Limnai (Taygetus)

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Limnai ( ancient Greek Λίμναι ) was an important ancient sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis in the Taygetos Mountains . It was on the border between Messenia and Sparta , which were equally involved in the cult, and it was a constant subject of contention between the two.

location

The remains of the sanctuary are in all likelihood on the site of today's Panagia Volimniatissa chapel ( modern Greek Παναγία Βωλιμνιάτισσα ) north of a depression called Volimnos (Βώλιμνος), around 11 kilometers northeast of Kalamata . They are located a few kilometers west of the modern village of Artemisia (formerly Tzernitza) on the southern slope of Gomovouno at 750 m. ü. M. in a side valley of the Nedon River , which flows into the Messenian Gulf . The inaccessible area is used as summer pasture. In the middle of the 19th century, farmers from Artemisia cultivated arable land here. In ancient times, a road led here across the Taygetos from Thouria in Messenia to Sparta.

The identification of the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis, which is well documented in ancient literature, with the finds in Volimnos was first suggested by the German archeologist Ludwig Ross , who in June 1841 found four inscriptions built into the wall of the Panagia Volimniotissa chapel. These inscriptions from the 3rd century AD name a "priest of Artemis" and "judge of the goddess Limnatis" (IG V 1374-1377).

The alternative location of the famous sanctuary north of the Sandava Gorge southeast of Kalamata, as suggested by Walter Kolbe and Natan Valmin , is no longer supported today.

history

According to Pausanias , both the Messenians and the Spartans took part in the cult of Artemis Limnatis in Limnai. The disputes over the sanctuary are mentioned in various ancient sources. Nino Luraghi regards the dispute over the remote sanctuary as symbolic; for the Messenians it embodied freedom, for the Spartans power. The sanctuary experienced its heyday during the Hellenistic and Roman epochs.

According to tradition, it was here at the end of the 9th century BC. The Spartan king Teleklos murdered by Messenians. According to the Spartan version, the Messenians wanted to desecrate the priestesses of Artemis and Teleklos rushed to their aid and was killed in the scuffle. The Messenians, on the other hand, said that Teleklos had equipped young men without a beard with daggers and had them dressed as virgins in order to attack the Messenians and when the Messenians resisted, Teleklos perished. After Strabo , the Messenians involved fled to Makistos in Elis and then emigrated to Rhegion in Calabria at the command of the oracle . The historicity of these events is assessed differently in modern research.

During the Messenian Wars , Limnai became Spartan. Philip II of Macedonia proposed it to the newly founded Messenian state. After Thouria and Pherai separated from Messenia, the sanctuary was again controversial. When Lucius Mummius 146 BC BC reorganized the Greek provinces, the Spartans demanded that the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis be awarded to them. The decision in favor of the Messenians was carved on the pillar of the Nike des Paionios in Olympia (IvO 52).

After the Battle of Actium in 31 BC The sanctuary came to Sparta by appointment of the emperor Augustus . In 25 AD, the Messenians and Spartans each sent an envoy to Emperor Tiberius to regulate the affiliation of the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis. Since then, the sanctuary has belonged to Messenia.

Finds

Only a few remains of the ancient sanctuary at Volimnos have survived, especially since the site has never been systematically explored. The immediate area is artificially terraced. Stones from the ancient temple were used to build the Panagia Volimniotissa chapel. A perennial spring with an ancient fountain trough rises 15 meters south of the chapel.

One of the oldest finds is a horse figure from the middle of the 8th century BC. As well as ceramics and needles of the geometric and archaic style . A brooch with a siren made of bronze belongs to the early 6th century BC. The oldest dedication inscription to the goddess Limnatis can be found on a mirror from the early 5th century BC. Chr. (SEG 29,395).

Most of the finds are in the Archaeological Museum of Messenia in Kalamata.

Artemis Limnatis

The goddess Limnatis (Λιμνᾶτις), venerated in Limnai, is a Spartan epiclesis of Artemis Orthia , whose main sanctuary was in the Spartan suburb of Limnai . Another temple must have stood north of the Sandava Gorge, other Limnatis sanctuaries were in the city of Messene , in the Spartan Epidaurus Limera , in the Triphylian Kombothekra and in Patrai , whose statue was allegedly stolen from Sparta.

The hunting goddess Artemis already had a close connection with Homer to the Taygetos mountains, where she particularly enjoyed hunting:

“Artemis wanders from mountain to mountain, the happy shooter
Be through the long Taygetus, seis Erymanthos… «Homer: Odyssey VI, 102f.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Ross : Travel and travel routes through Greece. Part 1: Traveling in the Peloponnese. Reimer, Berlin 1841, p. 5 f.
  2. ^ Jaqueline Christie: Les liaisons entre Sparte et son territoire malgré l´encadrement montagneux. In: Jean-François Bergier (ed.): Mountains, rivers, forests in history. Obstacles or meeting places? Scripta Mercaturae Verlag, St. Katharinen 1989, ISBN 3-922661-49-1 , p. 39 f.
  3. ↑ Ludwig Ross: Travel and travel routes through Greece. Part 1: Traveling in the Peloponnese. Reimer, Berlin 1841, pp. 7-10.
  4. ^ Walter Kolbe: The borders of Messenia in the first imperial period. In: Athenian communications . Volume 24, 1904, pp. 364-378.
  5. ^ Mattias Natan Valmin: Études topographiques sur la Messénie ancienne . C. Blom, Lund 1930, pp. 191-195.
  6. ↑ Gerd Sachs: The history of the settlement of the Messenians . Kovač, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-8300-2396-0 , pp. 122-124.
  7. ^ Nino Luraghi: The Ancient Messenians. Constructions of Ethnicity and Memory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-85587-7 , p. 23.
  8. ↑ Socrates Koursoumis: Revisiting Mount Taygetos: The Sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis. In: The Annual of the British School at Athens . Volume 109, 2014, pp. 191-222 (online) ; Αρχαιολογικοί Χώροι, municipality of Kalamata ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Greek) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kalamata.gr
  9. ↑ Homer: Odyssey ( Tusculum Collection ). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-006390-4 .

literature

  • Nino Luraghi : Becoming Messenian. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies . Vol. 122, 2002, pp. 45-69.
  • Nino Luraghi: The Ancient Messenians: Constructions of Ethnicity and Memory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-85587-7 .
  • Nino Luraghi: Messenian Cults and Messenian Identity in the Hellenistic Period. In: Klaus Freitag: Cult-Politics-Ethnos. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08718-4 , pp. 169-196. (Chapter: 1. Artemis on the border, pp. 172–181).
  • Gerd Sachs: The history of the settlement of the Messenians . Kovač, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-8300-2396-0 , pp. 121–126.
  • Yves Lafond: Limnai. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 7, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01477-0 , Sp. 236.

Coordinates: 37 ° 6 ′ 36.4 ″  N , 22 ° 10 ′ 14.8 ″  E