Abstract
In the long period from the late 11th century to the end of the 7th century BC, religion rises as one of the main reference points for ancient Greek society, and a field where we can explore the complex social, political, economic as well as ideological developments that occurred throughout the Greek world. The Peloponnese, present in these developments, demonstrates a rich sacred landscape which is shaped by a unique coexistence of Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, prominent urban and extra-urban sanctuaries and by sanctuaries in rural or liminal locations.From the publication of the first excavation results at Olympia in 1890, to date, the number of studies on Peloponnesian sanctuaries reveals the continuous and unceasing interest of the scientific community in issues of religion and cult practices, especially in a period of such critical social and political developments for the people in the Peloponnese, as in the Early Iron Age and the Early Archaic period. The assembled published materia ...
In the long period from the late 11th century to the end of the 7th century BC, religion rises as one of the main reference points for ancient Greek society, and a field where we can explore the complex social, political, economic as well as ideological developments that occurred throughout the Greek world. The Peloponnese, present in these developments, demonstrates a rich sacred landscape which is shaped by a unique coexistence of Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, prominent urban and extra-urban sanctuaries and by sanctuaries in rural or liminal locations.From the publication of the first excavation results at Olympia in 1890, to date, the number of studies on Peloponnesian sanctuaries reveals the continuous and unceasing interest of the scientific community in issues of religion and cult practices, especially in a period of such critical social and political developments for the people in the Peloponnese, as in the Early Iron Age and the Early Archaic period. The assembled published material from these centuries and mainly from the 8th-to the 7th-century BC transition, has resulted to a catalogue of one hundred and nine sites identified either with large and prominent sanctuaries, or with places where remains of cult activity have been traced, as, for instance, an open air altar or a sacred deposit. Most of these sites are located in Laconia, the Argolid, and in Arcadia, followed by Messenia, Corinthia, Achaia, Northeast Peloponnese and Elis. They share many similarities to do with the sanctuary’s topography, the beginning of the cult, the construction and form of the first temple building, the number and type of offerings, the association with a settlement, etc, while at the same time local peculiarities, traditions and preferences emerge.The first period of significant changes in the cult life of people in the Peloponnese corresponds to the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. During this transitional period, cult in the earliest Peloponnesian sanctuaries seems to have been focused on the performance of sacrifices and communal ritual feasting. Cult practices are intensified by the mid-8th century BC onwards, a period associated with the earliest stages of urbanization and the rise of the city-state (polis). More than half of the Peloponnesian sanctuaries are founded during the Geometric period and mainly towards the period’s last phase. The Argolid is the region reacting more imminently to these developments, as, according to research, out of the twenty one sanctuaries recorded in the region, ten were founded during this period. The significant cult activity noted in the 7th century BC, is rather unevenly distributed among the various Peloponnesian regions, with Arcadia having the lead in the developments, as opposed to Achaia which displays inactiveness and recession.Up to the middle of the 8th century BC the sanctuaries located within settlements in the Peloponnese did not usually have a temple building, as opposed to the relatively simple, small size structures in the sanctuaries situated in the periphery of settlements or in the countryside. The first monumental temple buildings appear in the end of the 8th century BC, many of which belong to the hekatompedos type. In ca. 700 BC and during the first half of the 7th century BC, new trends appear in the architecture of temples in the northeast Peloponnese that ultimately aim to monumentalize them. The leading role of Corinth in these developments has long been established in academia. The use of local soft limestone as a building material, as well as the implementation and dissemination of terracotta roofs have been considered innovative elements in the Corinthian temples. It is worth noting that the earliest terracotta roof found in the post-Mycenaean mainland Greece has been attributed to the early archaic temple of Apollo.Achaia’s contribution to the early temple architecture has also been of importance. The excavation launched in 1979 at Ano Mazaraki located in Rakita’s plateau brought to light the earliest temple known in Achaia, and also one of the earliest examples of a Doric temple, where all the essential architectural elements of the archaic and classical temple are brought together - although still in an early form, i.e. pronaos, cella and peristasis. The recently excavated temple of Poseidon Helikonios at Nikoleika in Aigion, is considered the closest parallel to the temple at Ano Mazaraki. The semicircular prostoon at the entrance of both temples was an innovative element in the late Geometric temples of Achaia, probably an attempt to ascribe a monumental character to them. Last but not least, the magnificent edifice at Trapeza indicates the occurrence – already by the second half of the 8th century BC – of structures housing activities like ritual feasting. A large number of offerings has come to light from the Peloponnesian sanctuaries, such as pottery, miniature vases, clay and bronze figurines, jewellery, terracotta models, objects made of bone and ivory, sealstones, armour, and many more, dating, mostly, to the Geometric and Archaic period. Already by the earliest excavations at Olympia and the Heraion of Argos, but also by those that followed in many Peloponnesian sites, it became evident that metal objects were, perhaps, the most favorite offerings, and that they were largely manufactured by local workshops. Jewellery, one of the most representative groups of metal offerings, stands out in many sanctuaries because of large numbers and high artistic elaboration, as, for instance, did the bronze pins in the sanctuaries of Hera in Argos, Orthia in Sparta and Alea at Tegea.The anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines made of bronze or clay comprise one of the most numerous groups of objects offered in the Peloponnesian sanctuaries. Horse figurines are undoubtedly rather distinctive offerings of the 8th century BC, with a large number of them, mainly in bronze, coming from Olympia. A significant group of horse terracotta figurines comes from the sanctuary at Phlious, while it was a particularly favorite offering in Sparta. Seated female figures or deities with elaborate plastic decoration comprise a distinct group of handmade anthropomorphic terracotta figurines that is mainly attested in sanctuaries of the Argolid.As far as the pottery is concerned, small size open vases – drinking vases – are mainly represented. Kantharos was the most preferable vase type in Achaia during the early historic times, while the late Geometric examples find parallels in the sanctuary of Olympia and, at the sanctuaries of Demeter Mysia at Kourtaki and of Agamemnon at Mycenae. The marked presence of a closed shape vase in a sanctuary is to do with local preferences, as for instance the hydria in the region of the Argolid, although in this case the vases are mostly of small size. Corinth is considered a pioneer in the production of votive miniature pottery. Excavations at the Potters’ Quarter, at the sanctuaries of Demeter and Kore on the Acrocorinth, Heraion in Perachora, Poseidon Isthmios and elsewhere, have revealed a significant number of miniature vases, while Corinthian miniature kotylai have been found in many sites outside the Corinthian territory, with the Argolid and the sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea among them.Bronze tripods, symbols of the elite, appear in Olympia earlier than the earliest examples in other Peloponnesian sanctuaries do, such as in the sanctuary of Athena Chalkioikos and Apollo Amyklaios in Sparta or Zeus Ithomatas’ and Poseidon’s at Akovitika in Messenia, while their number in the sanctuary of Altis rises well beyond the numbers that must have been offered in the other sanctuaries.Small size terracotta models of varying forms such as oikiskoi or either architectural structures, chariots and wheels, armour, fruits, bread, and many more, appear in Peloponnesian sanctuaries of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, often in considerable quantities. Of particular interest are the terracotta models of buildings (oikiskoi) coming from the Heraion at Perachora and in Argos, from the sanctuaries of Athena Alea, Artemis Orthia, Artemis at Ano Mazaraki, Poseidon Helikonios, and of Aphrodite in the southern part of Phliasian field. Last, special categories of offerings, such as votive relief plaques, lead miniature figurines, miniature terracotta and bronze bells, terracotta masks and iron sickles, which have mainly been associated with the Spartan sanctuaries, suggest that in the locally manufactured artifacts the local traditions predominated combined, though, with the adoption of eastern prototypes.In the late 8th century BC an intense desire to link with the Mycenaean-heroic past is manifested by the various local Peloponnesian populations. Religious symbolisms are being transferred from the one period to the other, affecting and, to a degree, shaping the novel perceptions and cult practices. The phenomenon of cult rituals in Mycenaean sites par excellence, such as the palace at Pylos and the citadels at Mycenae and Tiryns, as well as in Bronze Age graves, has been linked to the rise of popularity of heroes and the ancestors. Moreover, new sanctuaries are established near sites or remains of the Bronze Age, or are associated with the cult of epic figures such as the sanctuary of Menelaos and Helen in Sparta. Last, the presence of Bronze Age objects in sanctuaries of the early historic times, or of offerings purposefully imitating prehistoric types and iconographic themes, the so-called keimelia, operated as media of remembrance and praising of the past. Representative examples are the miniature double axes found primarily in the territory of Sparta and Tegea, and secondarily at the Argive Heraion and the sanctuaries at Olympia and Loussoi. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC the various Peloponnesian populations struggled to preserve, to a greater or lesser extent, their diverse provenance and past. Often by having their common Doric origin as point of reference and cohesion, they tried to strengthen their political structures by creating strong cult networks. The role played by some sanctuaries in the formation of wider religious groups can possibly be traced in the sanctuaries of Olympia, Isthmia, Heraion of Argos, Epidauros, Alea Athena at Tegea, Artemis at Ano Mazaraki, Poseidon at Akovitika in Messenia, as well as in the sanctuary of Apollo at Amykles. The examination of the relations developed between the sanctuaries themselves and, therefore, between the territories they belong to, sets on a new basis the discussion about the role of the extra urban sanctuaries in the 8th century BC. It shifts interest to the rise of groups of sanctuaries, which formed distribution centers of large numbers of offerings and centers where communal cult practices were being performed. The cult of Hera and Zeus in the northeastern Peloponnese, the network of Spartan sanctuaries and the Arcadian network of sanctuaries, constitute representative case studies in the research of early cult in the Peloponnese.
show more
