Amphiareion
The sanctuary Amphiareion or Amphiaraion of Oropus ( ancient Greek Ἀμφιαρεῖον or Ἀμφιαράϊον Ὠρωποῦ , Neugriechisch Αμφιάρειο or Αμφιαράειο Ωρωπού, transcription from the modern Greek Amfiario or Amfiaraio ) lies in the area of the ancient polis Oropus between attic and Böotien.
history
The sanctuary, dedicated to the worship and cult of the hero Amphiaraos , was an important health resort and oracle site in ancient times . It can be compared to the Asclepion in Epidaurus .
Its reputation as a sanatorium grew during a period in Athens in the late 5th century BC. Chr. Rampant plague epidemic revived. According to Herodotus , the oracle is said to have been one of only two oracles that correctly answered a question asked by King Croesus of Lydia. The sanctuary, which was built towards the end of the fifth century BC. BC, was already described by Livius and Pausanias . The ancient city of Oropos, which was in the border area, was the subject of contention between the powers Athens and Thebes. Since the Battle of Chaironeia , Oropos and the Amphiaraos sanctuary, which is about 6.5 km outside of the actual place, had been in the hands of the Athenians, later a phase of independence followed before Oropos finally fell to Athens in the first century AD. As a result of these political conditions, Athenian names can be found in many inscriptions from Oropos.
At the latest in the Hellenistic-Roman period, a real spa and bathing establishment with longer stays developed. The Roman dictator Sulla emerged as a special sponsor in the early 1st century BC , during whose time the theater was expanded. Since the god of the sanctuary was once a human being, in Roman times the customs tenants refused the tax exemption that is otherwise common in temples, arguing that even an apotheosis would not result in any tax exemption. The Amphiareion was operated as a health resort until the 5th century AD.
The Amphiareion is the subject of an ancient painting described by Flavius Philostratos . It shows the city of Oropos as a youth in the middle of the Thalattai , the allegories of the seas, as well as the gate of dreams ( pylê oneirôn ), next to which the white clad Aletheia , the goddess of truth, stands and thus shows that in this place the sleeper is the truth finds in the dream. The dream ( Oneiros ) is also shown carrying a horn in his hands . According to Homer , there are two gates of dreams, one made of ivory, from which only illusion and the web of dreams emerge , the other made of smooth horn , from which the true dreams come.
In 1884 the Amphiareion was rediscovered and excavated in decades of work that was interrupted several times.
The sanctuary
The sanctuary is located 37.2 km north of Athens between rolling hills in the valley of a torrent. The focal point was the sacred spring between the great altar and the torrent. Here the hero Amphiaraos , who was struck by lightning, is said to have reappeared. The healing power of the spring founded the development of the place into a spa facility.
The Amphiaraos Temple, built at the beginning of the 4th century BC, whose north side, in contrast to the south side, which was washed away by the stream, is still up to 3 m high, was divided into three aisles by two rows of unfluting columns. Lattices between the columns separated the central nave with the cult image of the amphiaraoh, an acrolite statue, as the “holy of holies”. On the entrance side there was a pronaos with six Doric columns and two half-columns at the ante , so that the front apparently consisted of eight columns. 15 m in front of the temple there is an altar which, measuring 8.6 × 4 m, is disproportionately large in contrast to the temple, which is only 26.6 × 12.9 m in size. According to Pausanias' description, the altar was divided into five zones, each dedicated to different groups of gods: the middle one to Amphiaraos together with Hestia , Hermes and Amphilochus , the others Heracles , Zeus and Apollo , Aphrodite , Jason , Hygieia and Athena , Pan , the nymphs and the river gods Acheloos and Kephissos as well as heroes .
To the north of the temple there is a 70 m long row of statue bases from the Hellenistic-Roman period on which there were statues that the Oropians donated to the mighty patrons of the sanctuary. One of the inscriptions from 42 BC honors Marcus Junius Brutus as the murderer of tyrants. The complex also had baths, a theater, a stadium and buildings for accommodating and feeding the visitors. The cult law found again as an inscription, only partially preserved, shows that the pilgrims were charged an entrance fee, the amount of which was initially one drachma and was soon increased to one and a half drachma. The choice of the sacrificial animal, from which the priest received the shoulder blade, was free, even if Pausanias reports that the pilgrims sacrificed rams and slept on their fur in order to receive the oracle in a dream.
The stoa from the middle of the 4th century BC extends with 39 Doric columns over a length of 110 m. Inside, the roof was supported by 17 Ionic columns that divided the hall into two parts. A solid marble bench ran around it. As in Epidaurus, there was a reclining hall, a coimeterion , in which the sick, after they had physically and mentally cleansed and fasted, lay down for the so-called temple sleep and entrusted themselves to the dream oracle of the healing god. At the end of the hall there was a room where the women slept. As in Epidaurus, those who were healed left votive offerings and inscriptions. The inscription of Moschos is the oldest evidence of a Jew in Greece.
According to inscriptions, the theater dates from the 2nd century BC. It only had a capacity of around 300 spectators. The seats were probably made of wooden elements on the rows of seats carved into the rock. Five marble chairs of honor are placed in the first row of the seats around the Orchestra with a diameter of 12.4 m. The proscenium (stage house), which was rebuilt in 1960, is well preserved. Eight delicate monoliths are designed as Doric half-columns 1.90 m high and carry an architrave with a dedicatory inscription.
Opposite the holy spring on the other side of the creek bed are the remains of a well-preserved Klepsydra (Κλεψυδρα, water clock). It consisted of a rectangular water tank in the middle, with a steep staircase as access to the bronze bung lock.
The amphiaraia
Every year in autumn the Amphiaraia ( Ἀμφιαράια ) took place as a cult festival , every four years on a larger scale. The musical competitions were held in the theater, the athletic ones in the - not excavated - stadium. The inscriptions from the 4th century BC BC testify that Athens in particular took part in the competitions. According to a Roman Senate resolution of 77 BC. The cult festivals were called "Amphiaraien and Rhomaien".
literature
- Richard Wolf: The Amphiaraion of Oropos. In: Collect stones, scatter stones. On the way back to then. Editio posthuma. Wolf & Fuchs, Murnau 1997, ISBN 3-931247-01-5 , p. 23 ff.
- Basil Ch. Petrakos : The Amphiaraion of Oropos. Klio Publishing House, Athens 1996, ISBN 960-7465-31-8 .
Web links
- Amphiareion in the Arachne archaeological database
- Excursion report (PDF; 2.5 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Herodotus, Historien 1,92,2.
- ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.34.
- ↑ a b Erwin Freund: Amphiareion. In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places. CH Beck, Munich 1989, p. 107 f.
- ↑ Cicero, De natura deorum 3.19.
- ↑ Philostratus, Imagines 1:27.
- ↑ Homer, Odyssey 19,560-567.
- ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.34-3.
Coordinates: 38 ° 17 ′ 29 " N , 23 ° 50 ′ 44" E