Until now, the functions and meanings of Roman statuettes in the Netherlands have seldom been analysed in relation to their find-spots. The statuettes were introduced by Roman troops and include bronze and terracotta statuettes that represent deities, human figures and animals. They have been recovered from different sites: military and non-military settlements, the surrounding landscape and, to a far lesser extent, sanctuaries and graves.
Lived religion
In her new book Roman Period Statuettes in the Netherlands and beyond: Representation and Ritual Use in Context Christel Veen studies the statuettes as a separate category of artefacts. This way, she offers new insights into the distribution pattern and iconographic representation of deities, contrary to traditional studies. When studying a group of artefacts, a large research area or a large dataset is required, as well as dateable artefacts and find-contexts. These conditions do not apply to the Netherlands and to the majority of statuettes that are central to this study. Moreover, although the changing appearance of statuettes suggest a transformation of cults, the identities of the owners of these statuettes remain invisible to us. Therefore, the issue of Romanization is not put central by Veen. Instead, the focus is on a specific aspect of religion, known as lived religion, within the wider subject of its transformation in the Roman period: how people used statuettes in everyday life, in the context of their houses and settlements.
The book 'Roman Period Statuettes in the Netherlands and beyond: Representation and Ritual Use in Context' can be ordered here. Christel Veen works as a teacher at the department of History, Art History and Classics at Radboud University.