Heracles at the Hot Springs

"Pyra of Herakles on Mt. Oeta. Old and new excavations (1988-1992)" The paper "Pyra of Herakles on Mt. Oeta. Old and new excavations (1988-1992)" is the translation of an unpublished text of a lecture, held in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Dec. 1993). The greek original text "Πυρά Ηρακλέους στην Οίτη. Παλιές και νέες ανασκαφές(1988-1992)" (plus some photos of the finds) is published as my contribution in the honorary volume: Μαρία-Φωτεινή Παπακωνσταντίνου - Χαράλαμπος Κριτζάς - Ιωάννης Π. Τουράτσογλου (επιμ.), Πύρρα. Μελέτες για την αρχαιολογία στην Κεντρική Ελλάδα προς τιμήν της Φανουρίας Δακορώνια, τομ. Β΄ Ιστορικοί χρόνοι, 2018 (ΣΗΜΑ Εκδοτική, ISBN: 978-960-99349-9-2 / Πύρρα Β?: 978-960-99349-8-5), pp.303-320 (and in academia.edu). Summary PYRA OF HERACLES ON Mt. OETA. OLD AND NEW (1988-1992) EXCAVATIONS The archaeological site of the Pyra of Heracles, the legendary place where Heracles ended his life on the pyre, was initially identified on Mount Oeta by Georgios Ainian from Hypate (see Aion, 193/2.9.1840) and excavated by Nikolaos Pappadakis in the years 1919-1923. He published the results of the first year of the excavation (see ArchDeltion, Parartema,1919) with a plan of the sanctuary, made by Anast. Orlandos, and there are some later mentions in the Chronique des fouilles and by Yves Bequignon (La vallee du Spercheios,1937) [*]. The paper presents the first results of a new research in this sanctuary, especially in the pyre and the immediate area around it, which clarified some problems, for example the nature of a monumental fundament (altar rather than statue base) within the stone bound of the pyre, or the so-called altar (the basement of a heroon rather than altar) to the east of the temple. The systematic sifting of the ashes and earth within the pyre brought to light numerous new finds, comparable to those of the Pappadakis’ excavations. Among them are sherds with graffiti, devoted to Heracles, glass fragments, spear- and arrowheads, an iron sword, and numerous sacrificial knives. There are also many tools (for woodcutting, grill and manual work), parts of bronze vases, a bronze sheet bearing the incised representation of a helmeted warrior, iron, bronze and silver rings, etc. The hundrends of silver and bronze coins (from the Aiginetan of the 6th c. BC to the Emperor Constantine the Great, 324-330 AD) testify the practice of money offers in the pyre, the long duration of the cult at the Sanctuary, the origins of the adorers, etc. [*] The reports on the excavation at Pyra, sent by Nik.Papadakis to the Ministry, are kept in the Historic Archive of the Archaeological Service and have been published by me, see: "Ανασκαφή Πυράς Ηρακλέους στην Οίτη: η Αρχειακή Μαρτυρία", in: Dora Katsonopoulou and Elena Partida (eds.), ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝ. Essays presented to Stephen G. Miller, Athens 2016, 361-372 (and in: academia.edu)

A. Lidov (ed.), The Life-giving Source. Water in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World, Moscow 2017, 2017

The monasteries of Mount Athos are home to an important number of miraculous icons, all of which have contributed to the formation of local or wider sacred spaces giving to the peninsula the epithet of ‘Holy Mountain’. Two of the oldest and most revered such icons on Athos that can be traced back as far as the very first centuries of Athonite monasticism are the Theotokos Portaitissa icon in Iviron monastery and the Theotokos Vimatarissa icon in Vatopedi, both belonging to the iconographical type of the Hodegetria. My paper aims to demonstrate the role water plays as a protective element within the narrative sources associated with these two icons, and to present the correlation of these narratives with other similar and older ones outside Athos as a case study for the examination of collective memory as an aspect of hierotopy. In a narrative found in manuscripts not older than the 16th century, we are told that the icon of the Iviron monastery miraculously appeared before the brethren floating on sea-water not far from the shore. Despite the efforts of the monks to retrieve the icon, it continuously escaped them from wave to wave until the chosen monk, a Georgian by the name of Gabriel, took the icon in his hands and safely brought it to its new home. Another narrative, also in 16thcentury and later manuscripts, recounts how an icon of the Theotokos was found in a water-well at the place where the future Byzantine emperor Arcadius was to erect the altar of the catholicon of Vatopedi monastery, after having miraculously been saved by the Virgin from a tempest-storm when sailing off the shores of Athos. The same waterwell is said to have later saved the icon from the rage of the Arabs in sources dating as early as the 17th century. In both cases, water appears to be the medium by which the Virgin presents her icons, protecting them until safe in the hands of specific monks, who are portrayed as having the blessing to safeguard them. In daily life, although the sea and the water-well offer important services in many aspects, they also bring many hazards. Hagiographical literature offers numerous accounts of miraculous savings from sea storms, among the most known of which is, perhaps, the miracle of Saint Nicholas. On the other hand, the water-well is portrayed either as a living-place of various monsters and demons, as in the vitae of Saint Symeon the Stylite, Saint Nikon and Saint Paraskevi, or as a scene of divine intervention in cases of danger, especially of children, as in the vita of Saint Porphyrius of Gaza. However, in some cases, the water from an element of danger becomes an element of protection, since it helps keep safe what divine providence has chosen to protect, be it an icon or a child, or both as in the Vatopedi narrative. In the case of the two aforementioned Athonite icons, their narratives seem to be formed based on other older ones. Most accounts can be linked with the so-called ‘narrative circle’ of the Hodegetria icon of Constantinople. An icon saved from the menace of the iconoclasts by travelling many miles on sea to reach the hands of its protector, or a water-well in a church where the Virgin keeps a child safe from drowning were themes well-known to the inhabitants of Constantinople and throughout the empire, associated with prominent icons found in churches of the empire’s capital. This, however, does not come as a surprise to us, as the cult of the Hodegetria icon is known to have been diffused way beyond Constantinople, reaching more distant lands such as Italy or Russia. Other elements in the Athonite narratives, as in the case of the icon in the water-well, can be traced back even as far as the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschos. In the narrative process, these accounts, which in the mind of the medieval man could very easily be associated with incidents from daily life, are continuously reprocessed either engulfed in the lives of saints as topoi or as nuclei of the accounts of miracles performed by icons. They eventually contribute to the development of hierotopy in churches, monasteries, towns or cities, and take a prominent place in patriographical literature and monastic foundation legends. In the case of miraculous icons, new sacred spaces are formed with the help of narrative elements from similar prototypes of universal recognition in an effort to evoke the memory of miracles associated with the highly revered celebrated icons. The new miraculous icon serves as a mnemonic device, a lieux de mémoire for its prototype, until after a few generations when the new icon takes its own central place in the community’s religious life as a palladium; and as its fame exceeds its initial geographical limits, it too may become a prototype for other icons. This can be assessed only if we perceive the specific cult of an icon as an integral part of the collective memory of the local community it serves. The icon and its cult are not only a part of daily life and worship, but in many cases are considered to have influenced the tide of events in the history of the monastery, the city or the empire, as in the example of the Hodegetria icon of Constantinople. Thus, the transforming narrative does not only evoke the memory of the miracle itself, but discloses as well the memory of the events attached to it, and in the formation of new hierotopy, the elements that form part of the collective memory of one community are henceforth integrated into the collective memory of another community.

Kernos, 2011

Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique

City and sanctuary in Hellenistic Asia Minor. Constructing civic identity in the sacred landscapes of Mylasa and Stratonikeia in Karia, PhD diss. University of Groningen, 2012

The process of endowing a symbolic meaning to the most prominent marks in the landscape can be illustrated by a distinctive feature of Heracleopolis Magna: the sacred lake of the temple of Heryshef. Its dominant position in the city, its relationship with the local temple and its importance in the royal sphere led to its projection from this world to the Beyond. The analysis of funerary texts and vignettes from the First Intermediate Period onwards show that the lakes were considered as a significant place for the purification and rebirth of the deceased.

Gephyra 9, 2012, 143-151