25 Aphaia remains an enigmatic deity, and while it is unclear why the fifth- century Aiginetans began to assimilate her to Athena, they may have intended to win for themselves the favor of the better-known goddess who protected their
longtime
enemy, Athens.
Ancient-greek-cults-a-guide
The abode of the Semnai Theai was a chasm beside the Areios pagos (Hill of Ares), where according to legend the goddesses were persuaded to descend after their unsuccessful prosecution of the matricide Orestes.
We learn from the Attic orators and their scholiasts that legal proceedings were limited to the last three days of the month, which were sacred to the three Semnai Theai (and inauspicious days for any other busi- ness to be carried out).
Each party at the start of a trial took a solemn oath over the cut pieces of a boar, a ram, and a bull, calling down ruin on himself and his descendants if he lied.
When a man was acquitted of murder, sacrifice to the Semnai Theai was required to satisfy their anger.
The Athenians also conducted an annual torchlight procession for the goddesses, in which the family of the Hesychidai (the "silent ones," referring to the solemn silence kept during the proceedings) played a leading role.
The women of the Hesychidai formed a college of priestesses attending the goddesses.
Other citizens, of whom the orator Demosthenes was one, were also selected to serve as hieropoioi (doers of sacred things).
Wine was excluded from the worship (a feature typical of old chthonian cults), and offerings consisted of cakes and libations of milk or honey.
The grove of the Eumenides (Kindly Ones) in the Athenian town of Kolonos, associated with the hero Oedipus, hosted an independent cult of the goddesses (who were also locally known as Semnai Theai) with its own unique rituals.
Both sanctuaries were known as places where suppliants could find refuge.
37
Worship of the Eumenides and similar goddesses was widespread in the Peloponnese, where it was associated with Orestes, or less often, Oedipus. Near Megalopolis in Arkadia was a sanctuary of the Maniai (Crazes), who maddened Orestes until he bit off his own finger. This is an extreme form of expiation, the sacrifice of an expendable body part. The satisfied goddesses, who had previously appeared black, now turned white and Orestes, recovered from his madness, established the custom of sacrifice to each group, enagismos to the black and thusia to the white. That the sanc- tuary was located in a place called Ake (cure) suggests that people sought healing there, perhaps for mental illnesses. 38 Material evidence of an Argive cult exists in the form of several votive reliefs dedicated to the Eumenides. One, inscribed as a thank offering, shows three benevolent-looking god- desses, each holding a flower in the left hand and a snake in the right. They are greeted by a couple approaching from the right side of the relief. These dedications from the fourth century illustrate a more personal, family- oriented cult practice, and show how the actual worship of these goddesses invariably focused not on their dark and threatening aspects, but on the benefits they could provide if properly appeased. 39
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Further reading
Harrison 1977a, b reconstructs the interior sculptures of the splendidly preserved temple to Hephaistos in the Athenian agora, while Faraone 1987 shows how the myths of Hephaistos as a maker of talismanic statues reflect ritual practices in the Near East. Vernant 1983a, a classic article, uses structuralist analysis to define Hestia in relation to Hermes. Marinatos 1996 reexamines the traditional identification of the Kretan cave at Amnisos as the shrine of Eileithyia. Johnston 1999 (203-87) includes the fullest recent discussions of Hekate and the Erinyes.
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Latecomer and regional deities
The "latecomers" of this chapter were adopted by Greeks only after the polis system, which implied regulation of the civic pantheon, was established in the eighth century. Therefore these deities faced a more challenging path to local, regional, and (in some cases) Panhellenic acceptance. Native to Phrygia, Thrace, Lydia, and elsewhere in the Aegean, they illustrate the fluidity of culture in the ancient world, and show that Greek pantheons were open to change well before the revolutionary developments of the Hellenistic period. On the other hand, the cults of "regional" deities such as Themis, Diktynna, Damia, and Auxesia were ancient but remained geographically restricted. They exemplify the resistance of local pantheons to the homogenizing pressures of Panhellenism, and - in the case of Aphaia/Athena - show how anomalous deities might eventually succumb.
Kybele
The most important goddess in the Phrygian pantheon was Matar Kubileya, the Mother of the Mountains. From the sixth century on, Greek religion knew her as Meter (the Mother), and poets called her Kybele, a personal name derived from her Phrygian title. In her homeland, her places of worship were door-shaped niches carved into rocky cliffs and hillsides. These were filled with high relief or freestanding images of the goddess, often holding a bird of prey or flanked by lions. A mistress of wild nature, Matar Kubileya was a close relative of the Bronze Age goddess who is depicted in Minoan gems standing on a mountain peak, flanked by twin lions; many variations of this goddess were worshiped throughout Anatolia. Some of the Ionians who first adopted her cult, like the Chians and Phokaians, continued the tradition of rural, rock-cut sanctuaries, but more often the motif of the goddess in the niche was transferred to the portable medium of stone votive reliefs. The popular appeal of Meter's cult is attested both by its rapid spread through the Greek world in the sixth century and by the abundance of votive reliefs and figurines depicting the goddess, found not only in sanctuaries, but also in
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domestic contexts and tombs. On the other hand, "Meter" iconography was used to depict a wide range of goddesses, so without an inscription, secure identification of artifacts can be difficult. 1
Meter was quickly syncretized with Ge/Gaia, with Demeter, and especially with the Titaness Rhea, mother of Zeus and the other elder Olympians. Rhea's Kretan cult, perhaps a Bronze Age survival, was focused on the birth of Zeus and was celebrated in an ecstatic dance during which the participants imitated the mythical Kouretes, youths who clashed their shields to cover the infant's cries. One of the centers of this cult, Mt. Ida in Krete, was closely associated with the Phrygian Mt. Ida, the haunt of Meter. Like Idaian Zeus and Rhea, Meter was worshiped with percussive music and ecstatic dancing, and she was accompanied by the Korybantes, youths who were analogous to the Kouretes. The characteristic instruments in her music were the tumpanon, a tambourine-like drum, and the flute. Herodotus (4. 76) tells how the Greeks of Kyzikos celebrated Meter's festival at night, striking tumpana and decking themselves with small images of the goddess. Most ancient and modern observers have traced the ecstatic elements of the cult, as well as the use of the tumpanon, to Phrygia. These features, negatively stereotyped as "Eastern" in the wake of the Persian wars, are most likely Greek developments originating in Krete. Less is known about the origins of the mendicant priests of Meter known as me ? tragurtai (Gatherers for the Mother); they too are considered somewhat disreputable in surviving sources. 2
During the Meter cult's period of explosive growth in the late Archaic period, she was quickly incorporated into civic worship. In Athens, the emerg- ing democracy seems to have welcomed this popular goddess by the end of the sixth century. Meter's cult was established in or near the bouleute ? rion (council chamber) in the agora and Athenian council members began to sacrifice to the Mother of the Gods along with the other major civic deities. In the late fifth century, with the construction of a new bouleute ? rion, the old one became known as the Metroo? n, or temple of Meter. Like the temple of the Mother in Kolophon, the Metroo? n was used as a state archive. 3 Private sponsorship of Meter was also widespread and was prompted by dreams and visions. Pindar is said to have founded a Theban shrine of Meter after he had a vision of the goddess' statue walking, and Themistokles brought the cult to Magnesia after the goddess warned him in a dream of an assassination attempt. 4 In the succeeding generation, however, the cult of Meter was viewed less favorably, at least by the elite men of Athens, and was associated with women, the poor, and excessive emotional displays. Attis, who later became known as the consort of Kybele, does not become a prominent figure in the cult until the fourth century. While the Phrygian priests of Matar bore the title Attes, the myth of Attis seems to be a Greek invention. 5
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The Kabeiroi and the Megaloi Theoi
Scattered about the Aegean, particularly in its northern half, were a number of sanctuaries devoted to groups of deities who were the guardians of mysteries. These deities are sometimes known as the Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods) and sometimes as the Kabeiroi, a name related to the Semitic kabir, "mighty. " Like the Kouretes and Korybantes who surround Meter, the Kabeiroi are sometimes portrayed as subordinate to a goddess or a divine pair, ministers or servants of more powerful deities whose names are only for the ears of initiates. Yet they are potent cult figures in their own right, and they seem to function as intermediaries between the human and the divine. In origin, these deities were non-Greek, but they were rapidly accepted by Greek worshipers, and their mysteries were developed and administered using Greek models.
Though its material remains are venerable, dating to the late seventh century, the Kabeiric cult in the territory of Thebes was surely imported from the northeastern Aegean. Located about 6 km west of Thebes, the sanctuary site was apparently selected because of its natural features: a small stream bisected the area, a hillside served as a natural amphitheater, and a rock formation on the hill seems to have provided a focus for the cult. The resident deities included a mother goddess, her consort, and two attendant Kabiroi (to use the local spelling), an elder and a younger. We know little about the identity and nature of the first pair, who must have been the subject of the secret mysteries. Within a circular cult building (tholos) dating to the fifth century, excavators found a clay tub buried with its rim slightly protruding from the ground, and inscribed "of the Husband. " A hole pierced in the bottom shows that it was intended for liquid offerings, which drained into the earth, and the sequestering of this basin inside the tholos suggests that these offerings were secret. Far more accessible were the Kabiroi themselves, who were the recipients of many of the inscribed gifts left in the sanctuary. Prominent among these were bull figurines, first of bronze and later of terracotta. The site also yielded an unusually large number of glass beads, more than at any other Greek sanctuary. Many of the colorful beads have dots or bumps, which represent apotropaic eyes. 6 They may have been gifts for the goddess, or perhaps strings of beads played a role in the rituals. The architecture of the Kabirion was not extensively developed during the Archaic and Classical periods, in spite of its great popularity: it consisted of the theatral area, some sacrificial pits, and a number of modest tholoi, as well as a rectangular building that housed symposiasts.
The Theban Kabirion is best known for a special type of figured vase that was custom made for the sanctuary. The so-called Kabirion ware is decorated with scenes of activity at the sanctuary and was produced from the fifth to the third centuries. The abundant drinking vessels left at the Kabirion show that symposia attended by elite men were an important activity in the sixth
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century, even before the figured wares appeared. That these symposia had a pederastic focus is suggested by the hundreds of terracottas of boys and youths, which are contemporary with the drinking cups. Participation in the worship, however, was by no means restricted to males. Some dedications were made by women, and vases show family groups participating in sacri- fices and other activities which took place both before and after initiation. Initiates wear distinctive ribbons and leafy twigs in their hair. One of the most puzzling features of these scenes is that many individuals are shown with body types and facial features that the Greeks associated with the mythical race of Pygmies. This may reflect the influence of Greek comedy, or some aspect of the cult, such as costumed performances. Another suggestion, supported by Herodotus (3. 37), is that the cult images of the Kabiroi themselves had a pygmoid appearance; still, the iconography of the Theban Kabiroi was never fixed. On one vase the senior of the two, labeled Kabiros (Lord), closely resembles Dionysos as he reclines at a symposium, while the junior, Pais (Boy), takes the role of a cupbearer. Another vase shows the elder as Hermes and the younger as Pan. 7
Several other Kabeiric shrines are mentioned by late authors or revealed in inscriptions. The cult at Lemnos is perhaps the oldest, though its custodians through the Archaic period were so-called Pelasgians, a non-Greek people. Only in the late sixth or early fifth century was the island formally colonized
Figure 13. 1 Skuphos from the Theban Kabirion showing initiates, fifth century. Athens, National Archaeological Museum. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg.
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by the Athenians, who already had in their mother city a thriving cult of the island's most important deity, Hephaistos. The fifth-century historian Acusilaus (FGrH 2 F 20) says that Hephaistos produced a son Kamillos with a goddess named Kabeiro. Kamillos in turn fathered the three Kabeiroi and they the three Kabeirid nymphs. The attributes of the Kabeiroi were the smith's hammer and tongs, and the goddess whom they attended was called Lemnos or Megale Theos (Great Goddess). The sanctuary is situated north- east of the capital city Hephaistia. The plentiful inscriptions found there, some as early as the fifth century, give a picture of a Hellenized mystery cult with its staff of priests and financial officers, though the native language persisted and was surely used in the rites. Early versions of the cult probably also existed at Imbros and in the Troad, which were part of the same cultural sphere. 8
Initiation into the mysteries of Samothrace was said to bestow protection from drowning at sea, and the island with its sanctuary quickly gained a Panhellenic reputation during the Archaic and Classical periods. Filled with votive monuments and tablets presented by grateful survivors, it drew the scorn of the atheist Diagoras of Melos, who remarked that the number of votives would be much greater if all those who did not survive had made dedications. 9 Meticulous excavation of the sanctuary revealed that its first archaeologically visible operations were roughly contemporary with the settlement of the island by Greeks in the seventh century.
Herodotus (2. 51) and other sources refer to the Samothracian gods as Kabeiroi, but inscriptions found on the island speak only of Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods) or Theoi (Gods). A Hellenistic historian revealed the secret names of these gods, which are manifestly non-Greek: Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Kasmilos (who is comparable to Lemnian Kamillos). 10 The four have been identified respectively as Demeter, Persephone, Hades, and Hermes, though it is not certain whether Axieros is male or female. As for the content of the mysteries, sources speak of statues with erect phalloi at the sanctuary and Herodotus connects these with the sacred story told to initiates. 11 Initiates wore rings of magnetized iron, which were most likely associated with a lodestone in the sanctuary, and the uncanny power of magnetism may have had a role in the mysteries as well. As at Thebes, the focal points of the early sanctuary were a theatral area and natural rock formations, used by the Samothracians as altars. Although the Samothracian mysteries were familiar to Classical Athenians, it is not clear how far their fame had spread by the fifth century. Few structures or artifacts in the sanctuary can be firmly assigned to the Archaic or Classical periods (a sixth- century dining room, previously identified as "the Hall of Votive Gifts," appears to be one). Only in early Hellenistic times did the Samothracian mysteries become a major source of revenue for the islanders. 12
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Ammon
Just as Greek colonists installed the gods of their mother cities in their new homes, they also adopted the cults of indigenous peoples and systematically exported them, in Hellenized form, back to Greece. A good example is the cult of Ammon, which the colonists in Kyrene enthusiastically promoted in Greece. The god Ammon was the result of the blending of Amun-Ra, the main god of Egyptian Thebes, with an indigenous Libyan deity. Because this god was supreme in the pantheon, the Greeks identified him with Zeus. Like Amun-Ra, Ammon was an oracular deity whose responses were determined by the movements of his image, carried in a palanquin on the backs of priests.
During the sixth century, Ammon's oracle in the isolated desert oasis of Siwa began to gain an international reputation, and by about 500, the citi- zens of Kyrene had struck coins bearing the head of a horned Zeus Ammon, and raised a magnificent temple, comparable in size to the temple of Zeus at Olympia. 13 Most instances of Greek interest in Ammon can be traced back to the colonists of Kyrene. They dedicated monuments of Ammon at Delphi and Olympia, and the elite athletes of the city commissioned Pindar to compose victory odes that acknowledged Ammon's guardianship of the city and its territory. Pindar (Pyth. 9. 53) calls Kyrene "the finest garden of Zeus," and in his masterpiece, the fourth Pythian ode (14-16), Medeia prophesies that Libya "will be planted with the root of illustrious cities at the foundations of Zeus Ammon. " Pindar also expressed his personal devotion to Ammon in a hymn, now lost, and dedicated a statue of the god in his hometown of Thebes. 14
The Spartans maintained close ties with the Dorian colonists of Kyrene and thus felt a strong affinity for the oracle in the Archaic and Classical periods. 15 According to tradition, Zeus Ammon held the Spartans in high regard, and prophesied that they would colonize Libya. The Spartan general Lysander had a dream vision of Zeus Ammon that caused him to abandon the siege of Aphytis, and he most likely visited Siwa more than once. Temples of Ammon were established at an unknown date in Sparta and its port town of Gythion. To judge from contemporary references in the work of Aristophanes, Euripides, and Herodotus, fifth-century Athenians were also familiar with Ammon, though not as quick to adopt his cult. 16 Plutarch (Vit. Cim. 18) tells how the general Kimon, who not coincidentally was a man of pro-Spartan sentiments, attempted to consult the god in 451 during his last campaign in Cyprus. The story goes that he sent a delegation with a secret inquiry, but fell ill and died while the men were traveling. When they arrived at Siwa, the oracle told them their long journey was needless, "for Kimon is already with me. " By the early fourth century there is epigraphic evidence of the Athenian state's interest in Ammon, including records of gold sent to
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Siwa on behalf of the Athenian people. Its military situation forced Athens to seek alternatives to Delphi during this period, among which Dodona and the oracle of Ammon were favored. Of course the most famous petitioner was Alexander the Great, whose consultation in 331 gave rise to a popular tradition that he was the son of Zeus Ammon. 17
Bendis
A major Thracian goddess, Bendis came to the notice of Greeks who colonized the northern Aegean in the Archaic period. Thasian settlers on the coast of Thrace frequented at least two sanctuaries (at Neapolis and Oisyme) sacred to a goddess with the title Parthenos (Maiden), who is thought to be Bendis. Too little is known of Bendis as a Thracian deity, but she seems to have been a Great Goddess of the wilderness who like Artemis was associated with springs and cave spirits. On the other hand, an interest in agriculture is suggested by Herodotus' statement (4. 33) that the Thracian and Paionian women always sacrificed to "Artemis the Queen" (presumably Bendis) by burning straw. Unlike Artemis, however, Bendis acquired a male cult com- panion, the hero or deity Deloptes, whose iconography, borrowed from that of Asklepios, suggests that he was viewed as a healer. Bendis' own Hellenized appearance, known to us from fourth-century votive reliefs, was that of a young, athletic woman in a short dress, skin cloak, hunting boots, and
Figure 13. 2 Bendis and Deloptes, terracotta votive relief, c. 400. Archaeological museum of Chalkis, Greece. Erich Lessing/Art Resource.
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Phrygian cap. 18 She typically leans on a spear, and the comic poet Cratinus (fr. 85 Kassel-Austin) called her "twin-speared. "
The Athenians too had numerous direct and indirect contacts with Thrace. By 450, most Greek cities of the northern Aegean and Hellespont were allied to or dependencies of Athens, while Athens itself possessed a significant popu- lation of Thracian metics (resident foreigners) and slaves. Within another twenty years, the Athenians took the unprecedented step of instituting public worship of Bendis in the Peiraieus, their cosmopolitan port. This event is recorded in the opening lines of Plato's Republic (327a-328a), where Sokrates describes how he and a companion walked several miles to say their prayers and see the dual procession: one composed of Athenian citizens, and one of Thracians. Later in the evening, there was a torch race (on horseback, a typically Thracian touch), and an all-night celebration. From later records, it appears that considerable resources were expended on this festival, including the sacrifice of a hundred cattle and the distribution of their meat. 19 The public festival was complemented by private cult organizations of citizens and metics, which conducted their own observances and presumably helped to organize the annual festivities.
Historians have long debated the motivation for the state's highly unusual interest in Bendis, since the Athenians were generally suspicious of foreign gods. The most likely explanation is that they wanted to cement their existing diplomatic, military, and trade relations with the Odrysian Thracians at a time when a major war with the Peloponnesians was imminent. 20
Britomartis, Diktynna, and Aphaia
In Krete, the worship of a Minoan goddess (or goddesses) of the natural world lingered for centuries. Hellenistic poets and mythographers under- stood the indigenous Kretan goddesses Britomartis and Diktynna either as companions of Artemis, or as bynames of Artemis herself, but in the realm of cult they continued to be treated as separate deities. Ancient lexicographers tell us that among the Kretans, the name Britomartis meant "sweet maiden. " She was worshiped primarily in the eastern half of the island, and her name with the local spelling Britomarpis appears in Hellenistic treaties of Olous, which possessed an Archaic cult statue said to be the work of Daidalos. 21 According to Callimachus (Hymn 3. 189-203), Britomartis was a nymph, a beloved companion of Artemis who drew the amorous attention of Minos. He pursued her until, in desperation, she threw herself into the sea and was saved in the nets (diktua) of some fishermen. Henceforth she was called Diktynna. An alternate version says that she hid from Minos in a grove at Aigina and was afterwards worshiped as Aphaia, the unseen (aphane ? s) goddess. 22 These tales are constructed around false etymologies, but give us a few hints about the nature of Britomarpis: as her name suggests, she was a virgin, and she was a mistress of the natural world like Artemis.
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Diktynna has nothing to do with nets, but rather with the Kretan Mt. Dikte. On the other hand, Dikte lies in the east, while the major centers of Diktynna's cult (Kydonia and Lisos) were in the west of Krete, a fact that has puzzled both ancient and modern commentators. A temple of Diktynna built by Samian colonists in Kydonia (Hdt. 3. 59) has been located by archaeolo- gists, and a month name Diktynnaios is attested. During the Classical period, Diktynna was more widely recognized than Britomartis, and her syncretiza- tion with Artemis was well underway. Aristophanes (Ran. 1359) already thinks of them as identical, and Euripides (Hipp. 145) describes Diktynna as a mistress of many beasts. Later we hear of Diktynna or Artemis Diktynna in Lakonia, Phokis, and Athens. The Hellenistic poets' interest in Diktynna coincided with a resurgence of her cult, attested on coins from western Krete starting in the fourth century. 23
Before the twentieth century, information about Aphaia was strictly limited to a few late literary sources, which recounted how Britomartis/Diktynna fled to the island of Aigina to escape Minos. 24 There, a splendid Doric temple (c. 500) had long been assigned to Athena because she appeared as the key figure in both pediments (the east portrays the sack of Troy by Herakles, while the west shows the capture of the city by Aiakid heroes). This temple also contained a cult statue of an Athena-like, spear-wielding goddess, the right arm of which has been recovered. But a sixth-century inscription (IG IV 1580) revealed that the predecessor of the Classical temple was dedicated to Aphaia: "In the priesthood of [Th? ]eoitas, the house of Aphaia was built and the altar; the ivory was added and a wall was built all around. " The ivory in question may refer to ivory components of a cult statue, or plaques of ivory used to adorn the temple interior. A still earlier dedicatory inscription was made to Apha, which is probably the original form of the goddess' name.
25 Aphaia remains an enigmatic deity, and while it is unclear why the fifth- century Aiginetans began to assimilate her to Athena, they may have intended to win for themselves the favor of the better-known goddess who protected their longtime enemy, Athens. They were unsuccessful, for the Athenians eventually expelled the Aiginetans and colonized the island themselves. According to their careful inventory (IG IV 39, c. 431), the pronaos of the temple was full of wooden furniture, chests, and sacrificial implements.
The votive gifts from the sanctuary suggest that Aphaia had a special interest in protecting pregnant and nursing women as well as their babies. This character is apparent even in the Mycenaean objects, which include figurines of women holding infants (though there is, as usual, a gap in the finds between the Mycenaean period and the eighth century). Aphaia's involvement in rituals of maturation is suggested by the presence of sheet bronze rings used to secure offerings of hair, cut when youths reached the threshold of adulthood. Ulrich Sinn suggests that Aphaia's sanctuary was a religious center for a confederation of tribes, and was therefore used for festivals that addressed family and tribal continuity. 26
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Themis and Nemesis
Already in Hesiod's Theogony, abstract concepts considered fundamental to human society are treated as divine beings. Worship of these allegorical deities developed in response to the same impulse that made the poets sing of them, but in a much more idiosyncratic fashion, reflecting local needs and preferences. While the great heyday of these cults came during the fourth century and the Hellenistic period, when many personifications like Eirene (Peace) and Tyche (Fortune) were popularized, a religious impulse to ack- nowledge powerful and culturally weighty concepts through prayer and sacrifice was already active in the Archaic period.
The name Themis refers to "that which has been ordained," the norms of society with respect to politics, social relations, and ritual. In Homer (Il. 20. 4-6) Themis is the deity who summons and dismisses assemblies, and in cult she sometimes has the epithet Agoraia (of the Meeting Place). Themis also governs the natural world, which likewise functions according to divine laws. Hesiod (Theog. 901-4) says her children are Eunomia (Lawfulness), Dike (Justice), Eirene (Peace), and the Moirai (Fates), but also the Horai (Seasons), who ensure the orderly cycle of plant growth and decay. 27 Our sources hint that Themis (like Thetis and perhaps Gaia) once played a more important role in early Greek pantheons and cosmologies. Pindar (fr. 30 Snell-Maehler) made Themis the first wife of Zeus, and she seems to have occupied the place of Hera in the Archaic pantheon of Thessaly. We lack detailed information about her Thessalian worship, but a Thessalian month name Themistios, along with the prevalence of personal names like Themis- tion and Themistokles in the region, show that her cult was popular in the Archaic period. A fourth-century altar from Pherai, inscribed with the names of six major goddesses, lists Hestia, Demeter, Athena, Aphrodite, Enodia (another important local goddess), and Themis. 28
As the personification of divine law, Themis was the confidante and frequent companion of Zeus, able to dispense knowledge of future events (hence the verb themisteuein, "to pronounce divine law" for the giving of oracles, and Themis' strong mythic, though not cultic, presence at Delphi). In a lost seventh-century epic, the Cypria, she and Zeus planned the Trojan war as a way to reduce the population of the overburdened earth. Themis warned Zeus of the prophecy that the Nereid Thetis would bear a son more powerful than his father; hence Thetis was married off to the mortal Peleus, resulting in the birth of Achilles, while Helen, the casus belli, was born from the union of Zeus with his own daughter Nemesis. Awareness of Themis' role in these events may account for the construction of a shrine to Themis within the sanctuary of Nemesis at Rhamnous in Attica. 29
The Attic cult of Nemesis is a rare early example of full-blown worship paid to a personification. Like the cult of Themis in Thessaly, it demonstrates the persistence of idiosyncratic local pantheons in opposition to the trend in
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poetry toward a canonical, Panhellenized system. Derived from the verb nemein, "to deal out, distribute," Nemesis' name evokes that which is allotted by fate, but also whatever is dealt out as just deserts and, finally, the appro- priate reaction to wrongdoing: righteous indignation. Hesiod (Op. 197-201) pairs Nemesis with Aidos (Right Feeling), and predicts that the two will abandon the earth at the end of the age, leaving a world of shameless crimi- nals. The cult at Rhamnous, however, confounds our expectations about the worship of "abstract concepts" because it emphasizes Nemesis' concrete role in bringing about the Trojan war by giving birth to Helen, in contradic- tion to the Panhellenic version, which asserted that Helen's mother was the Spartan queen Leda. The two versions were reconciled in the story that Nemesis, having shape-shifted to escape Zeus, was finally raped in goose form at Rhamnous and laid an egg containing Helen, whom Leda then nursed.
The Greek victory against the invading Persians, who burned the little Archaic temple, seems to have positively affected the fortunes of Nemesis' cult, for all agreed that Nemesis had taken a hand in the downfall of the overweening foe, just as in the days of Troy. In the most prosperous period of the Athenian empire, Nemesis was one of the Attic deities selected to receive a lavish new peripteral temple (others outside the city included Poseidon at Sounion and Ares at Acharnai), and the story of Helen's egg enjoyed a spike in popularity. A comedy Nemesis by Cratinus, presented around the time the temple was completed (c. 430), had Leda attempting to hatch the egg by sitting on it, while Attic and Italian vases also portrayed the story. The ruins of the temple have been excavated, and pieces of the marble cult statue by Agorakritos have been recovered and studied in detail. Twice life-size, the goddess held an apple branch in her left hand and a libation bowl in her right. The statue base was decorated with relief figures of Leda presenting young Helen to her true mother, along with a number of Trojan war heroes. Inscribed dedications from the site show that Themis and Nemesis had their own priestesses, and an annual festival called the Great Nemesia is attested, though only from the late fourth century on. 30
Damia and Auxesia
Another example of resistance to Panhellenization is the cult of Damia/ Mneia and Auxesia/Azesia, which was roughly equivalent to, but probably independent of, the better-known cult of Demeter and Kore (their names remain mysterious, though the form Auxesia appears to be related to the verb auxein, increase). These pre-Dorian goddesses were native to the eastern Peloponnese, particularly the coast of the Saronic gulf. At Epidauros they were worshiped under the names Mneia and Azesia, or as the Theoi Azesioi, and a month Azesios was connected with them. 31 Herodotus (5. 83-88), our
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most detailed source, tells how this worship spread to Aigina and ultimately became symbolic of Aigina's longstanding quarrel with Athens. Previously under the control of Epidauros, Aigina declared its independence in the early seventh century, and absconded with Epidauros' two olivewood statues of the goddesses, installing them in a rural sanctuary with the same annual rites they had enjoyed in the mother city. These included two female "mocking" choruses whose targets were other women, an activity that has been com- pared to the aischrologia (sex talk) and mocking attested in Thesmophoric ritual. The statues, it was said, were made under the guidance of the Delphic oracle, when Epidauros had been stricken with a famine. Told to carve the statues from olive wood, the Epidaurians petitioned Athens for a sacred olive tree, and agreed to bring annual offerings to Athena and Erechtheus in return. After the Aiginetans took away the statues, Epidauros ceased sending offerings, and the angry Athenians were told to seek redress from Aigina. They attacked the island with the intention of repatriating the sacred wood, but found themselves unable to remove the images from their bases. As they dragged the statues toward the Athenian ships, the two goddesses fell to their knees. The Athenians were nearly all killed (either by a supernatural storm and earthquake, or with the aid of the Argives), and the statues thereafter remained frozen in a kneeling posture. Upon returning home, the sole Athenian survivor was murdered by the hostile wives of his comrades, who stabbed him with their dress pins, while the Aiginetans decreed that dress pins should be the main offering in the goddess' sanctuary, and banned all dedications of Attic origin, including pottery.
Clearly, much of this story was fashioned not only to explain details of the cult, but also to provide a religious justification for the Aiginetans' hostility toward Athens. The olive wood of the statues, their kneeling poses, the custom of dedicating dress pins, and the exclusion of Attic objects are all tied to the belief that the Athenians committed an unprovoked, impious attack on an Aiginetan sanctuary, and that the victimized goddesses themselves were therefore anti-Athenian. While the main elements of the legend may be fabri- cated, the cult is independently attested in a fifth-century temple inventory from Aigina (IG IV 1588), which the Athenians produced after expelling the Aiginetans in 431. 32 This inscription indicates that the goddesses shared a temple, and that dress pins (made of iron, in a style not in daily use since the Protogeometric period) were indeed a favorite gift. Other objects of value included bronze lamps, incense burners, chests, wine cups and basins, pedestals, armor (shields and breastplates), and statues of the goddesses. The kneeling pose of the cult statues most likely alludes to childbirth and suggests that the goddesses provided help to women in labor. The dedication of armor, on the other hand, suggests a more bellicose aspect of the goddesses and reminds us of their symbolic role in Aiginetan-Athenian relations.
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Further reading
Roller 1999 is especially valuable for its investigation of the prehistoric roots and Phrygian background of the Kybele cult; Borgeaud 2004 is complemen- tary. Schachter 2003 is a concise study of the Theban sanctuary of the Kabiroi by an expert on Boiotian religion, with good illustrations. On the Great Gods at Samothrace, Cole 1984 is still the most detailed discussion in English. Chapter 9 of Parke 1967 provides a thorough introduction to Ammon's cult. On the cult of Bendis at Athens, Simms 1988 is a good discussion of the epigraphic evidence for advanced students with some knowledge of ancient Greek.
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ANOMALOUS IMMORTALS Hero-gods and heroine-goddesses
Herakles
Herakles is unique among Greek heroes. He achieved Panhellenic status at such an early date that his origins can no longer be traced, but most likely they lie in the Argolid (his name, which means "glory of Hera," also evokes Argos). The fact that a wide variety of non-Greek populations, from the Lydians to the Phoenicians and Etruscans, adopted this hero is the best evidence of his overwhelming popularity. Much of his story is familiar to Homer, and some scholars believe that he was a Mycenaean hero. In any event, the question of "origins" is perhaps moot for Herakles because the corpus of his myths, and his general character, are the result of a long process of accretion, with contributions from nearly all parts of the Greek world. While some of the myths appear to have Bronze Age and even Stone Age roots, evidence for cults is much more recent, dating from the seventh and sixth centuries or later. 1
Like Hermes and Apollo, Herakles was a patron of the young men engaged in preparing their bodies for the challenges of campaign and battle. The foremost requirements for a Herakleion, which often did double duty as a gymnasium, were abundant open space, water, and accessibility; many sanctuaries lay just outside the city walls. These same features meant that Herakleia were often used as military encampments. For Pindar, who sang of athletic prowess, he represents the acme of masculine achievement (Isthm. 4. 11-12): "by their manly deeds, unrivaled, they have set out from home and grasped the Pillars of Herakles. " His cults, as well as those of dependent "Herakleian" heroes (Iolaos, Iphikles, and the sons of Herakles) are often found in initiatory and pederastic contexts. 2
Pindar (Nem. 3. 22) called Herakles hero ? s theos (hero-god), in recognition of his apotheosis and his unique status among the heroes. Unlike most heroic figures, Herakles was the exclusive possession of no single city or village. None dared to lay claim to his tomb in the normal manner of heroic cult, not even the residents around Mt. Oita where his fiery death was commemorated from the Archaic period with an annual sacrifice and bonfire. Scholars have long debated how his dual nature was handled at the cultic level, citing
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ancient sources (e. g. Hdt. 2. 44 on Thasos or Paus. 2. 10. 1 on Sikyon) that indicate a "mixed" or dual cult. It is not surprising that some communities enacted Herakles' dual status as god and hero in ritual, but this approach, based in theological speculation, was probably not the norm. A sacrifice more closely approximating the "Olympian" type, with its focus on shared meals and meat consumption, is the mark of Herakles' cults, while the renun- ciatory mode associated with offerings to the dead, heroes, and chthonian deities seems to be relatively rare. 3
In antiquity it was generally agreed that Herakles' birthplace was Thebes, though his parents had come from Tiryns. Boiotia's numerous cults focus almost exclusively on a young Herakles, and he often assumes the cultic role of military champion and guardian of city gates. At Thebes, fifth-century coins show the youthful Herakles strangling the snakes sent by Hera, pre- saging his role as a protector against evils. Our earliest written source for his cult is Pindar (Isthm. 4. 61-72), who describes a "feast" (dais) for Herakles and annual burnt sacrifices for the Alkaidai, warrior sons of Herakles with his Theban wife Megara. This was just one part of the festival, which featured athletic competitions held in the attached gymnasium and stadium. Paus- anias (9. 11. 1-6) gives a more detailed account of the cult complex outside the gate, including the tomb of the warriors, the "house of Amphitryon," and the temple of Herakles. The tomb of Iolaos, an old Theban hero who came to be known as Herakles' nephew, was probably also located here. 4
In spite of the paucity of Athenian myths about Herakles, his Attic cults were deeply rooted and numerous, arguably benefiting further from the patronage of the Peisistratid tyrants. The Athenian victory over the Persian invaders in 490 only increased his popularity, for one of his oldest Attic shrines was located at Marathon. The Athenians organized their military camp in his sanctuary, which possessed athletic facilities and probably hosted games at the local level. After the battle, the hero-god was credited with aiding the Athenians, and the games quickly developed a following outside of Attica, as we learn from Pindar (e. g. Ol. 9. 89-90, Pyth. 8. 79). Vanderpool located the Herakleion in the southern part of the plain of Marathon on the strength of a ste ? le ? or marker dating just after 490 (IG I3 2-3), which carried instructions on the organization of the games. 5
According to Herodotus (6. 116), the Athenians rushed back from Mara- thon to engage the Persian fleet and encamped at Kynosarges, another important sanctuary of Herakles. Located on the Ilissos river in the suburb of Diomeia, Kynosarges had a gymnasium frequented by nothoi, youths who were illegitimate or had only one citizen parent. It was also a hothouse of intellectual activity, attracting men like Themistokles and Sokrates. A most unusual feature of this ancient cult was that the nothoi were its officiants, and participated as "parasites" in the feasts for the god Herakles; elsewhere such activities were the privilege of full citizens. Pausanias (1. 19. 3) says that the sanctuary included altars for Herakles and his divine bride Hebe (Youth),
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as well as one for Alkmene and Iolaos, a combination that suggests Theban influence. 6
Within the city walls, Herakles' most important shrine was south of the agora, in the deme of Melite. Here, as in several other cities, he had the title of Alexikakos (Warder-Off of Evils), and the Athenians relied on him to repel plagues. 7 As a protector of youths, he received libations from Athenian boys preparing to embark on military training. This ceremony, known as the oiniste ? ria, may have taken place at Melite or in the type of neighborhood shrine illustrated on Attic vase paintings and in votive reliefs: four columns stand on a base supporting an unroofed rectangle of beams. Such shrines were probably used often for private sacrifices to Herakles; inscriptions demonstrate that his cult was most frequently observed at the sub-state level. There is abundant fifth- and fourth-century evidence of small cult associ- ations (thiasoi), which met regularly to share a banquet in his honor, appointing their own priests and making their own rules. 8
One of Herakles' oldest known cults belongs to Thasos, an island colonized by Greeks from Paros in the seventh century. A Thasian hymn to Herakles styling him Kallinikos (of Beautiful Victory) was attributed to Archilochus (fr. 324 West IE2). Herakles and Dionysos were designated "guardians of the city" in an Archaic inscription on the southern city wall (IG XII 8. 356), where a relief sculpture depicted Herakles kneeling and taking aim with his bow. According to Herodotus (2. 44), it was the Phoenicians who introduced the cult of Herakles - not the Greek hero, but a god of Egyptian origin who was far older. While no evidence from the sanctuary itself supports this idea, the Phoenicians certainly occupied Thasos before the Greeks. Their god Melqart was widely identified with Herakles in the historical period, and the Phoenician background may account for the unusual civic prominence of Herakles on Thasos. 9
Entering the city from the south, visitors soon encountered the Herakleion, which initially consisted of a space cleared around a rock outcropping, enclosed with stone slabs, which served as an altar. Along its eastern side was a row of pits hewn into the rock, of unknown function (often interpreted as receptacles for offerings, but possibly post-holes for a wooden structure). A small building containing a hearth (the "polygonal oikos") was soon added for the purpose of ritual dining; during the fifth century, it was incorporated into a bank of dining rooms. Meanwhile the first identifiable temple was constructed to the north of the altar on a fresh site. A gallery, well, and propylon (entrance) were also added during the fifth century.
As a civic deity, Herakles was worshiped in the Thasian agora. A Classical inscription (IG XII Suppl. 414) from the marble-walled "Passage of the Theoroi," a special area in the northeast part of the agora where ritual laws were displayed, announces that it is not permitted to sacrifice goat or pig to Herakles Thasios, nor for a woman to partake of the meat, nor for "a ninth" (a tithe) to be given, nor for gera (perquisites) to be cut from the meat, nor for
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contests to be held (i. e. , for prizes of honor to be cut from the meat). These restrictions seem to focus on saving the animal's meat all for one purpose, whether for a holocaust sacrifice in chthonian style, or (more likely) some strictly equal division of meat among a group of privileged men. Other inscriptions mention Thasian festivals of Herakles, including one occasion when athletic competitions were held and the sons of dead soldiers were presented with arms as state compensation for their loss. On the whole, the evidence from Thasos gives us a picture of a warlike Herakles concerned above all with male bonding and commensality. 10
In spite of (or perhaps because of) his ancient roots in the Peloponnese, the Dorian peoples who settled there appropriated Herakles as an ancestor in order to legitimize their claims to the land. Herakles himself was denied the kingship of Argos, but according to myth, his descendants returned and conquered the land by right. Stories of his exploits overseas similarly served to justify Dorian colonization (first in Rhodes and Kos, later in the West). Thus many an elite family and tribe, including the kings of Sparta, traced their ancestry to him. There is evidence of an Archaic cult at Tiryns, including the report of a statue of Herakles by the sixth-century sculptors Dipoinos and Skyllis. 11 Old Dorian cults of Herakles are not as numerous as we would expect, were he in origin a Dorian hero, and are all but absent in Krete. In fact, Herakles figures far more often as a cult founder than a cult recipient. A surprising number of Spartan monuments and cults are tied to a minor myth, Herakles' feud with the renegade king Hippokoo? n, who usurped the throne from Tyndareos. Herakles slaughtered Hippokoo? n and his huge brood of sons, placing Tyndareos in his debt and filling the landscape with tombs, trophies, and sanctuaries thanking the gods for his victory. In the service of the Herakleid ideology, these myths and cults placed Herakles on an equal footing with the native heroes and putative sons of Tyndareos, the Dioskouroi. 12
The Spartan Herakles was less the club wielding, skin-clad figure familiar from Attic vases, and more an idealized warrior. Spartan youths on the cusp of manhood offered sacrifices to Herakles at the Dromos (course for foot- races) and fought ritual battles at "the Planes," a sacred grove of plane trees where Herakles and Lykourgos were the resident powers. As a tutelary deity of the kings, Herakles often played a role in battle. The Spartan generals' preference for sanctuaries of Herakles as encampments surely owed some- thing to piety as well as expedience. Attacking Mantineia in 418, Agis settled his men at the Herakleion, just as Archidamos III arrayed his men for battle near the Herakleion at Eutresis, interpreting the lightning that flashed over the sanctuary as a good omen. 13
For the Greeks of the western colonies, Herakles was a trailblazer who traveled to the ends of the earth, a founder of cities and cults, and an apostle of Hellenism. His journey through the western Mediterranean with the cattle of Geryon, celebrated by the Sicilian poet Stesichorus, helped to justify Greek
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possession of colonized lands. His prominence in the sphere of Phoenician influence was in part a function of his identification with the god Melqart, but this cannot explain the popularity of Italian Hercules, whose cult was ubiquitous. Diodorus Siculus (4. 23-25), our main informant for the beliefs of the Sicilian Greeks, says that Herakles made a circuit of the island, battling the indigenes and leaving "imperishable memorials of his presence" in the landscape itself. As elsewhere, he was particularly associated with hot springs, which were known as "Herakleian baths. " In Diodorus' native city, Argyrion, Herakles seems to have been a major deity, honored with festivals and splendid sacrifices "on equal terms with the Olympian gods. " Youths grew their hair in honor of Iolaos and dedicated it in his precinct when they reached manhood. These offerings were made in connection with annual gymnastic and horse racing contests, and the celebration was extended to slaves, who were allowed to hold their own banquets in Herakles' honor. A private dedication from Selinous shows that Herakles was worshiped in Sicily by the sixth century, while the great temple inscription (IG XIV 268, c. 450) from the same city names Herakles with major gods such as (Demeter) Malophoros and Zeus. 14
Pindar repeatedly (Ol. 2. 1-4, 3. 11-38, etc. ) credits Herakles with the founding of the sanctuary at Olympia and the establishment of rules for the Olympic games. In later accounts, however, and most conspicuously in Pausanias' (5. 7. 6-9, 5. 14. 7) description of the sanctuary, we hear that there was more than one Herakles, and the founding of Olympia is attributed to Idaian Herakles, one of the Daktyls of Kretan Ida who aided Rhea in the upbringing of Zeus. The Daktyls (Fingers) were dwarfish magicians, guar- dians of mysteries, and experts in metallurgy who would seem to have little in common with the hero-god Herakles. The theory of multiple "Herakleis" goes back to Herodotus' distinction between the god Herakles, of exotic origin, and the Greek hero, son of Alkmene. At Olympia, the custodians of sacred legends exploited the theory in order to bolster the sanctuary's exist- ing connections with Krete, usually acknowledged as the birthplace of Zeus, and to portray the sanctuary as an alternative Ida, where the young Zeus was nurtured. All this is not to say that Idaian Herakles was a complete fabrica- tion.
Worship of the Eumenides and similar goddesses was widespread in the Peloponnese, where it was associated with Orestes, or less often, Oedipus. Near Megalopolis in Arkadia was a sanctuary of the Maniai (Crazes), who maddened Orestes until he bit off his own finger. This is an extreme form of expiation, the sacrifice of an expendable body part. The satisfied goddesses, who had previously appeared black, now turned white and Orestes, recovered from his madness, established the custom of sacrifice to each group, enagismos to the black and thusia to the white. That the sanc- tuary was located in a place called Ake (cure) suggests that people sought healing there, perhaps for mental illnesses. 38 Material evidence of an Argive cult exists in the form of several votive reliefs dedicated to the Eumenides. One, inscribed as a thank offering, shows three benevolent-looking god- desses, each holding a flower in the left hand and a snake in the right. They are greeted by a couple approaching from the right side of the relief. These dedications from the fourth century illustrate a more personal, family- oriented cult practice, and show how the actual worship of these goddesses invariably focused not on their dark and threatening aspects, but on the benefits they could provide if properly appeased. 39
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Further reading
Harrison 1977a, b reconstructs the interior sculptures of the splendidly preserved temple to Hephaistos in the Athenian agora, while Faraone 1987 shows how the myths of Hephaistos as a maker of talismanic statues reflect ritual practices in the Near East. Vernant 1983a, a classic article, uses structuralist analysis to define Hestia in relation to Hermes. Marinatos 1996 reexamines the traditional identification of the Kretan cave at Amnisos as the shrine of Eileithyia. Johnston 1999 (203-87) includes the fullest recent discussions of Hekate and the Erinyes.
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Latecomer and regional deities
The "latecomers" of this chapter were adopted by Greeks only after the polis system, which implied regulation of the civic pantheon, was established in the eighth century. Therefore these deities faced a more challenging path to local, regional, and (in some cases) Panhellenic acceptance. Native to Phrygia, Thrace, Lydia, and elsewhere in the Aegean, they illustrate the fluidity of culture in the ancient world, and show that Greek pantheons were open to change well before the revolutionary developments of the Hellenistic period. On the other hand, the cults of "regional" deities such as Themis, Diktynna, Damia, and Auxesia were ancient but remained geographically restricted. They exemplify the resistance of local pantheons to the homogenizing pressures of Panhellenism, and - in the case of Aphaia/Athena - show how anomalous deities might eventually succumb.
Kybele
The most important goddess in the Phrygian pantheon was Matar Kubileya, the Mother of the Mountains. From the sixth century on, Greek religion knew her as Meter (the Mother), and poets called her Kybele, a personal name derived from her Phrygian title. In her homeland, her places of worship were door-shaped niches carved into rocky cliffs and hillsides. These were filled with high relief or freestanding images of the goddess, often holding a bird of prey or flanked by lions. A mistress of wild nature, Matar Kubileya was a close relative of the Bronze Age goddess who is depicted in Minoan gems standing on a mountain peak, flanked by twin lions; many variations of this goddess were worshiped throughout Anatolia. Some of the Ionians who first adopted her cult, like the Chians and Phokaians, continued the tradition of rural, rock-cut sanctuaries, but more often the motif of the goddess in the niche was transferred to the portable medium of stone votive reliefs. The popular appeal of Meter's cult is attested both by its rapid spread through the Greek world in the sixth century and by the abundance of votive reliefs and figurines depicting the goddess, found not only in sanctuaries, but also in
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domestic contexts and tombs. On the other hand, "Meter" iconography was used to depict a wide range of goddesses, so without an inscription, secure identification of artifacts can be difficult. 1
Meter was quickly syncretized with Ge/Gaia, with Demeter, and especially with the Titaness Rhea, mother of Zeus and the other elder Olympians. Rhea's Kretan cult, perhaps a Bronze Age survival, was focused on the birth of Zeus and was celebrated in an ecstatic dance during which the participants imitated the mythical Kouretes, youths who clashed their shields to cover the infant's cries. One of the centers of this cult, Mt. Ida in Krete, was closely associated with the Phrygian Mt. Ida, the haunt of Meter. Like Idaian Zeus and Rhea, Meter was worshiped with percussive music and ecstatic dancing, and she was accompanied by the Korybantes, youths who were analogous to the Kouretes. The characteristic instruments in her music were the tumpanon, a tambourine-like drum, and the flute. Herodotus (4. 76) tells how the Greeks of Kyzikos celebrated Meter's festival at night, striking tumpana and decking themselves with small images of the goddess. Most ancient and modern observers have traced the ecstatic elements of the cult, as well as the use of the tumpanon, to Phrygia. These features, negatively stereotyped as "Eastern" in the wake of the Persian wars, are most likely Greek developments originating in Krete. Less is known about the origins of the mendicant priests of Meter known as me ? tragurtai (Gatherers for the Mother); they too are considered somewhat disreputable in surviving sources. 2
During the Meter cult's period of explosive growth in the late Archaic period, she was quickly incorporated into civic worship. In Athens, the emerg- ing democracy seems to have welcomed this popular goddess by the end of the sixth century. Meter's cult was established in or near the bouleute ? rion (council chamber) in the agora and Athenian council members began to sacrifice to the Mother of the Gods along with the other major civic deities. In the late fifth century, with the construction of a new bouleute ? rion, the old one became known as the Metroo? n, or temple of Meter. Like the temple of the Mother in Kolophon, the Metroo? n was used as a state archive. 3 Private sponsorship of Meter was also widespread and was prompted by dreams and visions. Pindar is said to have founded a Theban shrine of Meter after he had a vision of the goddess' statue walking, and Themistokles brought the cult to Magnesia after the goddess warned him in a dream of an assassination attempt. 4 In the succeeding generation, however, the cult of Meter was viewed less favorably, at least by the elite men of Athens, and was associated with women, the poor, and excessive emotional displays. Attis, who later became known as the consort of Kybele, does not become a prominent figure in the cult until the fourth century. While the Phrygian priests of Matar bore the title Attes, the myth of Attis seems to be a Greek invention. 5
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The Kabeiroi and the Megaloi Theoi
Scattered about the Aegean, particularly in its northern half, were a number of sanctuaries devoted to groups of deities who were the guardians of mysteries. These deities are sometimes known as the Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods) and sometimes as the Kabeiroi, a name related to the Semitic kabir, "mighty. " Like the Kouretes and Korybantes who surround Meter, the Kabeiroi are sometimes portrayed as subordinate to a goddess or a divine pair, ministers or servants of more powerful deities whose names are only for the ears of initiates. Yet they are potent cult figures in their own right, and they seem to function as intermediaries between the human and the divine. In origin, these deities were non-Greek, but they were rapidly accepted by Greek worshipers, and their mysteries were developed and administered using Greek models.
Though its material remains are venerable, dating to the late seventh century, the Kabeiric cult in the territory of Thebes was surely imported from the northeastern Aegean. Located about 6 km west of Thebes, the sanctuary site was apparently selected because of its natural features: a small stream bisected the area, a hillside served as a natural amphitheater, and a rock formation on the hill seems to have provided a focus for the cult. The resident deities included a mother goddess, her consort, and two attendant Kabiroi (to use the local spelling), an elder and a younger. We know little about the identity and nature of the first pair, who must have been the subject of the secret mysteries. Within a circular cult building (tholos) dating to the fifth century, excavators found a clay tub buried with its rim slightly protruding from the ground, and inscribed "of the Husband. " A hole pierced in the bottom shows that it was intended for liquid offerings, which drained into the earth, and the sequestering of this basin inside the tholos suggests that these offerings were secret. Far more accessible were the Kabiroi themselves, who were the recipients of many of the inscribed gifts left in the sanctuary. Prominent among these were bull figurines, first of bronze and later of terracotta. The site also yielded an unusually large number of glass beads, more than at any other Greek sanctuary. Many of the colorful beads have dots or bumps, which represent apotropaic eyes. 6 They may have been gifts for the goddess, or perhaps strings of beads played a role in the rituals. The architecture of the Kabirion was not extensively developed during the Archaic and Classical periods, in spite of its great popularity: it consisted of the theatral area, some sacrificial pits, and a number of modest tholoi, as well as a rectangular building that housed symposiasts.
The Theban Kabirion is best known for a special type of figured vase that was custom made for the sanctuary. The so-called Kabirion ware is decorated with scenes of activity at the sanctuary and was produced from the fifth to the third centuries. The abundant drinking vessels left at the Kabirion show that symposia attended by elite men were an important activity in the sixth
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century, even before the figured wares appeared. That these symposia had a pederastic focus is suggested by the hundreds of terracottas of boys and youths, which are contemporary with the drinking cups. Participation in the worship, however, was by no means restricted to males. Some dedications were made by women, and vases show family groups participating in sacri- fices and other activities which took place both before and after initiation. Initiates wear distinctive ribbons and leafy twigs in their hair. One of the most puzzling features of these scenes is that many individuals are shown with body types and facial features that the Greeks associated with the mythical race of Pygmies. This may reflect the influence of Greek comedy, or some aspect of the cult, such as costumed performances. Another suggestion, supported by Herodotus (3. 37), is that the cult images of the Kabiroi themselves had a pygmoid appearance; still, the iconography of the Theban Kabiroi was never fixed. On one vase the senior of the two, labeled Kabiros (Lord), closely resembles Dionysos as he reclines at a symposium, while the junior, Pais (Boy), takes the role of a cupbearer. Another vase shows the elder as Hermes and the younger as Pan. 7
Several other Kabeiric shrines are mentioned by late authors or revealed in inscriptions. The cult at Lemnos is perhaps the oldest, though its custodians through the Archaic period were so-called Pelasgians, a non-Greek people. Only in the late sixth or early fifth century was the island formally colonized
Figure 13. 1 Skuphos from the Theban Kabirion showing initiates, fifth century. Athens, National Archaeological Museum. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg.
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by the Athenians, who already had in their mother city a thriving cult of the island's most important deity, Hephaistos. The fifth-century historian Acusilaus (FGrH 2 F 20) says that Hephaistos produced a son Kamillos with a goddess named Kabeiro. Kamillos in turn fathered the three Kabeiroi and they the three Kabeirid nymphs. The attributes of the Kabeiroi were the smith's hammer and tongs, and the goddess whom they attended was called Lemnos or Megale Theos (Great Goddess). The sanctuary is situated north- east of the capital city Hephaistia. The plentiful inscriptions found there, some as early as the fifth century, give a picture of a Hellenized mystery cult with its staff of priests and financial officers, though the native language persisted and was surely used in the rites. Early versions of the cult probably also existed at Imbros and in the Troad, which were part of the same cultural sphere. 8
Initiation into the mysteries of Samothrace was said to bestow protection from drowning at sea, and the island with its sanctuary quickly gained a Panhellenic reputation during the Archaic and Classical periods. Filled with votive monuments and tablets presented by grateful survivors, it drew the scorn of the atheist Diagoras of Melos, who remarked that the number of votives would be much greater if all those who did not survive had made dedications. 9 Meticulous excavation of the sanctuary revealed that its first archaeologically visible operations were roughly contemporary with the settlement of the island by Greeks in the seventh century.
Herodotus (2. 51) and other sources refer to the Samothracian gods as Kabeiroi, but inscriptions found on the island speak only of Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods) or Theoi (Gods). A Hellenistic historian revealed the secret names of these gods, which are manifestly non-Greek: Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Kasmilos (who is comparable to Lemnian Kamillos). 10 The four have been identified respectively as Demeter, Persephone, Hades, and Hermes, though it is not certain whether Axieros is male or female. As for the content of the mysteries, sources speak of statues with erect phalloi at the sanctuary and Herodotus connects these with the sacred story told to initiates. 11 Initiates wore rings of magnetized iron, which were most likely associated with a lodestone in the sanctuary, and the uncanny power of magnetism may have had a role in the mysteries as well. As at Thebes, the focal points of the early sanctuary were a theatral area and natural rock formations, used by the Samothracians as altars. Although the Samothracian mysteries were familiar to Classical Athenians, it is not clear how far their fame had spread by the fifth century. Few structures or artifacts in the sanctuary can be firmly assigned to the Archaic or Classical periods (a sixth- century dining room, previously identified as "the Hall of Votive Gifts," appears to be one). Only in early Hellenistic times did the Samothracian mysteries become a major source of revenue for the islanders. 12
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Ammon
Just as Greek colonists installed the gods of their mother cities in their new homes, they also adopted the cults of indigenous peoples and systematically exported them, in Hellenized form, back to Greece. A good example is the cult of Ammon, which the colonists in Kyrene enthusiastically promoted in Greece. The god Ammon was the result of the blending of Amun-Ra, the main god of Egyptian Thebes, with an indigenous Libyan deity. Because this god was supreme in the pantheon, the Greeks identified him with Zeus. Like Amun-Ra, Ammon was an oracular deity whose responses were determined by the movements of his image, carried in a palanquin on the backs of priests.
During the sixth century, Ammon's oracle in the isolated desert oasis of Siwa began to gain an international reputation, and by about 500, the citi- zens of Kyrene had struck coins bearing the head of a horned Zeus Ammon, and raised a magnificent temple, comparable in size to the temple of Zeus at Olympia. 13 Most instances of Greek interest in Ammon can be traced back to the colonists of Kyrene. They dedicated monuments of Ammon at Delphi and Olympia, and the elite athletes of the city commissioned Pindar to compose victory odes that acknowledged Ammon's guardianship of the city and its territory. Pindar (Pyth. 9. 53) calls Kyrene "the finest garden of Zeus," and in his masterpiece, the fourth Pythian ode (14-16), Medeia prophesies that Libya "will be planted with the root of illustrious cities at the foundations of Zeus Ammon. " Pindar also expressed his personal devotion to Ammon in a hymn, now lost, and dedicated a statue of the god in his hometown of Thebes. 14
The Spartans maintained close ties with the Dorian colonists of Kyrene and thus felt a strong affinity for the oracle in the Archaic and Classical periods. 15 According to tradition, Zeus Ammon held the Spartans in high regard, and prophesied that they would colonize Libya. The Spartan general Lysander had a dream vision of Zeus Ammon that caused him to abandon the siege of Aphytis, and he most likely visited Siwa more than once. Temples of Ammon were established at an unknown date in Sparta and its port town of Gythion. To judge from contemporary references in the work of Aristophanes, Euripides, and Herodotus, fifth-century Athenians were also familiar with Ammon, though not as quick to adopt his cult. 16 Plutarch (Vit. Cim. 18) tells how the general Kimon, who not coincidentally was a man of pro-Spartan sentiments, attempted to consult the god in 451 during his last campaign in Cyprus. The story goes that he sent a delegation with a secret inquiry, but fell ill and died while the men were traveling. When they arrived at Siwa, the oracle told them their long journey was needless, "for Kimon is already with me. " By the early fourth century there is epigraphic evidence of the Athenian state's interest in Ammon, including records of gold sent to
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Siwa on behalf of the Athenian people. Its military situation forced Athens to seek alternatives to Delphi during this period, among which Dodona and the oracle of Ammon were favored. Of course the most famous petitioner was Alexander the Great, whose consultation in 331 gave rise to a popular tradition that he was the son of Zeus Ammon. 17
Bendis
A major Thracian goddess, Bendis came to the notice of Greeks who colonized the northern Aegean in the Archaic period. Thasian settlers on the coast of Thrace frequented at least two sanctuaries (at Neapolis and Oisyme) sacred to a goddess with the title Parthenos (Maiden), who is thought to be Bendis. Too little is known of Bendis as a Thracian deity, but she seems to have been a Great Goddess of the wilderness who like Artemis was associated with springs and cave spirits. On the other hand, an interest in agriculture is suggested by Herodotus' statement (4. 33) that the Thracian and Paionian women always sacrificed to "Artemis the Queen" (presumably Bendis) by burning straw. Unlike Artemis, however, Bendis acquired a male cult com- panion, the hero or deity Deloptes, whose iconography, borrowed from that of Asklepios, suggests that he was viewed as a healer. Bendis' own Hellenized appearance, known to us from fourth-century votive reliefs, was that of a young, athletic woman in a short dress, skin cloak, hunting boots, and
Figure 13. 2 Bendis and Deloptes, terracotta votive relief, c. 400. Archaeological museum of Chalkis, Greece. Erich Lessing/Art Resource.
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Phrygian cap. 18 She typically leans on a spear, and the comic poet Cratinus (fr. 85 Kassel-Austin) called her "twin-speared. "
The Athenians too had numerous direct and indirect contacts with Thrace. By 450, most Greek cities of the northern Aegean and Hellespont were allied to or dependencies of Athens, while Athens itself possessed a significant popu- lation of Thracian metics (resident foreigners) and slaves. Within another twenty years, the Athenians took the unprecedented step of instituting public worship of Bendis in the Peiraieus, their cosmopolitan port. This event is recorded in the opening lines of Plato's Republic (327a-328a), where Sokrates describes how he and a companion walked several miles to say their prayers and see the dual procession: one composed of Athenian citizens, and one of Thracians. Later in the evening, there was a torch race (on horseback, a typically Thracian touch), and an all-night celebration. From later records, it appears that considerable resources were expended on this festival, including the sacrifice of a hundred cattle and the distribution of their meat. 19 The public festival was complemented by private cult organizations of citizens and metics, which conducted their own observances and presumably helped to organize the annual festivities.
Historians have long debated the motivation for the state's highly unusual interest in Bendis, since the Athenians were generally suspicious of foreign gods. The most likely explanation is that they wanted to cement their existing diplomatic, military, and trade relations with the Odrysian Thracians at a time when a major war with the Peloponnesians was imminent. 20
Britomartis, Diktynna, and Aphaia
In Krete, the worship of a Minoan goddess (or goddesses) of the natural world lingered for centuries. Hellenistic poets and mythographers under- stood the indigenous Kretan goddesses Britomartis and Diktynna either as companions of Artemis, or as bynames of Artemis herself, but in the realm of cult they continued to be treated as separate deities. Ancient lexicographers tell us that among the Kretans, the name Britomartis meant "sweet maiden. " She was worshiped primarily in the eastern half of the island, and her name with the local spelling Britomarpis appears in Hellenistic treaties of Olous, which possessed an Archaic cult statue said to be the work of Daidalos. 21 According to Callimachus (Hymn 3. 189-203), Britomartis was a nymph, a beloved companion of Artemis who drew the amorous attention of Minos. He pursued her until, in desperation, she threw herself into the sea and was saved in the nets (diktua) of some fishermen. Henceforth she was called Diktynna. An alternate version says that she hid from Minos in a grove at Aigina and was afterwards worshiped as Aphaia, the unseen (aphane ? s) goddess. 22 These tales are constructed around false etymologies, but give us a few hints about the nature of Britomarpis: as her name suggests, she was a virgin, and she was a mistress of the natural world like Artemis.
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Diktynna has nothing to do with nets, but rather with the Kretan Mt. Dikte. On the other hand, Dikte lies in the east, while the major centers of Diktynna's cult (Kydonia and Lisos) were in the west of Krete, a fact that has puzzled both ancient and modern commentators. A temple of Diktynna built by Samian colonists in Kydonia (Hdt. 3. 59) has been located by archaeolo- gists, and a month name Diktynnaios is attested. During the Classical period, Diktynna was more widely recognized than Britomartis, and her syncretiza- tion with Artemis was well underway. Aristophanes (Ran. 1359) already thinks of them as identical, and Euripides (Hipp. 145) describes Diktynna as a mistress of many beasts. Later we hear of Diktynna or Artemis Diktynna in Lakonia, Phokis, and Athens. The Hellenistic poets' interest in Diktynna coincided with a resurgence of her cult, attested on coins from western Krete starting in the fourth century. 23
Before the twentieth century, information about Aphaia was strictly limited to a few late literary sources, which recounted how Britomartis/Diktynna fled to the island of Aigina to escape Minos. 24 There, a splendid Doric temple (c. 500) had long been assigned to Athena because she appeared as the key figure in both pediments (the east portrays the sack of Troy by Herakles, while the west shows the capture of the city by Aiakid heroes). This temple also contained a cult statue of an Athena-like, spear-wielding goddess, the right arm of which has been recovered. But a sixth-century inscription (IG IV 1580) revealed that the predecessor of the Classical temple was dedicated to Aphaia: "In the priesthood of [Th? ]eoitas, the house of Aphaia was built and the altar; the ivory was added and a wall was built all around. " The ivory in question may refer to ivory components of a cult statue, or plaques of ivory used to adorn the temple interior. A still earlier dedicatory inscription was made to Apha, which is probably the original form of the goddess' name.
25 Aphaia remains an enigmatic deity, and while it is unclear why the fifth- century Aiginetans began to assimilate her to Athena, they may have intended to win for themselves the favor of the better-known goddess who protected their longtime enemy, Athens. They were unsuccessful, for the Athenians eventually expelled the Aiginetans and colonized the island themselves. According to their careful inventory (IG IV 39, c. 431), the pronaos of the temple was full of wooden furniture, chests, and sacrificial implements.
The votive gifts from the sanctuary suggest that Aphaia had a special interest in protecting pregnant and nursing women as well as their babies. This character is apparent even in the Mycenaean objects, which include figurines of women holding infants (though there is, as usual, a gap in the finds between the Mycenaean period and the eighth century). Aphaia's involvement in rituals of maturation is suggested by the presence of sheet bronze rings used to secure offerings of hair, cut when youths reached the threshold of adulthood. Ulrich Sinn suggests that Aphaia's sanctuary was a religious center for a confederation of tribes, and was therefore used for festivals that addressed family and tribal continuity. 26
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Themis and Nemesis
Already in Hesiod's Theogony, abstract concepts considered fundamental to human society are treated as divine beings. Worship of these allegorical deities developed in response to the same impulse that made the poets sing of them, but in a much more idiosyncratic fashion, reflecting local needs and preferences. While the great heyday of these cults came during the fourth century and the Hellenistic period, when many personifications like Eirene (Peace) and Tyche (Fortune) were popularized, a religious impulse to ack- nowledge powerful and culturally weighty concepts through prayer and sacrifice was already active in the Archaic period.
The name Themis refers to "that which has been ordained," the norms of society with respect to politics, social relations, and ritual. In Homer (Il. 20. 4-6) Themis is the deity who summons and dismisses assemblies, and in cult she sometimes has the epithet Agoraia (of the Meeting Place). Themis also governs the natural world, which likewise functions according to divine laws. Hesiod (Theog. 901-4) says her children are Eunomia (Lawfulness), Dike (Justice), Eirene (Peace), and the Moirai (Fates), but also the Horai (Seasons), who ensure the orderly cycle of plant growth and decay. 27 Our sources hint that Themis (like Thetis and perhaps Gaia) once played a more important role in early Greek pantheons and cosmologies. Pindar (fr. 30 Snell-Maehler) made Themis the first wife of Zeus, and she seems to have occupied the place of Hera in the Archaic pantheon of Thessaly. We lack detailed information about her Thessalian worship, but a Thessalian month name Themistios, along with the prevalence of personal names like Themis- tion and Themistokles in the region, show that her cult was popular in the Archaic period. A fourth-century altar from Pherai, inscribed with the names of six major goddesses, lists Hestia, Demeter, Athena, Aphrodite, Enodia (another important local goddess), and Themis. 28
As the personification of divine law, Themis was the confidante and frequent companion of Zeus, able to dispense knowledge of future events (hence the verb themisteuein, "to pronounce divine law" for the giving of oracles, and Themis' strong mythic, though not cultic, presence at Delphi). In a lost seventh-century epic, the Cypria, she and Zeus planned the Trojan war as a way to reduce the population of the overburdened earth. Themis warned Zeus of the prophecy that the Nereid Thetis would bear a son more powerful than his father; hence Thetis was married off to the mortal Peleus, resulting in the birth of Achilles, while Helen, the casus belli, was born from the union of Zeus with his own daughter Nemesis. Awareness of Themis' role in these events may account for the construction of a shrine to Themis within the sanctuary of Nemesis at Rhamnous in Attica. 29
The Attic cult of Nemesis is a rare early example of full-blown worship paid to a personification. Like the cult of Themis in Thessaly, it demonstrates the persistence of idiosyncratic local pantheons in opposition to the trend in
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poetry toward a canonical, Panhellenized system. Derived from the verb nemein, "to deal out, distribute," Nemesis' name evokes that which is allotted by fate, but also whatever is dealt out as just deserts and, finally, the appro- priate reaction to wrongdoing: righteous indignation. Hesiod (Op. 197-201) pairs Nemesis with Aidos (Right Feeling), and predicts that the two will abandon the earth at the end of the age, leaving a world of shameless crimi- nals. The cult at Rhamnous, however, confounds our expectations about the worship of "abstract concepts" because it emphasizes Nemesis' concrete role in bringing about the Trojan war by giving birth to Helen, in contradic- tion to the Panhellenic version, which asserted that Helen's mother was the Spartan queen Leda. The two versions were reconciled in the story that Nemesis, having shape-shifted to escape Zeus, was finally raped in goose form at Rhamnous and laid an egg containing Helen, whom Leda then nursed.
The Greek victory against the invading Persians, who burned the little Archaic temple, seems to have positively affected the fortunes of Nemesis' cult, for all agreed that Nemesis had taken a hand in the downfall of the overweening foe, just as in the days of Troy. In the most prosperous period of the Athenian empire, Nemesis was one of the Attic deities selected to receive a lavish new peripteral temple (others outside the city included Poseidon at Sounion and Ares at Acharnai), and the story of Helen's egg enjoyed a spike in popularity. A comedy Nemesis by Cratinus, presented around the time the temple was completed (c. 430), had Leda attempting to hatch the egg by sitting on it, while Attic and Italian vases also portrayed the story. The ruins of the temple have been excavated, and pieces of the marble cult statue by Agorakritos have been recovered and studied in detail. Twice life-size, the goddess held an apple branch in her left hand and a libation bowl in her right. The statue base was decorated with relief figures of Leda presenting young Helen to her true mother, along with a number of Trojan war heroes. Inscribed dedications from the site show that Themis and Nemesis had their own priestesses, and an annual festival called the Great Nemesia is attested, though only from the late fourth century on. 30
Damia and Auxesia
Another example of resistance to Panhellenization is the cult of Damia/ Mneia and Auxesia/Azesia, which was roughly equivalent to, but probably independent of, the better-known cult of Demeter and Kore (their names remain mysterious, though the form Auxesia appears to be related to the verb auxein, increase). These pre-Dorian goddesses were native to the eastern Peloponnese, particularly the coast of the Saronic gulf. At Epidauros they were worshiped under the names Mneia and Azesia, or as the Theoi Azesioi, and a month Azesios was connected with them. 31 Herodotus (5. 83-88), our
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most detailed source, tells how this worship spread to Aigina and ultimately became symbolic of Aigina's longstanding quarrel with Athens. Previously under the control of Epidauros, Aigina declared its independence in the early seventh century, and absconded with Epidauros' two olivewood statues of the goddesses, installing them in a rural sanctuary with the same annual rites they had enjoyed in the mother city. These included two female "mocking" choruses whose targets were other women, an activity that has been com- pared to the aischrologia (sex talk) and mocking attested in Thesmophoric ritual. The statues, it was said, were made under the guidance of the Delphic oracle, when Epidauros had been stricken with a famine. Told to carve the statues from olive wood, the Epidaurians petitioned Athens for a sacred olive tree, and agreed to bring annual offerings to Athena and Erechtheus in return. After the Aiginetans took away the statues, Epidauros ceased sending offerings, and the angry Athenians were told to seek redress from Aigina. They attacked the island with the intention of repatriating the sacred wood, but found themselves unable to remove the images from their bases. As they dragged the statues toward the Athenian ships, the two goddesses fell to their knees. The Athenians were nearly all killed (either by a supernatural storm and earthquake, or with the aid of the Argives), and the statues thereafter remained frozen in a kneeling posture. Upon returning home, the sole Athenian survivor was murdered by the hostile wives of his comrades, who stabbed him with their dress pins, while the Aiginetans decreed that dress pins should be the main offering in the goddess' sanctuary, and banned all dedications of Attic origin, including pottery.
Clearly, much of this story was fashioned not only to explain details of the cult, but also to provide a religious justification for the Aiginetans' hostility toward Athens. The olive wood of the statues, their kneeling poses, the custom of dedicating dress pins, and the exclusion of Attic objects are all tied to the belief that the Athenians committed an unprovoked, impious attack on an Aiginetan sanctuary, and that the victimized goddesses themselves were therefore anti-Athenian. While the main elements of the legend may be fabri- cated, the cult is independently attested in a fifth-century temple inventory from Aigina (IG IV 1588), which the Athenians produced after expelling the Aiginetans in 431. 32 This inscription indicates that the goddesses shared a temple, and that dress pins (made of iron, in a style not in daily use since the Protogeometric period) were indeed a favorite gift. Other objects of value included bronze lamps, incense burners, chests, wine cups and basins, pedestals, armor (shields and breastplates), and statues of the goddesses. The kneeling pose of the cult statues most likely alludes to childbirth and suggests that the goddesses provided help to women in labor. The dedication of armor, on the other hand, suggests a more bellicose aspect of the goddesses and reminds us of their symbolic role in Aiginetan-Athenian relations.
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Further reading
Roller 1999 is especially valuable for its investigation of the prehistoric roots and Phrygian background of the Kybele cult; Borgeaud 2004 is complemen- tary. Schachter 2003 is a concise study of the Theban sanctuary of the Kabiroi by an expert on Boiotian religion, with good illustrations. On the Great Gods at Samothrace, Cole 1984 is still the most detailed discussion in English. Chapter 9 of Parke 1967 provides a thorough introduction to Ammon's cult. On the cult of Bendis at Athens, Simms 1988 is a good discussion of the epigraphic evidence for advanced students with some knowledge of ancient Greek.
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ANOMALOUS IMMORTALS Hero-gods and heroine-goddesses
Herakles
Herakles is unique among Greek heroes. He achieved Panhellenic status at such an early date that his origins can no longer be traced, but most likely they lie in the Argolid (his name, which means "glory of Hera," also evokes Argos). The fact that a wide variety of non-Greek populations, from the Lydians to the Phoenicians and Etruscans, adopted this hero is the best evidence of his overwhelming popularity. Much of his story is familiar to Homer, and some scholars believe that he was a Mycenaean hero. In any event, the question of "origins" is perhaps moot for Herakles because the corpus of his myths, and his general character, are the result of a long process of accretion, with contributions from nearly all parts of the Greek world. While some of the myths appear to have Bronze Age and even Stone Age roots, evidence for cults is much more recent, dating from the seventh and sixth centuries or later. 1
Like Hermes and Apollo, Herakles was a patron of the young men engaged in preparing their bodies for the challenges of campaign and battle. The foremost requirements for a Herakleion, which often did double duty as a gymnasium, were abundant open space, water, and accessibility; many sanctuaries lay just outside the city walls. These same features meant that Herakleia were often used as military encampments. For Pindar, who sang of athletic prowess, he represents the acme of masculine achievement (Isthm. 4. 11-12): "by their manly deeds, unrivaled, they have set out from home and grasped the Pillars of Herakles. " His cults, as well as those of dependent "Herakleian" heroes (Iolaos, Iphikles, and the sons of Herakles) are often found in initiatory and pederastic contexts. 2
Pindar (Nem. 3. 22) called Herakles hero ? s theos (hero-god), in recognition of his apotheosis and his unique status among the heroes. Unlike most heroic figures, Herakles was the exclusive possession of no single city or village. None dared to lay claim to his tomb in the normal manner of heroic cult, not even the residents around Mt. Oita where his fiery death was commemorated from the Archaic period with an annual sacrifice and bonfire. Scholars have long debated how his dual nature was handled at the cultic level, citing
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ancient sources (e. g. Hdt. 2. 44 on Thasos or Paus. 2. 10. 1 on Sikyon) that indicate a "mixed" or dual cult. It is not surprising that some communities enacted Herakles' dual status as god and hero in ritual, but this approach, based in theological speculation, was probably not the norm. A sacrifice more closely approximating the "Olympian" type, with its focus on shared meals and meat consumption, is the mark of Herakles' cults, while the renun- ciatory mode associated with offerings to the dead, heroes, and chthonian deities seems to be relatively rare. 3
In antiquity it was generally agreed that Herakles' birthplace was Thebes, though his parents had come from Tiryns. Boiotia's numerous cults focus almost exclusively on a young Herakles, and he often assumes the cultic role of military champion and guardian of city gates. At Thebes, fifth-century coins show the youthful Herakles strangling the snakes sent by Hera, pre- saging his role as a protector against evils. Our earliest written source for his cult is Pindar (Isthm. 4. 61-72), who describes a "feast" (dais) for Herakles and annual burnt sacrifices for the Alkaidai, warrior sons of Herakles with his Theban wife Megara. This was just one part of the festival, which featured athletic competitions held in the attached gymnasium and stadium. Paus- anias (9. 11. 1-6) gives a more detailed account of the cult complex outside the gate, including the tomb of the warriors, the "house of Amphitryon," and the temple of Herakles. The tomb of Iolaos, an old Theban hero who came to be known as Herakles' nephew, was probably also located here. 4
In spite of the paucity of Athenian myths about Herakles, his Attic cults were deeply rooted and numerous, arguably benefiting further from the patronage of the Peisistratid tyrants. The Athenian victory over the Persian invaders in 490 only increased his popularity, for one of his oldest Attic shrines was located at Marathon. The Athenians organized their military camp in his sanctuary, which possessed athletic facilities and probably hosted games at the local level. After the battle, the hero-god was credited with aiding the Athenians, and the games quickly developed a following outside of Attica, as we learn from Pindar (e. g. Ol. 9. 89-90, Pyth. 8. 79). Vanderpool located the Herakleion in the southern part of the plain of Marathon on the strength of a ste ? le ? or marker dating just after 490 (IG I3 2-3), which carried instructions on the organization of the games. 5
According to Herodotus (6. 116), the Athenians rushed back from Mara- thon to engage the Persian fleet and encamped at Kynosarges, another important sanctuary of Herakles. Located on the Ilissos river in the suburb of Diomeia, Kynosarges had a gymnasium frequented by nothoi, youths who were illegitimate or had only one citizen parent. It was also a hothouse of intellectual activity, attracting men like Themistokles and Sokrates. A most unusual feature of this ancient cult was that the nothoi were its officiants, and participated as "parasites" in the feasts for the god Herakles; elsewhere such activities were the privilege of full citizens. Pausanias (1. 19. 3) says that the sanctuary included altars for Herakles and his divine bride Hebe (Youth),
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as well as one for Alkmene and Iolaos, a combination that suggests Theban influence. 6
Within the city walls, Herakles' most important shrine was south of the agora, in the deme of Melite. Here, as in several other cities, he had the title of Alexikakos (Warder-Off of Evils), and the Athenians relied on him to repel plagues. 7 As a protector of youths, he received libations from Athenian boys preparing to embark on military training. This ceremony, known as the oiniste ? ria, may have taken place at Melite or in the type of neighborhood shrine illustrated on Attic vase paintings and in votive reliefs: four columns stand on a base supporting an unroofed rectangle of beams. Such shrines were probably used often for private sacrifices to Herakles; inscriptions demonstrate that his cult was most frequently observed at the sub-state level. There is abundant fifth- and fourth-century evidence of small cult associ- ations (thiasoi), which met regularly to share a banquet in his honor, appointing their own priests and making their own rules. 8
One of Herakles' oldest known cults belongs to Thasos, an island colonized by Greeks from Paros in the seventh century. A Thasian hymn to Herakles styling him Kallinikos (of Beautiful Victory) was attributed to Archilochus (fr. 324 West IE2). Herakles and Dionysos were designated "guardians of the city" in an Archaic inscription on the southern city wall (IG XII 8. 356), where a relief sculpture depicted Herakles kneeling and taking aim with his bow. According to Herodotus (2. 44), it was the Phoenicians who introduced the cult of Herakles - not the Greek hero, but a god of Egyptian origin who was far older. While no evidence from the sanctuary itself supports this idea, the Phoenicians certainly occupied Thasos before the Greeks. Their god Melqart was widely identified with Herakles in the historical period, and the Phoenician background may account for the unusual civic prominence of Herakles on Thasos. 9
Entering the city from the south, visitors soon encountered the Herakleion, which initially consisted of a space cleared around a rock outcropping, enclosed with stone slabs, which served as an altar. Along its eastern side was a row of pits hewn into the rock, of unknown function (often interpreted as receptacles for offerings, but possibly post-holes for a wooden structure). A small building containing a hearth (the "polygonal oikos") was soon added for the purpose of ritual dining; during the fifth century, it was incorporated into a bank of dining rooms. Meanwhile the first identifiable temple was constructed to the north of the altar on a fresh site. A gallery, well, and propylon (entrance) were also added during the fifth century.
As a civic deity, Herakles was worshiped in the Thasian agora. A Classical inscription (IG XII Suppl. 414) from the marble-walled "Passage of the Theoroi," a special area in the northeast part of the agora where ritual laws were displayed, announces that it is not permitted to sacrifice goat or pig to Herakles Thasios, nor for a woman to partake of the meat, nor for "a ninth" (a tithe) to be given, nor for gera (perquisites) to be cut from the meat, nor for
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contests to be held (i. e. , for prizes of honor to be cut from the meat). These restrictions seem to focus on saving the animal's meat all for one purpose, whether for a holocaust sacrifice in chthonian style, or (more likely) some strictly equal division of meat among a group of privileged men. Other inscriptions mention Thasian festivals of Herakles, including one occasion when athletic competitions were held and the sons of dead soldiers were presented with arms as state compensation for their loss. On the whole, the evidence from Thasos gives us a picture of a warlike Herakles concerned above all with male bonding and commensality. 10
In spite of (or perhaps because of) his ancient roots in the Peloponnese, the Dorian peoples who settled there appropriated Herakles as an ancestor in order to legitimize their claims to the land. Herakles himself was denied the kingship of Argos, but according to myth, his descendants returned and conquered the land by right. Stories of his exploits overseas similarly served to justify Dorian colonization (first in Rhodes and Kos, later in the West). Thus many an elite family and tribe, including the kings of Sparta, traced their ancestry to him. There is evidence of an Archaic cult at Tiryns, including the report of a statue of Herakles by the sixth-century sculptors Dipoinos and Skyllis. 11 Old Dorian cults of Herakles are not as numerous as we would expect, were he in origin a Dorian hero, and are all but absent in Krete. In fact, Herakles figures far more often as a cult founder than a cult recipient. A surprising number of Spartan monuments and cults are tied to a minor myth, Herakles' feud with the renegade king Hippokoo? n, who usurped the throne from Tyndareos. Herakles slaughtered Hippokoo? n and his huge brood of sons, placing Tyndareos in his debt and filling the landscape with tombs, trophies, and sanctuaries thanking the gods for his victory. In the service of the Herakleid ideology, these myths and cults placed Herakles on an equal footing with the native heroes and putative sons of Tyndareos, the Dioskouroi. 12
The Spartan Herakles was less the club wielding, skin-clad figure familiar from Attic vases, and more an idealized warrior. Spartan youths on the cusp of manhood offered sacrifices to Herakles at the Dromos (course for foot- races) and fought ritual battles at "the Planes," a sacred grove of plane trees where Herakles and Lykourgos were the resident powers. As a tutelary deity of the kings, Herakles often played a role in battle. The Spartan generals' preference for sanctuaries of Herakles as encampments surely owed some- thing to piety as well as expedience. Attacking Mantineia in 418, Agis settled his men at the Herakleion, just as Archidamos III arrayed his men for battle near the Herakleion at Eutresis, interpreting the lightning that flashed over the sanctuary as a good omen. 13
For the Greeks of the western colonies, Herakles was a trailblazer who traveled to the ends of the earth, a founder of cities and cults, and an apostle of Hellenism. His journey through the western Mediterranean with the cattle of Geryon, celebrated by the Sicilian poet Stesichorus, helped to justify Greek
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HERO-GODS AND HEROINE-GODDESSES
possession of colonized lands. His prominence in the sphere of Phoenician influence was in part a function of his identification with the god Melqart, but this cannot explain the popularity of Italian Hercules, whose cult was ubiquitous. Diodorus Siculus (4. 23-25), our main informant for the beliefs of the Sicilian Greeks, says that Herakles made a circuit of the island, battling the indigenes and leaving "imperishable memorials of his presence" in the landscape itself. As elsewhere, he was particularly associated with hot springs, which were known as "Herakleian baths. " In Diodorus' native city, Argyrion, Herakles seems to have been a major deity, honored with festivals and splendid sacrifices "on equal terms with the Olympian gods. " Youths grew their hair in honor of Iolaos and dedicated it in his precinct when they reached manhood. These offerings were made in connection with annual gymnastic and horse racing contests, and the celebration was extended to slaves, who were allowed to hold their own banquets in Herakles' honor. A private dedication from Selinous shows that Herakles was worshiped in Sicily by the sixth century, while the great temple inscription (IG XIV 268, c. 450) from the same city names Herakles with major gods such as (Demeter) Malophoros and Zeus. 14
Pindar repeatedly (Ol. 2. 1-4, 3. 11-38, etc. ) credits Herakles with the founding of the sanctuary at Olympia and the establishment of rules for the Olympic games. In later accounts, however, and most conspicuously in Pausanias' (5. 7. 6-9, 5. 14. 7) description of the sanctuary, we hear that there was more than one Herakles, and the founding of Olympia is attributed to Idaian Herakles, one of the Daktyls of Kretan Ida who aided Rhea in the upbringing of Zeus. The Daktyls (Fingers) were dwarfish magicians, guar- dians of mysteries, and experts in metallurgy who would seem to have little in common with the hero-god Herakles. The theory of multiple "Herakleis" goes back to Herodotus' distinction between the god Herakles, of exotic origin, and the Greek hero, son of Alkmene. At Olympia, the custodians of sacred legends exploited the theory in order to bolster the sanctuary's exist- ing connections with Krete, usually acknowledged as the birthplace of Zeus, and to portray the sanctuary as an alternative Ida, where the young Zeus was nurtured. All this is not to say that Idaian Herakles was a complete fabrica- tion.
