I Peucezi e il mito di Eracle. Riflessioni sulle speranze di salvezza e di immortalità dei gruppi aristocratici indigeni

appears in the 6th century BC and found greater diff usion in the 5th and 4th cen- turies, attested especially on Athenian and South Italian fi gured vases (sometimes inserted within more complex scenes from an iconographic and content point of view), but also on other valuable artifacts. It can be considered among the most signifi cant expressions of the process of assimilation and re-elaboration of Greek culture by the indigenous elite groups: the fi gure of the hero acquires multiple meanings in the diff erent spatial and temporal contexts in which it man- ifests itself. Th e contribution aims to investigate the diff usion and use of the image of Heracles among the Peucetian aristocracies: the privileged key to understanding is the analysis of the context, understood both as a cultural context of reception and as a specifi c environment of discovery. Most of the testimonies come from a homogeneous context – the funerary one – in which ideological values deeply rooted in society are expressed and in which it is possible to grasp traits of social articulation. For this purpose, some data deserve careful evaluation, such as the tomb structure, the funerary ritual and the grave goods, which constitute a complex system of elements that respond to multiple needs, underlining how this work represents only a preliminary collection of data on this very interesting topic.