THE FEMALES OF LABRAUNDA Presence or absence? Klara Lagerlöf Uppsala University Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Master thesis, 45 hp Fall term 2014 Supervisor: Gunnel Ekroth ABSTRACT Author: Klara Lagerlöf 2014 English title: The females of Labraunda. Presence or absence? Swedish title: Kvinnorna i Labraunda. Närvaro eller frånvaro? A two-year master’s thesis in Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University Abstract: The history of the Zeus sanctuary Labraunda in Karia began in the Archaic period and continued until Late Antiquity. The focus of this paper is to investigate a side of the sanctuary which hitherto has not been subject to extensive study: the females of Labraunda, both immortal and mortal. The aim is to show the traces of females in the archaeological material (terracotta figurines, sculptures, reliefs, pottery and small finds) and the inscriptions, and discuss what kind of material is needed to discern the presence of someone at a sanctuary. The study has shown that several goddesses might have been present in Labraunda, some having their own cult, while others are more probable to have been visiting gods. It has also been shown that mortal females are not present in the material in a distinctive way, and that their supposed absence from the cult might depend on the character of Zeus Labraundos. Klara Lagerlöf, Engelska Parken, Thunbergsvägen 3H, Box 626, 751 26 Uppsala Keywords: Labraunda, Sanctuary, Zeus Labraundos, Visiting gods, Female representation, Mortals, Immortals, Kybele, Artemis, Nike, Hestia, Aphrodite, Hera, Athena, Artemisia, Julia Domna, Terracotta figurines, Sculptures, Reliefs, Inscriptions, Pottery. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1. Map of Karia. (Map: C.G. Williamson) Fig. 2. Map of Labraunda, excl. Stadium, located west of sanctuary. (Drawing: A. Frejman) Fig. 3. Kybele figurine from Halikarnassos. (Source: Higgins 1954, pl. 60, fig. 422) Fig. 4. Niche cut in the Split rock. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 5. Rock-cut stairs in Open air sanctuary area, seen from the south. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 6. Rock-cut stairs and entrance (threshold stone encircled) in Open air sanctuary area, seen from the east. (Photo: A. Frejman) Fig. 7. Plan of the Open air sanctuary. (Drawing: J. Blid Kullberg & L. Karlsson) Fig. 8. The rock-cut stairs and surrounding area. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 9. Cutting for threshold, and threshold. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 10. Sphinx found at Labraunda. (Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Castello_di_bodrum,_labranda,_sfinge-acroterio,_355_ac..JPG, accessed 140507. Photographer: Sailko) Fig. 11. Sphinx terracotta wing. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 12. Bracelet. Labr. 382-1953 (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) Fig. 13. Bracelet. Labr 6-1950. (Photo: K. Lagerlöf) LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Measurements of the rock-cut niche. Table 2. Measurements of the rock-cut stairs (north-south). Table 3. The presence of goddesses in four Greek Zeus sanctuaries. Table 4. Chronology of objects connected to females at Labraunda. Table of contents ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS……………………………………………………………….... LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………… 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Aims ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Material and method ................................................................................................ 1 1.3. Theory ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.4. Previous research ..................................................................................................... 7 2. THE IMMORTAL FEMALES OF LABRAUNDA .................................................... 10 2.1. Kybele .................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.1. Figurines ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2. The Open air sanctuary ................................................................................... 11 2.1.3. Finds ............................................................................................................... 15 2.1.4. Discussion ....................................................................................................... 15 2.2. Artemis ................................................................................................................... 24 2.3. Nike ........................................................................................................................ 27 2.4. Hestia ..................................................................................................................... 31 2.5. Aphrodite ............................................................................................................... 33 2.6. Hera ........................................................................................................................ 34 2.7. Athena .................................................................................................................... 35 2.8. Labraunda in its wider context ............................................................................... 36 2.8.1. Panamara ........................................................................................................ 39 2.8.2. Dodona and Olympia ...................................................................................... 40 2.9. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 44 3. THE MORTAL FEMALES OF LABRAUNDA ......................................................... 48 3.1. Artemisia ................................................................................................................ 48 3.2. Julia Domna ........................................................................................................... 51 3.3. The worshipper or the worshipped? ....................................................................... 53 3.4. Small finds, pottery and grave goods ..................................................................... 57 3.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 59 4. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 64 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 68 6. CATALOGUE………………………………………………………………………..76 7. FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………...102 1. INTRODUCTION The sanctuary of Zeus at Labraunda, situated in south-western Turkey was one of the most important Karian sanctuaries in antiquity, especially during the rule of the Hekatomnids in the the 4th century BC (see map, Fig. 1).1 The earliest traces of religious activity in the area are from around 650 BC, and the pagan sanctuary was then used until about 400 AD when two Christian churches were built on the border of the sanctuary.2 This thesis will explore a part of the sanctuary which hitherto has not been subject to extensive study – the female side of Labraunda. 1.1. Aims The aim of this thesis is to discuss the presence of females – immortal and mortal – at Labraunda, through the material found during the excavations of the sanctuary from the 1940s until today. A few hypotheses concerning goddesses have been advanced in connection to some of the finds from the sanctuary, but none of these have taken all the material found into account. Therefore, many questions are yet unanswered. What evidence do we have for female representation at Labraunda? From inscriptions, terracotta figurines, sculptures, reliefs, pottery, small finds and grave material we know that females were present at the sanctuary – but to what extent? Are there traces of any goddesses? What do we know of mortal women? The aim of this thesis is to gather all the evidence, archaeological and textual, for female presence – both immortal and mortal – at Labraunda, to possibly make out a pattern of how females were represented, and to discuss the criteria needed to identify the presence of someone at a sanctuary, be it a goddess or a human being. 1.2. Material and method This thesis has two main parts. The first, Chapter 2 ‘The immortal females of Labraunda’, will present and discuss the material connected to female deities, in order to see if there is evidence for the worship of goddesses at the sanctuary. The chapter is divided into nine 1 I would like to express thanks to the following people for invaluable help with this paper: Pontus Hellström, for offering comments and discussing ideas, and for giving access to the material from the early excavations at Labraunda; Olivier Henry, for giving permission to work with the material now stored at Labraunda, and for providing information about the graves at the site; Angus Graham, for proof reading the final version of my paper; and Lars Karlsson, for bringing a young student to Labraunda for her first excavation, making all of this possible. 2 Hellström 2007, 15 and 40–41. In the season of 2012 shards of what might be prehistoric ceramic vessels and a piece of obsidian were found in the excavations of the Open air sanctuary, which might indicate that