Aphaia
Aphaia ( Greek Ἀφαία , the non-dark , i.e. the light ; Latin Aphaea ) is a Greek goddess. She only had her cult on the island of Aigina and was the main goddess of this island, but probably comes from Crete .
Sometimes Aphaia is identified with other goddesses, namely Artemis , Athene or the nymph Britomartis . Britomartis herself was identified with Artemis and is part of her cult.
Aphaia's temple stood on a hill 13 km east of the main town. It was built around 500 BC about 50 years after a previous building. Rebuilt. His gable figures, known in archeology as Aigineten, were sold to the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig in 1812 and have since been in the Glyptothek in Munich . Bertel Thorvaldsen reconstructed these gable figures. However, Thorvaldsen's additions, which were based on classical ideas, were removed because they could not be archaeologically preserved. The excavation museum at the Aphaia temple contains the most important finds of the German excavations in the temple area, which were completed in 1988.
literature
- Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher: Aphaia . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 388 ( digitized version ).
- Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen , Carl Robert : Aphaia . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplement volume I, Stuttgart 1903, column 100 f.
- Dieter Ohly : Temple and sanctuary of Aphaia on Aegina: explained on the wooden models in the Glyptothek in Munich . 2nd Edition. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-04115-9
- Ernst-Ludwig Schwandner : The older Poro temple of Aphaia on Aegina . de Gruyter, Berlin 1985 (Monuments of Ancient Architecture, Vol. 16) ISBN 3-11-010279-X
- Heiner Knell : Myth and Polis . Darmstadt 1990, pp. 68-78.
- Gottfried Gruben : Greek temples and sanctuaries . 5th edition Munich 2001, pp. 121–127.
- Dieter Ohly: Glyptothek Munich. Greek and Roman sculptures. A leader . 9th edition. Munich 2001, pp. 47-69.
- Tonio Hölscher : Classical archeology. Basic knowledge . Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1653-3 , pp. 119-127.