Eleutherai

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Coordinates: 38 ° 10 ′ 46.4 "  N , 23 ° 22 ′ 32.8"  E

Figure 1. Part of the northern fortification wall of Eleutherai.
Fig. 3. Map section showing the north-western border of ancient Attica ("Athenian Frontier").
The three places that played a role in the discussion about the localization of Eleutherai lie south of the northern border between Attica and Boeotia (from west to east): Eleutherai (Gyphtokastro), Oinoe (Myopolis) and Panakton.
Fig. 4. Floor plan of the former fortress according to Stanhope , 1817 (the north direction is drawn incorrectly).
Fig. 5. Floor plan of the former fortress according to Ziller , 1876.

Eleutherai was an ancient Greek place on the border between Attica and Boeotia , which was known for its fortress , as the original place of worship of Dionysus Eleuthereus and as the birthplace of the sculptor Myron .

Localization

For a long time there was no agreement among the scholars about the location of the historic Eleutherai (Fig. 2 and 3). Two locations were up for discussion:

  • Giftokastro
  • Panakton

The ancient sources cited in the literature were not clear enough to settle the discussion. So was z. E.g. for Giftokastro a position at Pausanias was mentioned:

“If one turns from Eleusis to Boeotia , the landscape of the Plateans borders on Attica ; for previously the inhabitants of Eleuthera were the frontier neighbors of the Athenians: but after these have been united with the Athenians, the Citharon is now the frontier of Boeotia . "

- Pausanias : 1, 38, 8; after Pausanias 1829 , page 127.

A position in Thucydides served as evidence for Panakton :

"Around the same time the Boeotians gained Panaktum, a permanent place on the Athenian border, through treason."

- Thucydides : The Peloponnesian War 2, 18, 1–2; after Thucydides 1826 .

There were two factions facing each other, both of which insisted on their opinion. During excavations in the 1980s, the American archaeologist Mark Munn found an inscription near Panakto that identified the site as the historic Panakton, so that it was excluded as the location of Eleutherai.

The equation of Giftokastro with Eleutherai has apparently established itself in the meantime. The further explanations are based on the identity of Eleutherai with Giftokastro.

location

The strategic border bastion between Attica and Boeotia is located at an altitude of 468 m on an isolated rocky hill, about 100 m higher than the Kaza Pass that leads past to the west, which in antiquity was the only drivable path between the Kithairon and Parnes Mountains. The road from Athens to Thebes, the main route between northern Greece and the Peloponnese , ran over this pass .

Originally belonging to Boeotia , the inhabitants of Eleutherai joined the Athenians in mythical times or in the 6th century BC.

Today you can get to Giftokastro via national road 3. On the stretch between the towns of Erythres and Oinoi , the road from Vilia joins from the west . About 1 km north of the confluence is to the right of the national road Giftokastro.

fortress

The statements in this section are based on Ariadne 2011 , Papadopoulos 2011 , Ziller 1879 , the article “Eleutherai” in the Odysseus portal of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the information board of the “3. Ephoria for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities ”, which is placed near an entrance to the fortress.

Regarding the floor plans (picture 4 and 5): A photo of the notice board can be found on Flickr . with a current floor plan of the fortress. Google Maps provides a detailed aerial view of the current state of the fort.

Fortress wall

Eleutherai / Giftokastro is one of the best preserved fortifications in ancient Greece. The fortress wall, which was built between 370 and 360 BC, adapts itself to the terrain formation in an irregular square. The long sides run almost in a straight line in an almost west-east direction and are about 300 m long. The irregular narrow sides have a length of about 100 m. The total circumference of the fortress wall was approx. 860 m. "The walled area corresponds roughly to the Acropolis of Athens [or four football fields] and covers about 3 hectares".

At important points, the wall was reinforced by two or three-story towers with loopholes. They had a square floor plan with a side length of 6 m and were connected to each other by walkable ramparts, on average around 2.5 m wide. The north side was the most densely populated with seven towers, the other five towers were distributed on the remaining sides. The fortress had a double main entrance in the west, a side entrance in the southeast and two narrow gates on the north side.

Masonry

The masonry, consisting of limestone blocks, was built using an isodomeric construction method. H. the walls were made of ashlars for their entire thickness. Regarding the masonry, the anonymous author of a travelogue about Eleutherai remarked in 1879: “The stones are smooth and well-hewn, exactly fitting one another. Without mortar the building is joined and no grass grows in the joints. ... We have before us an achievement of cleanliness and love in execution, which reminds us of the walls of the best Hellenic times, e.g. B. to those of the Dipylon of Messene or the walls of the Propylaea at Athens. "

Garrison building

At the highest point of the fortress area, close to the northern wall, the foundation walls of a two-story building with a base area of ​​16 × 11 m were found. The building, made of mighty polygonal masonry , of which 3–4 layers have been preserved, is oriented with its long sides exactly in a north-south direction. A gate in the eastern long wall leads to a corridor with two adjoining rooms on each side. The building was probably built in the 5th century and after the fortress was completed it was probably used as a garrison building. Other scattered finds of low masonry on the site indicate that there were other structures in addition to the garrison building.

State of preservation

The north side of the fortress is best preserved. The masonry stands up to a height of 4 to 6 m, considerable remains of the seven towers have remained, and some of the ramparts are still accessible. Only small remains of the other sides have survived.

people

Fig. 6. Attic skyphos with ship cart procession during the Great Dionysia . Detail: ship's cart with the wooden statue of the seated Dionysus Eleuthereus.

Eleuther, Eleuthera, Artemis Eleuthera, Mnemosyne, Myron, Pegasos

Some individuals are linked to Eleutherai through myth or birth. The mythical founder and namesake of the city was Eleuther , who might perhaps correspond to a real person who may have lived in the 6th century BC.

The existence of a goddess named Eleuthera is only asserted by Karl Kerényi : "Eleutherai, who is based on the name of the goddess Eleuthera, like these two Eleuther ". However, he does not provide any evidence for this.

The goddess Artemis is only mentioned as Artemis Eleuthera in connection with the Lycian place Myra , without any reference to Eleutherai being demonstrable.

According to Hesiod's theogony , the goddess Mnemosyne , who bore the nine muses to Zeus , was the "ruler of Eleuthers heights".

According to one source, the statue of Dionysus Eleuthereus was brought to Athens by Pegasus from Eleutherai (see section Dionysus Eleuthereus ).

The sculptor Myron is said to have been born in Eleutherai. He became famous for the bronze statue of a discus thrower ( Diskobolos ), which has been imitated in innumerable copies.

Dionysus Eleuthereus

It is not conclusively proven why Dionysus , the Greek god of wine, also received the name Dionysos Eleuthereus (Latin: Dionysos Eleutherius ) or Dionysus from Eleutherai . The common interpretations are based on the etymological , mythical or historical derivation of the name.

1. According to an etymological interpretation, Dionysus was nicknamed Eleuthereus (Liberator) because he freed people from grief, suffering and worries through the numbing effect of wine.
2. A partly etymological, partly mythical derivation ascribes Dionysus to the epithet Eleuthereus, because he was considered a liberator from orgiastic madness, just as he redeemed Eleuther's daughters from madness (see No. 4).
3. A Scholion on Hesiod's theogony reports that Dionysus did not appear as liberator, but had to be freed from madness himself: “Eleuther was a king in the land and a mountain with the name of the hero, son of Apollo and Aithusa, a daughter of Poseidon. Eleuther is also the name of a city in Boeotia where Mnemosyne is said to have been worshiped. It [the city] is so named because it was there that Dioysus was healed of his madness and delivered. "
4th Another derivation of the name is based on an ancient myth. Accordingly, Dionysus once appeared in a black goat skin to the daughters of Eleuther , but they mocked him because of his clothes. The god then punished all the men in the city with satyrism , a sick and painful permanent erection . In desperation, the Eleutherianer surveyed the Apollo - oracle in Delphi , which they advised to repent to escort the statue of Dionysus in procession to Athens. The origin of the statue from Eleutherai prompted the naming of Dionysus with the nickname Eleuthereus.
5. In the 6th century BC the statue of Eleutherai is said to have been brought to Athens. This is not only mythical, but also historically proven. The travel writer Pausanias reports in the 2nd century AD: “In this plain [of Eleutherai] is a temple of Dionysus, and from here the Athenians fetched the old carving; the present one at Eleuthera has been copied from that. ”Elsewhere Pausanias claims that Pegasus of Eleutherai, a mythological person, is said to have brought the cult to Athens:“ ... Pegasus from Eleuthera, who is involved in the worship of this god [Dionysus] the Athenians. ”The claim that the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos is said to have brought the statue to Athens does not seem to be proven (see also the“ Statue of Dionysus Eleuthereus ”by Alkamenes ).

In Athens, the statue of Dionysus Eleuthereus was kept behind the Dionysus Theater in the ancient Temple of Dionysus. Once a year, at the beginning of the festival of the Urban or Great Dionysia in spring, to commemorate the original shipment from Eleutherai, she was brought out in a ship's cart (Fig. 6) to a temple in the northwestern district of Kerameikos (on the road to Eleutherai) and brought back to the Temple of Dionysus after making an offering.

Antiope

Fig. 7. Marble group "Farnesian bull". Zethos and Amphion (right, with lyre provided) tie the dirke's hair to the horns of the bull, who is supposed to drag her to death. Middle background: Antiope.

Eleutherai was at times the scene of the antiope saga . - Antiope, impregnated by Zeus , gives birth to the twins Zethos and Amphion in the Kithairon Mountains near Eleutherai and is forced by her uncle Lykos to abandon the children in the mountains. While Antiope is being held captive by Lykos and his wife Dirke , a cattle herdsman is raising the children. When they matured into youths, Antiope escapes from captivity to Eleutherai. Unrecognized by her sons, when Dirke rushed over, she got caught up in life-threatening intrigues, which were atoned for by Dirke's execution.

Place name

The ancient place name is Eleutherai , the modern name is Giftokastro . The table gives an overview of common name forms.

language Notation transcription pronunciation
Ancient Greek Ἐλευθέραι Eleuthérai
German Eleutherai
English Eleutherae ilúθeri, IPA : [ɪ'luθəri]
French Eleuthères
Italian Eleutere
Latin Eleutherae or Eleutherä eleuthérä
Modern Greek (ancient place name) Ελευθερές Elefterés
Modern Greek (modern place name) Γυφτόκαστρο Giftokastro or Gyphtokastro
Portuguese Eleutera
Russian Элевферы Eleftery
Spanish Eléuteras

literature

General

  • Jean-Pierre Adam : L'architecture militaire grecque , Paris 1982, ISBN 9782708400610 , page 217, fig. 252, fig. 126.
  • Ariadne: Gyphtokastro , online 2011 [5] .
  • Karl Julius Beloch : To the map of Greece / 3rd Eleutherae . In: Klio: Contributions to ancient history 11.1911, page 436-439.
  • Yves Béquignon :  Oinoe (Myoupolis) Attica, Greece . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
  • Nicola Bonacasa:  Gyphtokastro (“Eleutherai”) Greece . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
  • Lilian Chandler: The North-West Frontier of Attica . In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies 46.1926, pp. 1–21.
  • Frederick A. Cooper: The fortifications of Epaminondas and the rose of the monumental Greek city . In: James D. Tracy: City walls: the urban enceinte in global perspective , New York 2000, pp. 155-191 [6] .
  • Nic Fields; Brian Delf (illustration): Ancient Greek fortifications 500-300 BC , Osprey Publishing 2006, pages 25-28 [7] .
  • Hans Rupprecht Goette : Athens - Attika - Megaris: travel guide to the art treasures and cultural monuments in central Greece , Cologne 1993, ISBN 3412033936 , page 246.
  • Philip Harding: Androtion and the "Atthis": the fragments translated with introduction and commentary , Oxford 1994, ISBN 0198721498 , page 105.
  • Dionysia . In: MC Howatson (editor); Ian Chilvers (Editor): Classical Literature Companion: The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature , Oxford 1989, ISBN 9780198661214 .
  • Karl Kerényi : Dionysos: archetype of indestructible life , Stuttgart 1994, especially pages 110–112 [8] .
  • Dimitrios Papadopoulos: Φρούριο Ελευθερών (Γυφτόκαστρο) [The Eleutherai Fortress (Giftokastro)] , in Modern Greek, online 2011 ( Memento from July 11, 2011 in the web archive archive.today ).
  • Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 2, Altenburg 1857, page 227 [9] .
  • Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher : Detailed Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology , Volume 1, Leipzig 1884 [10] (PDF; 183 MB).
  • Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher : Extensive Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology , Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909 [11] (PDF; 211 MB).
  • Meletis Stathis: Ελευθηρ, Ελευθεραι, Ερενεια, Κουντουρα, Μανδρα [Eleuther, Eleutherai, Ereneia, Kountoura, Mandra] , in modern Greek, Aspropyrgos 1992 [12] .
  • John Travlos: Bildlexikon zur Topographie des Antique Attika , Berlin 1988, ISBN 9783803010360 , page 170–176.
  • Frederick E. Winter: Greek fortifications , London 1971, ISBN 0710071493 .
  • B .; Ernst Ziller (illustration): Eleutherae and Aigosthena . In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, 29.1879, text: Column 285–288 [13] (PDF; 7.1 MB), images: Atlas, sheet 44 [14] (PDF; 21.8 MB).

swell

Web links

  • Photos of the fortress of Eleutherai on Flickr [18] .
  • Short film (1:04) about the Eleutherai Fortress and the surrounding area on YouTube [19]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bonacasa 1976 ; Fields 2006 , p. 27.
  2. ↑ See Cooper 2000 , page 157, footnote 9. - Bonacasa 1976 also cites Myoupolis without specifying evidence as the third possible location in which others see the historic Oinoe : “a location proposed by others as the site of Oinoe”.
  3. ↑ Papadopoulos 2011 ; sources are also given there.
  4. ↑ See e.g. B. the Odysseus portal of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism ( [1] ) or the notice board in Giftokastro, which bears the title "Fortress of Eleutherai" ( [2] ). Also Bonacasa 1976 tends to equate with Giftokastro Eleutherai: "The first of the theories [Giftokastro = Eleutherai] Seems perhaps the most acceptable".
  5. ↑ See Eleutherae (English Wikipedia).
  6. ↑ a b Ziller 1879 , column 285.
  7. ↑ Pausanias 1.38.8, translation: Pausanias 1829 , page 127. - In the 6th century, the statue of Dionysus Eleuthereus is said to have been brought to Athens, an action that requires friendly relations with the Athenians (see section Dionysus Eleuthereus ).
  8. ↑ Odysseus Portal: [3] .
  9. ↑ Photo of the notice board in Giftokastro
  10. ↑ Aerial view of the fortress in Google Maps: [4] .
  11. ↑ a b Beloch 1911 , page 436.
  12. ↑ Eleuther is said to have won a prize at the Pythian Games in Delphi ( Pausanias 7/10/3. Translation: Pausanias 1766 ). Since the historical Pythian Games are said to have started around 586 BC, Eleuther must have lived in the 6th century BC.
  13. ↑ Kerényi 1994 , page 110.
  14. ↑ Hesiod Theogony 54.
  15. ↑ "With the gift of wine he [Dionysus] pleased the hearts of men, shooed worries and the like. Suffering (hence Lysios or Lyaeos, the worry-solver, Eleuthereus, liberator) ”( Pierer 1857 ).
  16. ↑ Roscher 1884 , column 1062.
  17. ↑ Hesiodus 2009 , pp. 480–481, Scholion 54 b1 (German translation).
  18. ↑ Hence his name is also Dionysus Melanaigis, "the one with the black goat skin".
  19. ↑ Suda , keyword Mέλαν. Printed in Kerényi 1994 , page 266, footnote 10; Hyginus , Fabulae 225.
  20. ↑ Roscher 1909 , column 1747–1748.
  21. ↑ Pausanias 1.38.8, translation: Pausanias 1829 , page 127.
  22. ↑ Pausanias 1.2.5, translation: Pausanias 1829 , page 19; Roscher 1909 , column 1747-1748.
  23. ↑ Howatson 1989 .
  24. ↑ Pausanias 1.20.3; Plutarch , Quaestiones Romanae 104.
  25. ↑ Roscher 1884 , column 1073; Kerényi 1994 , pages 108-116.
  26. ↑ Pausanias 1.38.9, 2.6.1-4; Libraries of Apollodorus 3.5.5, 3.10.1; Hyginus , Fabulae 7-8; Roscher 1884 , columns 380-383.
  27. ↑ The alternative spelling Eleuterai is not documented. See previous versions of the Eleuterai article through October 21, 2011.
  28. ↑ The name means "Gypsy Castle". Modern transcription: Giftokastro, see z. B. Fields 2006 , p. 25. Other transcription: Gyphtokastro, see e.g. B. Bonacasa 1976 .