doi: 10.2143/AWE.15.0.3167471 AWE 15 (2016) 183-193

CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE: ON THE LOCAL PANTHEON OF A WEST PONTIC CITY (4TH–2ND CENTURIES BC)

ADRIAN ROBU

Abstract Three oracular inscriptions (ISM III 48–49) attest several old Megarian cults at Callatis. Bringing evidence from the Megarid, I argue that Dionysos Bakchos and Apotropaios have to be added to this group of deities. Besides, the list of deities ISM III 48 A could be interpreted as an official codification of the Callatian pantheon by the Delphic oracle, shortly after the foundation of the city (around 390–370 BC). I also discuss in the article two friezes from Callatis recently published that may illustrate sitting on an omphalos, and this symbol refers to the oracular powers of the goddess.

The religious and the political institutions of Callatis are often illuminated by the discoveries from Megara and its colonies. The Callatians reproduced the institutions of their mother-city, Pontica, itself a colony of the Megarians and the Boeotians.1 In the corpus of inscriptions of Callatis, Alexandru Avram devoted a section of the volume to the Megarian cults found at Callatis. It is my intention to revisit this subject, especially by bringing here further evidence from Megarid. The Callatian pantheon is known mainly thanks to a series of oracular inscriptions mentioning several divinities (ISM III 48–49).2 According to the form of the letters, the list of divinities ISM III 48 A was dated to the 4th century BC; on the reverse of the stone a Delphic oracle, ISM III 48 B, was inscribed during the 2nd century BC (Figs. 1–2). This latter presents the same formula as ISM III 49, which belongs also to the 2nd century BC (Fig. 3). Apollo Pythios of is the god who delivered the oracles, since one document was restored with confidence: Πυ[θίου Ἀπόλλωνος χρησμοί]· | ὁ θεὸς ἔ[χρησε λόϊογ καὶ ἄμεινον εἶμεν] (ISM III 49, l. 3–4). The most ancient inscription of the series, ISM III 48 A, lists the following deities: Dionysos Patroos, Dionysos Bakchos, Pandemos, , Dasyllios, , Chthonia and Kronos. In this list, Dasyllios is the epiclesis of Dionysos, and Chthonia refers very probably to Chthonia. The two divinities were

1 Burstein 1976, 16–17; Robu 2014, 293–304. 2 ISM III 50 reports also a Delphic oracle, but this inscription is very fragmentary and mentions no deity. 184 A. ROBU

Fig. 1: Callatis. List of deities, ISM III 48 A. Callatis Museum, Mangalia. Inventory no. 274. Photograph by author. Courtesy Callatis Museum.

Fig. 2: Callatis. Delphic oracle, ISM III 48 B. Callatis Museum, Mangalia. Inventory no. 274. Photograph by author. Courtesy Callatis Museum. CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE 185

Fig. 3: Callatis. Delphic oracle, ISM III 49. Museum of National History and Archaeology, Constanța. Inventory no. 1453. Source: ISM III 49. Courtesy Museum of National History and Archaeology, Constanța.

widely known at Callatis at this period, and this explains why they are named only by epiclesis.3 Indeed, an inscription attests an association of Demeter Chthonia (ISM III 40), while a sacred regulation mentions the sacrifices to perform to Dionysos and also the Dasylleion, i.e. the sanctuary of Dionysos Dasyllios (ISM III 47). Dionysos Patroos and Dionysos Dasyllios are certainly Megarian cults: they appear in the description of Megarid provided by Pausanias. Moreover, Pausanias attests two others deities mentioned by the list from Callatis. Pausanias saw in the temenos of Dionysos located in the Megarian the statues of Dionysos Patroos and of Dionysos Dasyllios. Next to this sanctuary was situated the temple of Aphrodite Praxis; one could admire here an ivory statue of the goddess, as well as the statues of Peitho and of Paregoros, these last two being the works of Praxiteles (Pausanias 1. 43. 5–6).4 Avram and Lefèvre suggest that the Callatians might have had the same organisation of the sacred area as the Megarians. Besides, since the

3 ISM III, pp. 92–93. 4 On the location of the sanctuaries of Dionysos and of Aphrodite in the agora of Megara, see Muller 1984, 260–61, 264–65. 186 A. ROBU archaeological finds indicate that the sacred area of Callatis was rebuilt (or re- founded) during the 4th century BC, the list of divinities could be considered as an official codification of the cultic reorganisation. They both wondered if the list from the 4th century BC was not established with the help of the Delphic oracle, because the same stele was reused in the 2nd century BC to inscribe on the reverse a Pythian oracle.5 They note that Demeter Chthonia, Artemis and Kronos belong also to the oldest group of divinities of Callatis, the only exception being Dionysos Bakchos, a cult which could be integrated the city’s pantheon during the 4th century BC.6 I would like to make here some comments on these oracular inscriptions and on the interpretation proposed by Avram and Lefèvre. First, we should stress the analo- gies, but also the differences, between the Callatian and Megarian pantheons. It should be noted that Dionysos Dasyllios gained autonomy at Callatis: the god is named only by the epiclesis Dasyllios and the Dasylleion appeared independently in a sacred regulation. On the other hand, Dionysos Dasyllios is celebrated at Megara in the same temple as Dionysos Patroos, and it is very probably that Dionysos Patroos was the main cult there, since his statue was the most ancient, being conse- crated by the seer Polyeidon when he built the temple. Euchenor, the grandson of Polyeidos, dedicated the statue of Dionysos Dasyllios.7 I believe that Dionysos Bakchos is also an old Megarian deity. The proof is pro- vided by an inscription mentioning in the imperial period a religious association called the ‘Old Bakcheion’ (τὸ παλαιὸν βακχεῖον).8 The adjective ‘old’ indicates the desire of the members of this group to stress their ancient origin and in this way to distinguish themselves from the members of more recent Dionysiac associations.

5 Avram and Lefèvre 1995, 21, wrote on the analogies between the sacred spaces of Callatis and of Megara: ‘On remarque aisément que la succession des divinités, dans la première partie de notre fragment, suit assez précisément la description of Pausanias. Ce dernier a vu à Mégare le sanctuaire de Dionysos, adoré avec les surnoms de Patrôos et de Dasyllios. Après (μετὰ δὲ), il a pu admirer dans le temple d’Aphrodite diverses œuvres, parmi lesquelles une statue de Peithô. On peut donc, dans les grandes lignes, calquer notre liste de divinités sur l’itinéraire mégarien du Périégète. (…) Ainsi, il est fort possible que l’on retrouve à Callatis un aménagement de l’espace religieux très semblable à ce qui existait à Mégare. Le rapprochement devient encore plus séduisant si l’on sait que le téménos de la cité pontique fut réaménagé (ou refondé) au cours du IVe siècle: notre texte était-il l’acte officiel sanction- nant ce réaménagement? Le fait que l’autre face de la stèle ait plus tard été utilisée pour transcrire des réponses de l’oracle pythique, auquel les Callatiens avaient visiblement souvent recours, autorise-t-il à penser que cette entreprise fut accompagnée préalablement d’une consultation à Delphes? Il est à ce jour impossible de répondre à ces questions.’ Cf. SEG 45. 911. 6 Avram and Lefèvre 1995, 21–22; ISM III, p. 92: ‘Le seul dieu qui n’appartient pas à cette catégorie d’anciennes divinités, bien qu’il figure dans la même liste, est Dionysos Βακχεύς dont le culte aurait pu pénétrer à Callatis aux environs de la date même de notre inscription.’ 7 Antonetti and Lévêque 1990, 201, 203. 8 Jaccottet 2003 II, 37–39, no. 6. CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE 187

Two goddesses appear in ISM III 48 A with epiclesis not yet attested at Megara: the cases of Demeter Chthonia and of Aphrodite Pandemos. The Megarians cele- brated only Demeter Thesmophoros, Demeter Malophoros, Aphrodite Praxis and Aphrodite Epistrophia, and all of these cults are presently unknown at Callatis.9 Kronos is not documented at Megara and its colonies, but we may expect that this god belonged to the old group of cults of Callatis.10 In short, the Callatians have not reproduced exactly the Megarian cults, and local particularism is important in establishing the pantheon of this West Pontic colony. A second point that needs to be highlighted is the question of the date of ISM III 48 A and the consequences for the history of Callatis. We have seen that the first editors proposed a reorganisation of the sacred area, or even a re-founda- tion, eventually after consulting the Delphic oracle. This thesis is based on the assumption that Callatis was founded at the end of the 6th century BC. Neverthe- less, the foundation of Callatis is not firmly established. The only source on this event is a passage of Ps.-Scymnus (F 4, ed. D. Marcotte) attesting that the city was founded at the time when Amyntas became king of Macedonia. But this is not precise information, since we have to choose between two Macedonian kings: Amyntas I (ca. 540–498 BC) and Amyntas III (ca. 390–370/69 BC).11 The archae- ological evidence is inconclusive on this matter; no ceramics discovered at Callatis predate the 4th century BC.12 We might ask if the connection between Aphrodite and Peitho that we find at Megara has an Archaic or a Classical origin. Pausanias reports that the statues of Peitho and Paregoros located in the Aphrodision was the work of Praxiteles (active ca. 370–320 BC),13 and this information suggests that the celebration of Peitho in the Megarian temple of Aphrodite does not antedate the 4th century BC. I think that this is also the case for the Callatian list of divinities mentioning Aphrodite and Peitho. In this case, and if we accept the lower date of Callatis’ foundation, we might consider ISM III 48 A not as sanctioning the re-foundation of the sacred space, but as one listing the divinities that the Callatians decided to honour shortly after the foundation of their city, probably in accordance with a Delphic oracle. In this affair the Megarians from Greece seem to have an important role, probably thanks to their connections with Delphi. This hypothesis is supported by the fact

9 Highbarger 1927, 39–40, 46–47; Antonetti 1997, 88, 92. 10 ISM III, p. 93. 11 ISM III, pp. 9–11; Avram, Hind and Tsetskhladze 2004, 934. 12 Avram 2009, 217–18; Bîrzescu and Ionescu 2016. 13 Pausanias 1. 43. 6; cf. Kansteiner et al. 2014, s.v. Praxiteles, 104–05, no. 21, 1908. 188 A. ROBU that a Delphic decree for two Callatians was inscribed on the Megarian treasury at Delphi (ca. 263 BC).14 The analogies between the institutions of Megara and Callatis are not limited to the religious sphere. Most of the magistracies are the same in the both cities. It is the case of the eponymous basileus, the probouloi and the stratagoi. Callatis is even the only city from the Megarian world that has the college of probouloi, while the name of the president of the Callatian assembly, the πραισιμνῶν, is reminiscent of the Megarian college of aisimnatai.15 The question is whether all these data arrived at Callatis only through , or were there some direct connections between Megara and Callatis? We mentioned the decree for Callatians inscribed on the Megarian treasury at Delphi and we know that the Megarians collaborated with their apoikoi in order to found new settlements. For instance, Selinous was founded by the Megarians from Sicily and Greece ( 6. 4. 2), Mesambria by the Calchedonians and the Megarians (Ps.-Scymnus 738–742). Thucydides states that in the case of the foundation of Epidamnos by the Corcyrians the oikists came from Corinthos, according to an old rule. The founder was also accompanied by apoikoi from Corinthos and other Dorian states (Thucydides 1. 24. 2). Following the examples of the Calchedonians and of the Megarians from Sicily, the Heracleotes could also have asked Megarians from Greece to assist them in the foundation of new settlements, maybe by sending the founders of the apoikiai. I admit that we lack direct testimony for this opinion: there is only indirect evidence, provided by the political and religious institutions. In favour of this thesis, I would like to invoke another analogy between Megara and the Heracleote colonies. It is the presence at Chersonesos, and very probably also at Callatis, of an epigraphical habit specific to Megara. In these cities, rectangular tablets were used to inscribe epitaphs, the platelet being afterward inserted in free-standing stele.16 This practice presents economic advantages, since only the tablet was in marble, while the stele was usually in limestone, a cheaper stone. Besides, the stele could easily be reused, by inserting a new tablet or by inscribing a new name on the reverse of the same platelet. This epigraphic habit is attested at Megara from the end of the 6th–beginning of the 5th century BC until the Hellenistic period.17 The ancient epitaph of Callatis is a tablet (dated to the 4th century BC: ISM III 152), while the stelae with tablets from Chersonesos

14 Avram and Lefèvre 1995, 16. 15 Avram 1994; ISM III, pp. 85–89; Robu 2014, 367–75, 382–89, 391–401. 16 Robu 2014, 407–08. 17 Robu 2016. CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE 189 belong to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC.18 We have no evidence that this epigraphical transfer between Megara and the Pontic cities was realised through Heraclea Pontica. It is more likely that the practice arrived in the Black Sea cites thanks to relations of Megara with Callatis and Chersonesos. The Megarians used tablets for inscribing epitaphs during the Classical and Hellenistic periods and we may assume that it was during these times that the cultural transfer was realised. We have to turn now to the oracular inscriptions ISM III 48 B–49. According to Avram and Lefèvre, these attest new consultations of the Delphic oracle by the Callatians during the 2nd century BC. They mention a second group of deities, most of them protecting the agora and civic life.19 This group of divinities includes Agoraia, Apollo(?) Nomios, , Hygeia, Asphaleus, Apollo Apotropaios, Hypata, , Athena Hyperdexia and Aphrodite Agoraia; the names of Asklepios, Dionysos, and Hermes Agoroios, , Hypathos, Zeus Agoraios and Zeus Hyperdexios were also restored in the two inscriptions. Among all these deities Apollo Apotropaios is very probably an old Megarian cult. This is proved now by a 5th-century BC inscription found recently in the Megarid, in the Archaic–early Classical sanctuary excavated at modern Bouri, close to the ancient Pagai.20 Poseidon also had a pre-eminent place in the Megarian pantheon: he had a sanctuary at Nisaia, the harbour of Megara on the Saronic Gulf (Thucydides 4. 118. 4), and his symbol, the , appeared on issued by the city during the second part of the 4th century–beginning of the 3rd century BC.21 But we have no evidence that the Megarians also celebrated Poseidon Asphaleus. On the basis of the inscriptions previously commented upon, the following situation may be supposed. The city of Callatis was founded κατὰ χρεσμόν around 390–370 BC, and we can assume that it was an oracle of Apollo from Delphi.22 Soon after the foundation of their city, the Callatians sent a sacred embassy to Delphi to demand an official codification of their pantheon. The Megarians could have acted in this affair as councillors and by providing help to their syngeneis. The Pythian response (ISM III 48 A) mentioned several old Megarian deities. Later, in the Hellenistic period, the Callatians decided to consult again the oracle from

18 Posamentir 2011, 209, 215–26. 19 Avram and Lefèvre 1995, 22: ‘Un deuxième groupe de divinités, peut-être fixé plus tardivement, est celui de l’agora et de la vie civique.’ 20 Valta 2005, 125. 21 Robu 2013, 69. 22 Ps.-Scymnus F 4 (ed. D. Marcotte). Cf. Avram and Lefèvre 1995, 16; Herda 2016, 33. Amato (2007) supposed that the Megarian Lampos/Lampon who consulted the Delphic oracle according to Favorinus On Exile, 24. 7–9 (ed. A. Barigazzi), might be the oikist of Callatis. Cf. Robu 2014, 108. 190 A. ROBU

Delphi, and in the new lists of the deities we find at least one Megarian, i.e. Apollo Apotropaios (ISM III 48 B–49). The Delphic oracles structured the local pantheon of the West Pontic city over a long period (4th–2nd centuries BC), but they were also sources of local pride. They provided evidence of the noble origin of the Callatians and of their connections with the most prestigious religious centre of the Greek word. Here, at the end of this study, I wish to discuss briefly a marble frieze recently found at Callatis and dated to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, but still poorly known by scholars (Fig. 4).23 It is an iconographic document very well preserved, a masterpiece of the Hellenistic art. Among the four divinities represented on the frieze, we recognise easily Athena. The goddess wears a helmet and carries a spear and shield. On the opposite part is depicted a male deity. I. Pâslaru and S. Colesniuc suggested that we may have here a representation of Poseidon, but the absence of the symbolic attributes does not allow for certain identification. On the other hand, two goddesses who speak to each other and hold hands occupy the central part of the relief. One is represented standing and holding in her left hand (probably) a flower originally painted; the other is sitting on an omphalos and has a spear in her left hand. They were identified with Aphrodite and Hera, the representation of Hera with spear being known elsewhere. But the depiction of Hera sitting on an omphalos is certainly uncommon. We know that the omphalos is the symbol of Apollo and of his mother, Leto. For example, Apollo sitting on an omphalos appears on the coins of Calchedon in the Hellenistic period, and this is a reference to the oracular powers of the Apollo Chresterios celebrated by the Calchedonians.24 An Attic relief dedicated to Apollo during the first half of the 4th century BC, presently kept in the Barracco Museum in Rome, depicts Leto on an omphalos, accompanied by Apollo, Artemis and devotees.25 Nevertheless, oracles of Hera are attested, as at Corinthos and at Cyme. mentions an oracle of Hera Akraia at the Heraion from Perachora in Corinthia, close to the Megarian border (Strabo 8. 6. 22, C 380),26 and one can ask if this isthmian tradition could not also be present at Callatis. This could explain the association of Hera with an omphalos on the frieze.

23 Pâslaru and Colesniuc 2003–04. 24 Robu 2007, 142. 25 Smith 2008. 26 Cf. Dunbabin 1951; Salmon 1962, 165–68. The oracle of Hera Akraia was probably consulted also by the Megarians. According to Antonetti (1998, 37), the Heraion from Perachora was ‘le pivot du culte d’Héra pour l’Isthme entier’. For the oracle of Hera from Kyme, see Salmon 1972, 165. CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE 191

Fig. 4: Callatis. Fragmentary frieze depicting deities. Callatis Museum, Mangalia. Inventory no. 3225. Photograph by author. Courtesy Callatis Museum.

Fig. 5: Callatis. Fragmentary frieze depicting two goddesses. Museum of National History and Archaeology, Constanța. Inventory no. 5205. Photograph by author. Courtesy Museum of National History and Archaeology, Constanța. 192 A. ROBU

It should be added that several reliefs with representations of deities were found in West Pontic cities, but the Callatian frieze was made in a different style.27 How- ever, we can mention here another fragmentary frieze discovered at Callatis and dated to the 2nd–1st centuries BC (Fig. 5).28 Two goddesses are represented on it and it is noteworthy that one of them is probable sitting on an omphalos. If this is the case, we may have a second representation of Hera as an oracular deity at Cal- latis. The two iconographic documents confirm that the Callatian pantheon is extremely rich and diversified in the 4th–2nd centuries BC. This undoubtedly reflects the importance of the city and its connections with the Aegean world during this period.

Bibliography

Abbreviation ISM III A. Avram, Inscriptions grecques et latines de Scythie Mineure, III: Callatis et son territoire (Bucharest/Paris 1999).

Amato, E. 2007: ‘Apollo, Lampos/Lampone e la fondazione di Callatis? (Nota a Pap. Vat. gr. 11v, col. 22, 33–35)’. Emerita 75.2, 319–38. Antonetti, C. 1997: ‘Megara e le sue colonie: un’unità storico-culturale?’. In Antonetti, C. (ed.), Il dinamismo della colonizzazione greca (Naples), 83–94. —. 1998: ‘Le développement du panthéon d’une métropole: Mégare’. In Pirenne-Delforge, V. (ed.), Les Panthéons des cités des origines à la Périegèse de Pausanias (Liège), 35–46. Antonetti, C. and Lévêque, P. 1990: ‘Au Carrefour de la Mégaride. Devins et oracles’. Kernos 3, 197–209. Avram, A. 1994: ‘Zur Verfassung von Kallatis in hellenistischer Zeit’. Il Mar Nero 1, 167–77. —. 2009: ‘Héraclée du Pont et ses colonies pontiques. Antécédents milésiens (?) et empreinte méga- rienne’. In Lombardo, M. and Frisone, F. (eds.), Colonie di colonie. Le fondazioni sub-coloniali greche tra colonizzazione e colonialismo (Galatina), 209–27. Avram, A., Hind, J. and Tsetskhladze, G. 2004: ‘The Black Sea Area’. In Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H. (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford), 924–73. Avram, A. and Lefèvre, F. 1995: ‘Les cultes de Callatis et l’oracle de Delphes’. REG 108, 7–23. Bîrzescu, I. and Ionescu, M. 2016: ‘Recherches sur la fondation de Callatis: l’apport de la documenta- tion archéologique’. In Robu and Bîrzescu 2016, 381–91. Burstein, S.M. 1976: Outpost of Hellenism: The Emergence of Heraclea on the Black Sea (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London). Covacef, Z. 2011: Ancient Sculpture in the Permanent Exhibition of the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța (Cluj-Napoca). Dunbabin, T.J. 1951: ‘The Oracle of Hera Akraia at Perachora’. BSA 46, 61–71. Herda, A. 2016: ‘Megara and Miletos: Colonising with Apollo. A Structural Comparison of Religious and Political Institutions in Two Archaic Greek Polis States’. In Robu and Bîrzescu 2016, 15–127. Highbarger, E.L. 1927: The History and Civilization of Ancient Megara (Baltimore).

27 Oppermann 2004, 263–64, 278–82, figs. 62.3a–b, 63; Pâslaru and Colesniuc 2003–04, 414. 28 Oppermann 2004, 263, fig. 63.3; Covacef 2011, 252, no. 119, fig. 143. CALLATIS AND THE DELPHIC ORACLE 193

Jaccottet, A.-F. 2003: Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du Dionysisme, vols. 1–2 (Zurich). Kansteiner, S., Lehmann, L., Hallof, K., Seidensticker, B. and Söldner, M. 2014: Der Neue Over- beck: Die antiken Schriftquellen zu den bildenden Künsten der Griechen, 3: Spätklassik (Berlin). Muller, A. 1984: ‘Megarika XII–XIV’. BCH 108, 249–66. Oppermann, M. 2004: Die westpontischen Poleis und ihr indigenes Umfeld in vorrömischer Zeit (Langenweißbach). Pâslaru, I. and Colesniuc, S. 2004–05: ‘O friză cu reprezentări de divinități descoperită la Callatis’. Pontica 37–38, 415–18. Posamentir, R. 2011: Chersonesan Studies, 1: The Polychrome Grave Stelai from the Early Hellenistic Necropolis (Austin, TX). Robu, A. 2007: ‘Réflexions sur le culte d’Apollon à Chalcédoine’. Les Études Classiques 75, 137–55. —. 2013: ‘Le culte de Poséidon à Mégare et dans ses colonies’. Dacia 57, 65–80. —. 2014: Mégare et les établissements mégariens de Sicile, de la Propontide et du Pont-Euxin. Histoire et institutions (Berne). —. 2016: ‘Contribution à l’épigraphie mégarienne: les tablettes funéraires inscrites’. In Robu and Bîrzescu 2016, 333–75. Robu, A. and Bîrzescu, I. (eds.) 2016: Mégarika. Nouvelles recherches sur Mégare et les cités de la Pro- pontide et du Pont-Euxin. Archéologie, épigraphie, histoire (Paris). Salmon, J. 1972: ‘The Heraeum at Perachora and the Early History of Corinth and Megara’. BSA 67, 159–204. Smith, F. 2008: ‘Rilievo votivo ad Apollo’. In Borgia, E., Cimino, M.G., Cagiano De Azevedo, E., Gobbi, C., Lopes, E. and Smith, F., Museo Barracco. Arte cipriota-Arte greca (VI–IV secolo a. C.) (Rome), 132–33. Valta, P. 2005: ‘Μεγαρίδα’. ArchDelt 60, 124–26.

Université de Fribourg Institut du monde antique et byzantin 16, rue Pierre-Aeby 1700 Fribourg Switzerland [email protected]