entstanden ist. Städtische und ländliche Heiligtümer waren grundlegende Elemente griechischer Präsenz. Überdies werden Rituale und Votivpraxis zwischen dem Ägäisraum und Sizilien diskutiert. Welche Rolle spielten Natur und Landschaft im Kult? Was führte schließlich zur Monumentalisierung der griechischen Heiligtümer? Die Beiträge sind aus zwei Kolloquien in Göttingen und Palermo 2023 entstanden. Sie adressieren die Fragen nach der „Entwicklung der Heiligtümer von der Bronzezeit bis zur Klassik in Griechenland, Magna Graecia und Sizilien: Kontinuität und Diskontinuität zwischen Materialität und Kult“ und nach der „Funktion der Heiligtümer, Monumentalisierung und Ritual“.

In Greece, sacredness manifested itself in very different forms, in centralised sanctuaries of one or more poleis, in private domestic cults and in extra-urban rural sacred places. There has been a debate around the early periods of Greek sanctuaries as to the question of continuity and discontinuity from earlier Bronze Age sanctuaries. This volume spans the period from the Bronze Age and Iron Age sanctuaries of Greece, Sicily and Lower Italy to the Archaic and Classical periods. In this way, the questions of continuity and discontinuity in the Greek motherland and in the colonial territories can be analysed comparatively. On the other hand, the question of how the often rich sacred landscape of the colonial territories in Magna Graecia and Sicily came into being is discussed. Urban and rural sanctuaries were fundamental elements of Greek presence. In addition, rituals and votive practices between the Aegean and Sicily are also considered. What role did nature and landscape play in the cult? What did ultimately lead to the monumentalisation of Greek sanctuaries? The papers emerged from two colloquia at Göttingen and Palermo in 2023.They addressed the questions of the “Development of sanctuaries from the Bronze Age to the Classical period in Greece, Magna Graecia and Sicily: continuity and discontinuity between materiality and cult” and the “Function of sanctuaries, monumentalisation and ritual”.