Carnasion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Karnasische grove or Karnasion ( ancient Greek ἄλσος Καρνάσιον, Καρνειάσιον ) was an ancient shrine in Messinia , where mysteries were celebrated the Great Goddess. The sanctuary is named after Carneios , a local form of Apollo , who was also venerated here. According to ancient sources, it was eight stadiums from the city of Andania , west of the Charadros River. According to Pausanias, the place was called Oichalia (Οἰχαλία) in ancient times.

Location and archaeological finds

The place can be localized by inscriptions and ancient remains at the modern Polichni ( modern Greek Πολίχνη ) in Messenia, which lies west of the Dimandra river. The water-rich source Divári (Διβάρι) rises in a field south of the village. An inscription was found 500 meters west of this in 1858 (IG V 1.1390 ​​= SIG 3 736), which describes the renewal of the mysteries. The 400 kilo stone was built into the church of Konstantíni, which is one and a half kilometers northwest of Polichni and can possibly be identified with the ancient place Andania . Based on this inscription and other finds, as well as the information from Pausanias, Natan Valmin was able to prove in 1930 that the Karnasian grove was south of the village of Polichini around the Divari spring.

The Divari spring is located in a field east of the village of Polichni. At that time, Valmin found signs of an ancient edging, in 1965 the spring was re-edged. 500 meters west of it, the remains of a Roman mosaic and column remains were found at the place where the mystery inscription was found.

400 meters north of Polichni is the church of Agios Taxiarchos on an elevation, where Mycenaean shards were found. In the vicinity of Polichni, the remains of an aqueduct , spolia , graves, remains of buildings and several inscriptions were discovered.

The finds come mainly from the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman eras and are rather sparse. They are spread over a larger area. Since the mystery inscription names a theater and a hippodrome, the ancient complex must have been correspondingly large.

History of the Mysteries

Mythical story

According to legend, the heroine Messene of Kaukon , son of Kelainos and a great grandson of the earth goddess Gaia , who came from Eleusis to Andania, was initiated into the mysteries of the great goddesses in mythical times , whereupon she set up a festival.

Perieres assigned the territory of Karnasion to the Thessalian archer Melaneus , a son of Apollo. He named the place after his wife Oichalia (Οἰχαλία).

When Aphareus was king in Messenia, Lycus, expelled by his brother Aigeus , came to Andania. Lykos is the ancestor of the Lykomiden , who presided over the sanctuary in the Attic Phlya . He purified the mysteries and initiated Aphareus, his wife Arene and his children into the mysteries of the Great Goddesses. The place where this happened was called the oak forest of Lykos (agr. Λύκου δρυμόν, Lykou drymon ).

Later King Sybotas set up the hero sacrifice for Eurytus, the son of Melaneus, in Oichalia.

Historical story

The story of the Mysteries and the Karnasian Grove in historical times is poorly known and heavily interwoven with legends, as is customary for cults.

After the founding of the New Messenian state in 369 BC The mysteries of the Great Goddesses were also re-established. According to tradition, Kaukon appeared to the general Epiteles, son of Aeschines, in a dream, who ordered him to dig where he would find yew and myrtle on Ithome and rescue the old woman. Epiteles found a hydria with a pewter roll on which the festival of the great goddesses was written. Later Methapus, presumably a Lykomide from Phlya, cleansed the mystics again. He also introduced the Mysteries of the Kabirs into Thebes .

In 92 BC The cult was reorganized in Karnasion by Mnasistratos, as the found mystery inscription testifies.

Description at Pausanias

The Karnasische Grove was overgrown with cypress trees. In it were among other things statues of Apollo Carneios and a ram-bearing Hermes . There was a flowing source. The bones of Eurytus , the son of Melaneus, were also kept in the grove.

cult

Pausanias, who had visited the Karnasian grove himself, reports about the mysteries. He put the Mysteries of the Great Goddesses in Carnasion in holiness second after the Eleusinians . The mystery inscription also gives detailed information about the organization and course of the mysteries. There is also an oracle text from Argos (SIG 3 735).

The mysteries were closely related to those of Eleusis, the Attic Phlya and the Kabiren sanctuary in Thebes.

According to the mystery inscription , written in the Doric dialect , Damater , Hagna , Hermes , Apollon, Carneios and the great gods were worshiped in Carneiasion . Pausanias names Apollon Carneios, Hermes, Hagne and the great goddesses. Hagna ("the pure") is an epithet of the Kore , Demeter's daughter. According to the Mystery Scriptures, the source was called "Hagnas source" (Doric: Ἅγνας κράνα, Hagnas krana ). The relationship between the Great Goddesses, by which Demeter and Kore are meant, and the Great Gods is unclear. The latter are linked by research either with the Kabiren or the Dioskuren .

The mysteries, presided over by a council ( gerousia ), were open to all people, both men and women. Slaves were initiated as well. The festival was presided over by ten democratically elected men. Hieroi and Hierai, who were sworn in by the mystery priest, were determined by lot. Several priestesses are named in the mystery inscription, including a priestess from Demeter of Aigila .

The festival had a religious part, where the consecrations, sacrifices and a procession were carried out, and a secular part with a feast, competitions, dance and theater, whereby the setting up of the tents is also regulated.

swell

  • Pausanias : Travel in Greece 4.1.5-9, 3.10, 26.7f., 33.6

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mattias Natan Valmin: Études topographiques sur la Messénie ancienne . Lund 1930; 89ff.
  2. ↑ McDonald, Hope Simpson, AJA 65 (1961), 234

literature