Nemea (sanctuary)
Nemea ( ancient Greek Νεμέα , pastureland ' ) is the name of an ancient Zeus sanctuary in Greece , which is located in the valley of the same name about 25 kilometers southwest of Corinth in the Peloponnese . It was the scene of the Nemean Games , the Nemeen .
myth
Like any other ancient sanctuary, the founding of Nemea and the agonal games were tied into a specific mythical context. At first glance, it may seem surprising that there are apparently two founding myths .
This is how ancient authors name the hero Herakles , who, as the first of his twelve works, strangled the Nemean lion , a child of Typhon and Echidna , with his bare hands, as he could not be wounded with normal weapons. In gratitude for this victory, Heracles donated the sanctuary and the games to his father Zeus . The connection between the killing of the monster and the founding of Nemea did not take place until the 1st century AD, at a time when the sanctuary had long since been left to decay.
The second surviving explanatory legend for the founding of the Nemean Games comes from the legends of the Seven against Thebes : The Nemean king Lykurgos, who is also mentioned in several sources as a priest of Zeus, had a Delphic oracle warned against laying his son Opheltes on the ground before it could run. Lykurgos entrusted the child to the nurse Hypsipyle , the former queen of Lemnos and lover of Jason . However, in order to show a source to the seven generals who came via Nemea on their way to Thebes, Hypsipyle bedded the child on wild celery . A large snake then strangled Opheltes, whom the seer Amphiaraos gave the name Archemoros, "beginning of fate" , and thus foresaw the disastrous outcome of the campaign. In order to favor the gods, the seven funeral games were held for Opheltes-Archemoros, the winner of which was crowned with celery.
Research history
One of the earliest excavations in the Nemea area was undertaken in 1766 with financial support from the London Society of Dilettanti . The main search for architectural sculptures of the temple was unsuccessful. Since the discharge of the high groundwater was suspended during the Turkish rule, further excavations could only be started after a French team of engineers had drained the valley in 1883. The efforts made by French archaeologists in the following year and also in 1912 to uncover the sanctuary did not achieve the desired success, so that the École française d'Athènes in 1924 ceded their excavation licenses for Nemea to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens . Under the direction of Bert Hodge Hill and Carl Blegen , extensive parts of the sanctuary, such as the altar, the bath and the western part of the xenon, were discovered in three campaigns. Overall, the excavation area was expanded by more than one hectare.
In the following decades, Nemea moved from the focus of archaeological interest. It was not until 1962 that the American archaeologist Charles K. Williams resumed excavations for two years, focusing in particular on the Temple of Zeus. Since 1973 the University of California, Berkeley , has carried out research on the sanctuary in continuous campaigns. The main excavations were finished in 2001.
The sanctuary
From the sanctuary there are still a heroon (probably of Opheltes ) from the early 6th century BC. Chr. As well as some treasure houses , also a large bath for the athletes with several wash troughs.
The main attraction of the sanctuary was and is the Temple of Zeus . A first building from the 6th century BC Was destroyed in the 5th century. About 350-330 BC A new building in the Doric style was built with material from Kleonai , the columns of which inside the cella were Corinthian below and Ionic above . Such a mixture of styles can also be found in the Temple of Apollo at Bassae and in the Temple of Athena at Tegea . Other peculiarities of this temple are a kind of crypt in the rear part of the cella, possibly an adyton and the complete lack of an opisthodome, as would have been expected in a Doric temple. As a result, the temple, as is often found in the late classical period, is not canonical.
The Zeus Temple (state 2004)
The Zeus Temple (state 2006)
The Zeus Temple (as of June 2007)
The Zeus Temple (as of October 2011)
The temple is being reconstructed using the existing rubble. The progress of the work is documented on the pictures above.
The stadium
The stadium has a changing room ( apodyterion ) with a pillared courtyard and a vaulted passage as access for the athletes. Two Kalos inscriptions are still visible in this passage . The building visible today dates from the 4th century BC. BC and held about 40,000 spectators who stood on the bare ground. The starting system (as in Isthmia ) consisted of wooden pegs to which crossbars were attached, which could be lowered with a cable to open the track for all runners at the same time. The track length is about 178 m.
literature
- Stephen G. Miller (Ed.): Nemea: a guide to the site and museum . Berkeley 1990, ISBN 0-520-06799-1 ( cdlib.org ).
- Darice E. Birge, Lynn H. Kraynak, Stephen G. Miller: Excavations at Nemea, Vol. 1: Topographical and Architectural Studies. The Sacred Square, the Xenon, and the Bath . Berkeley / Los Angeles 1992.
- Stephen G. Miller: Excavations at Nemea, Vol. 2: The Early Hellenistic Stadium . Berkeley / Los Angeles 2001.
- Christopher Mee, Antony Spawforth: Greece. To Oxford Archaeological Guide . Oxford 2001, p. 174-178 .
- Stephen G. Miller: Nemea. A guide to the site and museum . Athens 2004.
- Bert H. Hill: The Temple of Zeus at Nemea . Princeton, New Jersey 1966.
- Andreas Gutsfeld / Stephan Lehmann: From the competition site to the monastery. The Zeus sanctuary of Nemea (Peloponnese) in late antiquity, in: Ancient world. Journal for Archeology and Cultural History 36, 2005, pp. 33–41.
Web links
Coordinates: 37 ° 48 ′ 29 ″ N , 22 ° 42 ′ 43 ″ E