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PHILOSOPHERS’ PATH OR CULT ROAD? THE PERIPATOS ON THE SLOPES OF THE AKROPOLIS AND LYKOURGOS’ POLICY OF RENEWAL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2021

Alexander Rubel*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy (Iaṣi Branch)

Abstract

The Peripatos, the pathway that encircles the slopes of the Athenian Akropolis, was renovated in the late fourth century bc under Lykourgos. The crucial question concerning this somewhat neglected but important path is whether it was simply a walkway, perhaps built for philosophers of the school of Aristotle, who taught their lessons while walking, or whether this pathway had a specific cultic function. This paper gathers arguments for a cultic interpretation of the Peripatos. On this view, the pathway and its renovation were important because only the Peripatos offered access to several minor sanctuaries on the slopes of the Akropolis as well as the Aglaureion, the sanctuary where the ephebes swore their oath, a crucial institution for Lykourgos’ reforms.

Περίπατος φιλοσόφων ή λατρευτικός δρόμος; Ο Περίπατος στην κλιτύ της Ακρόπολης και η πολιτική ανάπλασης του Λυκούργου.

Ο Περίπατος, που περιβάλλει την Ακρόπολη, αναπλάστηκε από τον Λυκούργο στα τέλη του 4ου αιώνα πΧ. Το βασικό ερώτημα για αυτόν το σημαντικό και σχετικά παραμελημένο από τη βιβλιογραφία δρόμο είναι κατά πόσο ήταν απλά ένας χώρος για περίπατο, που ίσως να είχε κατασκευαστεί για του φιλοσόφους της σχολής του Αριστοτέλη, που δίδασκαν ενόσω περπατούσαν, ή κατά πόσο ο δρόμος αυτός είχε μια συγκεκριμένη λατρευτική χρήση. Το άρθρο αυτό υποστηρίζει την λατρευτική χρήση του Περιπάτου. Ο Περίπατος και η ανάπλασή του ήταν σημαντικοί γιατί μόνο ο Περίπατος επέτρεπε την πρόσβαση σε μια σειρά από μικρότερα ιερά στις πλαγιές της Ακρόπολη, καθώς και στο Αγλαύρειο, το ιερό όπου οι έφηβοι ορκίζονταν τον όρκο τους, που αποτελούσε σημαντικό θεσμό των μεταρρυθμίσεων του Λυκούργου.

Μεταφράση: Χ. Κωνσταντακοπούλου

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens, 2021

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Footnotes

To the memory of Wolfgang Schuller (1935–2020)

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