Discussion Notes for Honouring the Gods (2009)

Contents

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Introduction: Discussion of Simon Price's Religions of the Greeks

1.  Discussion of Price's work

  • Key arguments / strengths and weaknesses
  • Theoretical and methodological issues
    • Theories of decline in the study of religious life in the Hellenistic and Roman periods
    • Categories in the study of ancient cultural life, including the category "religion" (discussion of Rives' chapter)

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Civic Cults: Case Study of Artemis of Ephesos (Ephesus)

1.  Regional religious traditions in the Roman empire and Asia Minor (discussion of Rives, ch. 2)

2.  Background on Ephesos within the Roman province of Asia

  • Discussion of Strabo's overview of Ephesos
  • Historical highlights from 133 BCE on:
    • Economic centre (sea and two main land routes)
    • Roman provincial centre under Augustus and building programs
    • Provincial imperial cult under Domitian

     

  • Overview of the layout of Ephesos in the imperial period (plans here and here)

3.  Civic cults and the cult of Artemis Ephesia (discussion of Acts, Strabo and Oster on Artemis)

  • Civic cults in Roman Asia
    • Artemis:  Typical or atypical?
    • Limited nature of our evidence even for Ephesos
  • Artemis Ephesia
    • Relations between a polis (Ephesos) and its patron deity (Artemis) (discussion of IEph 24 [Price no. 15] and Acts 19)
      • Attachment and diffusion (Strabo, Geog 4.1.4; Xenophon, Anabasis 5.3.12-14, et al)
      • E.g. Cult of Artemis Ephesia in Pisidia, despite Artemis Pergaia's closeness (inscription discussed by Horsley)
    • Images and perceptions of Artemis Ephesia
    • Temple(s) and functionaries (discussion of Oster)
      • Last three temples: 1) Earlier temple destroyed; 2) ca. 500s-356 BCE (built by Croesus, destroyed by fire, according to Plutarch); 3) 300s BCE-262 CE (destroyed by Goths)
      • Lack of archeological evidence
      • Asylum and Greek sanctuaries
      • Economic and other functions
      • Functionaries (typical or atypical)
    • Local practices and stories (discussion of Strabo)
      • Civic festivals:
        • 1) Artemisia (probably processions and sacrifices - discuss Price, no. 15);
        • 2) Birth festival (stories of the birth - discuss Xenophon of Ephesos' story of the procession)
      • Mysteries for Artemis Ephesia: Evaluating their importance (nine + inscriptions discussed by Horsley); Curetes at Ephesos (in Strabo); mysteries celebrated in Pisidia
      • Additional festivals and processions (e.g. Salutaris, from 104 CE)
      • General lack of evidence on details of celebrations, but one can compare other cults such those at Magnesia regarding sacrifices (Price, no. 3)

4.  Other cults at Ephesos (discussion of Oster)

 

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Healing Sanctuaries: Case Study of Asklepios at Pergamon

 

1.    Gods interacting with humans (discussion of Rives, ch. 3: "The Presence of the Gods")

 

2.    Pergamon and its healing sanctuary

  • Introduction to Pergamon
  • The Asklepieion, or sanctuary of Asklepios

     

    • Buildings: Hellenistic era (built in fourth century BCE, official status in the late third); Roman era buildings (see plan in Price, p. 110; good online description here); Google sattelite maps: Acropolis and lower city; Asklepieion
      • Building dedications to Askelpios (discussion of inscriptions in MacMullen, p. 33 )

       

    • Organization, functionaries, and interactions among participants (priest, temple-wardens, others)
      • Discussion of Remus' article on Aelius Aristides' social networks

       

    • Healing and healing procedures in the sanctuary
      • Incubation
      • Sacred law guidelines for incubants (MacMullen, p. 30)
      • Dreams and healing instructions from Asklepios and from others in the sanctuary (MacMullen, p. 30)
      • Votives and inscriptions in thanks for healings (MacMullen, p. 31)

3.    Case study of Aelius Aristides' interactions with gods and with Asklepios (in Sacred Tales)

  • What does Aristides' Sacred Tales reveal concerning:
    • the nature of relations between a worshipper and the god(s) (also what gods are involved)
    • means of honouring the god(s)
    • modes of communication used by the god(s)
    • notions of benefactions from the gods, including healing
    • healing techniques and Asklepios as god of healing
    • practices and organization within an Asklepios sanctuary
    • the world of the provincial elites

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Oracular Sanctuaries: Case Study of Apollo at Didyma

 

1.    Community and honouring the gods (discussion of Rives, ch. 4)

2.    Divination and oracles in antiquity

  • Gods communicate with humans: Various forms of divination = reading the messages of the gods (discussion of Johnston and Artemidoros's Oneirocritica)
  • Key Oracles of Apollo in the Roman period: Delphi, Claros, Didyma
    • Delos as the mythical birthplace of Apollo (sometimes)
    • Oracles from Apollo (discussion of Price, nos. 11-12 - Delphi and Claros)

       

3.    Oracular sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma

  • The sanctuary and its remains (Hellenistic and Roman era)

     

  • The organization of the sanctuary (functionaries) and the procedure (Roman era)
    • History: Branchidae (hereditary family leadership) and later control by Miletos
  • Discussion of oracles in Fontenrose
    • Topics of consultation; individual vs. group consultations; identity and social status of those who consult Apollo; implications for understanding attitudes towards the gods and the gods' relations with humans, etc.

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Regional and Indigenous Practices:
The Gods and Everyday Justice in Lydia and Phrygia

 

1.    Indigenous cults in Asia Minor / Anatolia

  • What do we mean by Indigenous?
    • e.g. Lydian, Phrygian, Pisidian, Galatian
    • Gods and their cults within villages and the countryside

     

  • Cults of the Mother, Zeus, Men, Holy / Just, and others (discussion of Mitchell and Horsley)
    • Distinctive elements and common denominators: Indigenous and Greek cults

     

  • Beate Dignas' work on cults and sanctuaries in Asia Minor

2.    Justice from the gods in Lydia and Phrygia

  • Importance of gods in bringing justice or punishment (discussion of Chaniotis, section 2)
  • The confession / propitiation inscriptions (Beichtinschriften) of Lydia and Phrygia

     

    • The nature and structure of the inscriptions
      • 140+ inscriptions found (Petzl's collection), esp. Katakekaumene region N-E of Sardis
      • Content / structure (Rostad's work):
        • Dedication
        • Narrative concerning transgression
          • What types of "sins"?
        • Divine intervention / punishment
          • What gods are involved (prominence of Men and Anaitis with Persian connections, but also Apollo Lairbenos and Zeus)?  What forms of punishment and justice?
        • Propitiation / appeasement of the angry god

         

    • The practices and worldviews behind the plaques
      • What do these inscriptions reveal about the worldview of the participants?  What practices were entailed?  What do these tell us about how the gods were seen to be active in everyday life and in ensuring justice?  How were the gods integrated within daily life? etc.

       

    • Scholarly debates:
      • Were Lydian gods angrier? (theories of a specific folk-mentality in Lydia and Phrygia)
      • Reflections of a legal system (trials) centred on sanctuaries and run by priests? (Steinleitner)
      • Versnel and Chaniotis on connection with curse tablets, as at Knidos (contrast Rostad)
      • Chaniotis' claim of a major role for priests (contrast Mitchell, Rostad)

     

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Imperial Cults: Honouring the Emperors as Gods

 

1.    Introductory discussions

  • "Religion and empire" (discussion of Rives)
  • Reminder on the exchange system of honours and benefaction - social and cosmic hierarchies

2.    Imperial cults or honours for the emperors as gods in Asia Minor

  • Presentation on Simon Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor
  • Scholarly debates and problems
    • The decline theory and ruler cult
    • Integrated or fundamentally different?
      • Merely political?
      • Top-down or grassroots?
      • Emperors truly viewed as gods?
        • Question of ontology (true nature)
        • Price's position: emperors between humans and divine

     

  • Four main layers of imperial cults

     

    1) The city of Rome and its official rituals for dead emperors: divinizing deceased emperors (sometimes)

    2) Provincial cults in the province of Asia (discussion of Friesen)

    • The contest for honouring the emperors and the calendar of Roman Asia in 10/9 BCE (discussion of SEG IV 490 = OGIS 458 in course pack)
    • Discussion of Friesen's chapters on provincial imperial cults under the Julio-Claudians and Flavians
      • Temples at Pergamon (29 BCE), Smyrna (26 CE), Miletos (37-41 CE), Ephesos (89 CE)
      • Organization of provincial imperial cults

       

    • The hymnsingers (hymnodoi) and their role in official celebrations in honour of the emperors, ca. 44 CE (IEph 3801 in Harland, p. 94)

     

    3) Civic (or municipal) cults

     

    4) Local cults, including associations (discussion of Harland)

    • Inscriptions in Harland (discussion)
      • Demetriasts at Ephesos and their mysteries and sacrifices, ca. 88 CE(IEph 213 in Harland p. 91)
      • Hymnsingers at Pergamon and their mysteries and celebrations in honour of the emperors, ca. 110 CE (IGR IV 353 = IPergamon 374 in course pack)

     

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The Mysteries, part 1: Burkert's Analysis and a Case Study of Samothrace

 

1.    Presentation: Cole on gender and religion

2.    Introducing the mysteries: Discussion of Burkert's Ancient Mystery Cults

  • Analysis of the arguments of Burkert
    • Strengths and weaknesses (assumptions and problems)
    • Theoretical and methodological issues raised by the work
    • Problems in ongoing use of Christianity for comparison/contrast

     

  • What are the mysteries?

3.    Mysteries of the "Great Gods" (Theoi megaloi) at Samothrace (discussion of Cole)

  • Problems in identifying the "Great gods" at Samothrace
    • Contradictory and misleading literary sources (e.g. Herodotus' identification with Kabeiroi, Diodoros of Sicily's description of mythology)
    • Mnaseas (fragment): Axiokersa, Axieros, Axiokersos, Kasmilos
      • Cole and others: likely one female Cybele-like deity (Axiokersa), a pair of male deities depicted in ithyphallic statues (Axieros, Axiokersos), and an attendent (Kasmilos)
        • Samothracian coins depicting a Cybele-like deity (photos here)

         

  • The cult and mysteries at Samothrace from archeological and inscriptional evidence
    • Macedonian support and height of popularity from the mid-third century BCE into the Roman period

     

    • Archeological work at Samothrace from late 1800s (plan, google maps) - Lehmann and others
    • Inscriptions pertaining to the Samothracian mysteries (Dora Dimitrova's recent work)

     

    • Yearly public festival and ambassadors (theoroi) from various locales
    • Initiation into the mysteries
      • Open to slave, free, Greek, non-Greek (contrast Eleusinian mysteries Greek requirement)
      • Two stages of initiation: "initiation" (myesis) and "viewing" (epopteia)
        • Stage one and the Anaktoron
          • The procedure (see Cole) and the revelation of sacred objects and/or stories (the ithyphallic statues perhaps involved)
        • Stage two and the Hieron (inscription forbids entrance without initiation)
          • Compare the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter and Kore for two stages of initiation
      • Banqueting facilities for communal meals

         

    • Honours for the "Samothracian gods" elsewhere (especially from the mid-third century BCE on)

 

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The Mysteries, part 2: Case Study of the Glykon Cult in Paphlagonia (Bithynia-Pontus)

 

1.

2.    Archeological and numismatic evidence for the Glykon cult (discussion of C.P. Jones)

3.    Lucian's satirical biography of Alexander the "False-prophet"

 

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Associations and guilds: Case of Zeus and Agdistis at Philadelphia in Lydia

 

 

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Cultural Minority Groups Honour Their Gods, part 1: Syrians in the Diaspora

 

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Cultural Minority Groups Honour Their Gods, part 2: Judeans in the Diaspora