Demeter Shrine (Pergamon)
The Demeter sanctuary of Pergamon is a sanctuary located on the southern slope of the castle hill for the fertility goddess Demeter , which was particularly important in Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, but also under Roman rule . The sanctuary itself is old, its use can be traced back to the 4th century BC. Trace back to BC. The old city wall was torn down for the new construction carried out under Philetairos and his brother Eumenes. The first indications of its existence were discovered by Carl Humann in 1875 while examining the fortification walls of the castle hill and quickly identified on the basis of fragments of inscriptions. The excavations began in 1898 under the direction of Wilhelm Dörpfeld , which initially lasted until 1912. Follow-up examinations and building surveys were then carried out regularly, and the results were presented in a monograph in 1981.
Location and layout
The sanctuary is located on the southern slope of the castle hill at a height of about 197 meters above sea level , just below the Attal city wall and directly adjacent to the high school complex to the northwest . A terrace measuring around 110 × 50 meters was created using rockwork and landfills, which had to be stabilized by massive retaining walls. The sanctuary could be reached on narrow paths both from the upper town and from the south. These entrances were not expanded even in Roman times. A natural andesite rock formation in the southwestern area, which was incorporated into the sanctuary in later construction phases, is believed to be the cultic origin of the place.
The sanctuary was entered from the east through a propylon , which opened onto a courtyard surrounded on three sides by porticos . The propylon was Doric order , but had instead called Doric Blattkranzkapitelle, the column shafts were only at the top of fluted , the shaft approach, the fluting were only prepared, but has not been executed. The north and south halls were about 85 meters long, had the same order as the gate and were added to the sanctuary with the gate under Attalus I.
In the eastern courtyard area and at the height of the altar, there are more than ten seating steps in front of the northern columned hall for the participants in the Demeter Mysteries . Around 800 mystics could find space here. The corresponding celebrations must have been extended by the buildings of Attalus I and his wife Apollonis, because the foundation inscription now names Demeter and her daughter Kore . The accessible basement of the two-aisled south hall could have served the expected expansion of the cult with an emphasis on chthonic aspects. A number of smaller altars from Roman times have been preserved in the sanctuary, including an altar from around AD 200, which - if the addition of the inscription is correct - was dedicated to the "unknown gods", θεοὶ ἄγνωστοι .
Temple of Demeter
The temple of Demeter rose in the center of the western Temenos area . It was partly founded directly on natural rock, partly the surrounding area had to be filled up to this level. The building from the time of Philetaire was a 14.10 × 7.95 meter large ionic temple made of local andesite. Most of the substructure has been preserved, the stylobate with footprints of the column bases and the base of the northern antenna pillar are in situ . A frieze made of Prokonnesian marble decorated with bucraniums , garlands and sacrificial bowls adorned the entablature of the temple. At the time of Antoninus Pius, a prytane named Claudius Seilianus Aisimus donated a vestibule with four Corinthian columns to the temple , which was wider than the Hellenistic temple and did not form a uniform structure with it.
The great altar
In the center of the temenos is the great altar. Its long side is axially 9.50 meters from the pronaos of the temple. The east side lies at the level of the closing wall of the staircase and forms a spatial separation between the eastern “public” area for visitors and the more closely built western temple area. The 8.62 × 4.50 meter substructure consists of two circumferential steps and consists of andesite blocks. The upper step, facing the temple and 0.75 meters wider, served as a platform for the priests. The andesite superstructure placed on top measures 7.21 × 2.61 meters and was 0.92 meters high. Smooth andesite plates with a trough-shaped recess are reconstructed for the top. Volute-shaped acroters were attached to the four corners of the superstructure. A partially reconstructed inscription on the orthostats on the east side names Philetairos and his brother Eumenes, who consecrated the altar to the goddess in honor of their mother Boa. In Roman times, parts of the altar were covered with ornamented marble panels. The Hellenistic altar was rebuilt and partially reconstructed after the excavations were completed.
literature
- Carl Helmut Bohtz: The Demeter Shrine. de Gruyter, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-11-00848-05 ( Antiquities of Pergamon. Vol. 13).
Individual evidence
- ^ Albert Henrichs : Anonymity and Polarity: Unknown Gods and Nameless Altars at the Areopagus . In: Illinois Classical Studies . Vol. 19, 1994, p. 34.
Coordinates: 39 ° 7 ′ 38.2 ″ N , 27 ° 11 ′ 3 ″ E