Disability and votive religion in ancient Italy: rethinking an anatomical votive from Veii

This article examines an unusual terracotta anatomical votive from a deposit at Veii (Southern Etruria), dated between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, depicting a male torso with a single undivided lower limb. This feature has been tentatively associated with a rare congenital condition such as sirenomelia. Situating the figurine within the broader corpus of anatomical votives from central Italy and drawing cautious comparisons with other Etruscan evidence, the article explores how bodily difference could acquire religious significance. These examples suggest responses to physical and cognitive variation ranging from normalization to sacralization. Drawing on disability studies and scholarship on ancient religion, the article uses ‘enabling religion’ as a heuristic tool to explore how religious environments could shape the perception and social positioning of individuals marked by bodily difference.