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Visualising The Gods in Macedonia Pharo
Visualising The Gods in Macedonia Pharo
in Macedonia:
from Philip II to Perseus
OLGA PALAGIA
Abstract
The Macedonians chose to represent a limited number of gods and they did so mainly on
their coins, tombs and houses. Statues of, e.g., Demeter, Artemis and Eukleia set up in
sanctuaries are the exception rather than the rule.
Keywords
Introduction
Which gods are represented in the visual arts of the ancient Macedonians and in
which contexts? This survey attempts to make a distinction between the art of
Macedonia proper and of the Greek cities that were gradually incorporated into
the Macedonian kingdom; in addition, the art of Macedonia after the Roman
conquest belongs to a different chapter not to be treated here. We deal chiefly
with monumental art produced not in the Greek cities but in the kingdom of
Macedonia from Philip II onwards, and our survey is confined to the period
between the 4th century and the second quarter of the 2nd century BC. There are,
so far, no representations of gods in the monumental arts of Macedonia before the
4th century and Macedonian independence ends with the battle of Pydna in 168 BC,
when the Roman period begins.
theatre of Aigai during the wedding celebrations for his daughter Cleopatra in 336.
Statues of the twelve gods were paraded in the theatre, followed by a portrait of
Philip himself, implying his divine status; shortly thereafter, Philip was
assassinated.1
Demetrios Poliorketes and the gods of the fatherland: a ‘Macedonian’ reading of the
ithyphallic hymn
In 291/0 Demetrios Poliorketes, king of Macedon, entered Athens in a ritual pro-
cession appropriate for the reception of the god Dionysos. He was aptly greeted
with the performance of an ithyphallic hymn.2 His reception with honours due
not only to Dionysos but also to Demeter (as is evident from the hymn) had
probably already been decreed in Athens in 295/4, when Demetrios liberated the
city from the tyranny of Lachares, subsequently making a triumphant entry dur-
ing the Great Dionysia.3 On that occasion, the Dionysia may have been renamed
Dionysia and Demetria to show Athenian gratitude for his generous gift of grain
to the city. Demetrios had announced that gift from the stage of the theatre of
Dionysos, which was decorated with a painting of the king sitting on a globe,
inspired by solar iconography.4
Demetrios’ visit to Athens in 291/0 was timed to coincide with the festival of
the Eleusinian Mysteries. Demetrios had been initiated to the mysteries in 303/2
in a highly irregular fashion, when the Athenians had manipulated their festival
calendar in order to accommodate him.5 Demetrios’ association with Dionysos
and Demeter in the ithyphallic hymn was no accident and may well have reflected
Macedonian rather than Athenian religious sensibilities. The mysteries of Dionysos
and of Demeter and Kore offering solace for the afterlife dominated Macedonian
religion as expressed in their funerary art to be examined later on. In fact, the
ithyphallic hymn addressed to Demetrios in 291/0, even though composed in
Athens, seems to me to draw inspiration from Macedonian attitudes to the divine.6
The opening verses of the hymn as extant introduce the religious preoccupa-
tions of the Macedonian elite. ‘We are happy,’ sang the Athenians, ‘to see the
greatest and most popular gods present in our city. For a propitious moment has
1
Worthington 2008, 281-282; Müller 2016, 270.
2
Text preserved in Ath. 6.253d-f. See Habicht 1999, 92; Mikalson 1998, 94-97; O’Sullivan 2008;
Chaniotis 2011; Holton 2014.
3
Plut. Demetr. 12. Mikalson 1998, 92; Habicht 1999, 87; Chaniotis 2011, 163.
4
Ath. 12.536a.
5
Plut. Demetr. 26. Mikalson 1998, 89-90; Chaniotis 2011, 164.
6
So far as I know, the Macedonian overtones of the hymn’s contents were not noticed by previous
commentators.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 75
brought together Demeter and Demetrios. She comes to celebrate the solemn
mysteries of her daughter, Kore, while he arrives cheerful, as befits a god, beautiful
and full of laughter. He is venerable, with his friends forming a circle around
him like the planets around the sun. Hail, oh son of mighty Poseidon and of
Aphrodite!’ (transl. by the author).
Dionysos and Demeter and Kore as the greatest and most popular gods, the
king as the sun surrounded by members of his court as his planets, his divine
parentage and his manipulation of divine patronage encapsulate the chief elements
in the visual representation of gods and the self-presentation of royalty in
Macedonia.
Several interpretations have been offered of the hymn’s identification of
Demetrios as Poseidon’s son. It is usually taken as a tribute to his naval victory
against Ptolemy I at Salamis on Cyprus in 306.7 However, Poseidon in Athens
held a particular significance as the father of the city’s greatest hero, Theseus.8
Offering Demetrios the same parentage was a means of assimilating him to the
Athenian hero and acknowledging him as the city’s own. It was not in fact
the first time that the Athenians had granted this highest of honours to a Macedo-
nian. When Alexander the Great wrote to the Athenians demanding divine hon-
ours in 324, the defiant answer of Demosthenes was, ‘let Alexander be the son not
only of Zeus but also of Poseidon if so he wishes’.9
By addressing Demetrios as the son of Aphrodite, the Athenians assimilated
him to Eros, who was not only the god of love but also an important entity in the
Orphic mysteries, perhaps offering another allusion to Demetrios’ interest in mys-
tery religions.10 Eros had been used as a badge by another flamboyant politician,
Alcibiades, who had turned him into a shield device.11
Demetrios’ association with Dionysos and Poseidon described in the Athenian
ithyphallic hymn is illustrated in his coinage minted in Pella and Amphipolis after
292.12 The obverse of the Amphipolis coins carries a royal portrait of Demetrios
7
See, most recently, Holton 2014. The association of Poseidon with naval victory in the Greek visual
arts is documented by the bronze group of the naval commanders of the Spartan fleet dedicated
at Delphi in commemoration of the Spartan victory at Aigospotamoi in 405. In this monument
Poseidon was shown crowning Lysander: Paus. 10.9.7-11. See now Bommelaer 2011.
8
Plut. Thes. 6. Cf. Chaniotis 2011, 185.
9
Hyp. Dem. 31.
10
Assimilation to Eros as the god of love: Chaniotis 2011, 185. See Holton 2014, 382-388, for a sug-
gestion that Demetrios was hailed as son of Aphrodite Ourania, thus emphasizing his affinity to
celestial powers. Eros as an Orphic entity: Paus. 9.27.2. Bremmer 2002, 20-21.
11
Plut. Alc. 16.2. Shapiro 2009, 246.
12
Mørkholm 1991, pl. 10, nos. 171 and 173.
76 OLGA PALAGIA
with the bull’s horns of Dionysos,13 while the reverse shows Poseidon, implying,
in my view, that he was master not only of the seas but also of Athens.
13
Bull’s horns in ruler imagery are a symbol of Dionysos, not of Poseidon as suggested by Holton
2014, 377-378. See Chaniotis 2011, 185 n. 112.
14
Posthumous gold staters of Philip II and bronze coins of Alexander III: Liampi 1998, 99, pls. 23
and 32, M 2a, and 100-105, pl. 23, M 7-15. See also Palagia 2014, 214.
15
Tsimbidou-Avloniti 2005, pl. 35.
16
For weapons carrying the name of the Macedonian king or one of his commanders, see Avram et
al. 2013; Nankov 2015. I am grateful to Emil Nankov for these references. A life-size marble shield of
Macedonian design with the name of Ptolemaios in mirror-image is interpreted as a template for the
production of shields for Ptolemy I’s army: Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum 7879: Moormann
2000, 187-189, cat. no. 252, pl. 88a-b.
17
Dion Museum ΜΔ 7479. Descamps-Lequime 2012, 335, nο. 213.
18
Minerva March/April 2014, 52, no. 12. A Macedonian shield bearing the name of King Alexander
and a device of Athena Alkidemos now in Thessaloniki, Villa Allatini (ΙΣΤ 27420: Misailidiou-
Despotidou 2014, 93, no. 59) may well be attributed to the army of Alexander V (297-294) rather
than Alexander III. For Athena Alkidemos, see n. 35 below. For other Macedonian shields carrying
different rulers’ names dedicated in sanctuaries, see Liampi 1998, pl. 22,1; Lapatin and Wight 2010,
48; Descamps-Lequime 2012, 335-336, nos. 213-214.
19
O’Sullivan 2008, 78 n. 2.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 77
Alexarchos
Backed by his brother, the king of Macedon, Alexarchos founded the city of
Ouranoupolis on Mt. Athos as a religious community.20 The city has been partly
excavated by Bettina Tsigarida and identified as a refoundation of the Archaic
Sane near Xerxes’ canal.21 The citizens described themselves as children of
Ouranos,22 in accordance with the ritual enacted by the dead initiates when they
arrived in the Underworld. Several gold tablets excavated in late-4th-century
tombs in Magna Graecia, Crete and Thessaly reproduce a text that gives the cor-
rect answer to the guardians of the Underworld in order to move along on the
path to a happy afterlife: ‘I am the child of the Earth and the starry Sky
(Ouranos).’23
Alexarchos appears to have identified himself with Helios, the Sun.24 Worship
of the Sun by the Macedonians is first attested by Alexander III’s sacrifice to
Helios after his victory over Poros at the Hydaspes River and later by his erection
of an altar to this god (among other altars) on the banks of the Hyphasis River to
mark the limits of his empire.25 He was said by Diodoros to offer thanks to Helios
for his assistance in conquering the East.
The city of Ouranoupolis operated its own mint, issuing bronze coins with a
star on the obverse and a figure with a sceptre seated on a globe on the reverse
(Fig. 1).26 This figure wears a long, sleeved chiton and a chlamys covering the left
shoulder, as well as a pyramidal headdress surmounted by a star. It was originally
identified with Aphrodite Ourania,27 who was born of the semen of Ouranos but
the chlamys and the stretch lines between the legs indicate male garments. The
excavator of Ouranoupolis alternatively identified this figure with Helios on
account of a marble head of the Sun found in an early Hellenistic temple on the
site.28 This may well be correct but Alexarchos as Helios is also a possibility, thus
providing a precedent for the imagery of Demetrios Poliorketes seated on a globe.
20
On Ouranoupolis, see Cohen 1995, 105-106. I am grateful to Selene Psoma for the reference.
21
Tsigarida 1996; Tsigarida 1999.
22
The coin legends of Ouranoupolis name it as ΟΥΡΑΝΙΔΩΝ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ.
23
Graf & Johnston 2007, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 40, 41,98-99, 110-114.
24
Clem. Al. Protr. 4.48.
25
Sacrifice to the Sun: Diod. 17.89.3; Curt. 9.1.1. Altar to the Sun: Philostr. VA 2.43.
26
BMC Macedonia, 133-134, nos. 1-5; SNG Copenhagen 454-458; Mørkholm 1991, pl. 5,75; Tsigarida
1999, figs. 9-10.
27
Cohen 1995, 105. Brendel (1977, 53) sees this figure as a personification of Ourania.
28
Tsigarida 1999, 1240-1242. Head of Helios from Ouranoupolis (Polygyros Museum): Tsigarida
1999, 1239, fig. 8.
78 OLGA PALAGIA
29
Ritter 2002, 131-134, pl. 6, 5-6 and 8.
30
Ritter 2002, 134-139, pl. 6,7.
31
Ritter 2002, 138, pl. 3,4-6.
32
Ritter 2002,139-143, pl. 7,2-3.
33
Ritter 2002, 140, pl. 7,6.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 79
Alexander the Great followed in the footsteps of his father by adopting a pan-
hellenic motif for the obverse of his gold coins, a head of Athena in Corinthian
helmet that could equally well evoke the Corinthian league that sanctioned his
Asian campaign or the goddess of Athens that presided over the first Greek victo-
ries against Persia.34 There was a cult of Athena Alkidemos at Pella, mentioned by
Livy (42.51.1-2), but we do not know how far back her cult can be dated as the
shrine still eludes us. It may well be, however, that her image, that of an archaistic
striding Promachos, is reproduced on the coins of Antigonos Gonatas and Philip
V.35 Unlike his father, Alexander the Great adopted divine images for both sides
of his coins. The reverse of his gold coins with the head of Athena carries a Vic-
tory with a ship’s mast as an allegory of naval success, perhaps even commemorat-
ing the victory of Athens against Persia at the battle of Salamis.36 Alexander’s first
silver coins were minted in Tarsos, after his victory at Issos in 333 and the capture
of Persian treasure.37 He reproduced his father’s obverse, a head of Herakles as the
ancestor of the royal line.38 Interestingly enough, the reverse is an adaptation of
the image of the Phoenician god Baal from the coins of Mazaios, Persian satrap
of Tarsos, minted until Alexander’s capture of the city in 333.39 With a little effort,
Baal, holding eagle and sceptre, is transformed into Zeus retaining his Persian-
style stool. This sleight of hand demonstrates the lack of entrenched iconography
in the artistic mentality of the Macedonians, who were ready to adapt their divine
images from a variety of sources.
34
Ritter 2002, 147-149, pl. 7,9.
35
Mørkholm 1991, pl. 29, 430 and 438. See also the shield of King Alexander, n. 18 above.
36
Price 1991, 29-30.
37
Price 1991, 27-28, 369-378.
38
Price 1991, 31; Ritter 146, pl. 7,8.
39
Ritter 2002, 146-147, pl. 7, 8; de Callataÿ 2012, 178. Coins of Mazaios: Elkins 2015, 20, fig. 13.
40
Pingiatoglou 2015, 20-26.
41
Tsigarida 2011.
80 OLGA PALAGIA
late 4th or early 3rd century has come to light in the sanctuary of Demeter at
Dion (Fig. 2).42 A cult of Demeter at Lete (modern Derveni) has also been identi-
fied by means of an inscribed marble table.43 A small marble group of Demeter
and Kore (Fig. 3) from the early Hellenistic period comes from the area.44 A
marble statuette of Artemis from the late 4th century was also found in this sanc-
tuary (Fig. 4).45 Artemis reproduces a well-known Attic type transmitted through
votive reliefs of the 4th century.46
There is no doubt that the Macedonians were devotees of the mysteries of
Demeter and Kore as has also been demonstrated by Demetrios Poliorketes’ eager-
ness to be inducted to the mysteries at Eleusis. As regards Macedonia, there is no
evidence that the initiation ceremonies took place at Dion. The Macedonian loca-
tion of Demeter’s mystery cult remains an archaeological riddle.
Persephone as queen of the Underworld dominates not the religious but the
funerary art of Macedonia. The earliest and finest depiction of Kore in the art of
42
Dion Museum ΜΔ 200. Descamps-Lequime 2012, 497, no. 311; Pingiatoglou 2015, 54, Γ 1,
figs. 72-75, pl. 6.
43
Thessaloniki Museum 1753. Despinis et al. 1997, no. 30, fig. 64.
44
Thessaloniki Museum 1070. Despinis et al. 1997, no. 34, figs. 80-85.
45
Thessaloniki Museum 1069. Despinis et al. 1997, no. 32, figs. 69-74.
46
E.g. votive relief of Artemis from Brauron, Brauron Museum: Comella 2002, 127, fig. 125.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 81
47
Andronicos 1994; Kottaridi 2007, 26-38.
48
Andronicos 1994, colour pls. 4-8.
49
Andronicos 1994, colour pl. 9.
50
Andronicos 1994, colour pls. 10-11.
82 OLGA PALAGIA
The theme of the rape of Persephone as an allegory of death, and the presence of
Hermes who leads the privileged souls to the afterlife, suggest that the owner
of the tomb, whether man or woman, being an initiate in the mysteries of Demeter
and Kore, has secured a happy existence in the Underworld. This wall-painting is
not only remarkable for its artistic merit but also for its pictorial technique. The
extensive use of incised outlines indicates that the artist composed his work on the
wet plaster, changing his mind as he went along. We see here a forerunner of
the al fresco technique. The restrained palette of reds and yellows, mixed in vari-
ous ways, recalls the traditional four-colour technique of black, white, red and
yellow that was practiced by contemporary artists in Athens and Ionia.51 In addi-
tion, the painting is executed in an impressionistic style. The pictorial technique,
which is unique for Macedonia, indicates the presence of an artist from Greece,
who was invited to fulfill a special commission.
Even though this painting has come down to us in a Macedonian tomb which
does not make it easily accessible, there are Roman versions of the same composi-
tion found in Rome and the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, all in funer-
ary contexts.52 These reflect a famous original that was more likely set up in a
Greek sanctuary. Now the Athenian painter Nikomachos was said to have created
a panel of the rape of Persephone that was much admired by the Romans and
eventually removed to Rome.53 It could have been originally dedicated in the
sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Eleusis. It is interesting to note that Nikoma-
chos not only practiced the four-colour palette but was also known for his rapid
execution,54 and both these traits can be observed in the Vergina painting. It has
indeed been suggested that either Nikomachos or one of his assistants was
employed in the decoration of the Tomb of Persephone by creating a version of
his famous panel painting.55
At any rate, this painting sees Persephone not through Macedonian but through
Athenian eyes, another manifestation of the eclectic character of the art of
Macedonia.
Another rape of Persephone came to light in Amphipolis in 2014, again in a
funerary context. The mosaic, found in a tomb in the Kasta tumulus, recalls the
Vergina wall-painting except that Hades rides a two-horse chariot. Even though
only known through photos published in the daily press and on the internet, it
51
Four-colour palette: Plin. NH 35.50. Pollitt 2014, 295-297.
52
Mosaic from Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori 1235: Lindner 1984, 58, no. 50, pl. 14,1; Oakley 1986,
73, fig. 4; Cohen 2010, fig. 93. Mosaic in the Vatican necropolis: Lindner 1984, 59, no. 52, pl. 14,2;
Cohen 2010, fig. 94. Wall-painting from Tyre in the Beirut Museum: Lindner 1984, 55, no. 42.
53
Plin. NH 35.108.
54
Plin. NH 35.50 and 109.
55
Lindner 1984, 33-34; Oakley 1986, 75; Andronicos 1994, 113-114.
84 OLGA PALAGIA
Figure 7: Hades and Persephone. From the façade of the Tomb of the Palmettes. Lefkadia.
Photo from Rhomiopoulou and Schmidt-Dounas 2010, colour pl. 6,1.
appears that the four-colour palette has given way to polychromy (which includes
blue). The Amphipolis mosaic has been compared to the late-4th century mosaics
from Pella but the colour scheme is entirely different. The Pella mosaics follow
the four-colour palette as can be observed by comparing the Amphipolis mosaic
with the rape of Helen and the lion hunt mosaics from Pella.56 The Amphipolis
mosaic is the only figural mosaic found so far in a Macedonian tomb but no
evidence regarding its date has yet become public.
The youthful Persephone of the Vergina rape will subsequently be transformed
into the queen of Hades and the action scene will be changed into solemn divine
epiphany in two funerary paintings of the late 4th and early 3rd century which
depict the rulers of Hades, Pluto and Persephone. On the façade of the Tomb of
the Palmettes at Lefkadia they are shown as judges of the Underworld facing the
visitor, as they would have confronted the deceased descending into Hades
56
Pella mosaics: Lilimpaki-Akamati & Akamatis 2004, figs. 12 and 14. See also Robertson 1982.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 85
Figure 8: Demeter and Minos (?). Wall-painting from Boscoreale. New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1903 (03.14.6). Photo from Palagia 2014, fig. 4.
(Fig. 7).57 They recline in the pediment above the tomb entrance against the blue
background of the sky. Pluto holds a temple key as guardian of Hades, while
Persephone supports her head on her hand in a gesture indicating mourning. Both
deities are heavily cloaked. The same pair rides a chariot not in a rape scene but
in a triumphant epiphany, painted on the back of the marble throne in the so-
called Tomb of Eurydice at Vergina.58 They hold sceptres and gallop directly at
the viewer. These images appear to illustrate the sacred texts of the mysteries and
can be more properly described as Macedonian as opposed to the Athenian
imagery of Persephone’s abduction.
Persephone, as queen of Hades, or her mother Demeter reappears in a Roman
copy of a Macedonian painting (Fig. 8). It dates from the third quarter of
the 1st century BC and came to light in the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor in
57
Rhomiopoulou & Schmidt-Dounas 2010, 74-76, colour pls. 6 and 9.
58
Ginouvès 1993, 154-161, fig. 137; Kottaridi 2007, 39-44. On the date of the tomb, see Palagia 2002.
86 OLGA PALAGIA
59
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1903 (03.14.6). The wall-paintings of
Boscoreale are usually interpreted as a wholesale copy of a Macedonian dynastic painting: see, most
recently, Smith 1994 with earlier references. I have argued instead that the wall-paintings of Bosco-
reale with Macedonian themes follow an eclectic tendency also evident in the sculpture of the 1st cen-
tury BC, and that each figure derives from a different Macedonian prototype: Palagia 2014, 217-219,
fig. 4. The interpretation here is based on Palagia 2014.
60
Meyer 2006. See, e.g., the copy of Vatican Museum 2672, Meyer 2006, 407-408, A 8, pl. 5,2.
61
Lion-griffins in Vergina Tomb I: Andronicos 1994, fig. 27. Lion-griffins in pediment of Tomb at
Agios Athanasios: Tsimbidou-Avloniti 2005, pl. 29a.
62
See Palagia 2014, 217-219.
63
E.g., bronze statuette (“Fouquet”), Paris, Louvre B 370. Stewart 1993, 161-164, 425, fig. 32.
64
House of the Vettii. Stirpe 2006, 171-173.
65
Beirut National Museum. Koch and Sichtermann 1982, 417, fig. 436.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 87
monument of Zoilos from Aphrodisias, dating from the 1st century BC.66 The
judges of the Underworld were not normally accompanied by Demeter or Perse-
phone, the Boscoreale panel must therefore be viewed as a Roman pastiche.
Hermes, who leads Pluto’s chariot to the Underworld in the Vergina painting
(Fig. 5), is the leader of souls, and reappears on the façade of the Judgement Tomb
at Lefkadia, leading the deceased to the other two judges of the Underworld,
Aiakos and Rhadamanthys.67
66
Aphrodisias Museum. Palagia 2014, 218-219, fig. 10.
67
Petsas 1966, 115-151, colour pl. 1.
68
On Euripides’ impact at the court of Alexander the Great, see Bosworth 1996.
69
Thessaloniki Museum. Sismanidis 1997, 21-74, pls. 1-7, 14-29.
70
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 15.
71
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 6.
72
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 6.
73
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 4.
74
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 15.
75
Sismanidis 1997, pl. 5.
88 OLGA PALAGIA
banquet room in the House of Dionysos of the late 4th century at Pella represents
Dionysos holding a thyrsus and riding a panther.76 He wears only an anklet and
a wreath of vine leaves.
Dionysos’ marriage with Ariadne surrounded by the Dionysiac thiasos is
depicted on a magnificent bronze krater excavated in a late-4th century cist tomb
at Derveni (Fig. 10).77 The krater contained the cremated remains of a couple, and
this is in itself a mystery since it implies that they died together.78 At the centre
of the composition, Dionysos, accompanied by a panther and sitting on his cloak,
thrusts his right leg at Ariadne’s lap. His right arm rests on his head in a gesture
of ease and relaxation. She is shown as a bride, lifting her veil with her right hand
in a bridal gesture. Her naked shoulders recall the iconography of Aphrodite. The
dancing maenads are stylistically related to the so-called maenads of Kallimachos
of the late 5th century, now known only through Roman copies and variants.79
The krater has been tentatively attributed to an Attic workshop and dated to the
second quarter of the 4th century.80 However, Dionysos’ elongated limbs are more
76
Pella Museum. Lilimpaki-Akamati & Akamatis 2004, fig. 15.
77
Thessaloniki Museum. Giouri 1978; Barr-Sharrar 2008; Descamps-Lequime 2012, 338-339,
figs. 66-67.
78
Themelis & Touratsoglou 1997, 144.
79
Barr-Sharrar 2008, 122-148.
80
Barr-Sharrar 2008, 44-46.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 89
Figure 10: Dionysos and Ariadne on the Derveni krater. Thessaloniki Museum.
Photo from Ginouvès 1993, fig. 158.
90 OLGA PALAGIA
akin to the proportions introduced by the sculptor Lysippos after 325; in addition,
it has been pointed out that the fact that the figural decoration is not confined to
a band between the handles but occupies the entire body of the vase is un-Greek
and may be attributed to the influence of Oriental taste.81 In any case, it is hard
to believe that this elaborate vessel was originally intended as burial goods. We do
not know how long it was used before it became the receptacle of its owners’
ashes.
81
Giouri 1978, 66-73; Palagia 2009; Gaunt 2017.
82
Lilimpaki-Akamati 2000.
83
On Eukleia, see Kossatz-Deissmann 1988.
84
On the sanctuary, see Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1996.
85
Storeroom, Museum of the Royal Tombs, Vergina.
86
On this deposit and its date, see Kyriakou and Tourtas 2015, 364-373.
87
On the statue bases, see Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 2000, 392-397; Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 2011, 277-278.
88
Kyriakou and Tourtas 2015, 364-373.
89
Palagia 2010, 40. The use of the nominative in dedicatory inscriptions is explained in detail in Ma
2013, 15-43.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 91
daughter of Sirras, was found recut and embedded in an early Christian basilica
at Palatitsia near Vergina.90 This almost certainly carried a portrait statue of Eury-
dice, which is now lost.
The marble torso in Pentelic marble found in the Augustan deposit of the
Eukleia sanctuary near the inscribed base of Eurydice joins a Pentelic marble head
with neck ending in a tenon for insertion (Figs. 11-12).91 It is remarkable that the
90
Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1993. This base carries the inscription ΕΥΡΥΔΙΚΑ ΣΙΡΡΑ, evidently indi-
cating the subject represented.
91
Storeroom, Museum of the Royal Tombs, Vergina. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1990, 23- 28, figs. 2 (draw-
ing of the deposit), 7 and 12; Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1996, 63-64; Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 2011, 280-281,
fig. 24; Kottaridi 2013, 208-209.
92 OLGA PALAGIA
face with the neck are carved like a mask, flat at the back, inserted into the drapery
covering the back of the head. There is no doubt, however, that the head is origi-
nal, not a later addition.92 The reconstructed statue is a slightly over-life-size pep-
los figure wearing a sleeved chiton under the peplos and a head scarf or kekrypha-
los. Her head is additionally covered by her himation that falls down her back.
Her outstretched arms, now lost, were attached with dowels. A similar statue,
wearing the same clothes and created with the same technique of separately carved
head with neck and separate forearms, was found at Amphipolis (Fig. 13).93 We do
not know the identity of this figure because it was found out of context, but the
style of both statues is Attic. The recomposed statue from Vergina (Figs. 11-12) has
been identified as the queen’s portrait, but the statuary type indicates that it is a
divine image.94 The fact that she was found in a sacred deposit is an additional
indication that she is a divine image. Peplos figures with veils hanging down their
back in the 4th century ceased to be employed for the portrayal of humans and
were confined to goddesses like Demeter, Leto or Eirene. Examples are offered by
an Attic relief with Apollo, Leto and Artemis95 and a Roman copy of the Eirene
and Ploutos by Kephisodotos (Munich Glyptothek 219) that was set up in the
Agora of Athens in the second quarter of the 4th century (Fig. 14).96 Mortal
women wearing peplos and himation on Attic grave reliefs do not wear their
himation hanging down their back but wrap it up in front of their lower body,
e.g., the two reliefs of Demetria and Pamphile from the Athenian Kerameikos.97
Another head from the same deposit dates from the last quarter of the 4th
century and represents a young girl with a lampadion hairstyle (Fig. 15).98 She has
been identified with Artemis, who also appears in the sanctuary at Lete. It is cer-
tainly a divine figure, not a portrait and in fact she could be Eukleia herself. We
have no statues of Eukleia to date but in Attic vase-painting of the late 5th century
92
That the face was changed at a later phase is argued in Kyriakou and Tourtas 2015, 368-369.
93
Kavala Museum Λ 607. Damaskos 2013, 40-41, figs. 19-21 (Ζ. Bonias).
94
Saatsolgou-Paliadeli (2011, 281) suggests that the facial features show an older woman and the
statue must therefore be a portrait. The facial muscles that she cites as evidence, however, can be
found in other 4th century heads, even of children, like the head of Apollo Sauroktonos, e.g., copy
from Kephisia in the Benaki Museum (23722) in Athens: Rolley 1999, fig. 244. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli
had originally associated this statue with the smaller statue base of Eurydice (which is too small for
this statue, anyway) but has now retracted (Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 2011, 281). In Palagia 2010, 39-40,
I argued that the statue could not be a portrait of Eurydice for two reasons, one being the inscriptions
on the statue bases (see n. 89 above), the other the iconographic type of the statue which is appropri-
ate for goddesses.
95
Athens National Museum 3917. Leto on this relief wears a short-sleeved chiton under her peplos
Boardman 1995, fig. 139; Kaltsas & Shapiro 2008, 98-99, no. 43; Vikela 2015, 219, Tr 8, pl. 56.
96
Boardman 1995, fig. 24; Meyer 2008, 73-79, figs. 5, 6, 9.
97
Athens, Kerameikos Museum I 257-P 687 and Athens National Museum 2708. Boardman 1995,
fig. 119; Stroszeck 2014, 177, figs. 33.2-3.
98
Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1990, 25, fig. 10; Kottaridi 2013, 224.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 93
Figure 13: Statue of a goddess Figure 14: Copy of Eirene and Ploutos.
from Amphipolis. Kavala Museum Λ 607. Munich Glyptothek 219.
Photo: Olga Palagia. Photo: Hans R. Goette.
99
E.g., Attic red-figure oinochoe, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts T 754, Beazley, ARV2 1324, 41 bis;
Kossatz-Deissmann 1988, 49, no. 2.
94 OLGA PALAGIA
been fixed. Moreover, we do not know the function of the cult of Eukleia at Aigai.
Plutarch (Arist. 20.6) knows Eukleia as an epithet of Artemis and says that all
Boeotian cities had a sanctuary of Artemis Eukleia in their agoras, where future
brides and bridegrooms offered sacrifice. The temple of Artemis Eukleia in Thebes
had a cult statue by Skopas.100 The temple of Eukleia in the Athenian Agora,
however, was dedicated as a thank-offering for the defeat of the Persians at
Marathon,101 which indicates a different sort of cult. Citing the Athenian evidence,
Andronicos suggested that Eurydice’s dedication commemorated Philip II’s vic-
tory at Chaironeia in 338.102 We do not know if Eurydice was still alive at that
100
Paus. 9.17.1.
101
Paus. 1.14.5.
102
Andronicos 1984, 51.
VISUALISING THE GODS IN MACEDONIA 95
time as all records of her activites cease after about 368/7.103 It is more likely that
the Eukleia cult at Aigai was inspired by the Boeotian cult of Artemis Eukleia
given the close connection of Macedonia with Boeotia in Eurydice’s time.104
It is hard to interpret the significance of Eurydice’s dedications to Eukleia but
perhaps we may associate the sudden emergence of three statue bases associated
with Eurydice and the use of her patronymic with the troubled years after the
death of her husband Amyntas III in 370/69. His son by Eurydice and successor
Alexander II was assassinated in 368, perhaps at the instigation of Ptolemy of
Aloros, who subsequently ruled as regent for Eurydice’s remaining sons, Perdiccas
(III) and Philip (II), until he too was killed by Perdiccas in 365.105 During Ptole-
my’s reign, probably in 368/7, Aischines (2.26-29) recounts how Eurydice per-
suaded the Athenian general Iphikrates to drive the pretender Pausanias out of
Macedonia in order to preserve the throne for her sons. The Scholiast to Aischines
2.29 says that Eurydice was married to Ptolemy at that time.106 Whether this is
true or not, her intervention to Iphikrates indicates that she held authority at
court on her own right.
Concluding remarks
This concludes our survey of divine images from the kingdom of Macedonia. To
sum up, representations of gods in Classical and Hellenistic Macedonia are more
readily found in the coinage of kings where they are used to promote their politi-
cal agenda, and in funerary and domestic contexts. We have no evidence for cult
statues and there are very few sculptured dedications from sanctuaries. The emer-
gence of the cult of Eukleia at Aigai in the lifetime of Eurydice may be related to
a Boeotian connection. Apart from Zeus, who had an important cult at Dion, the
most popular divinities were Persephone, Demeter, and Dionysos, whose myster-
ies offered solace for the afterlife. The Macedonians’ preoccupation with death
was clearly reflected in their art.
O. PALAGIA
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
palagia@enternet.gr
103
Aischin. 2.26-29. Carney 2000, 45.
104
As suggested by Borza 1990, 192; followed by Carney 2000, 45.
105
For this episode and Eurydice’s involvement, see Hammond & Griffth 1979, 180-188; Borza 1990,
189-194; Carney 2000, 38-46.
106
Justin’s (7.4.7-8) lurid story that Eurydice had conspired with Ptolemy even earlier, during
Amyntas III’s reign, is generally discounted, see n. 105 above.
96 OLGA PALAGIA
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Panagiotis Iossif for the invitation to contribute to this volume,
to Angeliki Kottaridi for showing me the statue bases dedicated by Eurydice to
Eukleia, the statue of Eurydice/Eukleia (Figs. 11-12) and the head Fig. 15, and
to Hans Goette for the photos Figs. 5 and 14. In the interest of brevity, the refer-
ences are kept to a minimum. All dates are BC unless stated otherwise.
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