Lykaion
| Lykaion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Highest peak | Stefani ( 1421 m ) | |
| location | Arcadia , Greece | |
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| Coordinates | 37 ° 27 ' N , 21 ° 58' E | |
The Lykaion ( modern Greek Λύκαιο Lykeo , ancient Greek Λύκαιον ὄρος , Latin Mons Lycaeus ) is a mountain range in the Greek landscape of Arcadia in the Peloponnese , west of Megalopoli . In ancient times there was a famous place of worship of Zeus . The highest peak Stefani (Στεφάνι) is at an altitude of 1421 meters above sea level.
The sanctuary on the plateau
Sanctuary coordinates: 37 ° 26 ′ 55 " N , 21 ° 59 ′ 43" E
On a plateau below the second highest peak, the 1382 meter high Profitis Ilias (Προφήτης Ηλίας), the sanctuary with a stadium , a hippodrome , a stoa and several other buildings is located at an altitude of 1,170 meters . This is also where the oldest games ever took place after Pliny the Elder . Pausanias also mentions a sanctuary of Pan , which comes from Arcadia. The sanctuary had the right of asylum . It was deserted at the time of Pausanias (2nd century AD).
The place of worship was already around 3000 BC. Used; a Minoan rock crystal seal also found there with the image of a bull (around 1500–1400 BC) indicates links to the Minoan culture .
The Zeus altar on the summit
Coordinates of the Zeus Altar: 37 ° 26 ′ 46.6 ″ N , 21 ° 59 ′ 22.2 ″ E
On the summit of Profitis Ilias, southeast of the Stefani, was the Zeus altar, of which remains can still be seen today, flanked by two pillars, each with a golden eagle.
The myth
Zeus had heard that people had become bad. So he went to the people himself to check the rumor. Lykaon ("wolf man") , who had just killed a hostage of a foreign people, entertained Zeus to test his divinity and because he wanted to kill him, with the flesh of the hostage he had killed. Zeus then destroyed his palace and turned it into a wolf. Then Zeus let the Deucalionic flood break out in order to destroy humanity; so the version of the story in Ovid .
The ritual
At night, young men climbed the mountain to take part in the festival of sacrifice. Meat was eaten from large cauldrons. It was said that pieces of human flesh were mixed with the meat. Who ate of this human flesh was turned into a wolf ( werewolf ). After a few years as a wolf, he was accepted back into the human community.
Interpretation of the ritual
Among the archaeological remains there is nothing to suggest that people were actually sacrificed on the Lykaion. ( Human sacrifices are not recorded anywhere on the Greek mainland.) Only the supposed to eat human flesh who actually wanted to (consciously or unconsciously). The ritual is a typical rite of passage with which society segregates potentially dangerous limbs for a certain period of time in which they can act out their aggressiveness. A historically authenticated person who underwent this double transformation after the ritual on the Lykaion became a professional boxer (Damarchus of Parrhasia) in later life.
The village and the region
Very close to the sanctuary is - in a picturesque location - a mountain village of the same name. The villages of Ano Karies and Kastanochori are also on the Lykaio Oros , the mountain range named after the sanctuary . Ancient Lykosoura is not too far away either. Also west of Lykeo is the village of Neda near the sources of the Neda river of the same name , right next to the famous Pan Temple. The area is now very sparsely populated after a severe earthquake in 1969 hit the region and most residents preferred to move to Athens or Megalopolis .
literature
- Lycaon . In: Pierer's Universal Lexicon . tape 10 . Altenburg 1860, p. 644 ( zeno.org [accessed December 5, 2014]).
- Ernst Meyer : Lykaion. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, Col. 804 f.
- Στέφανος Γ. Ψιμένος: Ανεξερεύνετη Πελοπόννησος . Εκδόσεις ROAD, Athens 1998, ISBN 960-8481-09-0 , p. 825-827 .
- Walter Burkert : Homo Necans. Interpretations of ancient Greek sacrificial rites and myths . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1972, ISBN 3-11-003875-7 , pp. 98-108 (on the ritual).
- A thousand years before Zeus . In: epoc . No. 3 . Spectrum, Heidelberg 2008, p. 9 (to the latest finds).
- Waltraud Sperlich: The cradle of Zeus . In: epoc . No. 1/2009 . Spectrum of Science, Heidelberg January 2009, p. 16–23 ( ingral.de [PDF; accessed December 3, 2014]).
Web links
- Markus Pohlmann: Greek sacrificial site much older than the cult of Zeus. www.spektrum.de, January 28, 2008, accessed December 3, 2014 .
- Sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios in the Arachne archaeological database
- Λύκαιο Όρος. odysseus.culture.gr, 2012, accessed December 3, 2014 (Greek).
- Όρος Λύκαιον, η Ιερή Κορυφή των Αρκάδων. arcadia.ceid.upatras.gr, 2001, accessed December 3, 2014 (Greek).
- David Gilman Romano, Mary E. Voyatzis: Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. lykaionexcavation.org, accessed December 3, 2014 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ New Discoveries at the Ash Altar of Zeus, Mt. Lykaion, Offer Insights into Early Origins of Ancient Greece's Most Powerful God. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology , January 22, 2008, accessed December 3, 2014 .
- ^ David Gilman Romano: Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. The Site. lykaionexcavation.org, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ^ Pausanias : Description of Greece . Eighth book: Arcadia . In: Christian Nathanael von Osiander , Gustav Schwab (Hrsg.): Greek prose writers in new translations . 236. Ribbon. Metzler'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1854, chap. 38, p. 852 ( books.google.de [accessed December 4, 2014] Greek: Helládos Periēgēsis . Translated by Hans Reichardt). Translation by Ernst Wiedasch books.google.de (accessed December 5, 2014).
- ↑ Pausanias 6,8,2.