Tag Archives: Apollo

Un dossier di appunti sul culto di Apollo archegete in Sicilia. Un culto tra Egeo e Mediterraneo

Author: V. Magro

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The article is proposed as a dossier of notes, a corpus of news, hypotheses, studies, not without in-depth analysis, on issues still debated today by historians and archaeologists, on the foundation of Naxos of Sicily (734 BC) and on the presence of the undiscovered altar of Apollo Archegetes which can be found in the sources of Appian and Thucydides. Precisely Thucydides’ sources hand down an altar near today’s Schisò Bay which would soon have been elevated to a pan-Sikeliot cult, that is a cult recognized by all the people of Hellenic lineage who cohabited the island, as supported by historical I. Malkin and by the anthropologist M. Detienne. This would open up other lines of investigation still examined and discussed today, such as the presence of Nassi people in the first Hellenic colonial expedition to Sicily by the Euboeans and the probable function of oracle of Delos, even before that of Delphi, which will assert itself on the colonial horizon only starting from the first twenty-five years of the 7^th century BC.

Ancora su Artemis Astiàs e Artemis Kindyàs. Prodigi, culti e storia a Iasos e Bargylia

Authors: R. Fabiani, M. Nafissi

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According to Polybius (16, 12, 2), the inhabitants of Iasos and Bargylia claimed that neither rain nor snow fell on the statues of two local goddesses, Artemis Astiàs and Artemis Kindyàs. An earlier paper attempted to clarify the nature of this wonder in relation to Greek religious and cultural tradition, and to contextualize it within the dynamics of rivalry between cities in the same region. The investigation continues with a review of what is known about the sanctuaries that housed the two statues, the role of the goddesses, and the integration of their cult into civic religion. In this respect, the present paper illustrates the institutional, figurative and devotional practices that developed in Iasos and Bargylia as a premise of, or parallel to, traditions about prodigies. Regarding Iasos, aspects such as the distinctive features of the epiclesis of Artemis Astiàs, the cult of the Apollonian triad at the sanctuary of Çanacık Tepe, and the role of Apollo and Artemis in political and religious life are examined from the perspective of the history of the city and within the framework of Graeco-Carian relations. Regarding Bargylia, in addition to the issue of the location of the sanctuary and its relationship with Kindye, the paper reconsiders the very early appearance of the image of the cult statue as a mintmark on the city’s coinage. It is suggested that this relates to the pre-existing fame of the statue’s prodigious properties.

Hestiatoria nella tradizione rituale delle colonie d’Occidente

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This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is an updated version.

The ritual collective meal is a widespread practiced aspect in the Greek background and its study concerns not just the exam of ritual practices, in the strict sense of the word, but also architectural structures, intended for the consumption, which were situated within the sanctuaries. In Magna Graecia this tradition finds significant examples, although in different chronological periods, in the extra-urban sanctuary of Aphrodite in Locri, (the so-called “U-shaped Stoà”, in the area of Centocamere, datable around the 6th century) as well as in the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia in Capo Colonna of Crotone (the so-called “H-building”, which dates back to the Hellenistic age). Starting from the examination of these two contexts, the study presents an outline of the documentation pertinent to the ritual meal tradition in Magno-Greek ambits, in order to propose a summing up of the data we have been gathering so far, which might sketch out evidences, reception modalities and possible developments of such a worship-practice in the Greek west.