Hylates

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Hylates was the city god of Kurion in southwestern Cyprus. He was worshiped as a local god exclusively in Cyprus and is equated with Apollo in terms of functions. Hylates is used as an epithet next to Apollo. The name can perhaps be derived from the Greek  ὑλακτέω [ʰylaktéō] "bark" or ὕλη [ʰýlē] "forest", hence Lebek calls it "Waldapoll". The worship of Hylates is from the 3rd century BC. Until the 3rd century AD. In Kourion, the oldest mention of the name "Hylates" was on a dedication from the middle of the 3rd century BC. Found.

Kourion

Remains of the southeastern part of the Hylates sanctuary
Remnant of a temple of Hylate

Excavation history

An important Hylates sanctuary was four kilometers west of Kourion in Cyprus . The function of the sanctuary had never completely faded from memory, when Ludwig Ross visited the site in 1845, the residents knew the Temple of Apollo. Louis Palma de Cesnola carried out the first excavations in 1876 ​​and found an inscription mentioning Apollo Hylos. In the 1930s George McFadden undertook excavations, from 1978 Diana Buitron-Oliver and David Soren explored the temple grounds.

architecture

More recent excavations have shown several temple buildings: In addition to a large altar from the late 6th or early 7th century BC, an archaic temple was soon built. More buildings followed, so that an entire sanctuary was created. The archaic temple was built in the 4th century BC. BC probably under Ptolemy I extended with Hellenistic alterations. In Roman times, under Nero and Trajan , a stone temple was built next to a stoa , thermal baths and a palaistra , which was destroyed on July 21, 365 by an earthquake. The Trajan temple was probably a tetrastylos with Nabatean capitals and antes and 18 steps. The excavation site can be visited.

Nabataean capitals at the Temple of Apollo at Kourion

Finds

In addition to pottery products, during excavations in Kourion in 1980, large terracotta bull figures made on pottery wheels and one figure each made of gold and silver on the archaic altar were found. It is possible that there was a bull cult for the god Hylates, which could have taken place in the adjoining room - a circular monument with a diameter of 18 m. As bone finds prove, animals were sacrificed to the god in archaic times.

altar

Strabo names an "untouchable" altar of Apollo that Lebek wants to assign to Hylates. This altar may also be referred to in a poem of the award of Antinous , which was found in the temple district of Kourion. Lebek suspects this altar to be in the excavated eastern area of ​​the sanctuary, between the later temple itself and the Kurion gate.

Other sanctuaries

In New Paphos , a partially subterranean Ptolemaion was dedicated to Hylates, in Dhrymou and Chytroi sanctuaries. In Dhrymou and Chrytoi it is noticeable that only the epithet Hylates and not Apollon is mentioned; The remains of bull figures have also been found in Chytroi.

Inscriptions

From Nikoklia , 2 km north of Palaipaphos (Kouklia), comes a marble slab with an oath of allegiance to the Roman emperor Tiberius , who mentions a number of Cypriot gods:

Apollon Hylates is the most important of the male gods here. He is also mentioned on numerous other inscriptions by Kurion.

literature

  • S. Sinos, The Temple of Apollo Hylates at Kourion and the Restoration of its south-west corner, Athens 1990.
  • Diana Buitron-Oliver et al .: The sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion. Excavations in the Archaic precinct . Studies in Mediterranean Archeology 109, 1996, ISBN 91-7081-094-X .
  • Diana Buitron and Darice Birge: Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, Kourion, 1980. Excavations; the Cult , in: American Journal of Archeology, Volume 85.2, Boston 1981, pp. 187-188.
  • Mary B. Hollinshead, Review: The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion, edited by David Soren , in: American Journal of Archeology, Volume 93.4, Boston 1989, pp. 623-624.
  • Terence Bruce Mitford : A Cypriot oath of allegiance to Tiberius . In: Journal of Roman Studies 50, 1960, pp. 75–79.
  • Stephen C. Glover : Sanctuaries of Apollo Hylates at Dhrymou and Chytroi , in: American Journal of Archeology, Volume 86.2, Boston 1982, pp. 265-266.
  • Robert Scranton: The Architecture of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion . Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 57/5, 1967, 3-85.
  • Reinhard Senff : Kurion , in: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider u. Manfred Landfester (Ed.), Der Neue Pauly Volume 6 Iul – Lee, Stuttgart 1999.
  • David Soren (Ed.): The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion, Cyprus . University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1987, ISBN 0-8165-1041-5 (not evaluated).

Web links

Commons : Sanctuary of Apollon Hylates  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wolfgang Dieter Lebek 1973, A Hymn to Antinous (Mitford, the Inscriptions of Kourion No. 104). Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy 12, 101
  2. ^ Robert Scranton, The Architecture of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 57/5, 1967, 3
  3. ^ Terence Mitford, Inscriptions of Kourion, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 83, 1971, Inscription No. 123
  4. ↑ For an overview of the buildings cf. Robert Scranton , The Architecture of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kurion, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, Volume 57.5, Philadelphia 1967, pp. 3-85
  5. ^ Felix Färber: Cyprus . Polyglott-Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-493-60411-4 , pp. 127-128; Cyprus . 2nd updated edition. Falk, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-8279-0180-4 , pp. 71-72.
  6. ↑ Diana Buitron et al. Darice Birge, Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, Kourion, 1980. Excavations; the Cult, in: American Journal of Archeology , Volume 85.2, Boston 1981, p. 188.
  7. ^ SJM Davis, Animal sacrifices. In: Diana Buitron-Olivet, The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion: Excavations in the Archaic Precinct. Göteborg, Åström, Jonsered, 181-182
  8. ↑ Strabo, Geographika 14,6,3
  9. ↑ a b Wolfgang Dieter Lebek 1973, A Hymn to Antinous (Mitford, the Inscriptions of Kourion No. 104). Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy 12, 119
  10. ^ TB Mitford 1971. The Inscriptions of Kourion . Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 83. Philadelphia, No. 104
  11. ↑ Reinhard Senff , Paphos II. Neu-Paphos, in: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider u. Manfred Landfester (Ed.), Der Neue Pauly Volume 9 Or-Poi, Stuttgart 2000
  12. ↑ Stephen C. Glover , Sanctuaries of Apollo Hylates at Dhrymou and Chytroi, in: American Journal of Archeology, Volume 86.2, Boston 1982, pp. 265-266.
  13. ↑ Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum 18, 578 .