Excavations at Nemea IV THE SHRINE OF OPHELTES

JORGE J. BRAVO III

WITH A CONTRIBUTION BY MICHAEL MACKINNON

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Excavations at Nemea IV Bronze figurine of the hero Opheltes (Cat. 271). Excavations at Nemea IV THE SHRINE OF OPHELTES

JORGE J. BRAVO III

WITH A CONTRIBUTION BY MICHAEL MACKINNON

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Joan Palevsky Imprint in Classical Literature.

Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the von Bothmer Publication Fund of the Archaeological Institute of America.

University of California Press Oakland, California

© 2018 by the Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bravo, Jorge J., III, 1968- author. | MacKinnon, Michael R. (Michael Ross), 1966- contributor. Title: Excavations at Nemea IV : the shrine of Opheltes / Jorge J. Bravo III; with a contribution by Michael MacKinnon. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017045094 | ISBN 9780520294929 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Hero worship—Greece. | Cults—Greece. | Temple of Zeus (Nemea, Greece) | Excavations (Archaeology)—Greece. | Greece—Antiquities. Classification: LCC BL815.H47 B73 2018 | DDC 938/.8—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017045094

22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).∞ To Theodore D. Papalexopoulos, Founder and First President of the support organization Opheltes, the Friend of Nemea

CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

List of Illustrations xiii

List of Tables xxiii

Selected Bibliography and Abbreviations xxv

Specialized Terminology and Abbreviations Used in the Text and Appendices xli

Elevations, Grid References, and Measurements xliii

Introduction 1

CHAPTER ONE The Physical Remains 3

CHAPTER TWO The Faunal Remains from the Hero Shrine 79 MICHAEL MACKINNON

CHAPTER THREE The Myth of Opheltes and the Origin of the Nemean Games 101 CHAPTER FOUR Representations of the Hero Opheltes in Art 141

CHAPTER FIVE The Shrine of Opheltes in the Context of Greek Hero Cult 171

Appendix A: Catalogue of Artifacts 183

Appendix B: The Curse Tablets from the Hero Shrine 297

Appendix C: Testimonia on the Myth and Cult of Opheltes and the Nemean Games 323

Index of Subjects, Ancient People and Places, and Modern Scholars 349

Index of Ancient Sources 373

Index of Inventoried Finds from the Nemea Excavations Mentioned in This Volume 377 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I. In 1979, more than a third of a century ago, parts turned into advantage because the studies in the of the north and west wall of a structure began to meantime had enabled a more precise defini- emerge from the soil of Nemea. Its true nature was tion of issues to be investigated in the renewed not understood initially, and it was then thought to work, and because there had emerged a student be a roofed building, perhaps a palaistra.1 in the Graduate Program in Ancient History and The following year, thanks in large part to a Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of detour of the modern road that led to Vrachati California whose interests and talents converged on the Gulf of Corinth, it was possible to define on hero worship in general, and specifically on the structure as an open-air shrine, in the form Opheltes. of a lopsided pentagon.2 Because of the discover- It is now nearly twenty years since Jorge Bravo ies within, its function as a hero shrine could be undertook the resumed excavation of the remains suggested. at Nemea, and the resulting study has culminated The excavators during these years were, in in this volume, which will, I believe, constitute a chronological order, Tom Knight, Chris Simon, lasting contribution to our knowledge of ancient John McEnroe, Larry Ball, and Carol Hershenson. hero worship and the role of death in the games of Photography was carried out by James Parker, ancient Greece. Those games can now be under- Craig Mauzy, Katherine Patey, and Christina stood as an affirmation of life, and of its continua- Malango; architectural recording was the work of tion, in the face of death. They are a symbol of the the undersigned, James McLane, and Aikaterini undying quest by mortals for immortality. Skleri; conservation by Phyllis Graham, Patricia Felch, and Monica Rose Smith. The Director of Stephen G. Miller Excavations during those years was assisted by Stella G. Miller. Each of these people made a contribution to the discovery and preservation of much of the material in the following pages. II. The present study is based on the results of But the identification of the hero who had been numerous seasons of excavation conducted in and worshiped in the shrine as Opheltes had to await around the Heroön of Opheltes from 1979 to 2001. further study and was only formally proposed It combines an examination of the archaeological nearly a decade after the suspension of excava- remains with an analysis of the testimony about tions.3 Nearly another decade passed before ex- the myth and cult of the hero preserved in di- cavations could be resumed in 1997. The delay verse literary and artistic sources. The value of this study resides in the fact that the Heroön is one of 1 Hesperia 1980, 194 and 197. the best archaeologically documented examples of 2 Hesperia 1981, 46 n. 4 and 60–65. Greek hero cult that we currently possess from the 3 Guide, 109–110. Archaic, Classical, and Early Hellenistic periods;

ix x PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

it is therefore positioned to make an important with whom I have personally worked are Elena contribution to the study of this aspect of ancient Sheehan, Angelique Sideris, Christine Venee Greek religion. Call-Ferrer, Moe Nadel, and Craig Mauzy. In Over the many years I have devoted to think- addition to the Director’s own work on the state ing about Opheltes and his shrine, I have relied plans, architects who made contributions include on many forms of assistance from individuals and Stefan Buerger, Dimitra Katsota, Lorin Culver, institutions, to whom I owe a sizable debt of grat- Alison McDavid, and Katerina Skleri. Unless oth- itude. I owe my greatest thanks to Stephen G. erwise noted, all the illustrations in the present Miller, former Director of the Nemea Excavations volume derive from their work and are provided and my esteemed professor at the University of courtesy of the Nemea Excavation Archives of the California at Berkeley. In 1996, aware of my de- University of California, Berkeley. veloping interest in hero cult, he offered me the In planning for the eventual publication of the richly rewarding opportunity to supervise the remains of the Heroön, it was clear to me that the excavations that would resume in 1997 in the abundant faunal material that had been collected Heroön of Opheltes at Nemea, thus planting the by excavators before me could shed important light seed for the project that bears fruit in this present on the rituals conducted in honor of Opheltes, and work. so I am especially grateful to Michael MacKinnon While supervising excavation work from 1997 of the University of Winnipeg for accepting the to 2001, I benefited from having dedicated teams invitation to study those remains; as expected, our of workmen, and I wish to express special thanks understanding of the shrine has profited greatly to Vassilios Papoutses, who served as foreman of from his work, as will be clear from the chapter he my teams, for bringing his accumulated experi- contributes here. ence, wisdom, patience, and sense of humor to our In preparing the Catalogue, I was able to ex- work on many a hot day. In those years there were amine comparable material from other excava- also other trench supervisors whose results are tions with the permission and assistance of the included in my study of the Heroön and its envi- Fourth Ephoreia of Antiquities in Nauplion, the rons: Dylan Sailor, Nikolaos Poulopoulos, Tanya American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Szafranski, Barbara Carder, Rebecca Karberg, and the British School at Athens, and the École the Director himself. Française d’Athènes. I also want to thank Dr. I also owe thanks to the Nemea guards, es- Jörg Rambach, who supervised excavations at the pecially to the successive head guards, Andreas Pelopion in Olympia from 1987 to 1994 under the Vakrinakes and Maro Nikitatou, for their assis- direction of Dr. Helmut Kyrieleis, for discussing tance and flexibility with regard to my research in the results of that work with me. the Nemea Museum, a courtesy that has continued While a student at Berkeley, I received valuable to this day whenever I have needed to return to assistance from members of the staff of the Nemea Nemea for further study of the excavated remains. Archives. Frank Cope deserves first mention Finally, I want to thank the American School among them, followed by Gloria Bath, Clarice of Classical Studies at Athens and the Hellenic Major, and Emily Munro Haug. I also want to Ministry of Culture (now Ministry of Culture thank Kim Shelton, the present Director of the and Sport), with whose permission and support, as Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology, for giv- always, the Nemea Excavations proceeded. ing of her own time and energy in subsequent Many fellow staff members of the Nemea years to facilitate my access to materials at Nemea Excavations have contributed their technical ex- and Berkeley and to offer helpful comments on pertise to this project. For conservation work I my work. thank Photis Demakes as well as Phyllis Graham, A preliminary and less comprehensive version who moreover organized much of the logistics of of this study appeared as my Ph.D. dissertation for the processing and recording of finds once they the University of California in 2006: “The Hero left the field. Martin Sedaghat did most of the Shrine of Opheltes/ Archemoros at Nemea: A drawing of artifacts for this volume. For the pho- Case Study of Ancient Greek Hero Cult.” Stephen tographs I am indebted to many who worked G. Miller served as chair of my dissertation com- as excavation photographer over the years; those mittee, and he and the other committee mem- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

bers, Ronald S. Stroud, Andrew F. Stewart, and All aspects of the archaeological work at Nemea Anthony W. Bulloch, offered me valuable advice, thrive as the result of their generosity, and my commentary, and support during that phase of my work has been no exception. As a graduate stu- research and writing. dent I received fellowships for research and travel I have also had many opportunities over the to Greece from the Stahl Grant Committee, years to present parts of this work in lectures to the Graduate Group in Ancient History and various audiences, and I am grateful for the com- Mediterranean Archaeology, the Department of ments and suggestions I received on those occa- Classics, the Sara B. Aleshire Center for the Study sions, as well as through more informal conversa- of Greek Epigraphy, and the Graduate Division, tions with friends and scholars. Of these there are all of the University of California at Berkeley. I too many to provide a complete list, but it would also received fellowship support from the Phi Beta include Crawford Greenewalt, Mark Griffith, Kappa Northern California Association and the Robert Knapp, Jeannette Marchand, Elizabeth Fulbright Foundation. In support of my research Gebhard, Corinne Pache, Yannis Lolos, Gloria in summer 2012, I received a Bowdoin College Hunt, Gunnel Ekroth, Joseph Rife, Christopher Faculty Research Award, and from fall 2014 to Faraone, Lillian Doherty, and Eva Stehle. spring 2015, generous funding from the University I owe thanks to the editor and staff of Hesperia of Maryland Department of Classics as well as a for giving me the opportunity to publish much University of Maryland Research and Scholarship of my work on the curse tablets from the Heroön Award permitted me to devote substantial time to as an article in their journal; the helpful sugges- the present manuscript. Finally, in support of the tions and corrections I received from them and extensive art program of this volume, I am grate- two anonymous reviewers improved my work, ful for subvention grants awarded from the von resulting in the text that forms the better part of Bothmer Publication Fund of the Archaeological Appendix B of the present volume. Institute of America and from the College of Arts At the University of California Press and Book- and Humanities and the Department of Classics of Matters I owe thanks especially to Eric Schmidt, the University of Maryland. Maeve Cornell-Taylor, and David Peattie, who On a personal note, I want to thank my parents have shepherded me through the last stage of pre- and my husband, Lorin Culver, for their love and paring my work with calm and confident hands. support, and for reminding me, as I traversed the I also wish to thank those who assisted the Press long road of this project, both to enjoy and to in reviewing my manuscript for contributing their learn from the experiences en route and to look own additional, helpful comments. confidently toward the destination. Financial support has come from a number of directions. I begin by thanking the many pri- Jorge J. Bravo III vate donors who reached deeply into their pockets February 11, 2017 year after year to sustain the Nemea Excavations.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures marked with an asterisk (*) are foldouts at the end of the volume. Page numbers are in italics.

Frontispiece Bronze figurine of the hero Opheltes 17. Stone wall under excavation, from the south (Cat. 271) 11 1. Restored plan of the Sanctuary of Zeus at 18. Stone box and two holes found in G/5, Nemea 4 9–18/17,19, from the south 12 2. Aerial view of the Heroön in 1980 5 19. Channel aligned with the stone chamber 3. Aerial view of the Sanctuary of Zeus from the (Tomb of Opheltes), from the north 12 southwest in 2001 6 20. Stack of stones in G/8–18/19, after excava- 4. Aerial view of the Sanctuary of Zeus from the tion of the channel and surrounding fill, from west in 2001 6 the north 13 5. Aerial view of the Sanctuary of Zeus from the 21. Detail of state plan, Section F 18 15 north in 2001 7 *22. Cross section B-B’, from west to east *6. State plan of the Heroön and surrounding through the mound/embankment remains 23. Scarp showing the elements of the mound’s 7. Prehistoric levels below the Heroön in Sections west slope, from the southwest 16 F 18, F 19, from the north 8 24. West slope of mound lined with red clay and 8. Detail of bank of Neolithic fill in Section rubble, from the southwest 16 F 19, from the north 8 25. Detail of the steep cut of the existing earth 9. Late Bronze Age streambeds under excavation inside the mound, from the west 16 in Section F 18, from the east 8 *26. Cross section A-A’, from west to east 10. Contours of streambeds visible in virgin soil through the Heroön of Section F 18, from the southeast 8 27. Ridge of stones on the west side of the Archaic 11. Fragments of Geometric vessel (stemmed Heroön mound, from the north 17 krater?) 9 28. West side of the stone ridge, from the south 12. Stone wall, possibly predating the Archaic 17 Heroön, from the east 10 29. West side of the stone ridge, from the west 13. Stone wall, from the south 10 18 14. Detail of the north end of the stone wall and 30. Detail of rubble lining below the northwest sloping mass of stones of the Archaic Heroön, corner of the foundation course of the Early from the southeast 10 Hellenistic Heroön, from the east 18 15. Southwest corner of the Heroön, from the 31. Sloped rubble lining visible below the foun- east 10 dation course of the Early Hellenistic Heroön, 16. Detail of the southern extension of the stone from the north 18 wall, from the south 11 32. Detail of state plan, Section F 19 19

xiii xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

33. Mass of stones on the west side of the mound, 52. Rubble slope of the east side of the Archaic from the north 19 mound, from the east 28 34. West edge of the mass of stones, from the west 53. Detail of state plan, Section G 18 28 20 54. Rubble at the northeast corner of the Heroön, 35. Sloping profile of the mass of stones, as re- from the north 28 vealed by excavation of the adjacent mound 55. Rubble at the northeast corner of the Heroön, fill, from the south 20 from the west 29 36. Curvilinear rubble wall segment of the 56. Bronze phiale (Cat. 49), in situ 30 Archaic Heroön mound and poros blocks of 57. Cup and oinochoe (Cat. 28 and 35), in situ the Early Hellenistic Heroön enclosure, from 30 the south 20 58. Remains of a vase with a rock lodged in it, in 37. Curvilinear rubble wall segment of the situ 31 Archaic Heroön mound and poros blocks of 59. Group of four kotylai (Cat. 15–18) and an the Early Hellenistic Heroön enclosure, from oinochoe (Cat. 36), in situ 32 the west 21 60. Stone enclosure (Tomb of Opheltes) in G/6, 38. Southwest corner of the Heroön, after ex- 7–19/1,3, from the north 35 cavation into the Archaic mound, from the 61. Stones in G 18, some possibly of the north south 21 end of the enclosure (Tomb of Opheltes), 39. Southwest corner of the Heroön, after ex- from the east 35 cavation into the Archaic mound, from the 62. Two stone blocks, unearthed in a large area north 21 of blackened fill (= Deposit F 18, F 19:1) 40. Detail of the poros blocks and curvilinear near the west side of the Heroön, from the rubble wall at the southwest corner of the south 36 Heroön, from the south 22 63. Detail of northern stone block near the west 41. Rubble retaining walls of the Archaic mound, side of the Heroön, from the south 37 from the west 22 64. Stone block at F/12–19/12,13 and surround- 42. Rubble retaining walls of the Archaic mound, ing pits, from the west 37 from the east 23 65. Stone block fragments at G/6,7–19/16, from 43. Cobbled surface between the retaining walls the west 37 of the mound, from the east 23 66. Remains of a pit found south of the Tomb of 44. Southern retaining wall of the Archaic Opheltes, from the east 39 mound, exposed beneath the foundation 67. Tree planting pit with root holes, excavated in course of the Early Hellenistic Heroön, from F/8–19/14,15, from the southwest 40 the south 23 68. Graph of relative percentages of inventoried 45. Elements excavated within the southern side vessels from the Heroön, grouped by function of the Archaic mound in F/16,19–19/14,18, 41 from the east 24 69. Graph of relative percentages of inventoried 46. Scattered stones, cobbled surface, and rubble miniature pottery shapes from the Heroön retaining wall excavated within the south- 42 ern side of the Archaic mound in F/16,19– 70. Miniature kantharoi from the Heroön (l. to 19/14,18, from the south 24 r.): P 588, P 575, Cat. 139, P 581, and P 526 47. Cobbled surface south of the southern retaining 43 wall of the Archaic mound, from the south 25 71. Miniature bowls from the Heroön (l. to r.): 48. Scarp in Section F 20 showing the south edge P 1742, P 1655, P 1265, Cat. 140, and of the mound, from the west 26 P 1654 43 49. Detail of state plan, Section G 19 27 72. Krateriskoi from the Heroön (l. to r.): P 578, 50. Rubble wall beneath the east wall of the Early P 1618, P 530, Cat. 141, P 1706, P 523, and Hellenistic Heroön enclosure, from the west 27 P 527 43 51. Rubble wall beneath the east wall of Early 73. Mints represented by two or more coins in Hellenistic Heroön and rubble slope of the the area of the Heroön 46 east side of the Archaic mound, from the 74. Density of pre-Roman coins in and around north 27 the Heroön 47