Cave of Euripides
The cave of Euripides ( Greek Σπήλαιου του Ευριπίδη ) is a cave near Peristeria in the south of the island of Salamis .
exploration
From 1994 to 1997, archaeologists from the University of Ioannina , led by Giannos G. Lolos, carried out excavations here. On January 10, 1997, the lower part of a black glazed skyphos was discovered in the cave . He bears the first six Greek letters "ΕΥΡΙΠΠ" of the name Euripides . While the vessel dates from around 430-420 BC. BC, i.e. during the lifetime of Euripides, the inscription comes from the first to third centuries AD. This suggests that this was the cave into which Euripides is said to have withdrawn to write dramas. Aulus Gellius , who visited the cave in the 2nd century, reports that Philochorusin a work that is now lost, described the cave as "uncomfortable and terrible". Satyros of Kallatis says that the cave in which Euripides wrote his works opened to the sea. He is said to have written the work of Hippolytus with a wreath in the cave. In 1998–2000 the Dionysus sanctuary was excavated. The finds are exhibited in the Salamis Archaeological Museum .
description
The cave is 115 m high and the entrance opens to a forecourt from which you have a beautiful view of the sea and the island of Aegina . The cave can be reached from the quayside via Evripidou Street. At the end of this a dirt road leads after about 250 m to a spring where the remains of a simple Dionysus sanctuary were found. A rectangular shrine, a cult place with benches and a water basin were found south of a retaining wall. Based on the finds, which included the right hand of a Dionysus statue, phalluses , black glazed kantharoi and stamped lids of beehives , it is assumed that here in the third and second centuries BC. Next to Dionysus also Euripides was worshiped.
After another 100 m you reach the entrance to the cave, which is now secured by a steel door. The low entrance leads to the approximately 47 m long cave. Partly winding passages connect the individual chambers. It was divided by archaeologists into ten parts, denoted by Roman numerals from I to X.
history
In the late Neolithic period (5,300–4,300 BC) the cave was used as a cult site. From this time, among other things, clay pots and arrowheads made of obsidian and flint were found. In particular, the large chamber VIII was used as a burial place during the Late Helladic Period (SH II – IIIB; 14th to early 12th century BC). Typical grave goods were decorated clay pots, jewelry and bronze objects. The next phase of use begins in the Classical Period in the 5th century BC. Black glazed and red-figure ceramics date from this period . In the Hellenistic and Roman times that followed, the cave seems to have turned into a tourist attraction and a place of pilgrimage. Visitors left silver earrings, rings and glass beads as offerings. At a narrow point in the corridor IV D was found a hoard consisting of 39 silver coins of Gallienus and his wife Salonina . It was probably hidden here when the Goths invaded in 267/8 AD. The last use of the cave was in the Frankish times (13th-14th centuries). It served as a place of refuge and silver hoards were found scattered in chambers VI and VIII.
Web links
- The cave of Euripides
- Clay Pot Points to Cave of Euripides (en)
- Σπήλαιο του Ευριπίδη (gr)
- Σπήλαιο Ευριπίδη (gr)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Philochoros in The Fragments of the Greek Historians 328 F 219 ( online )
- ↑ Aulus Gellius: Noctes Atticae , 15, 20, 5 ( online )
- ↑ Satyros of Kallatis: The Life of Euripides , Fragment 39 Column IX ( online )
- ↑ Unknown author: The Birth and Life of Euripides , 79-88 ( online )
Coordinates: 37 ° 52 '56.1 " N , 23 ° 27' 7.8" E