults afforded the colonists a way to define their space andcommunicate with the outside world. 175The examples of Paestum, Fregellae, and Sorashow three levels at which this could work. In Paestum, the sanctuaries of Mater Matutaand Fortuna/Venus defined the forum in opposition to the large Greek sacred complexesthat surrounded it. This created and advertised a small, Latin space inside the largermulticultural city. In Fregellae, the shrine to Venus and the small temple on the MelfaRiver marked the boundaries of the colonial territory and announced Fregellan controlover the Via Latina. These two examples demonstrate the separating function of sacredspace. The occurrence of identical votives on Monte San Casto in Sora, at Fregellae, andat the sanctuary of Marica at the mouth of the Gargliano suggest that there was religiouscommunication between colonies despite the lack of identical religious systems. Thus,although Latin colonies were independent members of the wider cultural context ofSee de Polignac (1995), pp. 89-127 for his original discussion of cults and colonial foundation for theGreek world.