Orchomenos
|
Orchomenos municipality Δήμος Ορχομενού (Ορχομενός) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
|
||
| Region : | Central Greece | ||
| Regional District : | Boeotia | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 38 ° 30 ′ N , 22 ° 59 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 436.41 km² | ||
| Residents : | 11,621 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 26.6 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Seat: | Orchomenos | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | |||
| Districts : | 2 parishes | ||
| Local self-government : |
1 city district 10 local communities |
||
| Website: | www.orchomenos.gr | ||
| Location in the Central Greece region | |||
 |
|||
Orchomenos ( pronunciation : [ ɔrxɔmɛˈnɔs ], modern Greek Ορχομενός ) is a city in Boeotia (Central Greece), located on the Kifisos River , on the former north-west bank of the now drained Lake Kopaïs , into which the river used to flow. In ancient times she was a member of the Boeotian League .
history
According to tradition, Orchomenus was inhabited by Minyans . What this people was about is unknown, because in historical times they are no longer attested as an independent tribe. The first traces of settlement date back to around 6000 BC. Fine gray pottery from the Middle Helladic period (approx. 2000–1600 BC), which came to light during excavations, was given the name Miny ceramic by Heinrich Schliemann , based on the mythical inhabitants of Orchomenos. In the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC During the so-called palace period , Orchomenos was evidently the capital of a Mycenaean state, to which Gla was probably also subject. Traces of a palace complex and, above all, the dome grave of Orchomenos excavated by Schliemann , also known as the “Treasure House of Minyas”, bear witness to the wealth and power of this city. In 1881 Schliemann was supported in his excavations by the architect and building researcher Ernst Ziller .
In the Persian Wars, after the Battle of Thermopylae , Orchomenus sided with the Persians. After the Persians were defeated, the city's political power was weakened. In 427/26 BC As Thucydides reported (Thuk. III 87.4) , Orchomenus was destroyed by a severe earthquake . In the war between the neighboring Thebans and the Spartans, the city sided with the Spartans - again the losers of the conflict. In the year of the defeat of the Spartans at Leuktra (371 BC) the city was spared, but in 364 BC. Just seven years later, it was destroyed in BC. The Thebans prevented the reconstruction by destroying the city again in 349 BC. The place did not recover from this precipitation.
Under Philip II of Macedonia , the father of Alexander the Great , the city was promoted and rebuilt. In 87 BC The place was then conquered by Sulla and incorporated into the Roman Empire.
After that, Orchomenos always remained a small, insignificant town in Greece.
mythology
Orchomenos is a place of importance in many myths. The place was a place of refuge for the newborn god Dionysus , who as the illegitimate son of Zeus was persecuted by his wife Hera . King Athamas and his wife Ino let the boy dress in girls' clothes and grow up in the woman's room.
For Homer , the city's residents are regular participants in the war campaign against Troy . King Ialmenus and his brother Askalaphos are named as their military leaders .
In the legend of Heracles , King Erginos of Orchomenus appears as the oppressor of the city of Thebes . Heracles and King Amphitryon defeat the army of the Minyans, slay King Erginos and destroy the city and castle.
Orchomenos also has its place in the legend of Aktaion , the hunter torn apart by his own dogs. For near the city, Aktaion had been torn and now haunted the city and its surroundings as a ghost. In order to free the city from the plague, an oracle prophesied , not only had the remains of the hunter been found and buried, but a statue of the ghost also had to be erected. Both happened.
buildings
A beehive-shaped building, the so-called " Treasure House of Minyas ", was uncovered in 1880 by Heinrich Schliemann during his first excavation campaign in Orchomenios. The building is not a treasure house, but the remains of a domed grave from the 14th century BC. It can measure itself in size with the treasure house of Atreus in Mycenae and also shows very strong parallels to it in terms of construction. At the time of Pausanias , in the 2nd century AD, it was still completely preserved. In the vicinity of these tholos , fragments of frescoes depicting hunting and warriors were found in the remains of buildings, which also date from the Mycenaean period, revealing parallels to similar wall paintings in the palaces of Tiryns and Pylos .
Carved into the slope of the local mountain Akontion, on whose summit the Acropolis was enthroned, there are the ruins of a theater , which was partly carved into the mountain and excavated in 1972. It probably dates from the 4th century BC. Chr. Remnants of the Hellenistic city walls are more impressive ancient legacies. So far, no traces have been found of the Charite sanctuary mentioned in Pausanias .
After Sulla's victory over Mithridates , a victory stele was placed at the site , which was recently rediscovered. However, according to the Athens Ministry of Culture, it must first be restored before it is made accessible to the public.
Byzantine churches
The church Koimisis tis Theotokou ( Greek Κοίμησις τῆς Θεοτόκου ) was founded in 873 AD by the Protospatharios Leon and was originally part of the monastery of Panagia von Skripou . Its floor plan combines the domed Greek cross with the three-aisled basilica (building type) . The outer walls contain a large number of richly decorated spoils , which probably come from the ruins of the Charite temple.
Agios Nikolaos sta Kampia ( Greek Αγιος Νικόλαος στά Καμπιά = "in the fields") is outside and originally belonged to the monastery of Hosios Lukas . The cross-domed church was built in the middle of the 11th century and, unlike most Byzantine churches, is not made of bricks, but of marble blocks. From the equipment inside just the two frühbyzantinisch- are Corinthian columns capitals preserved. Wall paintings can still be seen in the crypt with four pillars and ornamented double arches.
The small church of Agios Sozon was built in the 12th century.
Koimisis-tis-Theotókou monastery church
Agios Nikolaos
Agios Sozon
literature
- Erwin Freund: Orchomenos. In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places. Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-33302-8 , pp. 492-494.
- Jakob AO Larsen : Orchomenus and the Formation of the Boeotian Confederacy in 447 BC In: Classical Philology. Vol. 55, 1960, pp. 9-18.
- Mogens Herman Hansen : Orchomenos. In: Mogens Herman Hansen, Thomas Heine Nielsen (Ed.): An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-814099-1 , pp. 446-448.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
- ↑ Birgitta Eder : Reflections on the political geography of the Mycenaean world, or: Arguments for the supra-regional importance of Mykenes in the Late Bronze Age Aegean, in: Francesco Prontera (ed.): GEOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA. Rivista di geografia storicadel mondo anticoe di storia della geografia. Leo S. Olschki, Florenz 2009, p. 26 ff.
- ^ Ernst Meyer: Heinrich Schliemann, businessman and researcher . Zurich, Berlin, Göttingen 1969, p. 316.
- ^ Sara A. Immerwahr, Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age , University Park London, The Pennsylvania State University Press (1990), pp. 125-27, 132, 196-97.
- ↑ Pausanias 9,20,40.