The sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea in Arkadia is the richest site so far excavated in that district, and the only one to produce significant Mycenaean finds. The earliest material dates to the Late Bronze Age, and though cult activity is archaeologically visible only from about 900, the worship of a goddess on this spot may have far deeper roots. Excavations have focused on the site of the successive temples and an associated sacred spring to the north, both of which yielded a rich variety of Archaic and Classical votives including a wealth of bronzes, lead and iron objects, jewelry, and ivories. During the eighth century, the first temple was constructed of wattle and daub on an apsidal plan, and had a neighboring metal workshop. It was replaced in the late seventh century by a monumental stone temple, which continued in use for some three hundred years until it was destroyed in a fire in 392. It was the sculptor and architect Skopas who designed the third temple, one of the finest and largest in the Peloponnese. Its east pediment illustrated the Arkadian myth of the Kalydonian boar hunt, and the trophies from the great beast, including its hide and tusks, were proudly displayed within. Its other treasures, appropriate to Athena, included trophies of war: chains brought by Spartan invaders who hoped to enslave the Tegeans, but themselves suffered this fate; and a bronze vessel used to feed the horses of the Persian general Mardonios, taken as a prize by the Tegeans who captured his camp. The cult statue was a small ivory Athena attributed to the Archaic sculptor Endoios, which was looted by Augustus along with the boar’s tusks and set up in his new Forum at Rome.28
The earliest deity worshiped on this spot was probably not Athena, but an indigenous goddess called Alea, whose name seems to mean “place of refuge.” Indeed, asylum was an important function of the sanctuary in historical times, and we are told (Paus. 3.5.6) that the entire Peloponnese respected the sanctity of Athena’s suppliants. The cult was so renowned that daughter sanctuaries were founded in Lakonia and on the border with Argolis. The Geometric finds from the sanctuary suggest concerns with fertility (pomegranate pendants) and women’s issues (loom weights, beads and other jewelry in great numbers), but also include items more often associated with Athena’s cult, such as miniature votive shields. In any case, if
Athena and Alea were distinct goddesses, they had merged by the sixth century, when a very Panhellenic bronze Athena with helmet, spear, shield, and aegis was deposited.29
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