<<The>> hero cults of Sparta local religion in a Greek city

This book examines the hero-cults of Sparta on the basis of the archaeological and literary sources. Nicolette Pavlides explores the local idiosyncrasies of a pan-Hellenic phenomenon, which itself can help us understand the place and function of heroes in Greek religion. Although it has long been noted that hero-cult was especially popular in Sparta, there is little known about the cults, both in terms of material evidence and the historical context for their popularity. The evidence from the cult of Helen and Menelaos at the Menelaion, the worship of Agamemnon and Alexandra/Kassandra, the Dioskouroi, and others who remain anonymous to us, is viewed as a local phenomenon reflective of the developing communal and social consciousness of the polis. What is more, through an analysis of the typology of cults, it is concluded that in Sparta, the boundaries of the divine/heroic/mortal were fluid, which allowed a great variation in the expression of cults. The votive patterns, topography, and architectural evidence permit an analysis of the kinds of offerings to hero-cults and an evaluation of the architecture that housed such cults. Due to the material and spatial distribution of the votive deposits, it is argued that Sparta had a large number of hero shrines scattered throughout the polis, which attests to an enthusiastic and long-lasting local votive practice at a popular level. Cover 1 Half title page 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 12 Abbreviations 13 Map 15 Sites: 16 Introduction 18 Setting the stage: the Archaic period 21 Book structure 24 1 Early Heroes and Hero Cult 28 1.1 Heroes and hero cult in the literary sources 28 1.2 Hero cult in the archaeological record 33 1.3 Conclusion 42 2 Heroic Sites in Sparta: The Archaeological Evidence 46 2.1 Hero shrines: criteria 47 2.2 A survey of the sites and deposits 55 3 The Hero Shrines: Votives, Architectural Evidence, Topography 78 3.1 Votives 78 3.2 Patterns of dedication 96 3.3 Architectural evidence 101 3.4 The hero shrines in the context of Spartan topography162 108 3.5 Conclusion 118 4 Heroes and Immortality 120 4.1 The Menelaion1 120 4.2 The Amyklaion 137 4.3 The Dioskouroi 146 4.5 Conclusion 151 5 Honouring the Dead 152 5.1 The prominence of the individual in Archaic and Classical Sparta 153 5.2 Burial and commemoration of the individual in Archaic and Classical Sparta 156 5.3 Heroization of the recently dead 161 5.4 Conclusion 173 6 Burials and Hero Cult: Three Case Studies 174 6.1 The cult at Stauffert Street 177 6.2 Hellenistic and Roman Sparta 181 6.3 Conclusion 186 Conclusion 188 Notes 194 Bibliography 254 Index 296