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Article

Amyzon  

Simon Hornblower

Amyzon, remote but important *sanctuary in *Caria, north of *Mylasa. Greek inscriptions have been found there dating from the time of the 4th-cent. bce Hecatomnid *satrap*Idrieus, also of *Philip (2) Arrhidaeus (in which Iranians are honoured, showing their social survival after the end of the *Achaemenid empire), and of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods of control in the 3rd century, esp.

Article

Bassae  

Richard Allan Tomlinson

Bassae, in SW Arcadia, near Phigaleia, the site of one of the best-preserved Greek temples. This was dedicated to *Apollo the Helper (Epikourios). *Pausanias (3) says it was the work of *Ictinus, possible (with some local influence) but unprovable. It dates to the latter part of the 5th cent. bce with an interruption due to Spartan occupation of the area during the *Peloponnesian War. The greater part of the temple is in the local limestone, with carved decoration applied in marble. The *orientation, followed also by its predecessor, was towards the north instead of the east, and the early sunlight, instead of entering through the main doorway, was admitted to the adytum through an opening in the eastern side-wall. Ten engaged Ionic columns decorated the side walls of the cella internally, with a single central Corinthian column—one of the earliest of its kind, and one of the most beautiful (see orders)—between the cella and the adytum.

Article

Brauron  

Robin Osborne

Brauron, site of a sanctuary of *Artemis on the east coast of *Attica at the mouth of the river Erasinos. It is included in *Philochorus' list of twelve townships united by *Theseus (FGrH 328 F 94). Archaeological evidence indicates human presence in the area of the sanctuary and the acropolis above it from neolithic times onwards, and there is an important late Helladic cemetery nearby. In the sanctuary itself there is a continuous tradition from protogeometric on, with a temple built in the 6th cent. (Phot. Lexicon, entry under Βραυρώνια) and an architecturally innovative pi-shaped *stoa with dining-rooms built in the later part of the 5th cent. Flooding in the early 3rd cent. bce led to the abandonment of the site. Some traditions associate the Pisistratids (see pisistratus; hippias(1); *Hipparchus (1)) with Brauron (Phot., as above), or with the local residential centre called Philaidai which lay a short distance inland from the sanctuary (Pl. Hipparch.

Article

Delphi  

Michael C. Scott

The sanctuary of Delphi developed from the end of the 9th century bce into, by the early 6th century bce, one of the most important sanctuaries in ancient Greece. Home to the Delphic oracle, as well as the Pythian Games, it was populated on a regular basis by large numbers of people from across the ancient Mediterranean world. As a result it also became a place of frequent dedication (in the form of objects, statues, and treasuries) by those keen to demonstrate their achievements and renown. It was overseen, from the 6th century bce, by an amphictyonic council and the polis of Delphi. The sanctuary complex, spread over the side of Mount Parnassus, provided distinct spaces for the worship of several deities, most notably Apollo and Athena, alongside (from the 4th century bce) a gymnasium and stadium (and a hippodrome for chariot racing in the valley below) for the Pythian Games as well as, from slightly later, a stone theatre for musical and theatrical competitions. The sanctuary’s oracle and games continued through until the 4th century ce, with the sanctuary only being abandoned completely in the early 7th century ce and re-excavated in the late 19th century.

Article

Ephyra  

W. M. Murray

Ephyra (also Cichyrus: Strabo 7. 7. 5), a city in western Epirus near the mouth of the *Acheron river. Here *Neoptolemus (1) landed on his return from Troy (Pind. Nem. 7. 37–9) and *Odysseus came to gather poison for his arrows (Od. 1. 259–62). The ancient city is marked by a circuit-wall of three phases at modern Xylokastro. Some 600 m. (650 yds.) to the south, at Agios Ioannis, a heavily built complex of Hellenistic date incorporating an underground chamber was identified by its excavator with the ‘oracle of the dead’ (nekyomanteion) of Herodotus 5.

Article

Heraion  

Richard Allan Tomlinson

Sanctuary of *Hera. The most important are the Heraion of *Argos(1), and the Heraion of *Samos. Both are situated at some distance from the cities which controlled or dominated them. The Argive Heraion is at an important but abandoned late bronze age site, which may have influenced its selection; the Samian Heraion also may have had earlier significance. Both developed early, having peripteral temples by at latest the first half of the 7th cent. bce. These had stone footings, with wooden columns. Both sanctuaries include structures designed for the crowds of worshippers, particularly stoas from which to view the religious activities, and processional ways linking them physically and symbolically with the polis-centre. See sanctuaries.

Article

Labraunda  

Simon Hornblower

Labraunda, sanctuary of *Zeus Labraundos in *Caria, between *Mylasa (to which it was linked by a sacred way) and *Amyzon, occupying a mountainous and beautiful position. (Hdt. 5. 119 speaks of Zeus Stratios but the inscriptions mostly have Zeus Labraundos, a part-Greek part-indigenous deity; cf. *Sinuri.) The 4th-cent. bce Hecatomnid *satraps built lavishly at the sanctuary, laying it out afresh (see idrieus; mausolus) and their well-carved dedications can still be seen on the site. Other inscriptions, ILabraunda nos. 40 (= RO no. 55) and 42, illustrate the political activities and policies of *Mausolus and *Pixodarus. Thereafter there was a gap in building activity until Roman imperial times, but from the Hellenistic period there is an extensive dossier concerning the interesting figure of Olympichus, who was first a general of *Seleucus (2) II and then became in effect an independent operator, like Mausolus before him. But Olympichus had to obey the instructions of, without being formally subordinate to, *Philip (3) V of Macedon.

Article

Lindus  

Ellen E. Rice

Lindus was the most important of the three independent Dorian cities of *Rhodes until the *synoecism with *Ialysus and *Camirus created the federal Rhodian state in 408/7 bce. The city occupies a prominent headland with good harbours on the central SE side of Rhodes, and controlled most of the southern half of the island. Early cemeteries attest neolithic and Mycenaean occupation (see mycenaean civilization), and Lindus appears with the other Rhodian cities in *Homer (Il. 2. 656). In the 7th cent. Lindian colonists founded *Gela in Sicily and *Phaselis in Lycia. One of the tyrants governing Lindus in the early 6th cent. was Cleobulus, one of the ‘*Seven Sages’, whose so-called tomb (a round pre-Hellenic structure) lies on a nearby headland. Lindus appears in the Athenian *tribute lists.The important cult of *Athena Lindia existed from at least the 10th cent.

Article

milk  

Robert Sallares

Fresh milk (γάλα, lac) was not very important in the Greek and Roman diet, for climatic reasons, and many people in southern Italy and Greece cannot digest lactose in milk. However, northern *barbarians, especially nomads like the *Scythians, were known to drink milk. The milk that was consumed, normally in the form of cheese or curds (ὀξύγαλα), was usually that of goats or sheep. Cows' milk found little favour. Butter (βούτυρον) was used only by barbarians, since the Greeks and Romans preferred *olive oil. Horses' milk was also known. Receptacles identified as feeding-bottles for infants have been found on archaeological sites, but breast-milk was much more important (see breast-feeding). Milk was highly valued in medicine. The physicians recommended the internal or external use of milk (both human and animal) or whey for numerous ailments. It was also used for *cosmetic purposes, and in religious ceremonies as a first-fruit offering (see aparchē), although its early use in this domain was often superseded by that of *wine.

Article

Nemea  

Kim Shelton

Nemea is a fertile upland valley in southern Corinthia where the Sanctuary of Zeus and its panhellenic festival with athletic games was founded in the 6th century bce. After a period of disruption in the Classical period, when the games were removed and celebrated in Argos, the later 4th century bce saw a renewal of the games at the site which underwent a substantial building program with a new temple, stadium, and facilities for athletes and festival participants. A hero shrine in the form of a tumulus was constructed in the southwestern part of the sanctuary in the Iron Age and was rebuilt with a stone perimeter wall in the late 4th century. The Nemea valley was occupied and farmed from prehistory through the medieval period when the pagan sanctuary was converted for Christian worship with the construction of a basilica from the spolia of the Temple of Zeus.Nemea (.

Article

Olympia  

Catherine A. Morgan, Simon Hornblower, and Antony Spawforth

Olympia, *panhellenic sanctuary of *Zeus located in hill country beside the river *Alpheus in *Elis.

There is evidence of extensive prehistoric settlement in the vicinity including a large EH tumulus in the Altis which remained visible into the early iron age, MH houses, and Mycenaean tombs (see mycenaean civilization) in the vicinity of the archaeological museum.

Votives (tripods and figurines) in an ash layer in the Altis indicate cult activity at least from the late 10th cent. (perhaps with an early ash altar). The first Olympiad was traditionally dated 776 bce (see time-reckoning). According to *Pindar, *Heracles founded the *Olympian Games; an alternative tradition attributed the foundation to *Pelops after his victory over Oenomaus (see olympian games). A sequence of wells on the eastern side of the sanctuary beginning in the late 8th cent. served visitors.

Article

Panskoye I  

Vladimir F. Stolba

Panskoye I is one of the most prominent and best-studied settlements in the rural territory of Chersonesus on the Tarkhankut Peninsula (north-western Crimea). Founded in the late 5th century bce as a fortified outpost (tetrapyrgia) protecting the south-eastern frontiers of Olbian territory, around 360 bce it was subjugated to Tauric Chersonesus, a close relationship which it maintained until the settlement’s catastrophic destruction around 270 bce. In 1969–1994, a significant part of the settlement and associated necropolis were investigated by the Tarkhankut Archaeological Expedition of the Leningrad Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (since 1991, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg). The settlement’s stratigraphy and size, as well as its unique structure and layout, representing an agglomeration of compactly placed free-standing farmsteads, adjoining house blocks, and monumental buildings accommodating more than one household, distinguish it from other rural settlements in the area. Its rich and original material culture shows a remarkable intermingling of various cultural components, both Greek and non-Greek.

Article

Parthenon  

Richard Allan Tomlinson

The Parthenon was the temple of *Athena built on the highest part of the Acropolis at Athens south of the Archaic temple. The name is properly that of the west room, but is generally extended to the entire building. The title Parthenos (virgin) is descriptive; her status is Polias, protector of the city. It was begun in 447 bce in the time of *Pericles (1); the temple and cult statue were dedicated in 438, but work continued, notably on the pedimental sculptures, until 432. A temple had been begun on the site after *Marathon (490) (see marathon, battle of) (possibly to replace an earlier structure), but work was abandoned on the approach of the second *Persian War (480–79). What had been built was destroyed by the Persians when they captured the city.The Periclean building adapts the foundations and platform of this earlier structure, and, possibly, some of the marble elements prepared for it. It was built to house the gold and ivory statue by *Phidias, who must have been responsible for at least the design of its sculptural decoration; it is unlikely that he also directed the architectural design, which was determined more by the existing foundations than the statue it was to house.

Article

Persephone/Kore  

Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal

Persephone/Kore (Περσεφόνη/ Κόρη) is a goddess, Demeter’s daughter by Zeus, wife of Hades, and queen of the underworld. Her most important myth is that of her abduction by Hades, her father’s brother. In Orphic literature, she is Dionysus’ mother by Zeus. Persephone/Kore is often worshipped in association with Demeter and Hades, but independent cults of the goddess are also attested. Persephone was adopted by the Romans as Proserpina.In Mycenaean, the names Persephone (Περσεφόνη), and Kore (Κόρη), have been proposed without agreement for the lemmas pe-re- *82 in Pylos and ko-wa in Thebes (TH Fq 126.2). The name Persephone (Homeric Persephoneia, Lyric Phersephonā), whose etymology is dark, presents variants as Persephassa or Phersephassa (Tragic), Pherrephatta, Perrephatta, or Pherrophatta, Perophatta, Persōphata (on Attic vases of the 5th century bce). The term Persephone stresses her persona as Hades’ wife, whilst as Demeter’s daughter, she is often called Kore, “the Girl.” Mother and daughter are usually named together in expressions like “the Two Goddesses” (tō theō), “the Thesmophoroi” (tō Thesmoforō) or, sporadically, “the Demeters” (Dēmēteres). Kore is more usual as a formal title of the goddess in many state cults, but Persephone is also found in .

Article

phallus  

Richard Seaford

Phallus, an image of the penis, often as erect, to be found in various contexts, in particular (a) in certain rituals associated with fertility, notably Dionysiac *processions (see dionysus): see e.g. Ar. Ach.243 on the Attic rural Dionysia (see attic cults and myths), *Semos in Ath. 622b-c on groups of ‘ithyphallics’ and ‘phallus-bearers’, *Varro in Aug. Civ. 7. 21 ‘for the success of seeds’ at the Liberalia (see liber pater);(b) as a sacred object revealed in the Dionysiac *mysteries, as in the Villa of the Mysteries fresco at *Pompeii; *Iamblichus (2) (Myst. 1. 11) mentions it as a symbol of secret doctrine;(c) in the costume of comedy (see comedy (greek), old), *satyric drama, and various low theatrical genres; *Aristotle (Poet. 1449a11) says that comedy originated in phallic songs;(d) on permanent display, often as part of a statue such as those of *Priapus or the *herms identified with *Hermes;(e) as apotropaic: e.

Article

Ptoion  

John Buckler

Ptoion, sanctuary of *Apollo located in the territory of *Acraephnium in *Boeotia. The ruins of the oracle on Mt. Ptoon consist of the remains of a temple, a grotto and spring, and various sacred buildings. Excavations have found rich dedications of Archaic date, especially statuary. The cult dates at least from the 8th cent. bce, and was marked by a male prophet who gave responses in a state of *ecstasy. Apollo was associated with a female goddess or heroine. *Pindar (fr. 51b; Paian 7. f.) and *Herodotus (1) (8. 135) constitute the earliest literary evidence for the origin of the cult. The sanctuary, but not the oracle, flourished until the third century ce.

Article

Rogozen  

Simon Hornblower

Rogozen, Bulgarian site in ancient *Thrace (see also religion, thracian), at which important finds of beautiful 4th-cent. bce silver and silver-gilt vessels were made in 1986. Some carry Greek inscriptions (e.g. the name of *Cersobleptes) and depict Greek mythological scenes.

Article

sanctuaries, Greek  

Margaret M. Miles

Greek sanctuaries were areas set apart for devotion to the gods, where people made sacrifices and other offerings. Reflecting the underlying unity of Greek religions across a broad geography, the sanctuaries are found where Greeks settled and formed communities, from the east coast of Spain to Ukraine, and the south coast of France to Libya and northern Egypt. The sanctuaries could be as simple as a rural shrine by a spring, in a cave, or by a crossroads, or contain busy temples in cities or large complexes as at Delphi, Olympia, Dodona, and Delos. Most were open to everyone, and they became focal points for many aspects of Greek culture: social life, politics, commemoration, music and poetry, athletics, medicine, and displays of dedicated art and architecture. Sanctuaries often enhanced the economies of their regions. They marked coastlines, trading routes, and territorial borders. What they have in common is an area set apart with defined boundaries, thought of as belonging to a particular Greek deity or deities, with an altar for sacrifices. Many of them were in use for at least a thousand years.

Article

temple  

Richard Allan Tomlinson

The Greek temple was the house of the god, whose image it contained, usually placed so that at the annual festival it could watch through the open door the burning of the sacrifice at the altar which stood outside (see statues, cult of). It was not a congregational building, the worshippers instead gathering round the altar in the open air, where they would be given the meat of the victims to consume (see sacrifice, greek). *Orientation was generally towards the east, and often towards that point on the skyline where (allowing for the vagaries of ancient Greek calendars) the sun rose on the day of the festival. The temple also served as a repository for the property of the god, especially the more valuable possessions of gold and silver *plate (see votive offerings).The core of the temple is the cella, a rectangular room whose side walls are prolonged beyond one end to form a porch, either with columns between them (in antis) or in a row across the front (prostyle). More prestigious temples surround this with an external colonnade (and are described as peripteral). They generally duplicate the porch with a corresponding prolongation of the walls at the rear of the cella, without, however, making another doorway into the cella (the opisthodomus, or false porch).

Article

Zeus in art  

Karim Arafat

Although 8th-cent. figurines may represent Zeus, he does not assume a type until early Archaic, when he strides with thunderbolt and, rarely, eagle. In the Classical period, Zeus is quieter, often seated and with a sceptre: the prime example is *Phidias' cult statue at *Olympia, familiar from literature (esp. Paus. 5. 11), coins, gems, and echoes on vases. The type continues in the Hellenistic period.Zeus participates in many scenes. The east pediments of Olympia and the *Parthenon centred on him. He fights in the Gigantomachy (see giants) from Attic and S. Italian Archaic and Classical vases to the Hellenistic Pergamum altar frieze. On Classical vases and sculpture, his pursuits include Aegina (the eponymous heroine of *Aegina, see eponymoi) and *Ganymede. His transformations occur, particularly in depictions of his seduction of Europa from early Archaic, and *Leda from late Classical. He is common on coins. Zeus was favoured by *Alexander(3) the Great and some Roman emperors, especially *Hadrian (see olympieum).