SKRIFTER UTGIVNA AV SVENSKA INSTITUTET I ATHEN, ACTA INSTITUTI ATHENIENSIS REGNI SUECIAE, SERIES IN XVI XVI Ancient Greek Hero Cult Proceedings of the Fifth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Giteborg University, 21-23 April 1995 edited by Robin STOCKHOLM 1999Reflections on Hero Cults in Early Iron Age Greece By A. Mazarakis Ainian Abstract fately. Modern scholars have focused tei llentvon fon what has become known as “tomb cult”. In this study, [focus on another aspect of hero cult in Early Iron Age Greece, that connected with the “recently heroized”. Into this category fit the cases of Toumba at Letkandl, Thermon, Eleusis, Eretria and « few fence tor 0 practice of rituals in honour of the deceased after their death. At Thermon, the situation is still ob- scure, but the recent excavations at the site point in the ditection of u hero cult associated with Early Iron Age burials, both inside Megaron A and in con- nection with Megaron B. The case of Thermon, however, cannot easily be fitted into a pattern, since several pieces of the puzzle are still missing. If the ‘eases of hero cult dated at the beginning of the Iron Age are ambiguous, those of the LG period are less so. At Eleusis, a cult was associated with a young ‘male who was buried next to a building which a pears to have been his home, transformed at his, death into a place of worship. The nature of this cult, is discussed in the light of unpublished material ‘There can be no doubt that a hero cult existed in as- sociation with the rich cemetery by the West Gate at Eretria, Several details, however, suggest that there are connections between this cult and the sequence ‘The original paper delivered during the Symposium was a summary of the ideas in my recent publication From rulers’ dwellings to temples: architecture. re ligion aud society in Early tron Age Greece (SIMA, 121), Jonsered 1997, esp. chapter TH, part 5, pp. 340M. For this reason, the present article is not i tended to offer new ideas nor to provide detailed ar- ‘euments and data, but rather to bring together some ‘of my general ideas about certain aspects of hero cult in Early Iron Age Greece. Acknowledgements, I wish to thank Professor Hig for inviting me to participate in the Seminar, The de- tails concerning the Sacred House at Eleusis are from Travlos’ archives at the Greek Archaeological Society, which the Board of the Society and Dr. V, Petrakos in particular kindly authorised me to study and publish (a detailed account will appear soon in ArchEph). Abbreviations: Antonaceio, CM. Antonaceio, An archaeology Ancestors of ancestors: tomb cult and hero cult in Early Iron Age Greece, Lan- hham 1995, Fagerstrim, K. Fayerstrim, Greek tron Age GIAA architecture: developments through changing times (SIMA, 81), Gote- borg 1988, Mazarakis, A. Mazarakis Ainan, From rulers’ ROT dwellings to temples: architecture, religion and society in Earty tron Age Greece (SIMA. 121), Jonsered 1997 Travlos, J. Travlos, “lep@ Ofwite, 1938, un- “Tepe Oixice published report in the archives of the Greek Archaeological Society.10 A. Mazarakis Ainian proves the impact of the poems upon the religious attitude of the Greeks (Agamemnoneion, Menk laion, ete.). Moreover, the rise of hero cults during this period, especially in connection with tombs of Suances, especiamty 1 tomb cults, these activities were instigated for social or more complex In the last two decades, several scholars have focused their attention on the phenomenon of the emergence of hero cult in Early Iron Age Greece, each following a different approach or emphasizing certain aspects of the topic.! In carlier years, the discussion had focused on the question whether these cults were conditioned by the rise of the Homeric epics? or the other way round,’ Today, the rise of hero cults is re- garded as a phenomenon conditioned by more complex, sociological, political or religious reasons, and several scholars have adopted From an archaeological point of view, hero or ancestral cults in Early Iron Age Greece can be divided into three broad categories: tomb cults at prehistoric tombs, cults of eponymous heroes from the epic and mythic cycles and cults in honour of the recently heroized de- ceased, If this elementary subdivision is easy 10 construct, the refinements of classification present numerous problems, One of the major problems consists in distinguishing hero cult from ancestral cult and furthermore from cults addressed to chthonian divinities, especially since there seem to have been no specific ritu- als or distinct votive offerings that would en- able us to distinguish one category from an- others Modern scholars have focused their atten- tion on what has become known as “tomb cult”, Le. the veneration of heroes or remote ancestors at tombs of the prehistoric period, the vast majority belonging to the Late Bronze " Conceming hero cults during the LG and Early Ar chaic periods, see in general H. Abramson, Greek hero shrines, Ph.D. diss.. Berkeley 1978, anxt An. tonaecio, Ancestors. Other important studies are J.N. Coldstream, “Hero cults in the Age of Homer’. JHS 96, 1976, 8-17; Th, Hadzisteliou-Price, “Hero-cult nd Homer’. Historia 22, 1973, 129-144: eaden, “Heero-cult in the age of Homer and earlier” in Ark- touros. Mélanges BWW. Knox, ed. GW. Bowel sock, Berlin & New York 1979, 219-228; C. Bérard, “L’héroisation et fa formation de ta eité: un conflit idéologique’, in Architecture et société de Varchaisme grec a la fin de la républiqne romaine. Actes du collogue international organisé par te ENRS et Ecole Francaise de Rome, Rome. 2-4 Dec., 1980 (CEFR, 66), Paris & Rome 1983, 43-62; idem, ‘Récupérer la mort du prince: héroisation et formation de la cite’ in La mort, les morts dans les societés anciennes, eds. G. Gnoli & J-P. Vernant, Cambridge & Paris 1982, 89-108; A. Snodgrass. “Les origines du culte des héros dans la Greéce an- tique’, in ibid., 107-119; idem, “The archaeology of the hero’, Annuli Sezione di Archeologia e Storia Antica 10, 1988, 19-26; idem, “The rural landscape and its political significance’, Opus 6/7, 1987/89. 60-62: F. de Polignac, La naissance de a cité _grecque, Paris 1984; 1. Morris, “Tomb cult and the “Greek renaissance”: the past in the present in the 8th century BC", Antiquity 62, 1988, 750-761: J Whitley, ‘Early states and hero cults: a re-uppr JHS. 108, 1988, 173-182; idem, *The monuments that stood before Marathon: tomb cult and hero eult, in Archaic Attica’, AJA 98, 1994, 213-230; C. An- tonaceio, “Contesting the past: hero cull, womb cult, and epic in early Greece’, AIA 98, 1994, 389-410: eadem, “The archaeology of ancestors’, in Cultural poetics in Archaic Greece, eds. C. Dougherty & L. Kurke, Cambridge 1993, 46-70; eadem, “Placing the past: the Bronze Age in the cultic topography of early Greece’, in Placing the gods. Sanctuaries and sacred space in ancient Greece, eds. SE, Alcock & R. Osborne, Oxford 1994, 79-104. 2 L. Famell, Greek hero cults and ideas of immortal ity, Oxford 1921; Coldstream, supra, | *E, Rohde, Psyche, Freiburg 1894, 4G. Nagy, The best of the Achaeans: concepts of the hero in Archaic Greek poetry. Baltimore 1979. rR, Heigg. ‘Gis to the heroes in Geometric and Archaie Greece’, in Gifts 10 the gods. Proceedings of the Uppsata Symposivon 1985 (Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Easter Civilizations, 15), eds. T. Linders & G. Nonlguist, Uppsala 1987, 93-99; Antonaccio, Ancesiors, 247 249,