Review

Author(s): Jeffrey D. Lerner

Review by: Jeffrey D. Lerner
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 106, No. 3 (Jul., 2002), pp. 486-487
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4126297
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486 BOOK REVIEWS
THE HELLENISTIC TEMPLE OF THE OXUS IN BACTRIA
(SOUTH TAJIKISTAN). Vol. 1, EXCAVATIONS,ARCHI-
TECTURE, RELIGIOUSLIFE (in Russian), by B.A.
Litvinsky and IR. Pichikian. Pp. 504, figs. 77.
Vostochnaya Literatura, Moscow 2000. 95 rubles.
ISBN 5-02-018114-5 (cloth).
The Oxus temple stands as one of the most important
monuments of the Hellenistic Far East. The book makes
a major contribution to the study of Bactria by changing
our conceptions of its architecture, art, and religion with-
in the backdrop of the Achaemenid and Hellenistic peri-
od, as well as its influence in the post-Hellenistic epoch.
The volume is composed of three sections. In part 1 (chs.
1-3), the site is treated archaeologically with a detailed
discussion of its architecture, stratigraphy, and its associ-
ations with the Oxus Treasure and the city of Ai Kha-
noum in northern Afghanistan. Part 2 (chs. 4-6) traces
the origin and tradition of what the authors identify as
Iranian and eastern Hellenistic fire temples, while part 3
(ch. 7) reconstructs the religious life practiced at the
temple. Two appendices complement the book: P.P. Ker-
zum and A.P. Kerzum present a regional study of the
site's geomorphology and paleoecology (375-92), and
the late E.V. Zeimal provides an inventory of coins found
each year at Takhti-Sangin (393-404). A list of the tables
(469-73), a summary (488-97), and the contents are in
English. The second volume will be devoted to Bactrian
weaponry within a Greek and Near Eastern context.
The ancient Bactrian city of Takhti-Sangin in southern
Tadjikistan is situated at the confluence of the rivers Vax'
and Pyandi, where they form the Oxus (Amu Darya) prop-
er. The city is located on the third terrace of the Vax',
covering an expanse of 2 km x 250-300 m. Between 1976
and 1991, Litvinsky and Pichikian conducted excavations
on the city's rectangular citadel where the temple was
discovered. Graeco-Bactrian and early Kushan coins found
at the site indicate that the temple flourished in the Hel-
lenistic period, although it dates from the end of the fourth
or the beginning of the third century B.C. to the end of
the second or beginning of the third century A.D. Its
treasury contained more than 8,000 coins and votive ob-
jects (ivory, bronze, clay, and alabaster) with few of them
in gold or silver. Unfortunately, much of the inventory has
yet to be published. The authors conjecture that the trea-
sury had been transferred from an earlier, though still
undetected, Achaemenid temple (373).
The temple's plan is symmetrical, measuring 51 x 51
m. A propylaeum opens onto an enclosed temenos (court-
yard), containing a stone pedestal (perhaps for the stat-
ue of a deity), Hellenistic column bases, and fire altars.
At the far end of the temenos is a rectangular triple cella
that is divided into three equally squared sections. The
central portion and main entrance to the temple is an
eight columned ayvan (portico), which is flanked on ei-
ther side by two sections, each of which consists of corri-
dors, an altar room, and two other rooms. The authors
have identified both altar rooms as atashgahs composed
of a central sacrificial altar and four smaller ones in the
corners containing ash and charcoal (97-113). The ay-
van led to a four columned central hall with a stepped
plinth, reserved for a cult statue, in whose floors were
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[AJA 106
bothroi (pits) and favissae (deep trenches) for storing
offerings. Two short corridors at angles border the cen-
tral hall opening to longer ones behind it that are paral-
lel to each other. At some point, the corridors were used
as treasuries, and pits were dug into their floors, as with
the ayvan, for placing ashes. The atashgahs and the de-
positories of sacred ash have led Litvinsky and Pichikian
to conclude that the entire complex was a fire temple,
the first known such example in the pre-Sasanian period
(206-8). Unlike others, however, with only one atashgah,
the Oxus temple has two, one in each of its wings.
The temple's location at the river Oxus symbolically
represents the birth of its waters and was personified in
the form of the water god "Oxus" (a Greek translitera-
tion of the Iranian Vaxi), as well as ancillary deities. Yet
materials gleaned from the excavations at the temple
have uncovered a society in which the inhabitants prac-
ticed a local brand of a Bactrian religion that had adopt-
ed Near Eastern, especially Achaemenid, and Hellenic
artistic and architectural traditions. In this respect, the
art of the temple, like temples found in the city of Ai
Khanoum, provides much insight into the nature of mon-
umental and applied art in Hellenistic Bactria. The estab-
lishment of Macedonian political power stimulated Hel-
lenistic art and culture in Bactria after 329 B.C. as did the
foundation of new Hellenistic poleis and fortresses that
architecturally were influenced by local and eastern tra-
ditions. Bactria's incorporation into the Seleucid realm,
followed by its independence as a Graeco-Bactrian king-
dom in the mid third century B.C., allowed contacts with
the Mediterranean world to be maintained and occasion-
ally intensified by waves of Greek colonists.
The temple's construction and building techniques
embody traditions dating from the Bactrian Bronze Age,
which were fused with those from the Near East and en-
riched by Hellenistic architecture. The Oxus temple em-
bodies the classical form of the Bactrian fire temple where-
by its compositional and architectural principles played a
decisive role in the evolution of fire temple architecture
not only in Bactria, but also elsewhere in Central Asia,
including Parthia, Choresmia, and Sogdiana.
Throughout the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods,
literary sources linked Bactria with Zoroastrianism. The
most famous of the finds from this temple is a small votive
altar with a stone pedestal topped by a standing bronze
statue of Silenus-Marsyas, playing an aulos. The votive con-
tains a Greek inscription on its pedestal: "Atrosokes dedi-
cated his votive present to Oxus" (305). The name of the
donor is Bactrian. In addition, there are other Hellenistic
altars and sculptures with Greek inscriptions. The authors
propose that the materials from the temple indicate coex-
istence between various water and fire cults alongside lo-
cal and Hellenistic altars (327-8). Although no temple
has ever been found that exactly parallels the Oxus tem-
ple, there are temples with similar elements found in Bac-
tria and Sogdiana dating from the beginning of the sec-
ond millennium B.C. As to the temple's deity(s), the au-
thors assign one atashgah for the worship of Oxus = VaxS,
while that of the other remains uncertain, although they
cautiously propose that it may have been dedicated to
Aradvi Sira Anahita (354-5).
A comparison of this temple with other Iranian fire
temples at Susa, Persepolis, and Kflhi-Khwaga has enabled
2002]
the authors to date them to the fifth and fourth centu-
ries B.C. (215-6, 224, 238). In this regard, the plan of
the Oxus temple resembles a Near Eastern style, yet its
columns and altars bear Greek and Achaemenid influ-
ence, while stone altars in front of the temple are of a
purely Hellenistic type resembling those used in Helle-
nistic cults. Like other Hellenistic temples at Ai Kha-
noum, and in southern Bactria and Seleucid Mesopota-
mia, the Oxus temple contains a compositional pattern
that originated in Bronze Age Syria and Mesopotamia.
Since the temple yielded so few objects of gold or
silver, the authors propose that the temple's priests,
perhaps fearing a nomadic invasion, buried a large quan-
tity of gold and silver on the banks of the river Vaxi
between Takhti-Sangin and Takhti-Kobad. Between 1875
and 1885, the river eroded its banks, unveiling this an-
cient treasure to local people. Subsequently, the major-
ity of the objects were deposited in the British Muse-
um, where, known as the "Oxus Treasure," they remain
today. Thus the authors identify the Oxus temple as the
origin of the Oxus Treasure. They also conjecture that
throughout the temple's existence, the priests may well
have enjoyed significant economic, political, and mili-
tary authority (33-6).
The temple's remains present a number of social and
historical implications about the nature of Hellenism in
Central Asia. The interaction between the social and
economic spheres of Greeks and Bactrians led to the
synthesis of a multidimensional cultural and historical
phenomenon that is commonly termed "Graeco-Bactri-
an." While this brand of hellenization was uneven de-
pending upon place and circumstance in which Helle-
nism spread, the Oxus temple at Takhti-Sangin reveals
that this process was isomorphic and the qualitative in-
ternal transformation of the Greek and Bactrian ele-
ments was essentially a hybrid admixture (369). Herein
lies the significance of the analysis by Litvinsky and
Pichikian of the Oxus temple, for it elucidates the de-
gree to which Hellenism affected the development of
Central Asian civilization.
JEFFREYD. LERNER
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA 27109
LERNERJD@WFU.EDU
MILESISCHE FORSCHUNGEN. Vol. 2, DAS HEILIGTUM
DER ATHENA IN MILET, by Winfried Held (with an
appendix by Ayse CorbactGiiltekin).Pp. x + 194,
figs. 81, pls. 40. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2000.
E50.11. ISBN 3-8053-2594-0 (cloth).
The history of excavation at the Athena sanctuary at
Miletos is long and complicated. Since 1903 it has recur-
rently been a focus point of the German excavations
there. The first excavations took place from 1903 to 1908,
but were not published until 1925, when Armin von Ger-
kan presented a survey of the sanctuary and suggested a
reconstruction of the later temple (Kalabaktepe, Athen-
atempel und Umgebung [Verlag von Schoetz und Parrhys-
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BOOK REVIEWS 487
ius, Berlin 1925]). In 1938 and again in 1955 and 1957
Carl Weickert conducted excavations, and these new re-
sults were included in the reconstruction of the older
Athena Temple that Alfred Mallwitz and Wolfgang Schier-
ing presented in 1968 ("Der alte Athenatempel von Mi-
let," IstMitt 18 [1968] 87-160). In 1975 Mallwitz also
published a reconstruction of the later temple ("Gestalt
und Geschichte des jfingeren Athenatempels von Mi-
let," IstMitt 25 [1975] 67-90).
Not until now have all the results from the several
excavations, including the old excavation diaries, been
analyzed and a complete outline of the history of the
sanctuary and the temple been possible. This is the task
that Winfried Held has tackled in the present mono-
graph, based on his 1994 dissertation. Following a brief
history of research (3-4), he presents the excavations
results chronologically, as if everything had been cleared
at one time (5-33). The complicated excavations are
described clearly and meticulously. Larger section draw-
ings, especially of the earliest remains, are missing (e.g.,
a large section both north-south and east-west of the
state plan, fig. 5), and the sections that are included
often are not marked precisely on the plan drawings. In
the complex presentation of the evidence of both the
earlier and the later temple and their topographical rela-
tionship, it would have been useful to include a recon-
struction drawing, like fig. 43, where all phases are sum-
marized, as a supplement to the impressive yet confusing
state plan, fig. 17.
The first part of the publication, the excavation re-
sults, is substantial and demands intense reading. It forms
the solid foundation of the second and main part, the
reconstruction and interpretation of these excavations
(35-94). Indeed, this publication combines the strength
of the great German tradition of meticulous registration
and specialized architectural studies with a well-argued
reconstruction of the sanctuary, both architecturally (35-
94) and historically (179-84).
Originally the sanctuary consisted of a little shrine ("Kult-
mal"), possibly the shelter of a cult statue and at least
some of its votive offerings. This shrine was established in
the first half of the eighth century B.C., but the earliest
temple building was not constructed until the first quarter
of the sixth century. This date is supported by the stratig-
raphy and finds, but Held also includes a well-considered
historical argument, suggesting that the older temple was
erected in gratitude for Miletos's independence from the
Lydian king, achieved by the tyrant Thrasyboulos. Held
also includes a study of early Ionic architecture and the
relations between the Cycladic islands and the Ionian cit-
ies, complete with ample references to a wide range of
detailed studies. Included also is a consideration of the
older temple's function as a treasury, when the primary
cult image probably still rested in the Kultmal.
The finds are treated in an excellent and useful cata-
logue (95-177); little has survived, however, both be-
cause of the Persian destruction of the city in 494 B.C.
and also because of the turbulent history of research,
interrupted by two World Wars and the Greek-Turkish
conflict of 1919-1922. Nonetheless, the finds indicate
that cult activities declined remarkably in the second
half of the sixth century B.C. Held connects this with
the extraordinary building activities at Didyma, which to