The Public Sacred Identity of Roman Ascalon
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THE PUBLIC SACRED IDENTITY OF ROMAN ASCALON Robyn Le Blanc A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics (Classical Archaeology) in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Jodi Magness Jennifer Gates-Foster James B. Rives Monika Trūmper Luca Grillo © 2016 Robyn Le Blanc ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Robyn Le Blanc, The Public Sacred Identity of Roman Ascalon (Under the direction of Jodi Magness) Memory, a shared sense of the past, and public institutions were three important cultural processes that articulated and perpetuated the collective identity of ancient communities. Civic and cultural institutions in the Roman Empire, particularly those related to civic cults and mythology, often provided the context for the articulation of collective identities within a community, and a negotiation of the community’s identity in a larger regional and imperial context. Ascalon, the best documented city on the southern coast, is an ideal case study for an exploration of the role of memory, mythology, cults, and images of the gods in local discourses surrounding collective identity. I explore how Ascalon’s past as a Canaanite, Philistine, Phoenician, and independent Hellenistic polis influenced the community’s cults, mythology, and the deployment of its deities in public media. I frame a discussion of the late Hellenistic and Roman period cults within their historical contexts, pointing toward the continued association of Ascalon with the Philistines and Phoenicians as a key element influencing the city’s later identity. I provide an overview of the evidence for civic cult at Ascalon, and establish key trends in their presentation that I explore more fully in case studies. In the first case study I discuss how the cult of Astarte Aphrodite Ourania was used to express changing notions about the identity of the city and its connections to the Hellenistic and Greek world. Next, I provide an overview of the different mythological iii stories concerning Ascalon, arguing that the Lydian heroes Mopsos and Ascalus, and the local goddess Derceto, reflected the local cultural memory of ancient migrations and connections between the Greek world and the coast of Palestine. I conclude that the ways that the community remembered its past and expressed its public sacred identity were similar to the methods employed by other cities in the Roman Empire. I argue that images of gods and references to local cults were used deliberately in certain significant moments to emphasize the community’s connections to the Mediterranean world, or to emphasize Ascalon’s importance and antiquity within the region. iv For Nathan. For all the things. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was made possible by the incredible intellectual and emotional support provided by a host of people over the years. Special thanks to my advisor Jodi Magness for her eight years of encouragement. She has consistently helped me focus my ideas and has always pushed me to be a better thinker and writer. My dissertation committee deserves thanks for helping bring this project to fruitution: Jennifer Gates-Foster for providing essential intellectual encouragement, especially at the beginning stages of the project; James Rives for thoughtful, constructive feedback throughout this process; Monika Trümper for her endless support for this project, and throughout graduate school; Luca Grillo for his insightful comments at the defense. I am indebted to Lawerence Stager and Daniel Master, and the rest of the staff and volunteers from the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon for giving me the opportunity to work at the site, financial support, and the encouragement to pursue my interests there. Thanks for the friendship and scholarly community maintained by Joanne Murphy, Sean Burrus, Katie Simons, Zackary Rider, Erika Weiberg, Hans Hansen, Rebecca Worsham, Tracy Hoffman, Shimi Ehrlich, Kate Birney, and my colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who welcomed me into their department from the beginning I’d like to recognize the financial support provided by the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Department of Classics at Chapel Hill. Finally, the greatest thanks to my family and friends for their unflagging support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..18 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...18 Cultural Memory…………………………………………………………...…….20 Cultural Memory and Material Culture………………………………………….25 Cultural Memory and Polis-Religion…………………………….………...…….28 Identity…………………………………………..…………….………...……….30 ‘Public’…………………………………………..…………….………...……….32 Globalization…………………………………………..…………….………...…34 Why study public sacred identity? …………………………………………..…………..38 Sources and Methodology…………………………………………..…………….……...40 The collection…………………………………………..…………….………......41 Some problems…………………………………………..…………….………....41 Ancient literary sources…………………………………………..……………...43 Inscriptions…………………………………………..…………….………...…...46 Architecture…………………………………………..…………….………...…..47 Coins…………………………………………..…………….………...…………49 Sculpture…………………………………………..…………….………...……..50 Other media: gems and inscribed weights……………………………………….51 Research Questions and Methodology…………………………………………..……….52 vi Overview of the project…………………………………………..…………….………..54 CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL CONTEXT…………………………………………..…………...56 Introduction…………………………………………..…………….…………………….56 Philistine Ascalon…………………………………………..…………….……………...57 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….57 The Philistines and the Israelites…………………………………………..……..62 Phoenician Ascalon…………………………………………..…………….…………….64 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….64 Ascalon and the Greek world in the Persian Period……………………………..67 The Phoenicians and Ascalonian memory……………………………………….67 Ptolemaic Ascalon…………………………………………..…………….……………..68 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….68 Ascalon and Egypt…………………………………………..…………….……..70 Late Hellenistic Ascalon (to 104/3 BCE) …………………………………………..…...72 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….72 Ascalon and the Greek world…………………………………………..………...73 Ascalon and the Hasmoneans …………………………………………..……..…75 An independent Ascalon? …………………………………………..…………….……..79 Ascalon as a polis…………………………………………..…………….………80 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….81 Entangling alliances…………………………………………..…………….……83 Roman Ascalon…………………………………………..…………….………………...85 Historical overview…………………………………………..…………….…….85 viii Roman Ascalon and its Philistine past…………………………………………...89 Ascalon’s elites…………………………………………………………………………..91 Professions……………………………………………………………………….92 Civic institutions…………………………………………………………………93 Material culture…………………………………………………………………..95 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..97 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………98 CHAPTER 3: THE CIVIC CULTS OF ASCALON: AN OVERVIEW……………………….100 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..100 Aphrodite Ourania……………………………………………………………...103 Derceto………………………………………………………………………….104 Athena…………………………………………………………………………..106 Tyche……………………………………………………………………………107 Apollo…………………………………………………………………………..108 Zeus……………………………………………………………………………..110 Hermes………………………………………………………………………….111 Poseidon………………………………………………………………………...113 Phanebalos……………………………………………………………………...116 Asklepios………………………………………………………………………..116 Dioscouri………………………………………………………………………..120 Isis………………………………………………………………………………121 Pan and Dionysos……………………………………………………………….122 Herakles………………………………………………………………………...124 ix Nike……………………………………………………………………………..128 The Tserifa……………………………………………………………………...130 Lady Hester Stanhope’s Temple………………………………………………..131 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………..132 CHAPTER 4: ASTARTE APHRODITE OURANIA………………………………………….136 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..136 A survey of the “accepted” evidence…………………………………………………...136 The goddess of love as a war deity……………………………………………………..142 Aphrodite……………………………………………………………………….142 Astarte…………………………………………………………………………..143 Venus…………………………………………………………………………...144 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..145 Ascalon asylia and ieras………………………………………………………………..146 The armed goddess under Augustus……………………………………………………151 Phanebalos……………………………………………………………………………...154 An overview…………………………………………………………………….155 Is Phanebalos Astarte Aphrodite Ourania? ………………………………….…158 Astarte Aphrodite Ourania as Phanebalos……………………………………...160 The harpe……………………………………………………………….161 ‘Archaizing’ elements …………………………………………………..165 A plant-spear? …………………………………………………………..167 The temple coins………………………………………………………..168 Analysis…………………………………………………………………172 x Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………..173 CHAPTER 5: ASCALON’S MYTHIC PAST…………………………………………………176 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..176 Foundation myths………………………………………………………………………179 External sources for Ascalon in mythology…………………………………….181 Ascalonian evidence……………………………………………………………182 Derceto………………………………………………………………………………….184 Ascalonian evidence……………………………………………………………187 Interpretation……………………………………………………………………189 Lydian heroes…………………………………………………………………………...192 Ascalus………………………………………………………………………….193 Ascalonian evidence……………………………………………………196 Interpretation……………………………………………………………197 Mopsus………………………………………………………………………….197 Ascalonian evidence……………………………………………………202 Interpretation……………………………………………………………203 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………..204 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………..207