S. CONSTANTINIDOU

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRONZE IN EARLY GREEK RELIGION*

To the memory of James Hooker

Hesiod’s Bronze Race Ζευς δέ πατήρ τρίτον άλ?,ο γένος μερόπων ανθρώπων χάλκεων ποίησονκ άργυρέω ονδέν δμοΐον, εκ μελιάν, δεινόν τε και δβριμον, οϊσιν *Αρηος έργ3 εμελε στονόεντα καί νβριες* ... των ό9 ήν χάλκεα μέν τευγεα, χάλκεοι δέ τε οϊκοι, χαλκω δ9 ειργάζοντο' ... Then Zeus the father made yet a third race of men, of bronze, not like the silver in anything. Out of ash-trees he made them, a ter­ rible and fierce race, occupied with the woeful works of Ares and with acts of violence, ... They had bronze armour, bronze houses, and with bronze they laboured ...’ (Hes. Op. 143 ff.; 150 f.)1. In Hesiod’s famous myth of Ages, whose structure and interpre­ tation have been a matter of long and controversial discussions, a place was given to bronze; one of the races is named after this metal and represents a certain stage in the process of human 'development9 which, however, has also a negative aspect that corresponds to a nat­ ural and cultural degeneration (with an emphasis on the moral level )2.

— % * I am deeply indebted to J.T. Hooker for reading this article and for his written comments and criticisms sent to me a few days before his death; I dedi­ cate it to his memory with much gratitude. My thanks are also due to Professor Pat Easterling for offering very helpful suggestions and comments and to Mr Gareth Owens for contributing to its improvement. 1 . For the Greek text I have used the edition of M.L. West, Hesiod, Works and Days, Oxford 1978, while the translation is quoted also from M.L. West’s, Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days. Translated with an Introduction and Notes, Oxford 1988, 41. 2. The ‘degenerative interpretation’, as it is called, is put forward by many scholars who see in Hesiod’s myth of the successive ages a progressive decline of 138 S. Constantinidou

This work, however, is not intended to deal with the above myth’s meaning and interpretation as a whole. This has been done excellent­ ly by various scholars, for many years, who have treated the prob­ lems raised by the fascinating tale of how men may lose a better life (passing through various stages of living)1. Nevertheless, the myth of Ages with the mention of the bronze race seems a perfect starting point for studying the mythological association of bronze —an asso­ ciation which seems to belong to a tradition even earlier than Hesiod himself2— and the importance of this metal in early Greek religion. In the TVorfo and Days the bronze race was created by Zeus: Ζεδς δέ πατήρ τρίτον &λ?.ο γένος μερόπων άνθρώπων / χά?*κειον ποίησ9 (νν. 143-4; cf. ν. 158). Hesiod’s additional reference to the origin of the same race, έκ μελιάν (ν. 145), makes things more complicated. human life (and culture) and the ‘passage from an original paradise-state* (West, WD , 172) to a state of misery and hard work. Other scholars accept that these ra­ ces are successive in time as well (thus historicizing Hesiod’s myth of Ages) and try to associate them with successive historical periods with, however, an inter­ ruption of the non-metallic heroic race, which may be an interpolation to the original non-Greek myth on which Hesiod based his own so as to adapt it to the Greek tradition. And the ‘non degenerative interpretation*, that which sees the successive ages in a synchronic as well as a diachronic dimension, not a decline of any sort but a different state of existence; according to this interpretation the succession of the one race by the other should not be seen as a sequence of inferior­ ity for in some respects a successive genos could be superior to the preceding one (cf. the silver and bronze races). According to this interpretation, Hesiod’s races represent various (different) sorts of men,good and bad, violent or not, warlike or peaceful, diligent or lazy, fraudulent and deceitful or just, miserable or happy. It is in this sense that the didactic function of the poem is accomplished as there is still hope for Hesiod’s contemporaries to live in a paradise, like the golden people, or in misery, like the iron people: for the various interpretations of the above myth see M.L. West, Hesiod, Works and Days, Oxford 1978, 172-7; J.-P. Vernant, ‘Le my the hdsiodique des races* in My the et pensee chez les Grecs, Paris 1965, 19-47; J. Fontenrose, 'Work, Justice, and Hesiod's five ages’, Classical Philology 69.1 (1974), 1-16. See also G.W. Querbach, ‘Hesiod myth of the Four races’, The Clas­ sical Journal 81.1 (1985), 1-12, esp. 5 f. For the view that ‘Hesiod's classification is not technological or even cultural, it is based on an hierarchy of the value of metals and a theory of degeneration' see J. Pinsent, 'History, Myth and Epic: a Study on Genres’ in ίλιάδα και Οδύσσεια. Μύθος και ιστορία. Από τα Πρακτικά του Δ' Συνεδρίου για την Οδύσσεια (9-15 Σετττ. 1984), Ithaca 1986, 38-9. 1. See previous note. However, there is no agreement among them on the num­ ber of the myth’s races; are they five, four or even six? Nevertheless, work, hy- bris, and justice (dikd) are the main themes associated with this myth: cf. Fon­ tenrose and Querbach, arts c it 2. For oriental parallels and the possible origin of this myth see West, WD, 174-7; Fontenrose, art. cit., 2-5. i

The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 139 For, two interpretations are put forward: either they are born from Meliai, the nymphs of ash-trees or from the ash-trees themselves. It seems that both interpretations are in fact compatible because to be born from ash-trees could also mean originating from or related to the divine beings who dwell in these trees, even more so as the Meliai nymphai are mentioned in the Theogony (187 J1. However, within the context of the description of the bronze race, έκ μελιάν is rather used as a distinctive feature of this race’s nature and more specifical­ ly of its hardness and cruelty. They are hard like the wood of ash- trees that was usually used for making spears and other weapons (cf. Od. 22. 259: άλλου ό’ εν τοίχω μελίη πέσε χαλκοβάοεια). Besides, it is for the same race that Hesiod says: *... a terrible and fierce race, oc­ cupied with the woeful works of Ares and with acts of violence ..· They had bronze armour ...’ (Op. 145 ff.). Whether or not we accept the bronze race’s origin from Meliai nymphs The fact that the Meliai of Th. 187 are related to the Eriny­ es and the Giants (Th. 185) ... implies that they have a fierce char­ acter, which corresponds with the bellicose nature of the bronze race’1 2. A^iolence and warlike acts are then the main characteristics of the bronze race; they tended to the works or *deeds’ of Ares ('Άρη- ος έργα) and to νβριες (acts of violence). Although not inferior, the bronze men were quite different from the silver ones (ονκ άργνρέω ούδέν όμοϊον) and they ate no bread, which means that they were not involved in cultivation and agriculture which are regarded as basic features of civilization3. War was their main occupation and they

1. For either the one or the other interpretation see West, WD, on 145-6; cf. idem, Hesiod, Theogony, on 187; G.J. Rowe, Essential Hesiod, Bristol 1978, 125; W.J. Verdenius, A Commentary on Hesiod Works and Days, vv. 1-382, M nemo­ syne Suppl. 86 (Leiden 1985), on 145. See also T.A. Sinclair, Hesiod Works and Days, London 1932, p. 20, who argues that a ‘divine origin is quite inappropria­ te’ and that εκ μελιάν in Op. 145 'has nothing to do with Theog. 187, where Νύμ- φαι μελίαι are simply nymphs of ash-trees’. 2. Verdenius, op. cit. See also J.-P. Vernant, Myth and Thought among the Greeks (Engl, transl. of Mythe et pensee chez les Grecs), London 1983, 13: ‘It is easy to understand why Hesiod said that the race of bronze came from the ash- trees, έκ μελιάν. The meliai, the nymphs of the trees of war, which themselves reach up to the sky like lances, are constantly associated in myth with the supernatural beings that represent the warrior’. 3. There exist various theories over the food of these first men ranging from cannibalism and vegetarianism or even a combination of meat (not necessarily always human) and wild vegetation: see West, WD, 188. Verdenius, op. cit., on 146 and 147 takes ουδέ τι σίτον ησΟιον as a symbol of the bronze race’s ‘uncivilized nature’. 140 S. Constantinidou

only had to do with bronze as μέλας δ* ούκ £σκε σίδηρος ('as there was no dark iron’). But this genos too were destroyed by their own deeds and descended to Hades* cold house, nameless (νώννμνοι). Such was not the fate of the next race, the heroic, which follows the bronze in Hesiod’s classification. They went to the Isles of the Blest where they live in paradisal conditions comparable to those of the golden race1. Our discussion will be focussing, however, on this fourth, heroic race’s features that do, indeed, associate them with the preceding one in Hesiod’s story and give another very plausible reason for its 'in­ terpolation in Hesiod’s scheme, in the sense both that it breaks the sequence of the metals, and that it interrupts the general decline marked by that sequence’1 2; but it is not the 'contrast’ between the two races rather that provides a good reason for fitting the heroes after the bronze men as C.J. Rowe3 has argued, but chiefly both races’ special connection with war. They, too, were warriors; and they were famous warriors since they fought in Thebes and Troy. However, their dealing with the acts of war was not similar to that of the previous race but was characterized by heroic qualities similar to those of the Homeric heroic behaviour. The heroic race came to an end not be­ cause of their own νβρις, as the bronze did, but after fighting for just reasons4. Thus Hesiod’s bronze and heroic races are defined in relation to each other as they belong to the same sphere of action, that of War. However, though a pair, there are differences between them on the moral level. Each one represents different aspects of military power: the bronze men act with physical violence and cruelty, like other mythological and supernatural figures as the giants (such elements are obviously seen in Hesiod’s description of this race in vv. 147-9: ... άλλ* άδάμαντος Ιχον κρατερόφρονα θυμόν / άπλαστοι* μεγάλη δε βίη καί χεϊρες άαπτοι / έξ ώμων έπέφνκον έπί στιβαροΐσι μέλεσσιν), they are committed to hybris. The heroes embody a different military power;

1. See Op. 170-3; cf. 117-8. 2. Rowe, op. cit., on 154-5. For other reasons for the heroic race’s interrup­ tion of the sequenco of Hesiod’s myth of ages see Verdenius, op. cit., on 158. On the historical meaning of the myth, the races representing historical world-peri­ ods, see Fontenrose, art. cit., esp. 9, who believes that the bronze and the heroic races *wero really two representations of a single period', of tho late Bronze Age. 3. Seo as note above. It is obvious, according to Hesiod that the heroic race are hotter in many respects: for-they aro ’superior* (δρειον) and ’more orderly’ (δι­ καιότεροι*), descendants of gods (θεών γένος; cf. ήμίΟεοι). 4. See Rowe and Verdenius, o p . c it., on 161-5. The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 141 though warriors, their acts have to do with superior orders like dike and sdphrosyne1. Nevertheless, on the functional level both belong to the sphere of War, the bronze men are warriors as well as the he­ roes (both were also created by Zeus: Op. 143, 157): both belong to the world of weapons, to the world of bronze. And this is perhaps another possible explanation why the fourth race is the only race in Hesiod’s Myth of Ages that is not named after a metal.

The evidence of the Linear B texts From the mythological let us now turn to other aspects of the religious importance of bronze. The use of bronze marks a whole pe­ riod, the Bronze Age, thus known for the predominance of this metal for making weapons and objects of everyday use. Therefore, one would naturally expect this metal’s mention in the Bronze Age writ­ ten documents. In fact, the bronze-tablets are of the most important among the Linear B texts; an importance that obviously such a cate­ gory deserves among the documents of the above epoch1 2. Thus the interpretation of the Mycenaean words kako and kakeu as χαλκός and χαλκεύς is beyond any dispute. Similarly, ka-ke-we represents the plural number of an occupational term and comprises one of the most important occupational categories in the Mycenaean archives. In Pylos, kakewe are recorded in the Jn, Ma and Na series. In the Jn series they are recorded with designations which allow us to classify them into five categories3. One is that of potinijawejo (see PY Jn 310

1. Vernant, op.cit., 16-7, 45 f. See also G.W. Querbach, art. cit., for the best discussion, in my opinion, of the clear contrast that Hesiod’s 'myth does suggest ... a contrast between communities of men who deal with each other through dike and communities in which hybris is rife’ (ibid., 5-6). 2. For the definition, the concept and chronology of the Bronze Age see J.T. Hooker, Mycenaean Greece, London 1976, 2-6. For the various uses of bronze in the Linear B texts see J. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World, Cambridge 1976, 139- 43. For the word χαλκός, used in Greek both of copper and of bronze, I am using the translation ‘bronze’ (which in fact is an alloy of copper and tin), except in some cases in the Cyprus section when copper refers to the unmixed metal. 3. These are thoroughly discussed in M. Lindgren’s excellent 'Prosopogra- phical Catalogue of Individuals and Groups* entitled The People of Pylos, Uppsa­ la 1973, Part I, 61-70. According to her classification these five categories of ka­ kewe in the Jn series are the following: 1) tarasija ekote jekosi 2) atarasijo 3) po­ tinijawejo 4) aketere (akete) 5) paraketeewe (paraketeeu). However, the kake­ we potinijawejo may also be recorded as tarasija ekote or atarasijo, an additional designation that belongs to the first two categories and refers to an occasional oc­ cupational status of a certain smith, his activity or inactivity, i.e. whether he has or he is given tarasija (probably an amount of bronze), or not. 142 S. Constantinidou

and 431), associated with the goddess Potinija and the place-names Akerewa and Apekee, probably two other local cult-centres of the above goddess adjacent to her main cult place, Pakijana. In 1963, in a letter addressed to the Editor of Nestor John Chadwick emphasized the importance of the Mycenaean documents in Linear B for 'a very ancient association between metal-working and religion’1. In the Pylos Jn bronze-tablets groups of smiths are called po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo, 'those who belong to Potnia’, which points to their cultic association with the above divine personality and sug­ gests the existence in Mycenaean times of bronze workshops associated with religion1 2. A similar association is shown by evidence from Cyprus that will be presented below. Thus the po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo ka-ke-we: ΠοτνιαΡεϊοι χαλκήΡες in the Jn series, are the bronze-smiths of Potnia who is possibly the di­ vine Mistress of the Pylian State. Their mention provides further evidence for the important r0le of sanctuaries in the Mycenaean eco­ nomy3; a role which is not confined to bronze-working but also to

1. Nestor l.v., p. 251 (Correspondence). 2. A similar case may be the cave of Arkalokhori which Sp. Marinatos sug­ gested that ‘was the workshop of a religious guild of bronze-smiths’. Their patron there, was the Minoan goddess who appears in many aspects in Crete and is be­ lieved to be the predecessor of the Greek goddess Potnia Theron: see John Fer­ guson, Among the Gods: An archaeological exploration of ancient Greek religion, London and New York 1989, 1; cf. J. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World, 93 f. Evidence for metal-working comes also from the Menelaion Mycenaean site — the cult-place of Helen and Menelaos on the east bank of Eurotas and opposite Sparta, at the site of ancient Therapne— though it seems that this had to do with the construction of the building there rather than with the cult at the neighbouring shrine: see Hector Catling, Lakonikai Spoudai 3 (1977), 263. An indication of the association of bronze-smiths or bronze-smiths* workshops with the cult of Athena Chalkioikos is the inscription read on a large plaque found on the Acropolis of Sparta; it bears the word Χαλκεία, which can be interpreted as ‘workshops of bronze* or ‘bronze-objects*. The first meaning, however, seems more plausible. This plaque might also have been used to specify the place in the temple where bronze dedications were deposited, probably a wooden platform or an altar similar to the Chalkotheke on the Acropolis of Athens which served as a depository of bronze objects; see T.A. Boring, Literacy in Ancient Sparta, Mnemosyne Suppl. 54 (Leiden 1979), 107 n. 86. 3. However, for a different view see J.T. Hooker (Linear B. An Introduction, Bristol 1980, 114), who does not see in tho Jn bronze-tablets any connection of the bronze-smiths with cult or any sacral function; cf. idem, ‘Titles and functions in the Pylian Stato*v in Studies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek presented to John Chadwick, Minos 20-22 (Salamaifca 1987), 260. For po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo smiths see also M.G.F. Ventris and J. Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 143 other economic sectors such as that of textiles etc. L.R. Palmer1 sug­ gested that, on the basis of the evidence of the tablets, a distinction between 'the royal branch and the divine branch of the economy* can be made. This distinction, however, which is rather artificial than a reality in the Mycenaean economy, seems to be of secondary importance from our point of view because the Linear B tablets are the official documents of the Mycenaean palatial centres and thus it seems more plausible that they were concerned with the offi­ cial, state-religion* 12. Consequently the economic role of sanctuaries was not so much independent from that of the Mycenaean palace it­ self3. In support of this view I consider some other evidence quite im­ portant: one of the most important Mycenaean records of religious offerings is PY Tn 316; there, a list of offerings, thirteen gold ves-

19732, 354, 509. For Potnia see mainly J. Chadwick, 'Potnia’, Minos 5 (1957), 117-29. A κακευ(ζ) associated with a goddess, τάς Γανά(σσας), is found on an inscription from Cyprus (for which see S. Luria, 'Kypro-mykenisches kakeu ( χα- λκεύς)', Kadmos 2:1 (1963), 71), which I regard as a very important additional evidence for the association of bronzeworking and cult. 1. ‘War and Society in a Mycenaean Kingdom* in Armees et fiscalite dans le monde antique. Colloques nationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scien- tifique, no 936, Paris 14-16 October 1976, Paris 1977,35-64, esp. 40. For the social status of po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo and their religious function see also K. Wundsam, Die politische und soziale Struktur in den mykenischen Residenzen nach den Linear B Texten, Wien 1968, 69 and 79, who, however, believes that 'auf das Problem «Kult und Wirtschaft» kann nur kurz hingewiesen werden*. For the position of ka-ke-we in general in the social structure of the Mycenaean world (given the very limited information provided by the tablets on this issue) see A. Heubeck, Aus der Welt der friihgriechichen Lineartafeln, Gottingen 1966, 68-9. See also M. Lindgren, op. cit. 2. For 'official and popular cults in Mycenaean Greece* see R. Iiagg, 'Offi­ cial and popular cults in Mycenaean Greece’ in R. Hagg and Nanno Marinatos, (eds), Sanctuaries and Cults in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the First International Symposium at the Swedish Institute in Athens, 12-13 May 1980, Stockholm 1981, 35-9. This study does not, however, disregard the serious prob­ lems that the Linear B texts present in providing information about religion and cult: ibid., 35: 'Relatively reliable evidence for what is Mycenaean is offered by the Linear B tablets as regards the names of deities etc., but unfortunately they do not tell us very much about the actual sanctuaries and cults. This, of course, is due to their function as administrative documents'. 3. But see also Wundsam, op. cit., 79: 'Man konnte von «Tempelwirtschaft» sprechen, sofern man den Terminus nur als Antithese zu «Palastwirtschaft» ver- steht'. It is, however, surprising that Poseidon, the chief god in the Pylos tablets, appears exclusively as a receiver of offerings and do-so-mo (e.g. PY Un 718.1: po-se-da-o-ni do-so-mo= Ποσειδάονι δοσμός, 'a contribution to Poseidon'), and has nothing to do with the production process (ibid., 79), as Potnia does. 144 S. Constantinidou

sels and ten human beings, are sent (most probably by the people of Pylos under the supervision of the palace) to various sanctuaries lo­ cated in Pakijanes, which seems to be a very important cult-place in the vicinity of Pylos. The religious offerings as well as the sanctu­ aries are linked in the record with particular gods and goddesses some of whom are well-known from the later Greek pantheon1. Further to the above the following evidence seems very impor­ tant: an unguent boiler (arepazo[-o) called Pirajo in PY Un 249, is po-ti-ni-ja-wc-jo, i.e. he belongs to Potnia; to him various materials are issued, most probably for the manufacture of perfumes. And ev­ idence from Knossos, Mycenae and Thebes shows that marineus, a name which may stand for Mallineus, can be added to the Myce­ naean pantheon as a divine personality. There is strong indication, as L.R. Palmer1 2 argues, that this divinity was associated with tex­ tiles. His woikos is mentioned in a Knossian tablet (As 1519.11: ma- rinewo woikode), 'to the woikos of marineu’ a similar expression to potinija wokode, 'to the woikos of Potnia’ in TH Of 36.2, to whom wool is offered. All these examples indicate the existence and function within the world of the Mycenaean tablets, of divine establishments and workshops engaged in metal-work and the manufacture of perfumes, textiles, etc. The destination of the manufacturing products, i.e. the recipients, are mostly divine beings. The fact that the administration of the Mycenaean palaces was interested in recording all this infor­

1. For PY Tn 316 see Docs1, 284-9, 458-64; L. R. Palmer, The Interpreta­ tion of Mycenaean Greek texts, Oxford 1963 (repr. 1969), 261-8; M. Girard-Rousseau, Les mentions religieuses dans les tablettes myceniennes, Rome 1968, 22-3; Hooker, Linear B. An Introduction, 158-62; W. Merlingen, 'Deux observations concernant Pylos Tn 316*, Athenaeum 46(1958), 383-8; L.R. Palmer, Ά Mycenaean calendar of offerings*, Eranos 53(1955), 1-13; J. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World, 89 ff. In a more recent article Anna Sacconi (*La tavoletta di Pilo Tn 316. Una registra- zione di carattere eccezionale?*, Minos 20-22 (1987), 551-5) rejects the theory of an exceptional ceremony for appealing to the gods with human sacrifices and the offering of gold vases to save Pylos from destruction and suggests that the text of Tn 316 refers to an annual procession, whereas the human beings mentioned are the priests and the priestesses. 2. Some New Minoan-Mycenaean Gods, Iunsbrucker Beitrage zur Sprachwis- senschaft (Vortrage und Kleinere Schriften 26), Innsbruck 1981, 7 ff. J.T. Killen, 'Bronze-working at Knossos and Pylos*, Hermathena CXLIII (1987), 64 f., does not accept as certain whether ma-ri-ne-u in KN As 1519 is a divine personality or not; ho is, however, according to Hie evidonce, 'engaged in the production of per­ fumed oil*. The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 145 mation supports L.R. Palmer’s view1 that: ‘What has emerged is a complex and highly centralized totalitarian society in which the gods and their tendance are all pervading With the above views in mind we now turn to the role and signif­ icance of the po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo ka-ke-we (TIorviaFeloi γαλκηΡες). Are they independent artisans or attached to the palace?1 2 That they are ‘in the service of Potnia’ is an interpretation which should not be rejected as the word is an adjectival derivative of Potnia, of a word which most likely denotes a particular goddess in Mycenaean times. The fact that her name ‘is applied to persons and property at a number of sites in the kingdoms of Pylos and Knossos’, according to Chadwick3, suggests that the po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo are a guild of crafts­ men devoted to her. Chadwick also refers to parallels of such a com­ bination of cult and craft in Crete, e.g. the cave of Arkalokhori men­ tioned above which functioned as a shrine and a bronze-smithy, as well as the ivory-workshop adjacent to a shrine in the Citadel House at Mycenae4. The Linear B evidence so far shows that it is almost certain that temple workshops existed during the time of the tablets and that these were linked to the cults of the deities (as far as bronze work­ shops are concerned they were linked to Potnia). On the other hand

1. Some New Minoan-Mycenaean Gods, 5. 2. For a detailed study of the information given by the Jn series concerning the distribution of bronze and the organization of the bronze industry as well as for etymological suggestions and the meaning of tarasija in the same series, see Yves Duhoux, Aspects du Vocabulaire economique mycenien, (cadastre-arti- sanat - fiscalite), Amsterdam 1976, 102-15. See also M. Lejeune, *Les forgerons de Pylos’, Historia 10 (1961), 415-34. 3. ‘What do we know about Mycenaean religion?’, in A. Morpurgo-Davies and Y. Duhoux, (eds), Linear B: A 1984 Survey. Proceedings of the Mycenaean Colloquium of the VHth Congress of the International Federation of the Societies of Classical Studies (Dublin, 27 August-lst September 1984), Louvain-la-Neuve 1985, 95. That the word po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo is an adjective derived from Potnia (Ποτνιαεΐοι= 'of, or belonging to Potnia’), who were most probably attached to one of the sanctuaries of the goddess and depended on her priesthood is being accepted by most scholars: see G. Pugliese Carratelli, Ί bronzieri di Pilo Micenea’, Studi Classici e Orientali 12 (1963), 250; Docs2, 509; cf. M. Lejeune, 'Les forgerons de Pylos*, 423: ‘L’adjectif potinijawejo, avec un suffixe dont on a peine h rendre compte, d0rive 6videmment de potinija— Πότνια, nom de la Grande D0esse, qui parait avoir tenu une place pr6pond0rante dans la religion de Pylos. -Mais la nature du lien qui unissait ces forgerons au eulte de Πότνια demeure imprecise’, 4. See Docs2, additional commentary, p. 509. 446 S. Constantinidou

there is evidence for ‘industrial* workgroups involved in bronzeworking described as qa-si-re-wi-ja or supervised by a qa-si-re-n in Knossos and Pylos respectively, who are suggested to be the ordinary, secu­ lar or ‘royal* smiths opposed to po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo. It must be admit­ ted, however, that the evidence of the texts provides no clear divi­ sion between the ‘secular’ and the ‘religious* in Mycenaean times; no firm dividing-line can then be drawn safely between the ‘Palace economy* and the ‘Temple economy*1. Before we turn to the Knossos evidence let us mention the rest of po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo references in the Pylos tablets. PY Ep 613 and Eq 213 record potinijawejojo (genitive sing. masc. or neut.) while in PY Qa 1299 we have a variant form potinijawijo (Potniawios). Ac­ cording to Lejcune1 2, one would expect the forms *potinijajo or *po- tinijaijo (*Ποτνιαϊος) instead of potinijawejo and potinijawijo. How­ ever, this is not yet the time to reach a conclusion about this very interesting adjective of our texts. At this point it is necessary to con­ centrate our discussion exclusively on the religious significance of the word. It must be admitted, though, that apart from their etymo­ logical connection with the divine Mistress Potnia, there is nothing in the tablets to tell us clearly about the cultic activities of the poti­ nijawejo kakewe, the ΠοτνιαΓεϊοι χαλκήΡες. Nor it is certain that such were their only activities. The evidence of the tablets shows that cult personnel —even those whose occupational connection with cult is more obvious— functioned on a cultic as well as on a secular level, so that it may be wrong to assign them exlusively to the first3. The same problem exists in our attempt to find similarities concern­ ing the social status of potinijawejo and that, of a θεοϊο δοέ?.ος. It is noteworthy here that one of the kakewe potinijawejo (inPYJn310), who is called Iwaka, owns a doero recorded together with the doero of other ordinary smiths4.

1. But see also J.T. Hooker, Mycenaean Greece, 190: ‘My treatment of the Pylos tablets, superficial though it has been, suffices to indicate how often we meet references to persons or events with religious connotations. Naturally so, for it is an artificial and arbitrary proceeding to distinguish the ‘religious* from tho ‘secular* in any Bronze Age society*. On the other hand J. Chadwick (‘What do we know about Mycenaean religion?*, 200) supports that the ‘concentration of rec­ ords in palaces clearly demonstrates that the secular power was dominant over tho religious’. 2. ‘Les forgerons do Pylos’, 423 notes 65, 66. 3. See Lindgrcn, o p . c i t., 10. 4. Seo Lejoune‘ *Los forgerons Pylos*, 423 notes 62 and 68; cf. 409 n.l. For tho occupational name ka-ke-u: χαλκεύς ‘smith* which belongs to that set of terms I

The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 147

Let us now examine the Knossos texts. The uniformity of the information provided by the texts which come from different Myce­ naean centres is obvious in many aspects of the civilization, e.g. in social organization, religion, 'industrial’ and agricultural activities or, in general, in economy but above all in language1. Thus potinija- wejo is also recorded in Knossos though in different contexts. There is no clear evidence for bronze-smiths of Potnia in the Knossos tab­ lets though the possibility of their presence there too, will be discussed below. In the Knossos documents this adjective is associated with cattle. However, its meaning in the Dl- series is obscure; among other interpretations are those of 'a man’s name, title, or adjective applied to sheep’* 12. The adjective may also apply to fleeces from po- ti-ni-ja-we-jo flocks (see Dp 997+ 7206: to-sa ne-wa po-ka po-ti- ni-ja-we-ja), while its feminine recorded in KN G 820.3 (po-ti-ni-ja- we-ja), a list of rations of barley to women from various places, probably applies to women in divine service (in the service of Potnia) of a particular geographical area3 (it is worth mentioning here the existence of 'sacred land’, like that of Poseidon in the Pylos tablets). However, another record from Knossos which lists vessels seems to be very valuable for adding new information about the organiza­ tion of bronzeworking at Knossos—as well as at Pylos—since no texts recording allocations of bronze similar to the Pylos Jn series come from the former. This is K(l) 875, a list of vessels, discussed by J.T.

defined as ‘the terminology of work* and the degree of its specialization in Myce­ naean as well as in later times see Anna Morpurgo Davies* excellent paper, ‘Ter­ minology of power and terminology of work in Greek and Linear B* in E. Risch and H. Muhlestein, (eds), Colloquium Mycenaeum, Neuchatel-Geneva 1979, 89, 101-3. For specialization of labour in the Mycenaean world see also P. Walcot, Greek Peasants, ancient and modern, Manchester 1970, 34; idem, ‘The specialisa­ tion of labour in early Greek society*, REG 80 (1967), 64. For the social status of the Mycenaean smiths see also I. Tegyey, ‘The Communities of Pylos’ in Studia Mycenaca. Proceedings of the Mycenaean Symposium, Brno, April 1966, ed. by A. BartonSk, Brno 1968, 144 f., who believes in the exceptional status of smiths and their organization in closed small communities. 1. On the linguistic uniformity of the Mycenaean texts see A. Morpurgo- Davies, ‘Mycenaean and Greek Language* in Linear B : A 1984 Survey, op. cit., 84 f., 97 f.; see also J.T. Killen, ‘Bronze-working at Knossos and Pylos’, 61. 2. Docs2, 354. See also J. Chadwick, L. Godart, J.T. Killen, J.-P. Olivier, A. Sacconi, I.A. Sakellarakis, (eds), Corpus of Mycenaean Inscriptions from Knos­ sos, vol. 1 (1-1063), Cambridge and Rome 1986, nos 930, 933, 943, 946, 950. 3. See Josd L. Melena, Studies on some Mycenaean inscriptions from Knos­ sos dealing with textiles, Suppl. Minos 5 (Salamanca 1975), 29; Docs2, 215. 44έ S. Constantinidou

Killen in a very interesting article entitled ‘Bronze-working at Knos- sos and Pylos* and may be evidence for the presence of potinijawejo smiths at Knossos as well. According to J.T. Killen, the term qa-si- re-wi-ja which precedes the word di-pa (—δεπας), i.e. cups, in all the lines of the above record, represents an ‘industrial unit* whose product are the vessels recorded. This workgroup seems to be involved in bronzeworking and supervised by the qa-si-re-u as is the case in some texts from Pylos (see Jn 431, 601 and 845) and probably from Thebes (Ug series); although in the latter the textual evidence is not clear, so that the assumption for the association of qa-si-re-u and bronzeworking is made by the presence of bronze objects found in the room adjoining the one where the above tablets were found. The qa-si-re-wi-ja group of workers seems to be a distinct group from that of po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo also read in the above document (this is most probably the correct reading of po-ti-[ in line 6 of K(l) 875), i.e. of the workers associated with Potnia. Thus, as in Pylos so in Knossos bronzeworking had a similar organization where two groups were engaged, the ‘secular* or ordinary smiths attached to qa-si-re-u and the po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo smiths attached to Potnia1. The Linear B evidence, then, suggests that the po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo smiths are the religious smiths, those linked with the one section of the ‘palace* economy and opposed to, or rather co-existing with, the ‘royal smiths’ so that we can talk of ‘a highly centralized economy closely linked with the service of religion*1 2, or with a temple econo­ my in Mycenaean Greece. This is exactly meant by the mention of ka-ko na-wi-jo in PY Jn 829 which, I believe, in view of the above discussion must be interpreted as ‘temple bronze*. To this I shall now turn.

1. J.T. Killen, ’Bronze-working at Knossos and Pylos’, 61-72. See also L. R. Palmer, Interpretation, 95, 227 f. 2. Ibid., 95. Moreover, bronze-smiths are fathers of women in religious ser­ vice, according to PY An 607. 6-8 (do-qc-ja do-e-ra ma-te pa-te-de ka-ke-uf WOMAN 1 do-qe-ja do-e-ra ma-te pa-te-de ka-ke-u f WOMAN 3: i.e. the wo­ men recorded here have their mothers as slaves of do-qe-jat a divinity rather than a cult personage) to whom the above women are attached, while their fathers are bronze-smiths. And this is, of course, one possible interpretation of this noto­ riously difficult text. Howover, though there is no direct evidence for that, the hypothesis can be made that their fathers were in divine service too, perhaps similar to that of tho po-ti-ni-ja-we-jo smiths. For such ’activities of bronze- smiths in temple life* see also L. R. Palmer, Mycenaeans and Minoans. Aegean Prehistory in the light of the Linear B tablets, 2nd rev. edn 1965, 111 ff.; cf, idem, Interpretetation, 127-8. The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 149

The phrase consists of ka-ko which is obviously the Mycenaean writing of the word χαλκός (here in the accus. case) and na-wi-jo} an adjective qualifying ka-ko. This second word, na-wi-jo, has raised a long duscussion as to whether it represents the Mycenaean word mean­ ing ‘ship’ (ναϋς) or that meaning 'temple* (ναός)1. The latter is now more generally accepted despite the difficulty in accepting that ναός could be interpreted as 'temple* in Mycenaean times for such, as we know them from later religious architecture, were not attested dur­ ing the above period; we may perhaps apply to it the meaning of a shrine1 2. Nevertheless, the religious significance of ka-ko na-wi-jo (χαλ­ κόν vdFtov) of the above document is indicated by the mention in the same text of some other words which seem to belong to the religious terminology and the sphere of cult3. These are the ka-ra-wi-po-ro: κ?.αΓίψόροί=κ?,είδοϋχοί (Doric κλακοφόροι), 'key bearers* who seem to be religious officials whose title was probably associated with priest­ hood; however, in the case of Jn 829 the κλαΕιφόροι were probably priestesses. Another word on the same tablet (PY Jn 829) makes its connection with cult even stronger: this is the word pa-ki-ja- p i, an ablative-instrumental in -φι of the place-name pa-ki-ja-na, which is suggested by other tablets (e.g. PY Tn 316) to be the mame of a very important religious centre of Pylos. With these points in mind the mention of ka-ko na-wi-jo is rather inclined towards cult usage and its interpretation as 'temple bronze’ should not be rejected: it was either the bronze which the temples had already acquired and was now required for the making of weapons —I will not deal here with the possible critical situation at Pylos— or this bronze was des­ tined for use in temples, perhaps for the making of dedications which

1. The possible meanings of ka-ko na-wi-jo have been discussed by St. Hiller, * ka-ko na-wi-jo: Notes in interdependences of temple and bronze in the Aegean Bronze Age', Colloquium Myccnaeum, op. cit., 189-94 and A. Leukart, ‘Autour de ka-ko na-wi-jo: quelques critfcres*, ibid., 183-7. As far as the first meaning is concerned, that of ‘ship’, St. Hiller, art. cit., 190 stresses that ‘Bronze plays no important part, if any, in Bronze Age ship-building*. 2. Hooker, Linear B. An Introduction, 1 1 1 . 3. And it is exactly the ‘internal textual aspect resulting from Jn 829 that seems decisive’ according to Hiller, op. cit., 190. However, Hiller giving various examples for the use of bronze in ancient Greek architecture (the evidence is ar­ chaeological as well as textual), proposes the interpretation of the above phrase as ‘building bronze’ and suggests that the term νόϊος is ‘connected with the fun­ damental and general meaning of a «dwelling place, house, building»’: ibid., 193. 150 S. Coostantinidou in the case of Jn 829 were probably weapons, a dedication well known from Greek temples (Paus. 3.3.8). The above Mycenaean phrase acquires a further importance in light of the evidence from Cyprus, i.e. the archaeological discoveries at Kition and Enkomi where workshops of bronze were found very close to temples1. Furthermore, according to the literary evidence, mythological or not, the use of bronze is associated with secular as well as with religious architecture. In Homer this metal is used for the palaces of Alkinoos (Od. 7.86; 13.4), Menelaos (Od. 4.72) but also for those of Zeus and Hera (Od. 8.321: ... ol <5* άγέροντο θεοί ποτϊ χα?&οβατές δώ; cf. Π. 1.426: Δώς ηοτι χαλκοβατές δώ; 14.173: Διός κα­ τά χα?.κοβατές δώ), Hephaistos (ΤΙ. 18.369-71: 'Ηφαίστου δ’ ικανέ δό­ μον Μ έτις... χάλκεον). Hades’ house was also bronze-walled (Π. 8.15). In Hesiod (Th. 726), Tartarus’ threshold was made of bronze1 2. The literary tradition corresponds to reality in actual architecture. Bronze was used in the Mycenaean tholos tombs as part of their decoration rather than for actual building. St. Hiller3 cites many examples showing ‘the importance of bronze in early Greek architecture and in particular for the origin of the Greek temple ...’: e.g. the Tombs of Agamemnon and of Klytaimnestra at Mycenae, the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos etc.

The Cyprus evidence: Copper wOrkshops associated with sanctuaries and religion

However, as has been mentioned above, the most important archaeological evidence for the association of temple economy with metal-working comes from Cyprus. Certain finds there show that ‘the copper industry was put under the protection, and hence the control, of religion and the religious authorities’4. In the ‘island of copper* the metallurgical activity which seems to have been increased in the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age Cyprus covered many aspects of everyday life, e.g. tools, ves­

1. See below, 151 f. 2. See Hiller, a r t. c it., 192; Sinclair, Hesiod, Works and Days, comm, on 150. 3. A r t. c i t .t 191 f. 4. V. Karageorghis, Cyprus, from the Stone Age to the Romans, London 1982, 104. i

The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 151

sels, weapons, and personal objects as well as religious dedications1. According to the archaeological evidence dating from the end of the Bronze Age some Cypriot sanctuaries were very close to copper workshops and were associated with the manufacture of this metal1 2. Such are attested at Enkomi, Kition and there are indications that they may have existed at Golgoi as well. The famous bronze cult statues of the 'horned god* of Enkomi, dated to the 12th cent. B.C. and also known as the 'Ingot God’ because he is represented standing on an ox-hide 'ingot5 base, as well as another bronze statuette of a female figure also standing on an 'ox­ hide* ingot, who may be the god’s divine consort, are believed to be the divine protectors of the copper mines and the copper industry of Cyprus3 *. The male deity’s representation is that of a warrior —he carries a shield and spear— which emphasizes his protective aspect over the most important industry of the island, that of copper; he is an overseer of the prosperity of the island. Similarly, the 'ingot god­

1 . Veronica Tatton-Brown, Ancient Cyprus, London 1987 (British Museum P u b ­ lications), 18 ff.; see also Mycenaean Art from Cyprus, Department of Antiqui­ ties, Nicosia 1968, Picture Book No 3, 5 f.; H.W. Catling, Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean World, Oxford 1964 (passim); J.D. Muhly, (ed.), Early Metallur­ gy in Cyprus 4000-500 B.C. (Acta of the International Archaeological Symposium, Larnaca 1-6 June 1981), Nicosia 1982 (passim). For the archaeological evidence indicating the capability of Cyprus for producing the amounts of copper that created the island’s fame as the ‘island of copper’ and one of the main export centres of this metal, an evidence which agrees with the textual evidence as well, see Y. Lynn Holmes,‘The Foreign Trade of Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age* in N. Robertson, (ed.), The Archaeology of Cyprus. Recent Developments, New Jersey 1975, 90-110. For Cyprus as ‘one of the very important centers of bronze work* see also M. Heltzer, ‘The trade of Crete and Cyprus with Syria and Meso­ potamia and their eastern tin-sources in the XVIII-XVII century B.C.*, Minos 24 (1989), 7-27. 2 . Cf. V. Tatton-Brown, op. cit., 47. On ‘the spatial association between me­ tallurgical installations and «religious» structures at the Cypriote sites* see A. Ber­ nard Knapp, Copper Production and Divine Protection: Archaeology, Ideology and Social Complexity on Bronze Age Cyprus, SlM Akl (Goteborg 1986) (passim). In his extremely interesting study, A. Bernard Knapp has admirably discussed is­ sues like ‘the relationship between copper production and divine protection*, ‘re­ ligious ideology... regarded as an element internal to the economy, and to the so­ cial relations of production* (see preface vi), ‘Religious Ideology, and Socio-Po­ litical Evolution’ etc., all with special reference to Cyprus. 3. See V. Karageorghis, op. cit., 61-113, esp. 92 ff.; cf. A.C. Brown and H.W. Catling, Ancient Cyprus, Oxford 1975 (repr. ‘with amendments to page viii and an extended bibliography and index of excavated material’), Oxford 1986, 33 ff. and pi. XIII, See also A. Bernard Knapp, op. cit., 9 ff. 152 S. Constantinidou

dess' is the female protectress of fertility, i.e. of the abundant pro­ duction of the copper mines1. V. Karageorghis1 2 sees in this associa­ tion a similar relation to that between Hephaestos and Aphrodite in Greek mythology, i.e. the association of a 'smith-god* with a goddess of fertility. Relevant to the iconography of the 'ingot-gods’ are the miniature ox-hide ingots from Cyprus; the majority of them are in­ scribed and they have been ascribed a religious function suggested to be votive-offerings associated with the prosperity of the copper industry3. Connections of metallurgy with religion are also found in other parts of Cyprus as in the sanctuary at Myrtou-Pigadhes and the Temple of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos4. The religious aspect of metal-working is a phenomenon known from other Eastern religions and is very well attested in mainland Greece and the Aegean. In the case of Cyprus it is regarded as an in­ novation introduced by the Achaean settlers and adapted to the is­ land’s special features5. With this evidence in mind I shall turn now to the mythological (and in some degree historical) tradition refer­ ring to 'brazen temples’, in particular to the old temple of Athena

1. The type of the ‘Warrior God’ seems to be of oriental origin but is well at­ tested in mainland Greece, the Aegean, and in general the Mediterranean world. It appears in the iconographic forms of a ‘Human warrior’, the ‘Warrior God*, the ‘Horned God’ and the ‘Ingot God’; the last two come from Cyprus. The model of the ‘Warrior God’ is also found in later Greek religion, both in art and literature, in the divine figures of Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo: see B.C. Dietrich, ‘Some for­ eign elements in Mycenaean Cult places and figures’, in Linear B : A 1984 Survey, op. cit., 232-4; idem, Tradition in Greek religion, 106 f., 145 f., 165-9. For the ori­ gins, their cult-aspects and the importance of the temple-gods of Ivition and En- komi, as well as their association with the copper industry of the island and its prosperity as fertility divinities, see also Jacqueline Karageorghis, La grande de- esse de Chypre et son culte. A travers Viconographie, de l* epoque neolithique au VUme s. a.C., Lyon 1977, 100-5. 2 . Op. cit., 104. 3. See Catling, Cypriot Bronzework, 268. 4. V. Karageorghis, op. cit., 104. For the copper deposits and copper smelt­ ing sites on Cyprus as well as the importance of the evidence for the connection between metallurgy and religion see also J.D. Muhly, Copper and Tin. The Dis­ tribution of Mineral Resources and the Nature of the Metals Trade in the Bronze Age, T C A A S 43 (1973), 90 ff. 5. V. Karageorghis, op. cit., 105. Cyprus, whoso importance for the transmis­ sion of religious ideas and ‘for the shaping and diffusion of Greek myths is consid­ erable*, was associated with the legendary people called Telchincs, known as fa­ mous craftsmen and especially metalworkers: E.M. Craik,*Cyprus and the Aegean islands: Links in myth*, Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, Nicosia 1979, 177-80. I The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 153

Ghalkioikos in Sparta, and the importance of bronze in cult in ac­ cordance with certain ancient Greek festivals.

Athena Chalkioikos - Chalkeia - Heraia As has already been shown, the earliest reference to the use of bronze in temples is found in the Mycenaean documents in Linear B presented above. The mention of'temple bronze’ in .Tn 829 is prob­ ably associated, from the religious point of view, with the word χαλ- κίναος, an Hesychian gloss equated to Χαλκίοικος, an epithet of Athena in Sparta which literally means 'she of the Bronze House’ (Hsch. s.v. Χαλκίναος' Χαλκίοικος; cf. ibid., s.v. Χαλκηδάνη' ταντης ιερόν εν Σπάρ- rrj). The second component, οίκος, is written on a Linear B tablet from Thebes (TH Of 36.2 )x where it is associated with a divine word, Potnia. Thus po-ti-ni-ja wo-ko-de (Potnias woikonde—Ποτνίας Fol- κόνδε I οΐκόνδε), 'to the temple / or the house of Potnia or Mistress’1 2, can be considered as additional evidence for the origin of a tradition found in the epithets of Athena at Sparta, Chalkioikos and Chalki- naos. Both words, οίκος and ναός, were probably used in Mycenaean times for the 'temple’ of a god or a goddess. Chalkioikos is usually taken as a descriptive of Athena’s sanc­ tuary in Sparta referring to her temple’s bronze decoration, proba­ bly to bronze plates which covered the walls (Paus. 3.17.3), to doors made of bronze (cf. Euripides’ mention of χαλκόπυλος, 'she of the Bronze Gates’: Tro. 1113 and schol. ad loc.), or even to the goddess’ bronze statue (Paus. 3.17.2)3. Tn the Athenian literary sources the

1. See Th. G. Spyropoulos and J. Chadwick, The Thebes Tablets II (Including indexes of the Theban tablets by J.L. Melena), Minos Suppl. 4 (Salamanca 1975), 89. 2. Cf. J.T. Hooker, Linear B. An introduction, 155: 'po-ti-ni-ja wo-ko-de must stand for ΠοτνΙάςFoixdvde 'to the house of the Lady*: it is possible that early Greek Folxog, like Latin aedes, could mean either 'house* or 'shrine**. As far as Potnia of the Linear B texts is concerned, there is no general agreement as to whe­ ther she should 'unequivocally* be included in the divine personalities of the My­ cenaean period as there is no direct evidence that she is always (or ever) a goddess: see Hooker, op. cit., 114; cf. idem, 'Titles and functions in the Pylian State*, 260; however, see also John Chadwick’s thorough treatment of the word in his article 'Potnia*, Minos 5 (1957), 117-29, where the figure the word represents is suggested to belong to the divine rather than to the human world; cf. idem, The Mycenaean World, 92-4. 3. For the cult of Athena Chalkioikos in Sparta seeS.Wide, Lakonische Kulte, Leipzig 1893, 49, 369 f., 373; L. Ziehen, RE III. A2, 1929, cols. 1454-5; G. Dickins, 154 S. Cons tab tinidou

epithet Chalkioikos is commonly used as the traditional cult-name of Spartan Athena1 by which the goddess was distinguished from Poliouchos, a very common epithet in Athens and elsewhere throughout Greece which mainly expressed her more important aspect as a city-goddess; whereas in Sparta both epithets are used without any distinction and particularly with almost no chronological distinction. Nevertheless, an attempt will be made below to link Athena’s epithet Chalkioikos with bronze, especially with weapons and crafts­ manship. For the name Chalkioikos was not simply connected with the decoration of her temple but also with the importance of bronze in Athena’s cult as a goddess of war but also as a goddess of arti­ sans and of any technical activity. A special association of Athena with bronze and bronze-smiths is found in the festival of Chalkeia* 12, celebrated in Athens on the last day of the month Pyanepsion. On that day, about nine months before the Panathenaia, the most elab­ orate public ceremony of Athens, the war]) was set on the loom for the weaving of Athena’s peplos3 4; a ritual which shows that there was contamination between the religious function of techne and the civil cult of Athena Poliasl·, Furthermore, so much was Chalkeia associated

'The Hieron of Athena Chalkioikos. History and nature of the sanctuary', ABSA 13(1906-7), 137-54; J.G. Frazer, Pausanias*s Description of Greece, London 1898 (repr. New York 1965), vol. Ill, 344 ff.; M. Guarducci, Ί culti della Laconia', Rome 1984, 93-5; L. Piccirilly, 'll santuario, la funzione guerriera della dea, la regality*, il caso di Atena Chalkioikos* in Marta Sordi, (ed.), / santuari e la guerra nel mondo classico, Milano 1984, 3-19. For the same cult see also S. Constantinidou, Lakonian Cults: The main sanctuaries of Sparta (unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Uni­ versity of London 1988), 109-48. 1 . See Ar. L y s . 1300: ΧαλχΙοιχον Άσάναν, and schol. adloc.: ΧαλχΙοιχον *Ασά- vav. Χαλχίοιχος ή 'Α θ ή να iv Σ π ά ρ τ η ; cf. ib id ., 1320: xal τάν σιάν δ* αδ τάν χρατίσταν ΧαλχΙοιχον ϋμνει; Eur. Ηel. 228: τάν ΧαλχΙοιχον, 245: ΧαλχΙοιχον ώζ [VtOarar] μ ό - λ ο ι μ \ See also Ηel. 1465 ff.; Thuc. 1. 128.2: έχέλενον δέ χαι τδ τής Χαλχιοίχον άγος έλαύνειν αυτούς; 134.1: πρός τδ Ιερδν τής Χαλχιοίχον ... Non-Athenian literary evi­ dence on Athena Chalkioikos’ cult comes mainly from Pausanias* third book, the L a k o n ik a (3.17.2-3). 2. For this Athenian festival see L. Deubner, AttischeFeste, Berlin 1932 (repr. Hildesheim 1966), 35-6; H.W. Parke, Festivals of the Athenians, London 1977, 92-3; W. Burkcrt, Greek Religion. Archaic and Classical, Oxford 1985 (Engl, transl. of Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche, S tuttgart 1977), 168. 3. For the Panathenaia in general see Μ. P. Nilsson, Griechische Feste von religioser Bcdcutung m it Ausschluss der attischen, Leipzig 1906, 92 ff.; Deubner, A ttische Feste, 22-35; Parke, Festivals of the Athenians, 33-50; Burkert, G re ek R e lig io n , 228-34. „ 4 . Nicole Loraux, Les enfants d'Athena. Idies atheniennes sur la citoyennete et la division des sexes, Paris 1981, 136. The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 155

with Athena that it was also known under the name A thenaia, which was the original name of the Panathenaia (see Suda s.v. Χαλκεία: εορ­ τή Άθήνησιν, (ί τινες 5Αθηναία καλονσιν, οι δε Πάνδημον* διά το υπό πάν­ των άγεσθαι; Harpocratio s.v. Χαλκεία). And a sacrifice to Athena Archegetis, an epithet most appropriate for a city-goddess, was also offered during the Chalkeia. The name of the Chalkeia derives from copper, χαλκός, and is obviously connected with bronze-smiths, χαλκεϊς. The festival can be traced to a much earlier period, probably in the Bronze Age. It was mainly associated with Hephaestos, the god of craftsmen, as well as with Athena. However, Deubner1 applies the festival to Athena while he accepts for Hephaestos only an unofficial role because, as has been said above, it was during this festival that the priestess of Athena and the Arrephoroi started the weaving of the goddess’ peplos (the work was carried on by the Ergastinai, another group of girls). The association of the two divinities1 2 is otherwise attested in Athena’s epithet Hephaistia; her statue was set up in the temple of Hephaistos on the hill above the Agora, next to that of the god3 4. As such, as the goddess of all handicraft, she is invoked in a fragment of a lost play of Sophocles by the Chorus workers at the Chalkeia during which a sacrifice was offered to Athena Ergane*. As far as her cult in Sparta i$ concerned, there was a sanctuary of Athena Ergane near the temple of Athena Chalkioikos (Paus. 3.17.4).

1 . Attische Feste, 35 f. 2 . Both were divinities of techne, of craftsmanship. They knew and taught the art of daidala\ they were craftsmen deities, the protectors of the artisans in. Athens. Their attributes are distinct but they often collaborate in relation to art, in the philotechnia. A product of their collaboration was the creation of the first, woman, Pandora (Hes. Op. 60-82; Th. 570 ff.). Hephaistos and Athena were also associated in one of the earliest myths mentioned in the Iliad (2.547-9), that of the birth of Erichthonios, the autochthon ancestor of the Athenians and the found­ er of the Panathenaia; this association was very important as the myth of autochtho- ny was an Athenian topic with political significance. For the association of the two gods see Fr. Frontisi-Ducroux, Dedale. Mythologie de Vartisan en Grece ancicnne, Paris 1975, 24 f. and esp. 62-3: 'L’association des deux divinit6s est 6galement marquee sur le plan cultuel a Athfcnes: Athena regoit l’6pith£te He­ phaistia et une fete comme celle des Chalkeia, c6l0br6e surtout en l’honneur d’Hephaistos, porte aussi le nom d’Ath^naia et marque le d6but de la confection du p0plos destin6 a la d<§esse’; see also Parke, Festivals of the Athenians, 92. 3. For Athena’s and Hephaestos’ joint cult in the Hephaistion see Nicole Loraux, op. cit., 134-6. 4. For the cult of Athena Ergane see Paus. 1.24.3; 3.17.4; 5.14.5; 6.26.3; Soph. fr. 844 (R adt); see Parke, op. cit., 93 with n. 107. '*· * ' ■ ·’ · - v 156 S. Constantinidou'

Thus, while the possibility of bronze decoration in Athena’s temple at Sparta must not be denied1 —tradition traced its foundation to a remote past, and most particularly to the Bronze Age as it is mythologically linked to Tyndareos, the legendary father of the Myce­ naean heroine/goddess Helen, and to his sons, the Dioskouroi (Paus. 3.17.2)— her epithet Chalkioikos could equally refer to her special association with this metal, either with or through Hephaistos as the female divinity of craftsmanship, or (and) as the goddess of war. Bronze, χαλκός, means also weapons1 2. And in art she was thus man­ ifested, as a warrior-goddess, covered with weapons (see LIMC II. 1, 2, s.v. Athena). Even the myth of her birth reflects this very im­ portant aspect of the goddess, that of a fully-armed warrior, dressed in a warrior’s equipment; she leaped fully armed from Zeus’ head,

1 . Pausanias (3.17.3) describes various mythological scenes depicted on bronze (probably reliefs), in the temple of Athena Chalkioikos. He is probably referring to bronze plates which covered the walls rather than saying that the building was made of bronze. A large number of bronze plates were discovered in the sanctuary as well as a quantity of bronze nails; some of them were still in position through the plates which is an indication that the latter covered the walls of the temple for decorative purposes: Dickins, op. cit., 138 f. For a discussion on the use of bronze in the temple's architecture and decoration and in relation to the archaeo­ logical evidence see J.G. Frazer, Pausanias*s Description of Greece, op. cit., 345 f. 2 . In Homer the word χαλκός is used to denote armour or armament in gen­ eral, for example see II. 2.457, 578; 4.420, 495; 13. 801 and 4.540 ff. in connection with Athena: δς τις έτ* αβλητος καϊ άνούτατος όξέί χαλκψ / δινεύοι κατά μέσσον, δγοι δέ έ Παλλάς Άθήνη / χειοός έλουα*, αύτάρ βελέων άπερύκοι έρωήν. Four hundred and thirty six references with the χαλκ- stem together with components and proper names in Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey was the outcome of my enquiry to the Ibycus cdu program of the system designed for scholarly use by Dr David W. Packard; quite a surprising number of Homeric loci where bronze predominates, sur­ prising even though it is conceived within the Bronze Age civilization. The Home­ ric references to bronze and the peculiarity over the references to iron, which is presented metaphorically or as a rare and precious metal, according to J.T. Hooker, ('From Mycenae to Homer’ in J.H. Betts, J.T. Hooker and J.R. Green, eds, Studies in honour of T.D.L. Webster, Bristol 1988, vol. 2, 58), apply to a society where bronze was the predominant metal and constitute a very strong evidence pro the Mycenaean origin of the Homeric poems. Despite the controversy sur­ rounding Homer’s use of the word χαλκός as meaning both iron and bronze, bronze is a basic metal for armour in Homer’s and Hesiod’s time: see //. 14.420: West, Hesiod, Works and Days, 188-9; cf. A. Snodgrass, 'An historical Homeric society?*, JUS 94 (1974), 122: '... and for_Homer bronze is used, for the two prime offen­ sive weapons’, i.e. swords and spearheads, 'not "often enough** but always. Such a culture never existed after the end of the Bronze Age*. The importance of bronze in early Greek religion *57 her weapons flashing, uttering a war cry ( ... ή δε πρόσθεν Διδς αίγιό- χοιο I εσσυμένως ώρουσεν άπ άΟανάτοιο καρήνου / αείσασ’ όξνν άκοντα* μέγας δ* έλε?άζετ 'Ό?,υμπος (Horn. H ym n 28. 7-9, ed. T.W. Allen; cf. Hes. Th. 924-6: αυτός δ* εκ κεφαλής γλαυκώπιδα γείνατ ΆΟήνην, / δει­ νήν έγρεκύδοιμον άγέστρατον άτρντώνην, / πότνιαν, fj κέλαδοί τε άδον πό­ λεμοί τε μάχαι τε*)1. As such, as a warrior goddess, she was worshipped each year by armed youths who went in procession to her temple on the Spartan acropolis. The information is given by Polybius (4.22.8) who refers to a procession of Spartan warriors to the Chalkioikos* sanctuary; its military character is obvious. During this Spartan ceremony the ephors remained in the sanctuary of Athena and per­ formed the Ουσίαν πάτριον, the 'ancestral sacrifice* in honour of the goddess1 2. Consequently, Athena of Sparta was not only a city-goddess, a Poliouchos (however, the myth about her miraculous birth from the head of Zeus associated with her armed appearance is regarded as another manifestation of her as a goddess of the citadel and the city)3 4; she was pre-eminently a warrior-goddess, a Chalkioikos one. Her cult-name may apply not only to the stability of her temple due to its bronze structure but also to the stability of the goddess (cf. Suda s.v. Χαλκίοικος) and to her power as a warrior and city-goddess. This aspect of Athena as a powerful goddess of war, is probably al­ luded to by κρατίσταν in Aristophanes* Lysistrata (vv. 1320-1: καί τάν σιάν δ’ αν τάν κρατιόταν Χαλκίοικον υμνεί / τάν πάμμαχον'Ϋ.

1 . For the myth of Athena’s birth and its significance for the city of Athens see R.C.T. Parker, ‘Myths of Early Athens’ in J. Bremmer, (ed.), Interpretations of Greek Mythology, London and Sydney 1987, 190 f. Cf. At. Lys. 1321 τάν πάμ- μαχον, an epithet which is suggested to be a Lakonian one and was probably for­ med by analogy with the πρόμαχος appearing in the B manuscript of Lysistrata (J. Henderson, Aristophanes Lysistrata, ed. with Introduction and Commentary Oxford 1987, 2 2 2 ); cf. II. 2.446-54, 2 0 . 48-50; Hes. Th. 928. For art representa­ tions on Athena’s birth see LIMC II. 1 , pp. 986-8; II. 2 , pp. 743-5 (nos 343-60). 2 . All festivals of Athena had two common features: the πομπή, the proces­ sion, and the Ουσία, the sacrifice. Both are mentioned in Polybius’ reference to the Spartan festival which, although not named, was most probably the Spartan equivalent of the Athenian Panathenaia (though not as elaborate and glorious as the Athenian festival): S. Constantinidou, Lakonian Cults, 136 ff. 3. See Burkert, Greek Religion, 140:‘As goddess of citadel and city she man­ ifests herself in the evocative image of the armed maiden, valiant and untouch­ able; to conquer a city is to loosen her veils’ (II. 16.100). 4. Cf. Suda s.v. Χαλκίοικος: ή ’Αθήνα έν Σπάρτη, ή άτι χαλκοϋν εϊχεν οίκον' ή διά τό στερεόν είναι' ή διά τό τούς Χαλκιδειζ τούς έξ Εύβοιας φυγάδας αυτόν κτίσαι: *Chal- 158 S. Constantinidou

Chalkioikos may then signify the goddess’ association with that human race for whom bronze was the predominant metal in war, the earlier bronze-users (των ό’ ην γάλκεα μεν τεύχεα) and everyday life (χάλκεοι δε τε οίκοι, χαλκω ό’ είργάζοντο) (Hes. Op, 150-1J1. Athena is not separated from her weapons which shine. Bronze and light, the shining of bronze, are traits of Athena’s warrior power, they inspire in warriors the strength for struggle and war, they bring excitement and courage (II, 4.540 ff.). She is also said to preside over ritual armed dances, as those of the Kouretes, and be delighted in them* 12. Bronze is used for the formation of another epithet of Athena, χαλκή (Dem. 428: παρά την χαλκήν την μεγάλην *Αθήναν), similar to that of Ares, the god of war, mentioned in the Iliad as χάλκεος'Άρης (5.704, 859, 866; 7.146). A cult-aspect of Athena comparable to the above is found in the cult of Hera at Argos (they were both very important civic deities). During Hera’s great festival there, the Heraia (which were also known as Hccatombaia)3, young men participated in the sacrificial procession to the Heraion, the shrine of the goddess and one of her most important cult centres, carrying a bronze shield which they dedi­ cated to her. Bronze shields were also the prizes in the agones that •took place after the procession. The ritual procession had an initia­ tory character not only for the girls who participated in honour of the goddess of marriage but also for the armed youths; because it marked the young men’s capability of bearing arms, as potential

kioikos; the Athena in Sparta; either because she has a brazen house; o r o n a c ­ count of her (its?) stability; or because it was founded by Chalkidian exiles from Euboea* (my italics): Dickins, fThe Hieron of Athena Chalkioikos*, 137. 1. M. Detienne and J.-P. Vernant, Les ruses dc Vintelligence, La m itis des ' G re cs, Paris 1974, 172. C f, Homer, χαλκοβατέζ δώ (Π, 1.426;*14.173; O d , 8.321 of the house of Zeus and 7.86, 13.4 of that of Alkinoos); see West’s Commentary (Hesiod, Works and Days), on vv. 150-1. See also above, p. 150. 2 . W est, Hesiod, Works and Days, 372 f.; Detienne-Vernant, Les ruses de Vintelligence, 176; cf, Burkert, Greek religion, 140. See also Parker,‘Myths of Early Athens*, 190: ‘... and there is a metallic brilliance about her epiphany appropri­ ate to one who never lurked in the «darkness of the womb» (Aesch. Eum. 665)’. 3. Many details of this festival like the procession and the subsequent a g o n , the weaving of a p e p lo s for Ilera are also found at Athens Panathenaia while it has been pointed out that ‘the coincidence of the names Ilecatombaia/IIecatombaion is no accident*: see W..Burkert, Homo necans, Borlin 1972 (Engl, transl. Homo necans The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth, Berkeley, Los Angelos and London 1983, 162-4, 166-8); idem, Greek religion, 134. i

The importance of bronze in early Greek religion 159 warriors. And as Richard Seaford1 has pointed out, this military element in the ritual procession of the Heraia was not to emphasize 'only the civic equivalent for young men of what marriage is for girls, but also the male-dominated world into which the girls are in­ corporated*. The young boys* presence as warriors into the centre of the festival meant that the city’s order could be established and secured1 2.

The evidence of Dodona Let us now turn to another function of bronze associated with Dodona. In a collection of essays on Greek culture and myth with an 'emphasis on historical psychology and structuralism* published un­ der the title My the et pensee chez les Grecs3 Jean-Pierre Vernant (in his approach to Hesiod’s myth of the races and with reference to the bronze race) has pointed out the following: 'The fact is that bronze, by virtue of certain of its attributes, appears to be closely linked in Greek religious thought with the power possessed by the defensive arms of the warrior*4. Such a power is perfectly manifested by visual and auditory imagery in Homer referring to the radiance of the metal and its sound. In Vernant’s5 words'the metallic sheen of the «flashing

1. ‘The eleventh ode of Bacchylides: Hera, Artemis, and the absence of Di­ onysos’, JHS 108(1988), 123. In examining the eleventh ode of Bacchylides (ibid., 118-36) with the aim of ‘introducing a dimension ... namely the relationship be­ tween the mythical tradition and the ritually expressed social process of the city state’ Richard Seaford suggests that certain details of the ode, like the carrying of bronze shields which is a central element in the Heraia procession, derive from the Argive cult of the goddess Hera. 2 . See Burkert, Homo necans, 163-4, 167-8; cf. Seaford, art. cit., 123-4. 3. Paris 1965, 2 vols. 4. I quote from the English translation of the above book which appeared as Myth and tkought among the Greeks, London 1983, 13. 5. Ibid., with references to Iliad 2.578, 19.362-3 (note here especially th· laugh of earth because of the flashing bronze: αίγλη δ’ ουρανόν Ικε, γέλασσε δέ πάσα περί χθων /χαλκού ύπό στεροπήζ), 20.156; Od. 24.467; Ε. Ph. 1 1 0 , cited in notes 52 -54, page 29. Some more references can be added to this flashing power of bronze like II. 2.457-8: ως των ερχομένων άπό χαλκού θεσπεσίοιο / αίγλη παμφανόωσα δι αΐ- Θέρος ουρανόν Ικε; 13.245: ώς τού χαλκός έλαμπε περί στήθεσσι Οέοντος; 13.340-2: άσ­ σε δ* άμερδεν / αυγή χαλκείη κορύθων άπο λαμπομενάων / θωρήκων τε νεοσμήκτων σα­ κιών τε φαεινών; 13.800-1: ώς Τρώες... χαλκώ μαρμαΐροντες; 14.11: χαλκώ παμφαϊνον; Od. 4.72: χαλκού τε στεροπήν κάδ δώματα ήχήεντα. See also G.S. Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary, vol. i: books 1-4, Cambridge 1985, 163, on 2.457-8: ‘The gleam and flash of polished bronze are a recurrent image in the Iliad, a symbol of martial power and valour*. 160 C. Constantinidou

bronze», νώροπα χαλκόν, the sheen from the bronze which sets the plain alight and which «goes up to the heavens» fills the enemy’s soul with terror. The sound of bronze against bronze, the φωνή which reveals its true nature as living, animated metal, wards off the witchcraft of the enemy.’ However, from the battlefield, where the power of bronze is variably manifested, we shall move to the sphere of prophecy and more particularly to this metal’s function and importance in the oracle of Dodona. Although without remains of a Mycenaean cult build­ ing, excavations at Dodona have shown that a cult was practised there from Mycenaean times. Mycenaean offerings —among them bronze objects— of the 14th and 13th centuries were brought to light. In the Iliad (16. 233 ff.) Achilles’ prayer to Zeus Dodonaeus associates this cult with the 'king of gods’ while in the Odyssey (14. 327 ff. and 19.296 ff.) Odysseus pretends that he had gone to Dodo­ na to learn Zeus’ plan by consulting his oracle through his oak-tree1. The beginning of the practice of a cult around the sacred oak-tree of Zeus, the centre of his cult at Dodona, was very important in the process of prophecy, it was the source of the prophecy (Od. 14.327 f.; cf.. Hes. fr. 240 M.-W.: valov 6’ εν πνΟμένι φηγόν). From our point of view, however, it is important that the following ritual was practised around Zeus’ sacred tree as we learn from later sources1 2: by touching one of the bronze cauldron-tripods which surrounded the oak- tree, the sound was spread to the rest as they touched each other, and lasted for a long time; according to some ancient sources and modern views the priests could interpret the divine will by the sound of the bronze (while others have denied the oracular function of the bronze vessels at Dodona). Nevertheless, this sound is also suggested

1 . For the excavations at Dodona and the most recent archaeological discov­ eries as well as the cult existed there see S. Dakaris, Das Taubenorakel von Do­ dona und das Totenorakel bei Ephyra, Antike Kunst 1963, Beiheft 1,35-55; id e m , * Όδύσσεια καί ‘Ήπειρος* in Ιλιάδα και Οδύσσεια. Μύθος και Ιστορία, 142 ff. where relevant bibliography on the history of the archaeological work done there. For the oracle of Zeus at Dodona see H.W. Parke, The Oracles of Zeus: Dodona, O ly m p ia , A m m o n , Oxford 1967, 1-163; id e m , Greek Oracles> London 1967, 20-5. 2. Unfortunately, these are as lato as the 4th and 3rd centuries B.G. (see Da­ karis, art. c it., 146, 148), though it is possible that tho practice was much earlier considering the importance of cauldrons in the cult of Dodona. For a discussion on tho bronze vessels* function in tho ritual of Dodona see Parke, The Oracles of Zeus, 86 ff. I

The importance of bronze in early Greek religion ^ to have an apotropaic and protective character, averting miasmata while the tripods themselves had a purificatory function1. Thus what the sources (late as they are) make us assume is that the sound of bronze itself was probably another voice of prophecy, the acoustic sensation of the divine will, namely the voice of Zeus himself. And we may perhaps add this feature as well —together with the talking doves, the rustling leaves or creaking branches of the oak-tree or the speech (or rather groaning) of the tree itself— to the oracular re­ sponses of Dodona; as one more feature among those which have worked towards The claim which Dodona made in later times that it was the oldest of Greek oracles*1 2.

Conclusions The above evidence has shown, I hope, the interrelation of bronze and religion in early Greece: as is found in the Linear B texts, in the association of Cypriote bronze workshops with sanctuaries, in the cult of Athena Chalkioikos in Sparta and the festivals of Chal- keia and Heraia in Athens and Argos respectively, in the possible oracular function of the sound of bronze cauldrons in Dodona3. Thus, the traditional importance of bronze in mythology, liter­ ature and religious architecture shows that bronzework had its di­ vine aspect not only in ancient Cyprus, as one would expect from the 'island of copper* (see also 11. 11.16-23), but also in other parts of the Greek world. Although we must be very cautious about the distinc­ tion of what is religious and what is not, for such a distinction is not

1. See Schol. Theocr. II. 36; Steph. Byz. s.v. Δωδώνη; Suda s.v. Δωδωναΐον χαλκείον etc. cited by Dakaris, ‘’Οδύσσεια καί ’Ήπειρος*, 146, 148. B ut see also Ariadne Gartziou-Tatti, ‘L* oracle de Dodone. My the et rituel* in Oracles et man· tique en Grhce ancienne. Actes du Colloque de Libge (Mars 1989), (Kernos 3), Athens- Ltege 1990,182: ‘Ainsi l’usage des chaudrons dans le cadre de l’oracle est polyvalent: li&s au feu, ils sont de l’ordre de la culture et, en tant qu’agents de l’immortalisation et de la divination, ils rdalisent la jonction entre l’humain et le divin*. On ‘purifying bronze* and its apotropaic function as it was ‘banged against eclipses*, see R. Parker, Miasma’, pollution and purification in early Greek religion, Oxford 1983 (repr. 1985), 288 n. 118. 2 . Parke, Greek Oracles, 25. 3. However, reference should also be made to the famous scene of the ex­ change of armour between Glaucus and Diomedes in Book 6 of the Iliad (vv. 234- 6 ), a praise of ‘guest-friendship*, of xenia. Homer’s comment on this momentous act of the unequal exchange of armour, £v0* αδτε Γλαύκω Κρονίδης ψρένας έξέλετο Ζευς {II. 6.234) has been variously interpreted: as having a humorous sense on be­ half of the poet, or as showing Glaucus* cowardliness for saving his life (by giving 162 S. Constantinidou

easily defined in early Greek societies1, the above association of metal­ lurgy with religion shows how Religious ideology should be regarded as an element internal to the economy, and to the social relations of production’* 12; a view which, of course, assumes a diachronic significance. My aim in this work is to emphasize the importance of material culture —here the importance of one of its elements, the use of bronze— for the formation of spiritual culture (especially for the formation of religious beliefs and practices). A reflection of bronze’s vital power (such powers are possessed by other metals as well like iron, .gold, silver etc.) is found in the phrase γάλκεον ήτορ (II. 2.490; cf. Th. 764, though in this case it has the meaning of lack of mercy on behalf of Death)3, while Pindar’s χάλκεος ουρανός (P. 10.27) assumes a reli-

his gold armour) or even by this act Diomedes accepts Glaucus’ superiority. It* is • also seen in this 'a clash between the traditions of nobility and peasantry’; or ’the poet’s editorial comment, so rare for him, reflects the magnitude of Glaucus* mis­ take in judgement* (Finley); or the act is explained on sociological grounds Moot­ ing at the puzzle from a quite different point of view, the role of the gift in primi­ tive society’: for the history of the various interpretations given to the scene (some of which did not avoid ascribing to it values of our society) see W.M. Calder III, ’Cold for Bronze: Iliad 6.232-3G’ in Studies Presented to Sterling Dow (Durham, N.C., 1984, GRBS Monograph 1 0 ), 31-5. Thus χρύσεα χαλκείων (Π. 6 . 23), ’golden for bronze ones’, ‘had become an elegant reference to an unfair bar­ gain* (Calder, ibid., 31), as well as a perennial example of the ideal xenia and the belief to the values of hereditary friendship. Both heroes are pre-eminent in the epic and have an important share in the heroic kleos. What differs is the value of their armour. And in any case bronze comes after gold in value in the Homeric world (II. 2.225-31; 449; 23.703)—just as the golden race precedes the brazen one in terms of human prosperity in Hesiod’s myth of races; bronze is a measure of valuing of wealth too (Od. 22.57-8; see also II. 10.379; Od. 22.58; 23.341). It is in this cultural context (as another aspect in the Bronze Age background of Homeric culture) and not in a purely religious one that the above scene is being mentioned here. For this episode seo also W. Donlan, 'The unequal exchange between Glau­ cus and Diomedes in light of the Homeric gift-economy’, Phoenix 43.1 (1989), 1- 15; J.T. Hooker, ‘Gifts in Homer’, BICS 36 (1989), 80; P at Easterling, 'Friend­ ship and the Greeks* in Roy Porter and Sylvana Tomaselli, (eds), The Dialectics of Friendship, London 1989, 15. 1. Cf. J.T. Hooker, Mycenaean Greece, 190. 2 . A. Bernard Knapp, Copper Production and Divine Protection: Archaeo­ logy, Ideology and Social Complexity on Bronze Age Cyprust SIMA 42 (Gdteborg 1986), vi, 118. J.D. Muhly (Copper and Tin, 167-70), points out the importance of bronze and the use of metals in goneral not only in the economic but also in the social and political organization sinco their use implies a more advanced organi­ zation and developed skills as we]j as a growth of metal trade (with the resulting economic and political development). 3. Seo Verdenius, op. cit., on 109 and 147. Cf. II. 11.241: χοιμήσατο χάλχεον tl- mov (meaning death). Bronze seems not to possess such vital powers in the Ghri- The importance of bronze in early Greek religion gious significance with a metaphorical relevance to religious archi­ tecture; it refers to the definition of human limitations in relation to gods, that men connot become gods nor walk up to the brazen sky because that would be an νβρις against gods1. Thus bronze, an element of material civilization, is transferred to the literary and religious language and practice most probably as a residue or an inheritance from a period that was marked by its use: the Bronze Age* 12.

stian teaching; for St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians (1.13.1), speak­ ing about the superiority of love says that ‘those who have not love are no bet­ ter than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal*: Rev. W.J. Conybeare and Rev. J. S. Howson, The Life and epistles of St. Paul, London 1852. 1. See R.W.B. Burton, Pindar*s Pythian Odes. Essays in Interpretation, Oxford 1962, 6; see also C.M. Bowra, Pindar, Oxford 1964, 189 f. Homer’s ουρανόν ές πολύχαλκον (II. 5.504; Od. 3.2), or χάλκεον ουρανόν (U. 17. 425), natutally imp­ lies solidity as this is the home of the gods. 2. In relation to the use of bronze in the Homeric poems cf. J.T. Hooker, 'from Mycenae to Homer*, 58:*... the Dark Age poets... depicted a bronze using society because bronze formed an essential element in the literary language they had inherited from Mycenaean times’. s w i f t ·' 'I'-·

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