Votive, left foot
4th-2nd century BCE
More than 500 votive offerings ended up in Henry Wellcome's
collection. This terracotta votive is Etruscan or Etrusco-Campanian
(4th-2nd century BCE). The foot is being presented to a deity,
either in the hope of a cure or as thanks for one. The sick often
visited medicinal springs, local shrines or temples, where they
would gift these objects in order to express gratitude to a god
intervening in their health. Sanctuaries could become so full of
such offerings that it became difficult to walk through them.