And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 1 : 2Introduction
Man's earliest attempts to seek out a supernatural dimension have often involved nature by interpreting extreme natural phenomena as a manifestation of the divine, or by associating the sacred element with places of special beauty or uniqueness.
Thunder and lightning, which bring fire down to earth, were widely considered gifts from the gods. The myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals for their use, is most probably related to this natural phenomenon (Bonnefoy, 1981):
The child of Iapetus cheated [Zeus] by stealing the far-seen gleam of
untiring fire in a hollow narthex [the stem of giant fennel, Ferula
communis], Hesiod Theogony 565–7 [mainland Greece, c. 700 bc].
Various cultures, including the Rigveda and Native American tribes, also feature
tales of fire being stolen from the gods and given to humans.
Italian heritage and the sacred
In Italy there is a long-standing relationship between people and their
sacred landscape (Figure 4.1). In the Iron Age, rural and mountain Italic sanctuaries were important public meeting places for local communities. In archaeological
research, ‘sacred landscape’ refers to a network of consecrated areas and temples
with different functions and appeal. The construction or destruction of ancient
sacred landscapes was often a result, then as now, of conflict or instability: for
example, when the Romans damaged or robbed the sanctuaries of their Italic
enemies (Stek, 2005).