Orchomenos (Arcadia)
The Arcadian Orchomenos ( Greek Ὀρχομενός ( m. Sg. )) Was an ancient Greek city in Arcadia ( Peloponnese ). The city was at an altitude of 750 m and is already mentioned by Homer . In the 7th century BC It was the leading power in Arcadia. Since the 6th century BC BC she belonged to the Peloponnesian League . It was represented during the Persian Wars with 600 hoplites at the Battle of Plataiai . After changing alliances it became 233 BC. By Antigonus III. Doson conquered. According to the testimonies of Strabo and Pausanias, it was almost deserted in Roman times , but its continued existence until the 4th century AD is attested.
Pausaniuas handed down the cult of Artemis Kedreatis for Orchomenos with a wooden cult image that was placed in a large cedar tree (" ἐν κέδρῳ μεγάλῃ "), from which its name is derived.
The excavation site shows a city wall, agora , remains of a temple of Artemis and, above all, remains of a theater from the 4th century BC. In the vicinity of the excavation area there are remains of a dam that was probably built in the Mycenaean period .
literature
- Susanne Grunauer from Hoerschelmann: Orchomenos . In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places . CH Beck, Munich 1989, p. 492 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 2:605
- ↑ Herodotus , Histories 9, 28.
- ↑ Pausanias 8, 13, 2: πρὸς δὲ τῇ πόλει ξόανόν ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδος: ἵδρυται δὲ ἐν κέδρῳ μεγάλῃ, καὶ τὴν θεὸν ὀνομάζουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς κέδρου Κεδρεᾶτιν = In the city is a wood image of Artemis; it is set up in a large cedar tree, and the goddess is named Kedreatis after the cedar .
Coordinates: 37 ° 43 ′ 22 ″ N , 22 ° 18 ′ 58 ″ E