Soloi (Cyprus)

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4th century mosaic, Soloi Basilica
Soloi (Cyprus)
Soloi
Soloi

Soloi ( ancient Greek Σόλοι ; Latin Soli ) was an Iron Age city ​​kingdom and an ancient polis on the northwest coast of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus , about one kilometer from the village of Karavostasi / Gemikonagi, in the subdistrict of Lefgios / Lefke , Güzelyurt district . Soloi was on a river, today's Kambos, and had a harbor that could also be used in winter.

Surname

The Greek biographer Plutarch reports in his Solon- Vita that the famous lawgiver of Athens and Archon from 594/93 BC. After the end of his archonate he traveled abroad for ten years to study and visited the island of Cyprus among other countries. He had persuaded the king Philocypros of Aipeia to move his too small and unfavorably located city to the plain and to build a more beautiful and larger city there. He supported the king in Synoikismos with words and deeds. As a thank you, Philokypros named the former, now newly founded residence city of Aipeia “Soloi” after Solon. Plutarch certifies his report as historically reliable by citing a late poem by Solon on this "Synoikismos" as evidence. The poem reads:

.DELTA..di-elect cons σὺ μὲν Σολίοισι πολὺν νῦν χρόνον ἐνθάδ ἀνάσσων
    τήνδε πόλιν ναίοις καὶ γένος ὑμέτερον ·
αὐτὰρ ἐμὲ ξὺν νηῒ θοῇ κλεινῆς ἀπὸ νήσου
    ἀσκηθῆ πέμποι Κύπρις ἰοστέφανος ·
οἰκισμῷ delta ἐπὶ τῷδε χάριν καὶ κῦδος ὀπάζοι
    ἐσθλὸν καὶ νόστον πατρίδ ἐς ἡμετέρην.

- Solon , fragment 19 (W)

Long may you, rulers of the men of Soloi,
    live in this city, you and then your family;
but may accompany me in the swift ship from the proud
    island safe and sound Kýpris, wreathed with violets;
and may she bestow prosperity and mighty dignity to
    your people, and to return to my home beach myself.

- Hermann Frankel

The father of Greek historiography, Herodotus of Halicarnassus (approx. 485–425 BC), is the oldest author who reports on Solon's trip to Philokypros and who knows the elegy that Solon dedicated to the hospitable king when he left. Although the city boasted that it was co-founded by the Athenians on Solon's advice, it later spoke such poor Greek through the mixing of the few new citizens of Athens with the locals that the term Soloikismos was allegedly traced back to the city.

In Roman times, Soli was indeed the Athenian founding, as a founder but not Solon but the Attic heroes Phalerus , son of Erechtheus , and Theseus son Akamas called. This founding legend possibly refers to Aipeia, which Plutarch traces back to the brother of Akamas, Demophon , whereby he mixed up the brothers.

Against this approach, classified as aitiology , it was argued that the city was already in the 7th century BC. In New Assyrian "Si-il-li / lu" was called. On the philological side, a derivation from Semitic was assumed. Eduard Meyer already saw it as likely that the Semitic word sela ("rock") is in the name Soloi . Its Greek equivalent was the name Aipeia, which is derived from the adjective αἰπεῖα aipeía ("high and steep"). The name would ultimately be of Semitic-Phoenician origin. Since the topography of the Cilician Soloi does not have a high, steep location , this derivation has been questioned. The testimonies of the Asarhaddon prism and its copies for Si-il-li / lu were also rejected as the editors' conjecture and the tradition of Plutarch was retained, which could not prevail. Rather, apart from the New Assyrian evidence, reference is made to the fact that Herodotus is silent about Solon's participation in a “(syn-) oikismos” in the city of Soloi, despite knowledge of the Solonic elegy.

Location and topography

Topography of Soloi

Soloi was a port city that was founded on a natural seaport that silted up in late antiquity . It was used to ship raw materials that were extracted in the mining areas in the interior. One of the main ancient mining areas was Skouriotissa , about 8 kilometers southeast of Soloi. The city was located on the western edge of the Mesaoria , a fertile alluvial plain that extends east over the island. Immediately to the west of Soloi, the foothills of the Troodos Mountains that extend to the sea seal off any simple overland connection to the west. Via two river valleys, the valley of the Kambos in the west and that of the Xeros in the east, the copper mining areas of the Troodos could easily be reached and developed from Soloi.

The city extended over an area of ​​around 30 hectares and extended about 1 kilometer from the coast to the south. It was divided into a lower town lying up to 10 meters above sea level and an upper town rising over terraces up to 70 meters with an acropolis in the south. About 250 meters outside the west gate of Soloi, on a parcel called Cholades , there is a hill on which the important and from the 3rd century BC. The sanctuary complex of the city operated until the 4th century AD was found.

history

Late bronze age and zypro-geometric epoch

The excavation findings show that the beginnings of Soloi in the time around 1100 BC. BC, the approximate beginning of the Cyprus-geometrical epoch. The oldest find from Soloi can even be assigned to the late Helladic phase III B and thus to the beginning of the 12th century BC. BC, but comes from a more recent grave context. The same applies to the finds of so-called Proto-White-Painted ceramics from the Late Cypriot III B phase from the beginning of the 11th century BC. Chr.

The reason for the settlement at the end of the Bronze Age was the lucrative copper deposits in the nearby hinterland. The legend that Soloi was founded by the Athenian hero Akamas, the son of the legendary King Theseus of Athens, clearly reflects the historical core of the claims of the Mycenaean Ionians from Athens to the first foundation of Aipeia. The settlement can be archaeologically documented in graves of this epoch, while traces of settlement itself have so far been missing.

Cyprus Archaic Period

Soloi Plain from the northwest with a view of the Acropolis

A city-state with a king at its head is in the Iron Age 673/72 BC. BC by an inscription of the Neo-Assyrian great king Asarhaddon on the Asarhaddon prism as "Si-il-li / lu", one of the ten kingdoms of the island of Iadnata, attested. Esarhaddon's son and successor Ashurbanipal (669-631 v. Chr.) Into the prism inscription C these ten kings city of Cyprus with names and ranks them his dependent, tributary vassals. They must have had this status at the time of Asarhaddon. Among them, according to Assurbanipal, are "Kīsu, King of Salamis" and "Erēsu, King of Soli." Probably in the year 708/07 BC. The founder of the Neo-Assyrian Sargonid dynasty and grandfather of Asarhaddon, Sargon II (722-705 BC), had an inscription stele , the Kition stele , installed in Kition near today's Larnaka , which is now in the Museum of the Near East Berlin is located. On it he boasts that the seven kingdoms of the country Ia- (dnāna) (= Cyprus) have voluntarily submitted to him and have become his client kings. He confirms this relationship of dependence on Iadnāna across the board in the so-called inscription of Targa Var. It is also worth mentioning the entry in the Assyrian annals from 711 BC. That twelve kings of Ia ', a region in Cyprus (Iadnana), paid tribute to him. But in all sources he owes the names of the cities and their kings.

The most important historical development in the archaic epoch was, as already explained above, the visit of the Athenian legislature and sage Solon to the then king Philokypros around 585 BC. Thanks to. He persuaded the king to relocate the old city, which the Greek inhabitants Aipeia , but their Semitic-Phoenician fellow citizens called Si-il-lu , from the mountains to the fertile plains through a synoicism and thus to re-establish it as a polis. The king followed his advice and thanked Solon by linking the memory of the founding act with the name of his guest and renaming Aipeia to Soloi. This had the advantage that the Greek name sounded very similar to the Semitic name of the old town and thus underlined the continuity of the old and new towns and the unity of old and new citizens. The historical fact of the new foundation is attested by the best of all sources, namely the poem of the eponym himself in verse 5. However, you have to translate it correctly, which Fränkel was unable to do. He has obscured the essential message rather than expressing it clearly. The verse must read:

"For this oikismos may she (the goddess Aphrodite Kypris) bestow grace and favor
and bring fame."

Ho oikismos ( ὁ οἰκισμός ) is a term technicus, is used synonymously with he oikisis ( ἡ οἴκισις ) and means “the settlement, the foundation of a new planting city.” Plutarch's report, which is based on Solon's poem, does not contradict Herodotus . In his little digression to his main report on the Ionian uprising (see below), he was primarily interested in the genealogy of Aristocyros. In connection with his father and predecessor as King of Soloi, he briefly digresses and talks about Solon's stay with Philokypros. As evidence, he quotes his poem about the re-establishment of the city. It can be assumed that he knew the content of the poem exactly and was able to assume it from his audience.

The new city-state of Soloi under the rule of King Philokypros was at the time of Solon an independent residential city with an acropolis and temple, a public space as an agora and a necropolis as an urban settlement core with rural surroundings, which consisted of various village communities. It was used for peasant agriculture and cattle breeding and was supposed to provide food for the citizens. The port served as a naval base, fishing and a brisk trade. The city and the surrounding area formed the "national territory" and the community of a citizens' association. For Solon in particular and his Greek contemporaries in general, such a polis usually meant the characteristic form of a political organization, the essential characteristics of which were the political self-government and government by its citizens and their striving for internal and external independence. But also communities ruled by tyrants monarchically in the Greek motherland could be called Poleis, so that Solon had no difficulty in re-establishing Soloi with a city royalty at the top as a Polis (Solon frg. 19, verse 2: pólis ) and so the Maintaining continuity with the old royal seat. Their polar character followed the example of the Phoenician city-states on the Levant coast (Lebanon), all of which were organized as city-states with a priestly kingdom. Phoenician seafarers probably already had Si-il-lu as a port and trading base in the form of a monarchically ruled city-state used before Greek new settlers from the Ionian tribe took over the area peacefully or through military conquest.

During the Ionian revolt in 497 BC BC Onesilos , son of Chersis and younger brother of the Salamin king Gorgos , persuaded the Cypriots, with the exception of the inhabitants of the city of Amathous , to fall away from the Persian great king Dareios I. His brother resisted, but had to pay for his refusal by losing control of Salamis , which Onesilos usurped. His most important ally was the king of Soloi, Aristokypros , "the son of that Philokypros whom the Athenian Solon sang most of all tyrants in a poem after his arrival in Cyprus." The Persian land army under the supreme command of Artybas defeated the Cypriots at Salamis . Among the fallen were the two kings of Salamis and Soloi, Onesilos and Aristokypros. The Amathousians cut off Onesilo's head because he had besieged their city, took him with them to Amathous and hung him over the city gate. The inhabitants of Salamis surrendered their city to the former king Gorgos, who had found refuge with the Persians after his expulsion by Onesilos, and thus escaped a siege by the victorious Persians. Of the other besieged cities, Soloi offered the longest resistance and could not be conquered until the 5th month after the Persians had undermined the walls around the city.

Cyprus-classical time

Amazon sarcophagus from Soloi, late 4th century BC. Chr., Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna

At the time of the victorious land battle of Alexander the Great at Issus in 333 BC. Soloi and the other Cypriot city kings took part in the sea ​​war against the Macedonian king on the side of the Persian admiral Autophradates, together with the Phoenician city kings . At the end of the year, the Cypriot kings declared their submission after they had been defeated by the Persian great king Darius III. had learned from Issus. They were frightened that the whole Phoenician coast was in the hands of Alexander. They landed in Sidon with a total of 120 ships and made them available to Alexander for the siege and conquest of Tire (January to August 332 BC). Alexander forgave them all their former attitude; because obviously they would have joined the Persian fleet more under duress than voluntarily. After leaving Egypt, where Alexander lived in the winter of 332 BC. In Memphis to the Egyptian Pharaoh had been crowned and at the beginning of 331 BC When Alexandria was founded, he made a stopover in Tire before his march through the Syrian desert to Mesopotamia . There he celebrated sacrificial feasts, processions and competitions of musical and tragic choirs in honor of the gods. They shone not only with their equipment, but also with their competitiveness; for the kings of Cyprus financed the equipment and displayed a remarkable zeal in doing so. Nikokreon , king of Salamis, and Stasikrates , king of Soloi, did especially . These had been assigned by lot the equipment with the most famous theater actors: Pasikrates for Athenodorus , Nikokreon for Thessalus . Stasikrates von Soloi won against the secret favorite of Alexander. Nicocles came from a dynasty of Soloi . He belonged to a group of Cypriots who lived in 326 BC. Chr. Alexander the Hydaspes to trierarchs appointed the Indus fleet.

A sarcophagus from the late 4th century BC testifies to the wealth of the Solois aristocratic elite of this period . With the depiction of an Amazonomachy . The piece was made in Greece, delivered to Soloi and possibly served as a burial place for a member of the ruling house. The sarcophagus, sculpted on all four sides, is stylistically close to the Alexander sarcophagus . The subject, which is unusual for Cypriot art, is in the details - the absence of Heracles or a certain hero, depiction of the Amazons in “Persian costume” - close to Attic Amazonomachies: a reflection of Soloi's ongoing cultural ties to Athens. Who he served is unknown. Stasikrates, his brother Stasias or the son of Stasikrates, Eunostus , were suggested as owners .

Hellenistic-Roman period

Ptolemy I left the last king of Soloi, Eunostus, in 321 BC. Owned the rulership and married him to his daughter Eirene . In the Hellenistic era, a craftsmen and traders' quarter was established in the lower town and was connected to the port. Around the middle of the 3rd century BC The extramural sanctuary of Cholades was created and gradually expanded and redesigned until Roman times. The grave goods of this time bear witness to a class of wealthy citizens with unusual taste and a penchant for Egyptian handicrafts.

As part of the administration for the minefields in the hinterland, Soloi still stood after the conquest of the island by Rome in 58 BC. Under strict control of the new masters. Nevertheless, Soloi had city status in Roman times, because a milestone at mile 4 before Soloi was dedicated by the civitas Soliorum to the Roman emperor Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus according to his bilingual inscription in the year 217/218 . In the first phase under Roman rule, the redesign of the sanctuary at Cholades and Strabo now mentions temples for Aphrodite and Isis . A water pipe was laid out for Soloi under Nero . The office of the Dekaprotoi, the “ten first” of the city, is documented in inscriptions from the imperial era . They were responsible for collecting taxes and were liable for this with their own assets. The same inscription names local censors who had to maintain the council lists, as well as other offices, such as the archive administration. The dating of the inscription varies between the 2nd half of the 1st and the beginning of the 3rd century. In the second half of the 2nd century, a period of great prosperity began in Soloi , which was reflected in a comprehensive redesign of the cityscape.

Little is known from Byzantine times. Soloi, like much of the island, is believed to have been hit by the 4th century earthquakes and droughts. The mines were considered exhausted and closed. The Stadiasmus maris magni , a periplus made for seafarers to the important ports of the Mediterranean Sea, already at the end of the 3rd century called the city alimenos , that is, portless. The silting up of the port towards the end of the 3rd century did not lead to any noticeable population decline. A large basilica was built in the 4th century , which was replaced by an even larger building in the 6th century. Soloi was also affected by the conquest of Cyprus by the Arabs in 649 and 654. The basilica was destroyed and then only renewed in modest dimensions. In the centuries that followed, Soloi was more and more abandoned.

Post antiquity and rediscovery

Étienne de Lusignan described the remains of the city in 1572 as Casal Solia , that is, as an agricultural property, the urban area used for agriculture. The place was repeatedly visited by travelers. Already in 1557 the so-called Fugger Amazon sarcophagus was found in Soloi in the presence of Leonardo Donà , son of the Venetian governor (Luogotenete) of Cyprus Giovanni Battista Donà. Leonardo Donà gave an eyewitness account of the find of the sarcophagus, which was shipped to Venice that same year. The late 4th century BC The sarcophagus made in Greece and exported to Soloi came into the possession of the Fuggers in 1567, was acquired by the Habsburgs in the first half of the 17th century and has been in the antiquities cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna since 1805 . From the 18th century the place came into the field of view of the emerging archaeological-antiquarian interests, which from the middle of the 19th century led to scientific discussions about the history, art and culture of Cyprus and also included the preoccupation with Soloi. The residents of the nearby town of Karavostasi used the ruins of the city as a quarry until the beginning of the excavations in the 20th century.

Aphrodite "Kypris": Queen of the gods and patron deity of the royal dynasty of Soloi

In the poem quoted above, which he dedicated to King Philocypros when parting, Solon asks "Kypris" (verse 4) for blessings and glory for the new founding of Soloi (5 f.) And also that the king and his family have a long reign like to exercise in this “polis” (1-2). "Kypris" is the nickname of Aphrodite as the main goddess of the island of Cyprus (Cyprus) and in this elegy especially the queen of gods and patron deity of the ruling family of Soloi. She must have been enthroned in her temple high up on the city's fortified acropolis. It should have been spatially connected to the king's palace in a kind of double building. This combination was very familiar to Solon from his hometown of Athens; for the temple of the goddess Athena Polias was identical to that of Erechtheus, the so-called Erechtheion : the eastern part of Erechtheion contained the cella for Athena Polias, the western part that for Erechtheus and Poseidon. Erechtheus embodied the prototype of the divinely revered king of the Mycenaean Bronze Age palace civilization (2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC). The goddess Athena was then the palace goddess, with whom the ruler was associated in a shared apartment.

In the continuity of this Bronze Age city-state kingship, Solon places the rule of Philocypros and his dynasty by consciously using the verb anássein ( ἀνάσσειν ) in verse 1 for “ruler, to rule”. It is derived from the noun anax ( ἄναξ "ruler"), which in turn goes back to the term wa-na-ka in the Mycenaean linear B tables . It denotes the earthly "ruler" in the Mycenaean state, but also the king of the gods. The survival of this Mycenaean term in Cyprus is documented in the 4th century BC. Also Isocrates and Aristotle . Isocrates explains that the sons and daughters of Basileus are anaktes or anassai by virtue of their birthright . Aristotle writes in the only fragmentary text “State of the Kyprians” ( Πολιτεία τῶν Κυπρίων ) that the sons and brothers of the Cypriot kings are called anaktes ( ἄνακτες , plural of ἄναξ ), while sisters and wives use the title anassai ( ἄνασιινασιι ). The title of a wa-na-ka ( ϝάναξ ) has been passed down epigraphically for Soloi in Cypriot script and is translated as “prince”. These anaktes were part of the safeguarding of power in Cyprus and took on tasks in the administration as governor. In contrast, all the Cypriot kings themselves bore the title pa-si-le-u-se , also coming from Mycenaean and also used for Soloi , the Cypriot form of basileus ( βασιλεύς "king"). The divine use of Wanax / Wanassa appears to be reserved for the highest deity of Cyprus, Aphrodite Kypris, and occurs only in Paphos. Only in the grave and dedicatory inscriptions of the priest-kings of the 4th century BC Basileus, priest of wanassa, can be read from Paphos . If wanax is to be related to the human king, as in Solon's poem, then we have only a Cypriot development before us. The title describes the "king" in his office as priest-king and consort of the "Wanassa" Aphrodite Kypris. At the same time it expresses the divine origin of the royal dynasty as a sacred hereditary monarchy.

Philokypros can be translated as "Darling, beloved consort of Kypris", that is, Aphrodite in her capacity as Lord of Heaven and Queen of Gods (Urania). The epithet has a long tradition and comes from the ancient Orient. For example, Narām-Sȋn of Akkad (2254–2218 BC) called himself “Consort of the Ishtar Annunitum.” In this role he put the divine determinative in front of his name and sat on his famous victory stele with the crown of horns, the symbol of divinity, represent and was the first ruler of Mesopotamia to be worshiped as the "god of Akkad". The older Sumerian name for Ishtar was Inanna . The kings of the dynasty of Ur III (2064–1955 BC) and the ancient Babylonian dynasty of Isin (1969–1732 BC) named themselves after the model of the city-state kings of Uruk “beloved consort of Inanna (Dam-ki- aga-d Inanna-ka-ke) “and thus linked the role of the legendary primal king of Uruk, Dumuzi / Semitic Tammuz.

The most important annual festival in Mesopotamia as in the city-state kings of Cyprus was the New Year's festival of the spring equinox, consecrated in Soloi to the "kýpris wreathed with violets" (Solon, fragment 19, verse 4). The cult activities reached their climax with the mystery of the "holy wedding", during which the king, in the role of mortal lover, united himself with the goddess Aphrodite, who was embodied by the queen, in the supplement. The ritual was a kind of magic analogy with which the fertility of humans, animals and plants, all natural life and in general the creation of the cosmos should be renewed. Of all the cuneiform texts known to this day, the ritual of the Holy Wedding on New Year's Day is sung in detail in the contemporary "Song of the Rite of the Holy Wedding of the Goddess Inanna with King Iddindagān of Isin (approx. 1974-1954 BC) as god Dumuzi" . After the cohabitation (verses 187-190) “she (= Inanna) consults with him (= the king) on ​​her bed and says to Iddindagān:“ You are indeed my beloved! ”(191-192). In the following gap in the text, the "destiny determination for the king (nam-tar)" known from other texts must be followed. According to the cuneiform texts, it is the main concern of the ritual of the “Holy Wedding”, because the goddess represented by the queen elevates the mortal king to god with the choice of husband and determines “pastoralism over (all) countries as his fate” for him the coming year of the reign. The goddess declares her husband, the king, to be worthy of wearing or using her own symbols of power as "bearers of divine powers", such as throne, crown, royal robe, sandals, scepter and weapons. This shows the ritual of the holy wedding as part of the coronation, investiture and enthronement ceremonies of the royal consecration of the New Year.

The myth of a similar ritual for the divine legitimation of the monarchy of Soloi is contained in the founding legend of the city, which Strabon, Geographica 14,6,3 received us. It in no way contradicts the tradition that the old royal city of Aipeia was named after Solon because of the synoicism, since it was a new foundation. According to Strabo, the Attic hero Akamas, son of Theseus, was the original king and founder of the city. The name Akamas is associated with the island of Cyprus in many ways. In a Scholion to often Lycophron assigned Alexandra is noted that Akamas after the end of the Trojan War was traveling and other stations in Asia Minor as a colony founder to Cyprus and there died after falling from his horse in his own sword. According to Philonides , to whom Pliny refers, Akamantis was one of the ancient names of Cyprus and Stephanos of Byzantium has passed down that Parthenios called the goddess "Akamantis" in his elegy Aphrodite . After Strabo and Hesych the name Akamas lives in the peninsula Akamas continued on the north western tip of Cyprus. Already after the so-called Hero Age , after the end of the Late Bronze Age in Cyprus , there seemed to have been close ties between Athens and Soloi, which explains why Solon spent the last time of his stay abroad there, of all places. Strabo is likely to allude to the first founding of the city in the Post-Bronze Age by Mycenaean colonists from Athens under the leadership of the Athenian heroes Akamas and Phaleros. Akamas must have founded the sacred priesthood of the ruling dynasty of Soloi as the "lover" of Aphrodite. In the Iron Age city kingship, he then took on the role of the primeval king, divinely revered in the cult, and the mythical predecessor of the ruling dynasty.

Herodotus' notes fit this. He credibly proves that the cult of Aphrodite Urania, that is, heavenly mistress and queen of gods, comes from Mesopotamia and is derived from the great mother, virgin, love and war goddess Inanna / Ishtar of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. "Kypris" is the nickname of Aphrodite Urania (= Ishtar) from Babylon and Assur. It is identical to “Mýlitta” or “Mullissu”, another epithet of the goddess, which Inanna / Ishtar (Phoenician: Astarte) characterizes as “the one who gives birth”. Their cult was already in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. Together with the Mesopotamian chariot, of which she was the patron goddess, she reached Cyprus via Phenicia before spreading to mainland Greece from there. She appeared there on the one hand as Aphrodite Urania, on the other hand as Athena "Hippia", for example in Pylos and Athens. Herodotus describes the mystery of the “holy wedding” in Babylon like the “song for the rite of the holy wedding of the goddess Inanna with King Iddindagān of Isin (approx. 1974-1954 BC) as god Dumuzi, only the Babylonians have Dumuzi von Uruk through their city and empire god Bēl (= "Lord") - Marduk of Babylon, who is identical with him, replacing the Assyrians with their god-king Bēl-Assur. This is how the Neo-Assyrian Great King, son and successor of Asarhaddon, Ashurbanipal (669-631 BC), calls himself “a product of Assyria and Ishtar-Mullissu” and takes the title of “Favorite of Assyria and Ishtar” in the same inscription “To claim for itself.

The orgiastic cult of Aphrodite Urania "Mylitta-Mullissu (assyr.)" Was associated with sacred prostitution among the Babylonians and Assyrians, which Herodotus explains in detail: Every Babylonian has to sit down in the sanctuary of Aphrodite and a strange man once in her life surrender. The women sit in the sanctuary and wear a "rope wreath" around their heads, symbolizing their bond with the goddess. If a strange man has chosen one of the waiting people, he has to throw a coin into her lap and attend her in the temple. He speaks the sacred appeal formula: "I call the goddess Mýlitta for you." So the Babylonians and Assyrians would have the Aphrodite Urania, d. H. the Ishtar is called "ummu alitta", "those who give birth". The chosen one must not refuse the money or reject the man. Because money is holy money because it is consecrated to the goddess, as Strabo specified in his parallel report on Herodotus 1,199. The roots of this orgiastic fertility cult of the Ishtar go back to Sumerian times. The model was provided by the connection between the Queen of Heaven Inanna and the human King Dumuzi-Tammuz of Uruk. The king of the gods of the oldest metropolis of the Mesopotamus, Enki of Eridu , appointed his son Dumuzi as "King" of Uruk and "holy consort of Inanna, the Lord of Heaven, the mistress of the great divine powers" and made him with the words "the one on the Places of Kulaba (= holy district of Uruk) can be mated again and again “to the patron of sacred prostitution. This custom seems to be the “holy wedding” of the city-state king of Uruk, who embodied Dumuzi, integrated with the queen in the role of the goddess Inanna.

It is noteworthy that Herodotus adds 1,199,5 at the end of his account of this custom in Babylon that a similar custom prevailed in some places in Cyprus. For all we now know about the cult of the Kypris of Soloi, this city-state was certainly one of them. Another focus of sacred prostitution was Old Paphos, where the sparse remains of Cyprus' most important Aphrodite shrine can still be seen on the outskirts of the small village of Kouklia . The oldest components date from the Bronze Age and testify to the beginnings of the Aphrodite cult, which is identical to Inanna / Ishtar, for the same time as it could be deduced for Soloi from the Akamas legend.

The discovery of the Aphrodite Eros statue in grave 4 A of the necropolis of Soloi (see below) proves the continuity of the cult of Kypris in the late classical period. This again confirms how close the socio-cultural relationships between Athens and Soloi were even then. The same applies to the nude statue of Aphrodite von Soloi from the 2nd or 1st century BC. BC, which is based on models of the Attic sculptor Praxiteles.

archeology

Excavation history

Soloi Theater

Soloi was one of the sites that came into the focus of Luigi Palma di Cesnola from 1866 . Luigi Palma di Cesnola, American consul in Cyprus, visited Soloi several times over the course of at least ten years and carried out extensive, albeit largely undocumented excavations in the urban area, to which Cyprus-geometric graves fell victim as well as Hellenistic and Roman sites of Solois. The assignment of the individual objects to the city can usually no longer be proven due to imprecise or deliberately incorrect indications of origin. One of the finds is the often discussed so-called Sergius Paulus inscription, which names a proconsul named Paulus. One wanted to recognize in him the governor of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles of Luke (13.4-12 EU ) and supposedly converted to Christianity in the presence of the Apostle Paul . This is not possible due to further offices of the local administration, which are mentioned in the inscription, but not yet occupied at the time of Paul.

The excavations of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition between 1927 and 1932 revealed numerous buildings in the urban area, as well as the extra-urban sanctuary of Cholades. Considerable effort was made to uncover the theater, which in its current form largely presents itself as a subsequent reconstruction of the 20th century. Due to the limited budget, further investigations by the Swedes had to be omitted.

Between 1964 and 1974, the excavations were resumed by Canadian archaeologists from Laval University of Québec under the direction of René Ginouvès . The Canadians concentrated on the area of ​​the lower city and were able to contribute important aspects to the development of the city in Roman times up to the conquest and destruction by the Arabs. With the outbreak of the Cyprus conflict and the occupation of Northern Cyprus by the Turkish armed forces, the excavation in Soloi had to be stopped. The results were published in two volumes in 1985 and 1989.

Construction measures also repeatedly made emergency excavations necessary, in the course of which important, albeit singular, individual observations and finds could be made. The oldest known Solois finds come from an emergency excavation carried out by the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus in 1972. The last emergency excavation under the name Soloi Rescue Excavations took place between November 24, 2005 and January 5, 2006 and was carried out by the Department of Antiquities and Museums of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus . In the previous excavations only a fraction of the ancient Soloi has been exposed.

Building remains and shrines

Remains of the temple on the Acropolis
Soloi Theater
Gold wreath from Soloi, tomb 4, Morfou Archaeological Museum
Aphrodite of Soloi, postage stamp from Cyprus, 1966

acropolis

A temple rose on the Acropolis, which, according to evidence of its partially preserved ashlar, especially the foundation bedding carved into the rock, was about 24 × 10 meters in size and divided into three parts. The orientation is no longer comprehensible, so that it could have been an Ante temple of the Greek type with a front in the east or a Cypriot-Middle Eastern temple with three cult rooms next to each other. It is not known which deity the temple was dedicated to, but Athena / Atna is identified as the cult mistress, who emerged from the Cypriot goddess under Greek influence as an interpretation of the warlike aspects. The basis of the interpretation is the inscription of a consecration to Athena by King Stasikrates, son of Stasias, from the 3rd quarter of the 4th century BC. BC, the coins assigned to Soloi, for example with the image of Athena or the Gorgoneion, and finally the lack of figurative votives, while weapon parts are more frequently represented as votive offerings. The mention of a Hypekkaustria as priestess of Athena of Soloi in Plutarch's case is related to the Cypriot city. In addition, there are considerations according to which the palace sanctuary consecrated to Athena and the associated palace of Vouni are to be interpreted as the citadel of the ruling family of Soloi. After the palace was abandoned in the 4th century BC. The administration was transferred to the Acropolis of Soloi.

Also on the Acropolis, on a slightly lower terrace north of the temple, numerous rooms of a rectangular building complex were found, which is interpreted as a palace. The ensemble of temple and palace already reminded the excavators of the findings in Vouni, which was confirmed by the Canadian follow-up examinations.

theatre

One of the impressive finds is the theater , which was built in the second half of the 2nd century and is located to the east below the palace terrace. At the top of the upper city and more in the east, it was worked into the rock with its audience, the cavea . The cavea had a diameter of 53 meters and with its 23 rows of seats offered around 3500 spectators. The accompanying stage building, the scaena frons, was 13 × 36 meters in size and , which is unusual in comparison to other ancient theaters in Cyprus such as that of Kourion , only has one construction phase and, judging by the architectural decoration of its scaena frons, dates from the time of Antoninus Pius or one of his successors. In the same epoch, further, monumentalizing and defining buildings were erected. So a new and paved agora was laid out, a long colonnaded street was built and a nymphaeum was built.

Sanctuary of Cholades

A temple complex from the Hellenistic-Roman period was discovered west of the city. In chronological order it comprised a total of five temples of the Cypriot-Middle Eastern type. Inscriptions and fragments of statues bear witness to cults for Aphrodite , later expanded to include Isis , for Serapis , and possibly also for members of the Ptolemaic ruling house . Cult operations began around the middle of the 3rd century BC. And did not end until the 4th century AD. At the time of its greatest expansion, the sanctuary covered around 600 m² and consisted of a collection of courtyards that preceded the actual temple rooms.

basilica

In Christian times, from the 1st century to the Frankish times , Soloi was the seat of a bishopric . The archaeologists found the remains of two Christian basilicas in Soloi. The older building, dating from the 4th century, had five aisles and was decorated with floor mosaics showing various depictions of animals, including the rare image of a swan. An inscription asks: "O Christ, save the donor of this mosaic." This building was completely demolished in the 6th century to make way for the younger, now three-aisled basilica, which was equipped with a floor made of Opus sectile . The building was around 62 × 31 meters in size, ended in three apses and had a front atrium designed as a peristyle . The namesake of these basilicas was St. Auxibius , the first bishop of Soloi. According to the Acta Sanctorum , he was baptized by the apostle and evangelist Mark . The basilica was destroyed in the attacks by the Arabs in 649 and probably 653. Ioannes, Bishop of Soloi, had it restored in 654/55, as evidenced by a building inscription on two panels.

Graves and individual finds

During the emergency excavation at the end of 2005, 7 graves with spectacular architecture and grave contents were discovered in the area of ​​the Soloi necropolis. Grave 4 on the hill south of the theater has a seven- step dromos and three burial chambers (ABC) inside. Judging by the grave goods, such as a gold wreath and a late Classical group of statuettes of Aphrodite with Eros from grave 4 A, the complex may come from the Classical and Hellenistic epochs, so it was used for a longer period of time. But only the complex individual analysis of the found objects will either confirm or refute this hypothesis. In the Archeology and Nature Museum of Morphou / Güzelyurt, the finds from the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods can be viewed in two rooms on the upper floor.

A significant individual find is the 0.81 meter high statue of Aphrodite von Soloi - without the missing lower legs - which the Swedish archaeologists brought to light on the ruins of the ancient city. The marble statue dates from the 2nd or 1st century BC. And was the serial product of a nameless workshop based on works by the sculptor Praxiteles from the 4th century BC. And his school, such as Aphrodite of Knidos . Today it is exhibited in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and one of the powerful symbols of the island, which is regularly depicted on the postage stamps of Cyprus, for example.

Kings of Soloi

Famous citizens

literature

  • Einar Gjerstad , John Lindros, Eric Sjöqvist , Alfred Westholm: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931. Volume 3. Text. Stockholm 1937, pp. 399-582.
  • Jean des Gagniers, Tran Tam Tinh : Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 1: La Basilique. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1985.
  • René Ginouvès: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 2: La ville basse. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1989.
  • George RH Wright: Ancient Buildings in Cyprus (= Handbook of Ancient Oriental Studies. VII. 1. 2. 8). Volume 1. Brill, Leiden et al. 1992, pp. 162-165.
  • Reinhard Senff : Soloi 1. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 703 f.

Web links

Commons : Soloi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Solon, fragment 19.1–6, esp. 5 ( West ) from Plutarch, Solon 26.2–4. For verses 1–4 also Vita Arati 7,14 (Jean Martin); on Solon's elegy for Philokypros see also: Theresa Miller: The Greek colonization in the mirror of literary evidence. Narr, Tübingen 1997, pp. 199-203; Maria Noussia Fantuzzi: Solon the Athenian, the Poetic Fragments. Brill, Leiden 2010, pp. 95. 301-306.
  2. ↑ Hermann Fränkel: Poetry and Philosophy of Early Hellenism. Third edition. Munich 1974, p. 261 with note 17; Kypris in verse 4 is called Aphrodite as the main goddess of the island of Kypros (Cyprus).
  3. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 5,113,2 = Solon: Testimonia selecta vitae atque artis 28 by Bruno Gentili, Carlo Prato (ed.): Poetae Elegiaci Testimonia et Fragmenta. Vol. 1, Leipzig 1988, 65 f .: "... the King of Soloi, Aristokypros, the son of that Philokypros whom the Athenian Solon praised most of all tyrants in a poem after his arrival in Cyprus." Testimonia of ancient sources, including No. 30 from Diogenes Laertios 1.51 and No. 32 b from Suda sv Solon, which name the legislature as the name giver of the new city foundation: ibid: De urbis Solorum conditore pp. 65–67.
  4. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 1.51; Excerpta Vaticana XXII (= Mythographi Graeci III 2, 99 [Nicola Festa]); Suda , keyword Σόλοι , Adler number: sigma 781 , Suda-Online ; Eustathios , Commentary on Homer's Iliad 23, 826 p. 1332.3; but see Fritz Lochner von Hüttenbach: Soloi and Soloikismos. A review and rethinking of an ancient technical term. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie . Volume 119, 1976, pp. 336-345.
  5. ↑ Strabo, Geographica 14,6,3.
  6. ↑ Plutarch, Solon 26.3.
  7. ↑ Johannes Toepffer : Akamas 4 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1143-1145 (here: Col. 1145).
  8. ↑ So emphatically Johannes Sykutris : Solon und Soloi. In: Philologus . 83, 1928, pp. 445-449; Fritz Lochner von Hüttenbach also rejects: Soloi and Soloikismos. A review and rethinking of an ancient technical term. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. Volume 119, 1976, pp. 336-345, esp.p. 338; Theresa Miller: The Greek colonization in the mirror of literary evidence. Narr, Tübingen 1997, p. 199.
  9. ^ Eduard Meyer: History of antiquity. Volume 2. Cotta, Stuttgart 1893, p. 224 ( digitized version )
  10. ↑ For the Cypriot Soloi also Eugen Oberhummer : Soloi 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume III A, 1, Stuttgart 1927, Col. 938-941. For the Cilician Soloi also Walther Ruge : Soloi 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume III A, 1, Stuttgart 1927, Col. 935-938.
  11. ^ Fritz Lochner von Hüttenbach: Soloi and Soloikismos. A review and rethinking of an ancient technical term. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. Volume 119, 1976, pp. 336-345, here: pp. 339 f.
  12. ↑ Overview in Vassos Karageorghis : Cyprus. In: The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 3, Part 2. Second edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, pp. 57-59.
  13. ^ Irad Malkin: What's in a Name? The Eponymous Founders of Greek Colonies. In: Athenaeum. Volume 63, 1985, pp. 115-130, here: pp. 119-121.
  14. ^ Italo Gallo: Solone a Soli. In: Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica. Volume 21, 1976, pp. 29-36, here p. 33 with note 17; Maria Noussia Fantuzzi: Solon the Athenian, the Poetic Fragments. Brill, Leiden 2010, p. 301.
  15. ↑ Pseudo-Skylax , Periplus 103; Strabon , Geographica 14,6,3.
  16. ^ George RH Wright: Ancient Buildings in Cyprus (= Handbook of Ancient Oriental Studies. VII. 1. 2. 8). Volume 1. Brill, Leiden et al. 1992, pp. 162-164.
  17. ↑ For the finds of early ceramics see Vassos Karageorghis: Contribution to the Early History of Soloi in Cyprus. In: Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών. Volume 6, 1973, pp. 145-149; the same: Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 97, 1973, pp. 821-896, here: pp. 601-689, here: pp. 661-665 ( online ).
  18. ↑ Emily Kearns : The Heroes of Attica (= Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement 57). University of London Institute of Classical Studies, London 1989, ISBN 978-09 00587603 , pp. 88 f .; same: Akamas. In: The New Pauly. (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, Sp. 389. General on the role of the Mycenaean Greeks and their political and cultural supremacy in the various kingdoms (except Kition / today Larnaka) after the settlement by the Achaeans Vassos Karageorghis: Cyprus. In: The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 3, Part 1. Second edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, pp. 530 and 532; P. 529 especially on Salamis with the same findings as Aipeia / Soloi.
  19. ↑ Rykle Borger: The inscriptions of Asarhaddons, King of Assyria (= Archive for Orient Research . Supplement 9). Weidner, Graz 1956, pp. 59-61; Reinhard Senff: Soloi 1. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, column 703; AT Reyes, Archaic Cyprus: A Study of the Textual and Archaeological Evidence, Oxford 1994,58,160 and O. Masson, Encore les royaumes chypriotes de la liste d 'Esarhaddon, Cahier du center d' études chypriotes 22, 1992, 27-29.
  20. ↑ Assurbanipal, Prisma C §14, II 50-58, esp. II 52 on Kīsu, King of Salamis and II 54: Erēsu, King of Soli in the German translation by Rykle Borger: Contributions to the inscriptions of Assurbanipal. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996, p. 212, the text ibid p. 19: I e-re-su lugal kur si-il-lu.
  21. ↑ Berlin State Museums, Inv. No. VA 968 with text, translation and commentary by Eberhard Schrader: The Sargon Stele of the Berlin Museum (= treatises of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. 1881, 6). Berlin 1882, p. 24 f., Here p. 25: Col II (IV), lines 28-42: "... [Also the 7 kings of the country Jah (= Iadnāna / Cyprus), a region / [of the land of At] nan, ... / ... had heard of the deeds (which) I had [committed] in the middle of the land of Kaldi and Chattilandes, in the middle of the sea / [in the distance], had lost their courage ( she) / [fear he] grabbed her. Gold, silver, / [tools made of] KAL wood, from KU wood, the treasure of their land, / [to] Babylon to me / [they brought and] kissed my feet. “( Digitized version ). In addition and on the name Iadnāna "the islands of the Danaer" Vassos Karageorghis: Cyprus. In: The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 3, Part 1. Second edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, p. 533 and Andres T. Reyes: Archaic Cyprus: A Study of the Textual and Archaeological Evidence. Oxford, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994, p. 51; on the date Panajotis J. Stylianou: The Age of the Kingdoms: A Political Histoty of Cyprus in the Archaic and Classical Period (= Meletai kai Ypomnemata. Volume 2). Archbishop Makarios III Foundation, Nicosia 1989, p. 384.
  22. ^ Grant Frame: The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var (Tab. I – XVIII). In: Orientalia. Volume 68, number 1, 1999, p. 40, § 29, where he starts his domain with "the land of Iadnana, which is (situated) in the middle of the (Western Sea)".
  23. ↑ Andreas Fuchs: The annals of the year 711 BC. After prism fragments from Nineveh and Assyrian (= State Archives of Assyria Studies. ) Volume 8. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki 1998, p. 145; to Iris von Bredow : contact zone Near East and Egypt. Places, situations and conditions for primary Greco-Oriental contacts from the 10th to the 6th century BC Chr. In: Geographica Historica. Volume 38, 2017, p. 45.
  24. ↑ Plato, Nomoi 4,708 d to ho oikismos , synonymous with he oikisis in Thucydides 5:11 ; 6.4; on this and on the meaning Wilhelm Pape : Greek-German concise dictionary. Reprint of the third edition, edited by Maximilian Sengebusch. Volume 2, Graz 1954, p. 301.
  25. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 5,113,2; on the family tree of the Onesilos: Herodotus, Historien 5,104; on the usurpation of the kingship of Salamis: Herodotus, Historien 104,2–3.
  26. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 5,113,2-114,2.
  27. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 5,115,1–2.
  28. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 2, 13, 7-8.
  29. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 2, 20: 3–4.
  30. ↑ Plutarch, Alexander 29: 1-4.
  31. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 6.2.2; Arrian indica 18.8; Peter Högemann : Nikokles 3rd In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, Col. 918.
  32. ↑ On the sarcophagus Robert Fleischer , Inge Domes and others: The Vienna Amazonensarkophag (= antique sculpture. Delivery 26). Hirmer, Munich 1998, pp. 7-54; Georg A. Plattner: The Amazon Sarcophagus from Soloi in Vienna. In: Lâtife Summerer, Hazar Kaba (Ed.): The Northern Face of Cyprus. New Studies in Cypriot Archeology and Art History. Istanbul 2016, pp. 177–190 ( online ).
  33. ↑ Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 13,576 e; Arrian, FGrHist 156 F 10.6; Reinhard Senff: Soloi 1. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, Col. 703, and Walter Ameling : Ptolemaios I. Soter. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, Col. 531 on the central importance of Cyrene and Cyprus for Ptolemaic rule from 321 BC onwards. Chr.
  34. ↑ For the inscription and its reconstruction see Terence B. Mitford : Milestones in Western Cyprus. In: The Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 29, 1939, pp. 190 f. No. 2; AE 1940, No. 104; Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen: The Roads of Ancient Cyprus. Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 2004, p. 246 f. No. 12; Inscription in the Epigraphic Database Heidelberg .
  35. ↑ Strabo, Geographica 14,6,3.
  36. ↑ AE 1953, 166; Michel Christol: Proconsuls de Chypre. In: Chiron . Volume 16, 1986, pp. 1-14, here: pp. 1-5.
  37. ↑ Christoph Samitz: The introduction of the Dekaproten and the Eikosaproten in the cities of Asia Minor and Greece. In: Chiron. Volume 43, 2013, 1-61, p. 56, No. 130 (Soloi).
  38. ↑ Alexander Weiß: Social Elite and Christianity. Studies of Ordo Members among Early Christians. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015, p. 57 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  39. ↑ Stadiasmus maris magni 311: πόλις ἐστὶν ἀλίμενος ; Edition: Karl Müller : Geographi Graeci minores, e codicibus recognovit, prolegomenis annotatione indicibus instruxit tabulis aeri incisis illustravit (= Scriptorum graecorum bibliotheca. Volume 44). Volume 1. Paris 1855, p. 504 ( digitized ).
  40. ↑ For a summary of the history of Solois from Roman times, see Jean des Gagniers, Tran Tam Tinh: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 1: La Basilique. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1985, pp. XXIII-XXXI.
  41. ↑ Étienne de Lusignan: Chorograffia et breve historia universale dell'Isola de Cipro principiando al tempo di Noè per in sino al 1572. Alessandro Benacci, Bologna 1573, p. 86 ( digitized ).
  42. ↑ For the sources see Christl Karnehm, Peter Danner: Sources from the 16th to the early 18th century on the Vienna Amazon sarcophagus. In: Yearbook of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Volume 6/7, 2004/2005, pp. 9-25.
  43. ↑ Amazon sarcophagus on the website of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
  44. ↑ On the change of interests see Reinhard Senff: Exotic charm and historical value - changed perspectives on viewing ancient art of Cyprus in the 19th century. In: Sabine Rogge (Ed.): Cyprus and the Middle East in the 19th century. Waxmann, Münster 2009, pp. 255-269.
  45. ↑ Compare the description in Luigi Palma di Cesnola : Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence as American Consul in that Island. John Murray, London 1877, p. 228 ( digitized ).
  46. ↑ On this communis opinio Uta Kron : The ten Attic Phylenheroen. History, myth, cult and representations (= communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department. Supplement 5). Berlin 1976, p. 41 and A. 149 and Volker Fadinger : Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 51 A. 148. Against this, John Travlos pleaded: Bildlexikon zur Topographie des Antique Athen. Tübingen 1971, p. 213 for a reversed assignment of the two places of worship. In any case, the Greek travel writer and geographer Pausanias (around 115 to 180 AD) correctly recognized in his work “Description of Greece” 1,26,5 the division of the temple into a cella for Athena Polias and another for Erechtheus when he characterizes the “Erechtheion” as a “double building”.
  47. ↑ However, the use of the word ἀνάσσειν can also be understood generally as part of the Homeric formulas that often appear in the elegy. For example, the phrase πολὺν χρόνον ἐνθάδ᾽ (verse 1) can be found in Iliad 2,343; Odyssey 4,594; 15.68 and 15.545. ξὺν νηῒ θοῇ (verse 3; ξὺν = old Attic form for σὺν ) can be found in Iliad 1,389 and as θοῇ σὺν νηὶ in Odyssey 16,123, χάριν καὶ κῦδος ὀπάζοι (verse 5) in Odyssey 15,320 as well as varied at other places. On the Homeric elements of the elegy, the allusion to the founding of Scheria by the Phaiac king Nausithoos and a possibly intended special honor of Philokypros by Solon see Theresa Miller: The Greek colonization in the mirror of literary testimonies. Narr, Tübingen 1997, pp. 199-203; Maria Noussia Fantuzzi: Solon the Athenian, the Poetic Fragments. Brill, Leiden 2010, pp. 95. 301-306.
  48. ↑ PY KN V c 73; PY Na334 et al .; in addition and further references Anna Morpurgo: Mycenae Graecitatis Lexikon. Incunabula Graeca Vol. III, Rome 1963, pp. 351-353 and Index Graecus p. 386 sv anax; John Chadwick: The Mycenaean World. Translated from English by Ingeburg von Steuben. Reclam, Stuttgart 1979, p. 95.
  49. ↑ Isocrates, Euagoras 9:72.
  50. ↑ Aristotle Fragment 526 Rose, from: Harpokration sv ἄνακτες καὶ ἄνασσαι and Suda , keyword ἄνακτες καὶ ἄνασσαι , Adler number: alpha 1925 , Suda-Online ; see Maria Iacovou: From the Mycenaean QA-SI-RE-U to the Cypriote PA-SI-LE-WO-SE: The basileus in the kingdoms of Cyprus. In: Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Irene S. Lemos (ed.): Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer (= Edinburgh Leventis Studies. Volume 3). Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2006, p. 329 ( online ). For both authors, consanguinity is the connecting element of Basileus and Wanax.
  51. ↑ Olivier Masson: Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques. Recueil critique et commenté (= Études Chypriotes. Volume 1). E. de Boccard, Paris 1961, No. 211 = Markus Egetmeyer: Le dialecte grec ancien de Chypre. Volume 2: Répertoire des inscriptions en syllabaire chypro-grec. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2010, p. 806, No. 1: o-wa-na-xe | sa-ta-si-ja-se | sa-ta-safety- ka ra-te-o-se "the prince Stasias, (son) of Stasikrates" (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  52. ↑ Olivier Masson: Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques. Recueil critique et commenté (= Études Chypriotes. Volume 1). E. de Boccard, Paris 1961, No. 212 = Markus Egetmeyer: Le dialecte grec ancien de Chypre. Volume 2: Répertoire des inscriptions en syllabaire chypro-grec. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2010, pp. 806 f., No. 2; on the titles of kings in Cyprus see Christian Körner : Monarchy on Cyprus in the 5th and 4th centuries BC Chr .: rule of king and polis? In: Stefan Rebenich (ed.): Monarchical rule in ancient times. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2017 pp. 217–244, here: pp. 230–234 and passim (accessed via De Gruyter Online). For the development of the Mycenaean term qa-si-re-u , which was unique in Cyprus, from a high functionary of the palace administration who was responsible for the bronze and metal trade, for the term for the Cypriot basileus, see Maria Iacovou: From the Mycenaean QA-SI-RE -U to the Cypriote PA-SI-LE-WO-SE: The basileus in the kingdoms of Cyprus. In: Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Irene S. Lemos (ed.): Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer (= Edinburgh Leventis Studies. Volume 3). Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2006, pp. 315-335.
  53. ↑ Jacqueline Karageorghis: Les noms de la Grande Déesse dans les inscriptions syllabiques chypriotes. In: Cahiers du Center d'Études Chypriotes. Volume 27, 1997, pp. 109-119, here: pp. 115-119 ( online ); agreeing Maria Iacovou: From the Mycenaean QA-SI-RE-U to the Cypriote PA-SI-LE-WO-SE: The basileus in the kingdoms of Cyprus. In: Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Irene S. Lemos (ed.): Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer (= Edinburgh Leventis Studies. Volume 3). Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2006, p. 329.
  54. ↑ See also Maria Iacovou: From the Mycenaean QA-SI-RE-U to the Cypriote PA-SI-LE-WO-SE: The basileus in the kingdoms of Cyprus. In: Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Irene S. Lemos (ed.): Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer (= Edinburgh Leventis Studies. Volume 3). Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2006, p. 329 f. general on the content and unique relationship of the two terms attested side by side for the Cypriot city-state royalty.
  55. ^ Marie-Joseph Seux: Epithètes royales akkadiennes et sumériennes. Letouzey et Ané, Paris 1967, p. 173 and Johannes Renger : Holy Wedding A. Philologically. In: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Volume 4. Berlin-New York 1972-1975, p. 259.
  56. ↑ In addition with extensive specialist literature Volker Fadinger, Sulla as Imperator Felix and "Epaphroditos" (= "Darling of Aphrodite"). In: Norbert Ehrhardt, Linda-Marie Günther (Hrsg.): Resistance - Adaptation - Integration. The Greek world and Rome. Festschrift for Jürgen Deininger on his 65th birthday. Stuttgart 2002, p. 170 A. 66.
  57. ↑ Johannes Renger: Investigations into the priesthood in the ancient Babylonian period. In: Journal for Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology . New series Volume 24, 1967, p. 133 and A. 151 with the sources; in addition and in general on Inanna / Ishtar as the protective goddess and lover of the Near Eastern kings Wolfgang Fauth : Servant of the Gods - Darling of the Gods. The ancient oriental ruler as a protégé of higher powers. In: Saeculum. Volume 39, 1988, pp. 217-246, esp. 234 ff.
  58. ↑ Willem H. Ph. Römer: Sumerian "royal hymns" of the Isin period. Diss. Utrecht, Leiden 1965, p. 128 ff. With transcription, commentary and translation; a more recent German translation of the same: A song for the rite of the holy wedding of the goddess Inanna with King Iddindagān of Isin. In: Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Edited by Otto Kaiser, Vol. III 3: Myths and Epics in Sumerian Language , No. 11. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1989, pp. 659-673, then the central passages of the mystery verses 167-192 printed and interpreted by Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 25 f .; see. also Yitzhak Sefati: Love Songs in Sumerian Literature. Critical Edition of the Dumuzi-Inanna Songs (= Bar-Ilan Studies in Near Eastern Languages ​​and Culture ). BarIlan University Press, Ramat-Gān 1998, pp. 40 ff.
  59. ↑ Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 26. 48 A. 119 with the sources and specialist literature.
  60. ↑ Johannes Renger: Holy Wedding A. Philologically. In: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie. Volume 4. Berlin-New York 1972-1975, pp. 255 ff., Esp. 256 f. and Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 26.
  61. ↑ Scholion zu Lykophron, Alexandra 496 ( digitized version ).
  62. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 5.35.
  63. ↑ Stephanos of Byzantium sv Ἀκαμάντιον ; see Margarethe Billerbeck (ed.): Stephani Byzantii Ethnica. Volume 1: Alpha - Gamma (= Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae - Series Berolinensis. Volume 43/1). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, p. 106 f .: ... Παρθένιος δ 'ἐν Ἀφροδίτῃ Ἀκαμαντίδα αὐτήν φησι (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  64. ↑ Jane L. Lightfoot (Ed.): Parthenius of Nicaea. The Poetical Fragments and the Erotika pathemata. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1999, Fragment 7, p. 147.
  65. ↑ Strabon, Geographica 14,6,3; Hesych sv <ἀκάμαντα> · ... καὶ ὄρος ἐν Κύπρῳ οὕτως καλούμενον. ὠνομάσθη δὲ ἀπὸ Ἀκάμαντος, τοῦ Δημοφῶντος μὲν ἀδελφοῦ, υἱοῦ δὲ Θησέως .
  66. ↑ On the epithet "Kypris" as a reference to the oriental origin of Aphrodite Olivier Masson: Cultes indigènes, cultes grecs orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne à Chypre. In: Elements orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne (= Travaux du center d'etudes superieures specialize d'histoire des religions de Strasbourg) . Colloque de Strasbourg 22-24 May 1958. Press Universitaires de France, Paris 1960, pp. 129–142, here: p. 134; Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge: Aphrodite. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, column 838–844, here: column 839 and with convincing evidence Wolfgang Fauth: Aphrodite. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 427-429 ..
  67. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 1,131,3-132; in addition Volker Fadinger, Sulla as Imperator Felix and "Epaphroditos" (= "Darling of Aphrodite"). In: Norbert Ehrhardt, Linda-Marie Günther (Hrsg.): Resistance - Adaptation - Integration. The Greek world and Rome. Festschrift for Jürgen Deininger on his 65th birthday. Stuttgart 2002, p. 164 f. with A. 47; Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 31.
  68. ↑ According to Herodotus 1,105, the cult of Aphrodite Urania (= Ishtar / Astarte) was brought to Cyprus by Phoenicians from the Syrian Ascalon and the Phoenicians also founded the oldest temple of the goddess in Kythera in Greece as a branch of Aphrodite of Ascalon. On Inanna / Ischtar / Astarte as the patron goddess of the chariot warrior Claus Wilcke : Inanna / Ištar (Mesopotamia) A. Philological, § 10. Descriptions of Inanna. In: Real Lexicon for Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology. Volume 5. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976-1980, pp. 74-87, here p. 82.
  69. ↑ Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 23. 26 f. 49 Note 125 with the sources.
  70. ↑ Herodotus 1,182.2 in connection with 1.181.5 and 1.131.3–132; on this Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 24 f. 47 note 102.
  71. ↑ Introduction Prisma-Inscription F § 1, 1-2 in the translation by Rykle Borger: Contributions to the inscriptions of Assurbanipal. Harrassowitz, Wiebaden 1996, p. 208.
  72. ↑ Introduction to Prismainschrift F § 4 I 33–34 by Rykle Borger: Contributions to the inscriptions of Assurbanipal. Harrassowitz, Wiebaden 1996, p. 209.
  73. ↑ Strabo 16: 1, 20, who in other words reports the same as Herodotus and is probably dependent on him. On the sacred character of prostitution Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 31 f. with further sources.
  74. ↑ Adam Falkenstein : Sumerian religious texts 5: "Enki and world order". In: Journal for Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology. New series Volume 22, 1964, pp. 44–129, here: p. 110.
  75. ↑ Volker Fadinger: Peisistratos and Phye. A contribution to the sacred legitimation of tyrannical rule in the archaic city-state of Athens. In: Wolfgang Pircher, Martin Treml (eds.): Tyrannis and seduction. Vienna 2000, p. 32.
  76. ↑ To the cult of Aphrodite of Old Paphos closer Ralph Raimond Braun: Polyglott on tour Cyprus. Munich 2018, 91 f. with a paraphrase by Herodotus 1, 199-200.
  77. ↑ On this in detail Hazar Kaba: A Cypro-Classical Aphrodite and Eros Figurine from Soloi (Cyprus). In: Anadolu. Volume 41, 2015, p. 81 ff. With further literature in note 7 (p. 81) and esp. 83 f.
  78. ↑ On the work of Palma di Cesnola in Cyprus, see Sabine Rogge : Between Enthusiasm for Antiquity and Commerce. Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832-1904) - "excavator" in Cyprus and first director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In: Ancient World . Volume 37, Issue 6, 2006, pp. 84–86.
  79. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes III 930 ; Luigi Palma di Cesnola: Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence as American Consul in that Island. John Murray, London 1877, p. 424 f. ( Digitized version ).
  80. ↑ With literature on the inscription see Alexander Weiß: Soziale Elite und Christianentum. Studies of Ordo Members among Early Christians. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015, p. 57 f.
  81. ^ Einar Gjerstad, John Lindros, Eric Sjöqvist, Alfred Westholm: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931. Volume 3. Text. Stockholm 1937, p. 412 f. Fig. 217.218.
  82. ↑ Olivier Masson: Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques. Recueil critique et commenté (= Études Chypriotes. Volume 1). E. de Boccard, Paris 1961, No. 212 = Markus Egetmeyer: Le dialecte grec ancien de Chypre. Volume 2: Répertoire des inscriptions en syllabaire chypro-grec. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2010, p. 806 f., No. 2.
  83. ↑ Anne Destrooper-Georgiades: Le monnayage des cités-royaumes de Chypre: quelques aspects and problems. In: Annali dell 'Istituto Italiano di Numismatica. Volume 53, 2007, pp. 9-63, here: pp. 23 f.
  84. ^ Plutarch, quaestiones Graecae 3.
  85. ↑ Anja Ulbrich: Kypris. Sanctuaries and cults of female deities on Cyprus in the Kyproarchaic and Kyproclassic epochs ( = Ancient Orient and Old Testament. Publications on the culture and history of the Old Orient and the Old Testament. Volume 44). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2008, p. 157. 205.
  86. ^ Georgia Bonny Bazemore: The Warrior Goddess of the Kings: Cypriote Athena-Anat. In: Proceedings of the International Conference "Finds and Results from the Swedish-Cyprus Expedition 1927-1931: A Gender Perspective." March 31 - April 2, 2006, Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm. Stockholm 2008, pp. 24–35, here: pp. 28–29; Giorgos Papantoniou: Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus. From the Cypriot Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2012, pp. 111-112.
  87. ^ Einar Gjerstad, John Lindros, Eric Sjöqvist, Alfred Westholm: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931. Volume 3. Text. Stockholm 1937, p. 413.
  88. ^ Jean des Gagniers, Tran Tam Tinh: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 1: La Basilique. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1985, p. XXII; see in detail also Vassos Karageorghis: Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 98, 1974, pp. 821-896, here: pp. 885-887; Vassos Karageorghis: Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1974. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 99, 1975, pp. 801-851, here: pp. 846-848.
  89. ↑ On the Canadian excavations in the lower town see René Ginouvès: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 2: La ville basse. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1989.
  90. ^ Alfred Westholm: The Temples of Soli. Studies on Cypriote Art during Hellenistic and Roman Periods. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, Stockholm 1936. Further literature on the excavation findings from Reinhard Senff: Soloi 1. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, Col. 703 f. and finally Hazar Kaba: A Cypro-Classical Aphrodite and Eros Figurine from Soloi (Cyprus) / Soli (Kıbrıs) Nekropolünden Kıbrıs-Klasik Dönem Tarihli Bir Aphrodite-Eros Figürini. In: Anadolu. Volume 41, 2015, p. 78 Note 2 ( online ).
  91. ^ Giorgos Papantoniou: Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus. From the Cypriot Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2012, pp. 167-207.
  92. ^ George RH Wright: Ancient Buildings in Cyprus (= Handbook of Ancient Oriental Studies. VII. 1. 2. 8). Volume 1. Brill, Leiden et al. 1992, pp. 162-164.
  93. ^ Jean des Gagniers, Tran Tam Tinh: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 1: La Basilique. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1985.
  94. ↑ Vita Auxibii 1.4 ( digitized version ).
  95. ^ Jean des Gagniers, Tran Tam Tinh: Soloi. Dix campagnes de fouilles (1964-1974). Volume 1: La Basilique. Presses de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy [Québec] 1985, pp. 115-125.
  96. ↑ Hazar Kaba: A Cypro-Classical Aphrodite and Eros Figurine from Soloi (Cyprus) / Soli (Kıbrıs) Nekropolünden Kıbrıs-Klasik Dönem Tarihli Bir Aphrodite-Eros Figürini. In: Anadolu. Volume 41, 2015, pp. 77-108.
  97. ↑ Strabo, Geographica 14,6,3.
  98. ^ Pliny, Naturalis Historia XI 19.

Coordinates: 35 ° 8 ′ 25.4 ″  N , 32 ° 48 ′ 45.4 ″  E