Student No. 0945048

 

Local Patron Gods and how they are Worshipped

 

 

In our original study tour plan we aimed to visit Corinth, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi, Delos and Athens. We were largely successful; however we were not able to visit Delos due to transport strikes that made it impossible to travel there. The rest of the trip was successful though, and the finds that we discovered in the various ancient sites and museums that we visited over the two week period were highly useful in our study of ancient Greek religion, and helped us to form conclusions about the various aspects of religion that we had been individually studying.

 

Before our trip to Corinth I was certain I would find many statues and buildings dedicated to Poseidon, who was allegedly the patron god of Corinth (Hopper 1955: 2).  I also expected to see dedications and offerings to Asclepius, Apollo and Aphrodite, but not on such a scale as those to Poseidon (Weinberg & Weinberg 1946: 68-70). I was therefore surprised that on visiting the ancient site at Corinth, the main focus of attention appears to be on the temple of Apollo. There was also an entire room in the museum dedicated to the votive offerings to Asclepius, who also seems to have held a position of importance in Corinth. Unfortunately the actual site of the Asclepieion was not located on the same site as the other ruins in ancient Corinth, so I was not able to compare it to the other ruins. The fact the temple of Aphrodite rests on the highest point of the site could suggest that she also was favoured in Corinth as well.

 

Epidaurus was one site that we visited that was able to reinforce the ideas that I had before travelling to Greece. The grandeur of the ancient theatre shows the scale of the festivities, both music and drama, that took place in Epidaurus to celebrate Asclepius and cannot really be properly realised without seeing the theatre for yourself.  Aside from the arts, sports and game were also used to honour the healing god, and the stadium was home to the athletic games that took place in order to do this (Zaidman & Pantel 1995: 129). In the ancient site too, a great deal of space was dedicated to the Asclepieion and the temple of Asclepius, which were adorned with huge Doric columns and statues of the god. The favouritism to Asclepius above the other gods in Epidaurus was clearly seen in all the ancient ruins and also in the museum, where there are many votive offerings to Asclepius, as well as relief sculptures that are presumed to be of the god.

 

The next site we visited was Olympia and the sanctuary there was testament to the worship of Zeus. The separation of the Altis from the rest of the ancient site showed that although other gods were honoured there, the primary dedications were to Zeus and his cult. The bases of Zanes showed the dominance of Zeus in Olympia, as they were the bases for sixteen bronze statues of Zeus. When visiting the site the ruins of the temple of Zeus showed just how much Zeus held precedence over the other gods. Some of the huge columns from the temple still lie in the exact positions into which they fell from when it fell into ruin, and it is when you see them on their sides that you can really see how large the temple would have been. The east and west pediments in the museum also show the grandeur of the temple. The temple of Hera however, was the oldest temple of the sanctuary and her Altar is still used for the lighting of the Olympic Flame today, signifying that Hera also played an important role in the sanctuary.

 

The archaeological museum at Delphi was to reinforce my pre-study tour ideas that Apollo was favoured over other gods in the city. The ‘repositories’ that were found in 1939 uncovered hundreds of gifts to Apollo from wealthy rulers as well as more modest votive offerings such as weapons. The museum is also home to the east and west pediments of the temple of Apollo and they depict Athena and Dionysus as well as Apollo himself in various scenes. There were also numerous other statues, sculptures and other votive offerings that were uncovered at the site that gave testimony to Apollo as the patron god of Delphi. This also ties in with the oracle of Delphi frequently being associated with the military and Apollo being the god of war. Although the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia was also impressive, it was clear from my visit to Delphi that Apollo was favoured there.

 

Whilst in Athens I was surprised to see that the National Archaeological Museum did not show a great amount of evidence to suggest that Athena was favoured in Athens over the other gods. There were many artefacts and buildings that signified that she was honoured, but there was nothing to suggest she was in the same sort of scale as Apollo in Delphi and Asclepius in Epidaurus. Many of the sculptures in the museum were dedicated to Dionysus, Apollo and Poseidon amongst other gods and heroes. The Acropolis did show an amount of favour towards her however, as you are able to see the ruins of two temples dedicated to her; the temple of Athena Nike and the old temple. The Parthenon is sometimes called the temple of Athena Parthenos too. That the bronze statue of Athena Promachos which originally stood on the Acropolis was sculpted by Pheidias, the same sculptor who made the giant statue of Zeus can also be seen as a testament to her role as patron god of Athens.

 

My time in Greece ultimately showed me that to a great extent the gods I had thought to be favoured in each city were.  Corinth may be the only exception, as there was much to suggest that Asclepius was favoured there rather than Poseidon. I also found that the museums were highly useful in determining the extent to which each god was honoured; as it was there that it was clear to see just how many votive offerings and statues were dedicated to which gods and from which areas.

 

Word Count: 1023

 

 

Bibliography

 

Adel, R.D. 1983. ‘Apollo’s Prophecies at Delos’, The Classical World 76, 288-290

Buxton, R. (eds) 2000. Oxford Readings in Greek Religion. Oxford.

Easterling, P.E. & Muir, J.V. (eds) 1985. Greek Religion and Society. Cambridge.

Farnell, L.R. 1896. The Cults of the Greek States: Volume 1. Oxford.

Guthrie, W.K.C. 1950. The Greeks and their Gods. Cambridge.

Hopper, R.J. 1955. ‘Ancient Corinth’, Greece and Rome 2, 2-15

Middleton, J.H. 1888. ‘The Temple of Apollo at Delphi’, The Journal of Hellenistic Studies 9, 282-322

Nilsson, M.P. 1940. Greek Popular Religion. New York.

Nilsson, M.P. 1949. A History of Greek Religion. New York.

Otto, W.F. 1954. The Homeric Gods. Michigan.

Pantel, P.S. & Zaidman, L.B. 1989. Religion in the Ancient Greek City. Trans, P. Cartledge. Cambridge.

Pausanias, Description of Greece, trans. W. H. S. Jones & H. A. Ormerod (Cambridge, MA 1918)

Price, S. 1999. Religions of the Ancient Greeks. Cambridge.

Weinberg, S.S. & Weinberg, G.R. 1946. ‘Corinth: The Ancient City Revealed’, The Classical Journal 42, 67-76