Springs, Sacred

Water History 2009: 1/2: 83-108. DOI 10.1007/s12685-009-0008-1 (electronic version) http://www.springerlink.com/content/34400520208x3851/.

The article presents contemporary Greek water-rituals and their relation to ancient pre-Christian traditions and sites, manifested by springs in caves. Formerly springs represented Water-Nymphs, and today springs are dedicated to the Panagia (i.e. the Virgin Mary), under her attribute of Zōodochos Pēgē (i.e. the Life-giving Spring). People have traditionally expressed their beliefs through rituals connected to purity and water by fetching Holy water from the caves dedicated to these divinities. The water is thought to be particularly healing and purifying during their festivals, such as the modern festival dedicated to the ''Life-giving Spring'', which is celebrated on the first Friday after Easter Sunday. During this celebration Athenians come to Panagia's chapel inside a circular Spring House hewn in the rock on the Southern slope of the Acropolis to fetch Life-giving water. The Sacred Spring is situated inside a cave over which is constructed a church. It is also important to be baptised in water from one of Panagia's sacred springs. The cult dedicated to the personified sacred and healing spring-water, has traditionally been important for political purposes as well. Based on fieldwork on contemporary religious rituals, the author compares the modern evidence with ancient material, arguing for a continuous association of water sources with the sacred in Greece, as observed in the Athenian Acropolis Cave, a cult which is not very well-documented and therefore deserves to be better known. The comparison will also exploit the cult of springs in other Greek caves and similar cult found in parallel non-Greek contexts.

Comparative Civilizations Review 56/1, 2007: 56-75.

In Greece, springs in caves have traditionally shaped religious beliefs and practices. In ancient times springs represented Water-Nymphs. Today springs are dedicated to the Panagia (the Virgin Mary), under her attribute of Zodochos Pege (the Life-giving Spring). Ancient and modern believers have expressed their beliefs in rituals connected to purity and water by fetching holy water from the caves dedicated to these female divinities. Panagia's Athenian chapel is situated inside a circular Spring House hewn in the rock on the southern slope of the Acropolis.

Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History (JAAH), 2019

This article presents the newly started project “Water at ancient Greek sanctuaries: medium of divine presence or commodity for mortal visitors?”, the aim of which is to explore water usage at Greek sanctuaries in Archaic to Hellenistic times. In order to do so the project is divided into three separate studies. The first is how water was used in sanctuaries: where was water accessible through natural and man-made infrastructure, for what activities was it utilized, and which of these can be considered ritual and/or utilitarian? The second focuses on the means by which water was utilized, i.e. how was water management infrastructure adapted to ritual and utilitarian needs, and how did the need and access to water shape ritual and utilitarian activity at the sanctuary? The third part is an overarching analysis, combining the first two parts, which will expand our knowledge of perceptions of human activities in the god’s dwelling: how did ritual and utilitarian uses of water differ at a perceptual level?

Unpublished doctoral thesis, 2008

Water is often considered a self-explanatory subject by ancient and modem sources alike and as such has not always received the critical attention it deserves. Ginouves Balaneutike (1962) remains the one major publication to date. This thesis contributes to a renewed interest in the subject and explores the presence ot water in ancient Greek religion in the regions of Attica, Boeotia, Corinthia and the Argolid. It uses Pausanias’ Periegesis as a useful guide although it is not limited to the sites described by the ancient traveller. The thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach and uses both material and literary sources in order to assert the role played by water and the powers it was attributed in cult. Beside this traditional approach, the thesis also explores the question of water as a spatial component in the ancient Greek set of beliefs. For this, it draws on structuralist theories and the more recent development ot landscape studies in ancient Greek history. The First half of the thesis is organised by geographical area and surveys the sites where water had a known religious importance, thus making it possible to compare on a small scale between individual sites and, on a larger scale, between whole regions. Particular attention is paid to a relatively unknown site, the Kyllou-Pera in Attica, which epitomises the characteristics of the sites studied in this thesis as well as the problems created by unclear literary and archaeological evidence. A study of the various qualities and powers attributed to water by the ancient Greeks lollows, where the previously surveyed sites and sanctuaries are used as a basis lor the interpretations. The thesis finally describes how water possessed a strong spatial dimension and was as such an integral part of the ancient Greek religious landscape.

Water is life, purification, regeneration. This gives rise to many opportunities for development. Immersion in water is a return to basics, with an outcome that generates strength and purity. The potential water are large and innovative. The Pythia, the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, drinking to Castalia fountain, in order to draw inspiration before his prophecies. Pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Delphi had to take a purifying bath in the same source, as a precondition to be able to consult the oracle. The speech will be aimed to analyze the relationship between the water and the rituals in Ancient Greece in sacred contexts as the sanctuaries of Delphi, Sounion, Brauron and Eleusis.

This article reviews the newly started project 'Water in ancient Greek sanctuaries: medium of divine presence or commodity for mortal visitors', the aim of which is to explore the use of water in Greek sanctuaries in Archaic to Hellenistic times (700-31 BCE).

Klio, 2023

Scholars have long highlighted the importance of water for rituals in Greek sanctuaries, but little is known about when and how it was used in prac- tice. Considering the importance attributed to water in rituals at Greek sanctu- aries, this article aims to explore water as a purificatory agent for humans and things and as an offering, pure or water mixed with wine, to the gods in the form of libations. Throughout the paper we argue that these activities were located on a spectrum from mundane to religious and can be viewed within a “spatio-temporal” framework where they functioned as visual cues in order to structure activities. To achieve this, we closely and critically examine the empirical material, epigraphic and literary, supported by archaeological and iconographic evidence.

As with nearly all other classes of sacred sites, the Christian Church drew wells and springs into its sphere of influence so that they would not remain centres of the old religion, but would help disseminate the new.-Nigel Pennick 1979 (The Ancient Science of Geomancy) "Native Americans believed power was spread over the countryside in netlike fashion. It was associated with caves, rocks, and permanent water sources like springs, lakes, and streams; generally, there is a correlation between such features and vision quest sites. Shamans sought places where they could enter the supernatural…and water sources were believed to be portals to the sacred realm.

Paper presented at the 4th IWHA-Conference, Water and Civilization: Water and Religion, Unesco Headquarters, Paris, December 2005. A shorter version was presented at the 35th world Congress of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC), Routes de l’Histoire: Passeurs de Civilisations, Porteurs des Diversites Culturelles. Verse et Contre Verse/The Paths of History: Bridges Across Civilizations, Carriers of Cultural Diversity. Pros and Cons, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE)/Unesco, Paris, July 2006. Article versions of the paper have later been publised.

Time and Mind, 2009

A great number of Greek oracular cults focused on caves, notwithstanding the divergent nature of the divine patrons of these cults. The fundamental reason for locating prophetic activities in caves was the need of the gods' mediums to attain divine inspiration, that is, to alter their state of consciousness. For the purposes of divination the Greeks used at least two methods. The easiest and universally practiced technique was sensory deprivation. Modern research demonstrates that reduction of external stimuli leads to dream-like states, involving release of internal imagery. In the geographic setting of Greece, caverns and grottos provide an easy way to achieve total or near total isolation. The second technique was based on special geological conditions, namely, a source of poisonous gas having euphoriant or psychotropic effect. The psychotropic or, in the opinion of the Greeks, numinous quality of the caves was common knowledge to such a degree that the association of seers and prophets with caves became universal.