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University
of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
February 24, 2007
A Public Symposium
Speakers
Dr. Madeleine Jost
Professor
of Greek History, University of Paris X, Nanterre, France
“The Cults of Mt. Lykaion”
Two
deities are honored on Mount Lykaion, Pan and Zeus, who are symbols
of the National Arcadian identity. After taking account of the iconography
of these two deities, we study the personality of Zeus Lykaios. We
consider two opposed and complementary aspects successively: Zeus
is a pan-Hellenic god who controls, as elsewhere in Greece, atmospheric
phenomena; this civilized god is celebrated with pan-Hellenic games,
the Lykaia. On the other hand, on Mount Lykaion Zeus is also a specific
Arcadian god: he is honored with human sacrifices, which is a very
exceptional event; to this savage character are linked legends of
lycanthropia, the metamorphosis of a wolf. We examine the human sacrifices:
the reality of these sacrifices is too present in the texts to be
completely denied beforehand; the persistence of tradition and (why
not?) the reality of human sacrifices is in perfect harmony with the
savage character of Mount Lykaion's landscape. We also examine the
traditions related to lycanthropia. In conclusion, it's the symbiosis
of antithetic elements that makes the originality of the cults on
Mont Lykaion.
Ms.
Anastasia Panagiotopoulou
Curator of Antiquities, Fifth Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical
Antiquities, Sparta, Greece
“The Area of Mt. Lykaion in Antiquity”
Dr. Costas Cassios
Professor
of Physical Geography and Environmental Impact Assessment, National
Technical University, Athens, Greece
“Planning the Arcadia Natural and Cultural Park in the area
of Mt. Lykaion”
Mr. Fotis Zois
Member of the Syllogos of Ano Karyes, Arcadia, Greece
“The Contribution of the local Community of the Mt. Lykaion Area
in achieving the goals of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project”
Dr. George Davis
Provost and Executive Vice-President, University of Arizona
“Fastening the Archaeology of Mt. Lykaion to a Geologic Framework”
Dr. Mary E. Voyatzis
Professor and Chair, Department of Classics, University of Arizona
“The Nature and Significance of the Finds from Mt. Lykaion:
Past and present.”
The
sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion is not your typical Greek sanctuary,
if there is such a thing. It covers an extensive area, with an upper
and lower sanctuary. In the upper sanctuary, there is no temple (that
we know of), no overwhelming number of votive offerings, no standard
layout or design of the space. There are terrifying stories about
activities there including ritual human sacrifice, transformation
into a wolf, and death within a year of stepping into the temenos.
The landscape is fantastic. And the textual references to the sanctuary
are rich, complex and intriguing. One could say that the site is majestic,
magical, and mysterious, if not mystifying. It has a number of striking
parallels with the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia: both had a huge ash
altar, evidence for an ancient cult of Zeus, and both held important
athletic events in antiquity. The sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion
has also yielded some very interesting objects found in the past excavations
at the site at the turn of the century. As David Romano, Anastasia
Panagiotopoulou and I now turn our attention to the site once more,
over 100 years later, I think it might be instructive to look at the
small finds uncovered by Kourouniotes again, and to compare them to
the finds we are now beginning to uncover at the site, as well as
to consider what we might expect to find in future seasons, based
on what we know from other sites, especially Olympia.
In
this paper, we review the objects found in the past, especially in
the upper sanctuary. We begin with the ash altar, where Kourountiotes
excavated five trenches of thin, dark, ashy soil, full of burnt bones,
and stones. He found pottery sherds with dark paint of the 5th and
4th centuries, lamp fragments, roof tiles, and iron knife, bronze
rings, a terracotta bird, a coin, and two small bronze tripods. Kourouniotes
also excavated at several spots in the temenos, but found significant
offerings in just a couple of areas. At the Eastern end of the temenos,
about 10 meters from the column bases, he found two bronze figurines,
bronze jewelry, a bronze plaque (from the base of a statue showing
its feet), an iron object and considerable amounts of roof tiles.
He also excavated in the area of the column stone bases, which he
identified as a "pre-sacrificial area" where the animals
were slaughtered and found more objects. Near the south base, he found
two coins. Near the North base, he uncovered a number of objects including
four bronze statuettes of Zeus, two of Hermes, a bronze runner, a
bronze hand and foot, a bronze eagle, a bronze shin guard, etc., all
found close to each other in an area less than two meters. Kourouniotes
also excavated in the lower sanctuary in the areas of the hippodrome,
stadium stoa, xenona, steps, fountain, bath, etc. and found many finds
throughout this extensive area, including coins, 4th c. and later
pottery, inscriptions, etc., phialai with black glaze of 4th-3rd c.
BC date; bronze sheet with inscription, iron objects, roof tiles,
and an iron spear.
During
the 2006 season at Mt. Lykaion, we opened up four trenches in the
area of the hippodrome and stadium and found a large amount of pottery
and tiles, the majority of which was ancient. We also found coins,
iron knives, and black glazed Classical sherds. These objects are
similar to those found before, but now we have important stratigraphical
information to help us understand the site better. As we continue
excavating in the lower sanctuary we hope to be better able to determine
the chronology and function of the various structures, the history
of use, and maybe find the sanctuary of Pan, which eluded Kourouniotes.
In
the summer of 2007 we plan to begin excavation in the upper sanctuary,
and we anticipate finding more evidence of cult and ritual activity
in the altar and temenos areas. If we find more early material, we
may expect to get some pottery similar to that from Olympia, which
shows "West Greek - Dark Age" parallels. Perhaps more tripods,
(and possibly bronze or clay figurines will be found in the altar
too. In the temenos, we may find more wonderful figurines like those
we already have. More roof tiles will no doubt come to light too.
It would be useful to determine what all the roof tiles belonged to:
a small building in the temenos perhaps? The finds, their nature,
their precise findspots, and their distribution at the site may help
us better understand how the site functioned and evolved over time,
and may help make the site a little less mysterious, but no less majestic.
Dr. David Gilman
Romano
Senior Research Scientist, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
“New Excavations in the Hippodrome at Mt. Lykaion, 2006”
*Dr. Apostolos
Sarris
Scientific Supervisor, Laboratory of Geophysical - Satellite Remote
Sensing & Archaeo-environment, Institute for Mediterranean Studies
- Foundation for Research and Technology (F.O.R.T.H.), Rethymnon, Greece
“Geophysical Prospection Research at Mt. Lykaion, Arcadia (2005)”
Mr. Mark Davison
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture, University
of Oregon
“Arkadian National Park Planning Project: Guiding Principles
in development, preservation and stewardship”
Ms. Pam Jordan
School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
Ms. Ximena Valle
KlingStubbins,
Philadelphia
Mr. Guy Munsch
Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.
“Architectural Studies at Mt. Lykaion: Documentation and Discovery”
The
sustainability of architectural heritage is challenging when the component
materials have been exposed to less than ideal environmental conditions
over a long period of time. Key considerations are usually understanding
the deterioration mechanisms that are contributing to the instability
of the materials as well as the environmental factors that may be
contributing to these mechanisms. In an archaeological context, the
challenges become even more demanding when newly excavated architectural
elements are exposed to environmental conditions that are drastically
different from their sheltered unexcavated state. In addition to this
drastic change in conditions is the probability that the historic
materials will now be exposed to climatic circumstances that may be
significantly different than the period of original construction.
In
order for Mt. Lykaion to reach its full potential as a cultural heritage
park and for scientific research to continue, at least a portion of
some architectural features that remain underground will need to be
excavated and possibly remain exposed to the current environment.
By evaluating soil conditions (current and historic), the material
conditions of the exposed and unexposed building stone, and historic
climatic data and water run-off patterns the longterm preservation
of the site can be maintained while making as few interventions as
possible upon the historic materials.
A better
understanding about the types of deteriorations mechanisms that will
likely alter the condition of any newly exposed stone can be developed
by examination of the exposed stone from the earlier (1898-1909) excavations
versus newly exposed building stones from the 2005-09 excavations.
There are also larger fields of comparison available by evaluating
the conditions and data at several other nearby archaeological sites
with extant architectural features: Olympia, the Temple of Apollo
Epikourios at Mt. Bassae and Megalopolis.
Mr. Andrew Insua
Graduate Group in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World,
University of Pennsylvania
“Topographical
Studies at Mt. Lykaion: Remote Sensing and GIS”
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