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Ancient Deities and Tortoise-Representations in Sanctuaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

E. Bevan
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Abstract

Though tortoises are not objects of value, and unlikely to have been used as sacrificial victims, Pausanias describes representations of them in conjunction with a deity in a few sanctuaries. The reasons for this, and the part played by tortoise shells in cults is discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 83 , November 1988 , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1988

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References

1 See Footnote 1 of ‘The goddess Artemis, and the dedication of bears in sanctuaries’ BSA 82 (1987) 17–21.

2 Tortoise-representations discovered in the sanctuaries examined

∘Artemis Orthia

Lead L.8th C BC 2 specimens only [Dawkins, R.M.. Artemis Orthia. London 1929. p. 254 Pl.179.4 & 5.Google Scholar]

Bronze L. Geometric 1 tortoise [Ibid, p. 197 Pl. 80.a].

Bone plaque 6th or 5th Cs BC 2 (1 is a turtle) [p. 217 Pl. 115].

Terracotta 7th & 6th C BC 2 tortoises [p. 158 Pl. 47.14].

∘Kalydon

Bronze Undated Tortoises (unenumerated) [Dyggve, E. & Poulsen, F.. Das Laphrion. Der Tempel-bezirk von Kalydon. Copenhagen 1948. p. 344Google Scholar].

∘Thasos

Terracotta Archaic, L. Tortoises (unenumerated) [BCH 82 (1958) p. 810 Fig. 10.b].Google Scholar

∘Paros

∘Terracotta 6th C BC 1 or 2 tortoises [Rubensohn, O.. Das Delion von Paros. Wiesbaden 1962 p. 168, no. 102. Pl. 33Google Scholar; cf. Délos. XXIII, no. 217].

∘A. Maleatas

Terracotta 6th C BC More than 1 specimen reported Hellenistic, E. [PAE 1950, p. 202, Fig. 13Google Scholar; PAE 1974, p. 100, no. 6].

∘Thermon

Terracotta? Archaic 1 tortoise [ADelt 1 (1915), p. 230].

∘Delos (Apollo)

Terracotta 6th C BC 1 tortoise [Délos XXIII, no. 217, Pl. 21].

∘Delphi

Bronze, alabastron Archaic 1 tortoise [FdD V (1908), p. 93, no. 440, Fig. 318].Google Scholar

∘Tegea

Bronze Archaic, E. 2 tortoises [BCH 45 (1921), pp. 351–2, nos. 40–41, Fig. 42 (p. 382)].Google Scholar

∘Lindos

Terracotta 525–400 BC 23 tortoises [Blinkenberg, C.S.. Lindos I. Berlin 1931. 2437–9].Google Scholar

∘Elateia

Terracotta Undated Part of 1 tortoise [BCH 11 (1887), p. 444].

∘Acropolis

Bronze Archaic 1 tortoise [de Ridder, A.. Catalogue des Bronzes trouvés sur l'Acropole d'Athenes. Paris 1896. 573, Fig. 187].Google Scholar

∘Perachora

Terracotta L. Archaic 1 tortoise [Payne, H.. Perachora I. Oxford 1940, p. 229, no. 177, Pl. 101Google Scholar].

Ivory discseal 1 has tortoise [T.J. Dunbabin. Ibid II. Oxford 1962, p. 429. A. 91].

∘Argive Heraion

Terracotta Undated 1 tortoise [Waldstein, C.. The Argive Heraeum. Boston & New York 1905. Vol. II, p. 42, no. 265. Pl. 48.22].Google Scholar

Terracotta relief disc Undated 1 has tortoise [Ibid, p. 354].

∘Samos

Marble 6th C BC 1 tortoise forming dedicatory lyre [Freyer-Schauenburg, B.. Samos XI. Bonn 1974, p. 167, no. 84. Pl. 70Google Scholar].

∘Aphaia

Terracotta Archaic 1 tortoise, and 1 fragment of another [Furtwängler, A.Das Heiligtum der Aphaia. Munich 1906, p. 383, nos. 98–99. Pl. 111.22Google Scholar].

3 Pausanias VI.25.1.

4 Plutarch. 142.D (Praecepta Coniugalia 32); 381.E (De Iside et Osiride 75).

5 Keller, O.. Die Antike Tierwelt. Leipzig 1909–1913. Vol. II, pp. 249–50.Google Scholar Astarte was identified especially with Ourania, Aphrodite (RE 2 (1896) 1777–8).Google Scholar Cf. Farnell, L.R. (Cults of the Greek States. Oxford 1896–1909. Vol. II, p. 674)Google Scholar who believed that the tortoise belonged ‘to Astarte Aphrodite alone’.

6 Homeric Hymn to Hermes. 24–61; Pausanias VIII. 17.5.

7 Homeric Hymn. 475–502.

8 See LSJ, χέλυς

9 Antoninus Liberalis. Metamorphoses. 32.

10 Pausanias II. 19.6.

11 Ibid, VIII.30.6.

12 Clement of Alexandria, . Protrepticus. Cap. II. 33P (Loeb (1919). p. 83).Google Scholar

13 See RE 2 (1896), 1401; Wide, S.. Lakonische Kulte. (Stuttgart 1973), p. 130, and note 1.Google Scholar

14 See footnote 2.

15 Walter, H.. Das Heraion von Samos. Ursprung und Wandel eines griechischen Heiligtums, Munich and Zurich 1976. p. 56.Google Scholar

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17 PAE 1978, p. 120. Pl. 98C; BCH 103 (1979), p. 560 Fig. 82.

18 Blinkenberg. Op. cit (footnote 2), pp. 579–580.

19 A limestone slab dedicated to Paphian Aphrodite in Cyprus, was carved with the motif of a tortoise (JHS 9 (1888), p. 253).

20 AE 1895 Pl. 7; Jantzen, U.. Bronzewerkstätten in Grosgriechenland und Sizilien. JdI Supplement 13 (1937) Pl. 28.Google Scholar 116 & 117; Bruns, G.. Antiken Bronzen. Berlin 1947, p. 27.Google Scholar Fig. 16.

21 BCH 105 (1981), p. 812.

22 Renfrew, Colin, ‘The sanctuary at Phylakopi’. Sanctuaries and cults in the Aegean Bronze Age. Ed. Hägg, R. & Marinatos, N.. Stockholm 1981. pp. 70–73. Fig. 18.Google Scholar

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24 R.C.S. Felsch. ‘Mykenischer Kult im Heiligtum bei Kalapodi?’ Hägg & Marinatos. Op. Cit., p. 88.

25 AAA 8 (1975), pp. 24 & 59. Nilsson believed that this goddess was to be identified with the Artemis Laphria (also of Phocian origin) whose cult in Patras Pausanias described (VII.18.9–13); both because of their similar – sounding titles, and because the story of the Phocian bonfire (X.1.5–7) might have been the aetion for a bonfire cult like the Laphrian one, in which wild animals were burnt alive. (Nilsson, M.P.. Griechische Feste. Stuttgart 1957.Google Scholar (Artemis Elaphebolia/Laphria)).

26 Potnia theron, pp. 119–121. Farnell, who like Keller believed that the tortoise was sacred exclusively to Astarte or Aphrodite, also thought that it referred to water. (See note 5, Loc. Cit).

27 Bergquist, B.. The Archaic Greek Temenos. Lund. 1967, pp. 26–30.Google Scholar

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29 PAE 1948, pp. 99. Fig. 11; 1975, p. 175, no. 25. Pl. 153C.

30 BCH 19 (1895), pp. 5–69; RA 1973, pp. 60 & 77.

31 Aeschines, . Against Ctesiphon. 108 (Loeb Aeschines, pp. 393 & 403)Google Scholar; Diodorus XXII.9.5.

32 ‘LH levels may have been largely destroyed by the extensive later constructions on the Acropolis’. Simpson, R. Hope and Dickinson, O.T.P.K.. A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age. Vol. I. The mainland and islands. Göteborg 1979, p. 356Google Scholar. See Blinkenberg. Op. Cit., pp. 60–70.

33 As at Ayia Irini, Keos (see Hägg & Marinatos, Op. Cit., p. 127); and the Dictaean Cave in Crete (Nilsson, M.P.. The Minoan-Mycenean religion and its survival in Greek Religion. Lund 1950, p. 64).Google Scholar

34 See Snodgrass, A.M.. The Dark Age of Greece. Edinburgh 1971, pp. 398–399.Google Scholar

35 1. Delphi. FdD V (1908), pp. 14–15.

2. Delos. BCH 71–72 (1947–8), pp. 148–254; Délos XXIII, nos. 2–6.

3. Apollo Maleatas. V. Lambrinoudakis. ‘Remains of the Mycenaean period in the Sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas’ R. Hägg & N. Marinatos. Op. Cit., pp. 59–65.

4. The Mycenaean remains at Thermon indicate a settlement, but not necessarily a cult. Romaios, K.A.. ‘Ek ton proistorikou Thermou’ ADelt l (1915). pp. 225–279.Google Scholar

36 A. Furtwängler. Op. Cit. (in note 2), pp. 470–471; Snodgrass. Op. Cit., p. 397; Tomlinson, R.A.. Greek Sanctuaries. London 1976, pp. 104–5.Google Scholar

37 Dedications with both Mycenaean and post-Mycenaean examples: terracotta kourotrophoi (Furtwängler, p. 373.3; p. 384.108); steatite spindle-whorls (pp. 430–431); cock-figurines (p. 374.12; p. 380. 70–71; p. 390.3); terracotta cattle (p. 374; p. 376; p. 390); and hunted animals, eg. wild-goat engravings (p. 432. Fig. 338.2 & 7; p. 433. Fig. 339.12).

38 Jakobides, S.E.. I mykinaiki akropolis ton Athinon. Athens 1962, pp. 203–4Google Scholar; Casson, S. & Brooke, D. Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. II. Cambridge 1921, p. 345Google Scholar; AA 1893, p. 140. Figs. 1 & 2; A de Ridder, op cit. p. iv; Paris, P.. Elatée. Paris 1892, p. 283.Google Scholar Fig. 21; R. Hope Simpson & O.T.K. Dickinson. Op. Cit., p. 260. G.63.

39 Snodgrass. Op. Cit., pp. 397–8; Hope Simpson. Op.Cit., p. 38.A.4; BCH 45 (1921), p. 395.

40 Early Cycladic sherds and knives were found in the heap of earth above the Archaic temple of Artemis. Rubensohn. Op. Cit., (in note 2), pp. 5–7 & 171.