The Linear B tablets indicate that Poseidon was a highly regarded deity among the Mycenaeans of Pylos. A series of Pylian tablets lists contributions (dosmoi) to various gods among whom Poseidon is the most prominent. Pylos 171 = Un 718 breaks down the community into functional groups listed in order of descending status and offering amounts. The king’s contribution consists of wheat, wine, a bull, cheeses, a sheepskin, and honey. Similar but smaller gifts are presented by the damos or village, the military leader, and the estate of the worgiones or cult association. Another famous tablet, Pylos 172 = Kn 02, describes ritual actions performed in the shrines of local deities. A shrine of Poseidon is mentioned, to which women bring golden cups. Later in the same tablet, a goddess Posidaeia (apparently a female version of the name Poseidon) receives a golden bowl carried by a woman.12 The prominence of Poseidon at Pylos is reflected in the Homeric account (Od. 3.4-11) of Telemachos’ visit. When he arrives, the people are offering black bulls to Poseidon on the shore, divided into nine companies of five hundred men each; each company offers nine bulls to the god. Nestor and his sons sit feasting in the midst of their men; Nestor’s father Neleus of Iolkos was a son of Poseidon and the founder of Pylos.
In spite of his early importance, Poseidon rapidly lost ground in Archaic Messenia with the rise of the Dorian Spartans. Whereas worship of the god known as Pohoidan (a Lakonian form of the Arkadian Posoidan) continued at Helos and Thouria (Akovitika), in historical times virtually nothing remained of the Pylian cult, while the important sanctuary at Tainaron was controlled by the Spartans.13 Located at the southern tip of the Mani peninsula, Tainaron was sacred to the helots, the occupants of Messenia enslaved by Sparta in the eighth and seventh centuries, and dates to before the time of the Messenian wars. Escaped slaves and fugitive helots fled to the sanctuary, where by religious custom they were safe from pursuers. Various late sources speak of the festival known as the Tainaria, which included a three-day feast held on the seashore, and most likely the crowning of Poseidon’s cult statue by the helots. Always a wrathful god, he was particularly angry when the ritual laws protecting suppliants were violated. One example long cited as an instance of his wrath was the earthquake that hit Sparta in 464, nearly reducing the city to a pile of rubble. The god was said to be enraged at the Spartans, who had dared to remove fugitive helots from Tainaron and execute them. Though Tainaron has not been excavated, finds of votive bulls and horses in bronze as well as Classical stelai (stone markers) commemorating the release of slaves have been reported. Areas set aside for the display of such stelai and for the housing of fugitives are apparent at the site. Overlooking Sternis Bay is a Hellenistic temple, which may have been preceded by earlier structures, to judge from votives found in the area. The most famous feature of the site is the cave oracle of the dead, which the sources describe as
An underground “house” of the gods, into which souls were gathered. This type of oracle was useful in cases where the dead needed to be placated; legend had it that the man who killed Archilochus was sent here by the Pythia in order to propriate the soul of the poet with libations. The actual age of the cave oracle, located at the head of Sternis Bay and fitted with a wall and doorway at the entrance, is unknown. When he visited, Pausanias (3.25.5) noted that the cave did not contain a great chasm or other identifiable entrance to the underworld.14
World History
