Artemis Beyond the Polis of Thasos: the Cult of the Goddess in the Archaic North-Eastern Aegean
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Artemis beyond the polis of Thasos: the cult of the goddess in the Archaic north-eastern Aegean Introduction The Thasos Artemision has been excavated and studied (primarily by the French School at Athens) since the early 20th century and has proven to be a major landmark of the Thasos archaeological landscape.1 Its lifetime stretches from as early as the 7th century2 to as far down as the imperial times; during that time, and as the city grew, it developed from a sanctuary placed near the city gates to what appears to have been a centrally-placed, monumental, urban cult centre. Although the study of the finds recovered from the site is still ongoing, the material that has been published up to this point indicates that the Artemision rivalled or surpassed the sanctuaries of the Thasian acropolis in importance. The deity appears to have been worshiped in her Pōlō (child-rearing / Kourotrophos-like)3 aspect and perhaps also in the aspect of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Material evidence for cults of Artemis (or, more specifically, of deities which bear a great similarity to the Thasian Artemis regarding aspects, purview and/or cult practices) has also been discovered in sites near Thasos, along the coast of the modern-day Gulf of Kavala. These sanctuaries provide us with a wider regional context in which to place the Thasian cult and alternative viewpoints from which to approach it. In this paper, I shall first discuss the late-7th and 6th-century Thasian cult: the material from the site, the emergence of the cult, the ritual practices and the importance of the Artemis cult in early Thasos. I shall then proceed to review the material evidence and previous scholarly discussion regarding nearby sanctuaries of Artemis and Artemis-like deities. I will focus on two mainland sanctuaries: the ‘Parthenos’ sanctuary in Neapolis and the acropolis sanctuary in 1 For the first major excavation report from the site, see Macridy 1912, 1-19; for the subsequent Salviat and Weill excavation see Daux 1958, 808-814; 1959 (i), 775-781; 1960 (i), 856-862 and 1961, 919-930. For the Maffre and Salviat investigations, see Maffre & Salviat 1976, 774-784; 1977, 687-692; 1978, 821-829; 1980, 726-730; 1981, 932-941; Jacquemin 1980, 717-720; 1982, 660-669; 1983, 867-875; Maffre & Queyrel 1984, 869-872; Maffre 1986, 790-792 and Perreault 1986, 793-797. See also Grandjean & Salviat 2000, 89-91 for an overview of the finds from the Artemision and Maffre & Tichit 2014, 137-164 for a re-examination of the votive offerings from the Artemision and their significance. 2 All dates are BC unless indicated otherwise. 3 For the purposes of this paper, the term ‘Kourotrophos’ will be used descriptively, to refer to any goddess whose purviews extend to include the raising of children. It will not refer to specific deities such as the Classical Athenian ‘Kourotrophos’ (see e.g. Pirenne-Delforge 2004, 171-185). Oisyme. I shall then compare and contrast the above material with the evidence from Thasos. My goal is, firstly, to determine the extent to which the Thasian cult influenced the founding of the other sanctuaries and, secondly, to identify the most significant similarities and differences in cult practices between the mainland sanctuaries and Thasos. Finally, I aim to investigate the impact of the above cults in the developing political environment of the 6th century: how do they compare to the Thasian cult regarding the development of their poleis’ cultural and political identity? Might Thasos have had a direct hand in their establishment and apparent popularity? The Thasian Artemision The sanctuary remains The sanctuary of Artemis in Thasos is located east of the agora and to the immediate south- east of the ‘Passage of the Theoroi’ [Plan 1, Plan 2]. Recent archaeological soundings near the latter have shown that a 6th-century fortification wall ran through the area.4 The 6th-century Artemision, therefore, lay near the early settlement fortifications and, in all likelihood, one of the city gates. As the settlement expanded toward the south and west during the 5th and subsequent centuries, the Artemision’s location became more central with regards to the developing asty of Thasos The sanctuary temenos extends over two artificial terraces at different levels; a low one to the north-west and a higher one to the south-east [Plan 2]. On the latter, the excavators uncovered a Hellenistic square enclosure wall (‘péribole carré’), with an earlier (Late Archaic or Early Classical) phase, the remains of which are visible in its south-eastern side.5 Under subsequent Hellenistic structures in the enclosure’s interior, the excavators also brought to light the marble foundation of an early-6th-century building (possibly an early oikos or temple), with a wealth of contemporary roof-tiles and architectural terracottas in its immediate vicinity. This building’s destruction layer dates to the late 6th / early 5th century.6 On the lower, north-western terrace, a monumental rectangular altar was discovered. Its foundation lies in a late 6th-century fill layer and is primarily built with large marble slabs; its krepis is preserved to a height of two steps, followed by a partially preserved orthostate base. 4 Blondé, Muller & Mulliez 1999, 56-57. 5 Macridy 1912, 1-7; Daux 1959 (i), 775-776; Maffre & Salviat 1976, 774-781; Grandjean & Salviat 2000, 90-91. 6 Daux 1959 (i), 776; Grandjean & Salviat 2000, 91. The altar’s table lay on its western side, with stairs leading up to it from the east; a small channel in its northern corner probably served to evacuate water, blood or liquid offerings.7 The Artemision yielded extensive Archaic contexts, containing mostly pottery, clay figurines and jewellery. Archaic finds were mostly concentrated in the south-eastern side of the square enclosure (near the remains of the earlier wall), immediately outside of its north-western side (under a subsequent road surface) and, finally, near the ‘Passage of the Theoroi’ and the (built with polygonal masonry) ‘Wall H’ [Plan 2, sector O16].8 The Archaic figurines from the site have been published in detail by Weill and Huysecom- Haxhi. They are a major part of a larger corpus that extends from the 7th century to the Late Hellenistic and Roman times; a limited number of Daedalic figurines with elaborate painted decoration document ritual activity on-site since the earliest phases of the island’s colonisation. Several Archaic figurine sub-types, characteristic of the Thasian Artemision, have been identified: their vast majority consists of female figurines, either standing (in a kore-like stance) or seated in a cubic ‘throne’ [Figure 1]. 9 In addition to the above, a number of Archaic clay protomae (studied by Croissant) have been found on-site;10 they are part of a tradition stretching from the 6th to the 4th centuries. Furthermore, Archaic contexts also yielded bronze and ivory jewellery (a golden diadem, dress pins, brooches, garment decorative elements), currently on display in the Museum of Thasos.11 Unfortunately, no pottery corpus from the sanctuary has been published at the time of writing.12 However, yearly excavation reports have provided several examples of Archaic Cycladic (primarily Parian) and Attic pottery from the site, accompanied by local imitations. Representing the 7th century, ‘East Aegean’ pottery and ‘G2-3 Ware’ (a pottery type highly characteristic of the north-eastern Aegean of the period) have also been discovered.13 7 Weill 1985, 9. 8 For a compilation of previous bibliography on the pottery and other finds from the 1950s to the early 21st century, see Maffre & Tichit 2014, 141 (ftn. 7-8). 9 See Huysecom-Haxhi 2009 and Weill 1985 for the publication monographs and figurine catalogues. 10 See Croissant 1983, 37-38, 69-83, 88-91, 116-124, 126-133, 141-142, 156-157, 212-219; Weill 1985, 140-146. 11 Maffre & Tichit 2014, 145-148; also see Prêtre 2016. 12 The pottery from the site is currently being studied and prepared for publication by Prof. J. J. Maffre (Sorbonne), Dr. A. Tichit (Sorbonne) and Dr. C. Walter (Louvre). 13 Maffre & Tichit 2014, 141 (ftn. 7) provide an exhaustive compilation of previous bibliography on imported pottery and local production; for the ‘G2-3 Ware’ from the Artemision and a review of the discussion on its significance, see Ilieva 2009, 111-112. In summation, we can easily trace human presence on site back to at least the first half of the 7th century, as evidenced by the early ‘G2-3 Wares’ (usually dated to ca. 710-650 BCE).14 Dating the appearance of ritual activity is considerably less safe: it is possible that an early sanctuary existed on-site before the arrival of the Parian colonists (as was probably the case in the nearby sanctuary of Heracles),15 but there is insufficient evidence for us to reach that conclusion safely. On the other hand, the sanctuary had definitely been founded by the mid-7th century, as evidenced by the earliest Daedalic figurines and clay statues recovered from the site. The goddess and her purview The earliest textual evidence regarding the attributes of Thasian Artemis date to the 2nd century BCE:16 two statue bases found near the northern enclosure wall bear dedicatory inscriptions to Artemis Pōlō (ΠΩΛΩ).17 Furthermore an inscription of uncertain date (most likely 2nd to 1st century) renders honours to Epie, daughter of Dionysius, for “restoring and building the propylon as an offering to Artemis Eileithyie (ΕΙΛΕΙΘΥΙΗ[Ι]) and the demos”.18 In addition to the above, two 5th-century inscriptions from Thasos mention Artemis Hekate; notably, however, none of the two can be safely linked to the Artemision itself, and one of them was found near the harbour.