Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:26:18.625Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The cult of Aphrodite in Miletos and its colonies1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Alan M. Greaves
Alan M. Greaves
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1989, the discovery and subsequent excavation of a sanctuary of Aphrodite at Zeytintepe, a low hill immediately adjacent to the metropolis of Miletos, confirmed what some scholars had long suspected — that worship of this goddess at the city dated back to the Archaic period. This article presents a brief outline of the evidence from these excavations together with a survey of the available evidence for the existence of cults of Aphrodite in Miletos' many colonies. Three conclusions are drawn: that Aphrodite was an important cult both in Miletos and in many of its colonies; that Aphrodite was worshipped as a sea goddess; and that there were local variations in the cult in these places.

Özet

1989 yılında Miletos Metropolü'nün hemen yakınındakı alçak bir tepe olan Zeytin Tepe'de bulunan bir Afrodit tapınaǧı ve hemen ardından yapılan kazılar bilim adamlarının uzun zamandır tahmin ettiǧi gibi, şehirdeki bu tanrıçaya tapınma geleneǧinin arkaik döneme kadar gittiǧini kanıtlamıştır. Bu makalede bu kazılardan elde edilen kanıtların bir özeti ile birlikte, Miletos'un birçok kolonisinde Afrodit'e baǧlı tarikatların varlıǧını kanıtlayan veriler sunulmuştur. Ortaya üç sonuç çıkmaktadır; Afrodit hem Miletos'da hem de onun birçok kolonisinde önemli bir Kült'tü; Afrodit'e bir deniz tanrıçası olarak tapınıldı ve bu yerleşimlerdeki ibadetlerde yöresel farklılıklar vardı.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 54 , December 2004 , pp. 27 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

FGrH = Jacoby, F. 1958: Die Fragmente der Grieschen Historiker. LeidenGoogle Scholar
Åkerström, A. 1966: Die architektonischen Terrakotten Kleinasiens. LundGoogle Scholar
Bellin de Ballu, E. 1965: L'Histoire des colonies grecques du littoral nord de la Mer Noire. LeidenGoogle Scholar
Boardman, J. 1999: The Greeks Overseas. LondonGoogle Scholar
Bowden, H. 1996: ‘Greek settlements and sanctuaries at Naucratis’ in Hansen, M.H., Raaflaub, K. (eds), More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polls. Stuttgart: 17–37Google Scholar
Braun, T.F.R.G. 1982: ‘The Greeks in Egypt’ in Boardman, J., Hammond, N.G.L. (eds), The Cambridge Ancient History 3.3. Cambridge: 32–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkert, W. 1985: Greek Religion. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Danov, C.M. 1990: ‘Characteristics of Greek colonization in Thrace’ in Descœudres, J.P. (ed.), Greek Colonists and Native Populations. Oxford: 151–55Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, N. 1983: Milet und seine Kolonien. Frankfurt am MainGoogle Scholar
Fontenrose, J. 1988: Didyma, Apollo's Oracle, Cult and Companions. Berkeley, Los AngelesCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gans, U. 1991: ‘Die Grabung auf dem Zeytintepe’ Istanbuler Mitteilungen 41: 137–40Google Scholar
Gates, M.H 1995: ‘Archaeology in Turkey’ American Journal of Archaeology 99 [2]: 207–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gates, M.H 1996: ‘Archaeology in Turkey’ American Journal of Archaeology 100 [2]: 277–335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorman, V.B. 2001: Miletos: The Ornament of Ionia. Ann ArborGoogle Scholar
Greaves, A.M. 2000: ‘Miletos and the sea: a stormy relationship’ in Oliver, G. et al. (eds), The Sea in Antiquity. Oxford: 39–61Google Scholar
Greaves, A.M. 2002: Miletos: A History. LondonGoogle Scholar
Hasluck, F.W. 1910: Cyzicus. CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Head, B.V. 1911: Historia Numorum. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Heinz, M., Senff, R. 1995: ‘Die Grabung auf dem Zeytintepe’ Archäologischer Anzeiger 1995(2): 220–24Google Scholar
Herrmann, P. 1971: ‘Athena Polias in Milet’ Chiron 1971: 291–98Google Scholar
Herrmann, P. 1995: ‘Milet 1992–1993: Inschriften’ Archäologischer Anzeiger 1995[2]: 282–92Google Scholar
Hind, J.G.F. 1984: ‘Greek and barbarian peoples on the shores of the Black Sea’ Archaeological Reports 30:71–97Google Scholar
Hind, J.G.F. 1993: ‘Archaeology around the Black Sea’ Archaeological Reports 39: 82–112Google Scholar
Hirst, G.M. 1902: ‘Cults of Olbia (part I)’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 22: 245–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirst, G.M. 1903: ‘Cults of Olbia (part II)’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 23: 24–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoddinott, R.F. 1975: Bulgaria in Antiquity. LondonGoogle Scholar
Jeffery, L.H. 1990: The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origins of the Greek Alphabet and its Development from the Eighth to Fifth Century BC (revised edition with a supplement by Johnston, A.W.). OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawerau, G., Rehm, A. 1914: Milet 1.3: Das Delphinion in Milet. BerlinGoogle Scholar
Knipovic, T. 1971: ‘Traces of Ionic and Attic influence in Olbian inscriptions of the fifth century BC’ Acta of the Fifth International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Cambridge, 1967). OxfordGoogle Scholar
Möller, A. 2000: Naukratis: Trade in Archaic Greece. OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morintz, S. 1972: ‘Les fouilles archéologiques en Roumanie (1971)’ Dacia 16: 325–57Google Scholar
Liddell, H.G., Scott, R. 1968: A Greek-English Lexicon. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Parker, R. 1996: Athenian Religion: A History. OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, J., von den Driesch, A. 1992: ‘Siedlunsabfall versus Opferreste: Essgewohneiten im archaischen Milet’ Istanbuler Mitteilungen 42: 117–25Google Scholar
Pippidi, D.M. 1970: ‘Cinquante ans de fouilles à Istros: la tradition littéraire et les donnés archéologiques et épigraphiques’ Klio 53: 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehm, A., Harder, R. 1958: Didyma II: Die Inschriften. BerlinGoogle Scholar
Rusyaeva, A.S. 1994: ‘Investigations of the western temenos of Olbia’ Ancient Civilisations from Scythia to Serbia 1[1]: 80–102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwertheim, E. 1983: Die Inschriften von Kyzikos und Umgebung II. BonnGoogle Scholar
Senff, R. 1992: ‘Die Grabung auf dem Zeytintepe’ Istanbuler Mitteilungen 42: 105–08Google Scholar
Senff, R. 2003: ‘Das Aphroditeheiligtum von Milet’ Asia Minor Studien 49: 11–25Google Scholar
Senff, R., Heinz, M. 1997: ‘Arbeiten am Zeytintepe im Jahre 1994’ Archäologischer Anzeiger 1997(2): 114–18Google Scholar
Sokolsky, N.I. 1964: ‘Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Kepoi’ Sovietskaya Arkeologia 4: 101–18 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Sokolsky, N.I. 1965: ‘Excavations on the Taman peninsula: the city of Cepi’ Archaeology 18[3]: 181–86Google Scholar
Sokolsky, N.I. 1973: ‘The cult of Aphrodite in Cepi, sixth-fifth centuries BC’ Vestnik Drevnei Istorii 4: 88–92Google Scholar
Stoia, A. 1976: ‘Les fouilles archéologiques en Roumanie (1975)’ Dacia 20: 273–86Google Scholar
Stoia, A. 1979: ‘Les fouilles archéologiques en Roumanie (1978)’ Dacia 23: 355–70Google Scholar
Stoia, A. 1980: ‘Les fouilles archéologiques en Roumanie (1979)’ Dacia 24: 355–70Google Scholar
Tsetskhladze, G.R. 1997: ‘A survey of the major urban settlements in the Kimmerian Bosporos’ in Nielsen, T.H. (ed.), Yet More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Stuttgart: 39–81Google Scholar
Tsetskhladze, G.R., Kuznetsov, V.D. 2000: ‘On the cult of Aphrodite in Kepoi’ in Tsetskhladze, G.R et al. (eds), Periplous: Papers on Classical Art and Archaeology Presented to Sir John Boardman. London: 353–61Google Scholar
Tuchelt, K. 1991: Branchidai — Didyma. Mainz am RheinGoogle Scholar
von Graeve, V. 1992: ‘Milet 1991: Vorbericht Über die Arbeiten des Jahres 1991’ Istanbuler Mitteilungen 42: 97–134Google Scholar
von Graeve, V. 1995: ‘Milet 1992–1993: Vorbericht Über die Grabungsarbeiten und Geländeerkundungen, die Denkmäler-restaurierung und die Natur wissenchaftlichen Begleitprogramme der Milet grabung in den Jahren 1992 und 1993’ Archdologischer Anzeiger 1995: 196–333Google Scholar