Eschara (altar)

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Eschara as the uppermost part of the altar in which the fire was kept. 490-480 BC Chr.

Eschara ( ancient Greek ἐσχάρα , hearth, fireplace ' , plural Escharai ) is the name for an altar in the Greek religion . In the archaic and classical times, eschara meant a whole altar or the fire protection on a stone base, the bomos . In later times, Eschara became a ground-level sacrificial altar and was associated with specific sacrificial rituals and recipient groups. Escharai in the meaning of the altar are from the 5th century BC. Chr. Handed down.

Other names

According to the LSJ, escharōn means “the location of a hearth” and one can imagine an escharon as a building or room with an eschara.

definition

Bomos with eschara on top, around 430-425 BC Chr. Louvre G 402

Escharai were in the vicinity of the Greek sacrifice in the 5th century BC. Often synonymous with the term Bomos. In many cases it was only the top of an altar. Since the bearer of the fire was the most important part of an altar, Eschara could also have stood as a pars pro toto for the whole altar. The linguistic reference to a part of the altar is provided by the term bomou eschara , which referred to the upper part of the altar in which the fire was kept. The Bomos would have formed the basis. Since an eschara was exposed to the heat of the fire, it was made of heat-resistant materials such as serpentinite , gneiss , terracotta or bronze and protected the stone bomos from the fire.

As stand-alone altars, escharai were made from the ashes of previous sacrifices or from stones and may have been less well crafted than Bomoi. In the explanatory sources of a later date, an eschara was understood as a deep, level and independent altar.

According to literary sources, the recipients of victims of an eschara were very diverse. Both the Olympian gods and daimones are listed in connection with the altar. Only from the 3rd century BC There were mentions of heroes and other groups of gods such as the Chthonic gods .

There are no known rituals associated with the use of escharai during the archaic and classical times. Apparently they were used at Thysiai . It was not until the explanatory texts from the 1st century AD assigned Eschara to the Enagismata and Bomos to the Thysiai.

Demarcation

see Bomos

Sources

Eschara, which fills the recess between the volutes , around 470 BC. Chr., NAMA 9683

Inscriptions

Most of the evidence of Escharai in inscriptions comes from the inventory lists of the temples of Athens and Delos . They are found from the middle of the 4th century to the end of the 2nd century BC. Dated. However, it was not about escharai in the meaning of an altar, but were designations for stoves or grills made of metal.

Of the 40 inscriptions from Lindos , dated between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC BC, 21 lead the expression προσχάραιος θυσία ( proscharaios thysia ), which is interpreted by scholars as the Doric contraction of πρὸ τᾶς ἐσχάρας ( pro tas eschara ), a thysia before an eschara. The recipient was the goddess Athena .

The earliest and clearest tradition of an eschara in the meaning of an altar comes from a horos from Porto Rafti . It is dated to the 4th century BC. Dated. Around 300 BC An inscription from Kos lists an eschara next to Bomos. In both inscriptions, Heracles was the recipient of the sacrifice.

In four inscriptions of Attic ephebes , dated v between 127/6 and 107/6. BC, Escharai are performed as part of sacrifices for Dionysus .

Without the inscriptions from Lindos, the interpretation of which is not certain, in the period from the 4th to the 2nd century BC. Ten records for Escharai are classified as altars.

Literary sources

The early mention of Eschara in Homer refers to the hearth in a house. In the meaning of an altar, the term appears especially in the poets and playwrights Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides and Aristophanes in the 5th century BC. Chr. On.

From the 3rd century BC Eschara has been documented 18 times from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The majority of the sacrifices with Escharai were received by the Olympian gods. Then there were the heroes, the Chthonic gods , the Egyptian gods and Yahweh . During this period a distinction was made between Bomos and Eschara and assigned to specific recipient groups. According to later explanatory sources, Neanthes of Kyzikos is said to have been in the 3rd century BC. Said that "Bomoi are for the gods and Escharai for the heroes" and in the 3rd century AD Porphyry wrote that "the Olympian gods had temples and Bomoi, the Chthonic gods and heroes Escharai".

In the explanatory sources, Scholia , lexicons and commentaries, Eschara is represented between the 1st century AD to the 13th century AD. It is quite common, with many of these sources citing others with no comments of their own. The frequency is interpreted to mean that eschara, with its many different meanings, apparently needed an explanation. The explanatory sources cemented the connection between Escharai and heroes with regard to the religious meaning of the term and emphasized the structural and structural differences between Eschara and Bomos. They pointed out that the earlier sources had not always used the term in the way they themselves used and that there would have been overlaps between Bomos and Eschara in earlier times.

iconography

Studies of Greek vases , especially the Attic ones, have shown that there was no distinction between Bomos and Eschara in terms of height and shape on the vases during the Archaic and Classical periods. Likewise, no connection from Eschara to Enagisma or Holocaust and Bomos to Thysia could be proven. On the great majority of the representations, thysiai took place with altars of all heights and shapes, in some cases even on altars at ground level.

The study from 2001 on the Attic vases therefore comes to a completely different result than the later literary sources conveyed:

“The division of the altars into bomoi and escharai stipulated by the late literary sources does not correspond to the rendering of the altars on the vase paintings. The information provided by the later sources may reflect the fact that two distinct types of altars had developed after the Classical period, but one also has to consider the possibility that the later sources are commenting on phenomena that they did not completely understand or were not well informed about. "

“The division of the altars into bomoi and escharai called for in the later literary sources does not correspond to the representation of the altars on the vase pictures. The indications of the later sources may reflect the fact that two different types of altars had evolved after the Classical period, but one must also consider the possibility that the later sources comment on phenomena which they did not fully understand or which they were not well informed about were."

reception

According to LSJ , eschara had many meanings. In the context of the Greek religion, Eschara is still defined by LSJ as a sacrificial focus hollowed out of the ground and is seldom handed down in this meaning.

The few and inconsistent traditions and the resulting different opinions have led some scholars to recommend avoiding the term eschara entirely. In the majority, however, there was the consensus that Eschara was associated with heroes , "common dead" and chthonic gods and should be classified as a contrast to Bomos, which was reserved for the Olympic gods . As a result, various rituals were carried out. It was also agreed that the shapes of the two types of altars are different: an eschara is low and has the shape of a mouth, while a bomos is high.

With the inclusion of archeology , epigraphy , iconography and literary sources, scientists have been able to draw a much more differentiated picture of the Eschara in the last few decades, which a development from the 5th century BC. BC to the 13th century and takes into account the contemporary background of the reception of the sources.

literature

  • Emil Reisch : Eschara . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 1, Stuttgart 1907, Col. 614-617.
  • Paul Stengel : The Greek cultural antiquities (= handbook of ancient science . Volume 5,3). 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1920, pp. 15-16 ( Internet archive ).
  • Jean Rudhardt : Notions fondamentales de la pensée religieuse et actes constitutifs du culte dans la Grèce classique. Droz, Genève 1958 (thèse de doctorat), new edition Picard, Paris 1992, pp. 250-251.
  • Folkert T. van Straten: Hiera kala. Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece (= Religions in the Graeco-Roman World. Volume 127). Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 9004102922 , pp. 165-167.
  • John Chadwick : The Semantic History of Greek ἑσχάρα. In: John Chadwick (Ed.): Lexicographica Graeca. Contributions to the Lexicography of Ancient Greek. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-19-814970-0 , pp. 515-523.
  • Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, ISBN 9122019138 , pp. 115-126 ( online ).
  • Gunnel Ekroth : The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos . Supplement volume 12). Center International d'Étude de la Religion Grecque Antique (CIERGA), Liège 2002, ISBN 2-87456-003-0 , ISBN 2-8218-2900-0 ( openedition.org ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 57 (Chapter I, Paragraph 67).
  2. ↑ Liddell Scott sv ἐσχαρών ; Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos . Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 25 (Chapter I, Paragraph 9).
  3. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 36 (Chapter I, Paragraph 28).
  4. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, p. 122.
  5. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 41 (Chapter I, Paragraph 37).
  6. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, p. 124.
  7. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 43 (Chapter I, Paragraph 43).
  8. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 55 (Chapter I, Paragraph 67); see also Eschara (ceramics) ..
  9. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 47–49, 58 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 52, 56 and 70).
  10. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 52 (Chapter I, Paragraph 63).
  11. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 39 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 34 and 35).
  12. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 42 (Chapter I, Paragraph 40).
  13. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 50 (Chapter I, Paragraph 61).
  14. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, p. 120.
  15. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 28-30 (Chapter I, paragraphs 14 to 16).
  16. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 31–32 (Chapter I, Paragraph 18).
  17. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae II² 4977 .
  18. ^ Edward Harris et Jan-Mathieu Carbon: The Documents in Sokolowski's Lois sacrées des cités grecques (LSCG) In: Kernos. Volume 28, 2015, No. 177 ( online ).
  19. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 29–31 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 16 and 17).
  20. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 33–34 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 21 to 24).
  21. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 37 (Chapter I, Paragraph 30).
  22. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 39 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 34 and 35).
  23. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 39 and 47 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 34, 35 and 52).
  24. ↑ " βωμοὺς θεῶν φησιν, ἐσχάρας δε ἡρώων ." The fragments of the Greek historians 84 F 7.
  25. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 45 (Chapter I, Paragraph 50).
  26. ↑ " ὡς γὰρ τοῖς μὲν Ὀλυμπίοις θεοῖς ναούς τε καὶ ἕδη καὶ βωμοὺς ἱδρύσαντο , χθονίοις δὲ καὶ ἥρωσιν ἑσχάρας [...] ". Porphyrios, De antro nympharum 6.
  27. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, p. 46 (Chapter I, Paragraph 51).
  28. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 50–54 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 59 to 73).
  29. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, p. 116.
  30. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, p. 119.
  31. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 26 and 29 (Chapter I, Paragraphs 11 and 16).
  32. ↑ So: Folkert T. van Straten: Hiera kala. Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece (= Religions in the Graeco-Roman World. Volume 127). Brill, Leiden 1995, pp. 165-167; The Greek cultural antiquities (= handbook of ancient studies . Volume 5,3). 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1920, p. 16; RE
  33. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos. Supplement volume 12). CIERGA, Lüttich 2002, pp. 26-27 (Chapter I, Paragraph 11).
  34. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: Altars on Attic Vases: The Identification of bomos and eschara. In: Charlotte Scheffer (Ed.): Ceramics in Context. Proceedings of the Internordic Colloquium on Ancient Pottery Held at Stockholm 13-15 June 1997 (= Stockholm Studies in Classical Archeology. Volume 12). Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 2001, pp. 115-116.