The centrality, literal and figurative, of the main sanctuary in each city-state or town for the self-definition of the new built-up community, is only part of religion’s role in identifying city-state distinctiveness visa-vis other Greek states. We have seen that the “Normalpolis” and even more so, the Megalopolis, arose through assimilating surrounding villages and sometimes other proto-poleis into its territory. The identities of these formerly autonomous centers, forged through older cults, now required symbolic incorporation into the refocused sacred landscape radiating out from the new polis center. The city of Argos lay on the other side of the rich Argos Plain from the great sanctuary of Hera at the Argive Heraion, whilst a major cult of Demeter lay at Eleusis on the western border of Athens’ territory. In both cases, sacred processions from the urban center to these satellite centers marked the possessive assertion of the chief regional city to spiritual (and potentially political) power which such older cult centers might lay claim to (Bintliff 1977, De Polignac 1995).
There were also “Panhellenic” (for all the Greeks) religious centers outside state boundaries which increasingly provided “international” theaters of display for city-state identities. The well-known, plus far more numerous little-known, interstate sanctuaries appear to have begun as centers of local communal worship during the EIA, with occasional Mycenaean cult origins (for example at Epidauros). With population rise and landscape infill across large areas ofthe Southern Aegean and islands in the LG-Archaic eras, there was a proliferation of local and regional cult centers, and the more renowned progressively attracted worshippers from distant towns and villages. Legend accorded a remote origin for classic sanctuaries such as Olympia, with the first official games dated to 776 BC. Archaeological evidence for EIA ritual activity at such cult places reveals open-air sacrificial altars and deposits of votives left by worshippers. Temples and associated building complexes to service larger numbers of visitors are a later development, mostly a feature of the Archaic period, but the larger centers (Figure 9.4) are continuously extended throughout Classical Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman Imperial times to create sacred complexes both stupendous in their surviving major monuments, and at the same time for us today, bewildering ruin-fields of loose or stacked architectural fragments.
These sanctuaries seemingly began as religious and social foci for their immediate surrounding settlements. Arising within a stratified society, local elite families held control over ceremonial. Early dedications include imagery of horse - and chariot-riding, prototypically aristocratic sports.
Whether cult was always associated with games and other competitive performances, as claimed by ancient tradition, is unclear, but at Olympia significantly legend told how the Games originated with the funeral games for the mythical hero Pelops, whose tomb was believed to lie at the locality. Minor Bronze Age activity at the site has been documented, including an Early Bronze Age ritual tumulus which could have been the kind of monument encouraging later myths of heroes buried at the sanctuary. Significant cult activity begins here in the ninth century, whilst dedications only really take off in the eighth century.
Why did many such religious foci become centers for regional and interregional cult and games? A reputation for oracular divination (Delphi), or potent contact with the gods, could prompt more distant visitors to travel to them for worship. But during the
Figure 9.4 Reconstruction of the PanheUenic sanctuary at Delphi in about 160 AD.
Model by Hans Schleif, scale 1:200. General view showing Temple of Apollo and Theater from the south. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Dodge Fund, 1930 (30.141.2). Photo © 2011 Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
Period 800—500 BC the elites of Geometric-Archaic society appear to have aspired self-consciously to “heroic” values, in which display rivalry was a central feature of elite reputation; this was not only served by warfare and colonial foundation, but also through temple construction and competitive appearances at interstate sanctuaries. Here prestigious dedications and monument building went hand-in-hand with striving for victory in those athletic or cultural competitions which were intimately associated with the worship of resident divinities. The rich elite not only competed against each other in acts of manly prowess, but were also able to gain international honor as sponsors of charioteers. On a more positive note, interstate oracles became a major force in polis decisions regarding internal and external affairs, and served to create a sense of shared values and norms
Between the hundreds of emergent city-states (Snodgrass 1986).
Two further features of interest are worth mentioning. Firstly, in elite societies the role of women can be greater than in male-dominated “democratic” polities, as they form vital links in marriage and property networks. Thus it was possible for Archaic-era poetesses to perform at public competitive festivals. If tradition is correct, the Tanagra poet Corinna outperformed her male rival Pindar from Thebes in late Archaic or earliest Classical times. Secondly, although leisure for training was a natural privilege of the rich, giving them the advantage in athletic competitions, non-elites could with more success enter the musical and literary contests which were held at the same time. The poet Hesiod, a middle-class farmer, developed his literary gifts whilst shepherding on his native
Mount Helicon, but boasted of winning at regional competitions.
The rise of the middle class, intimately connected to the new dominance of the city-state over large parts of Greece, makes Hesiod an early harbinger of wider changes in the participants at Panhellenic games. As the communal focus shifted during Archaic times toward the city as a community, polis identity was affirmed through its finest young men bringing glory to their home-states through competing at the many interstate games. Intense rivalry in intercity competitions was another facet to the increasingly aggressive stance poleis took to their neighbors and rivals over the control of territory and trade opportunities, fostered by the introverted “corporate community” ethos of the Greek city-state. The view that interstate games were “war minus the shooting” (Spivey 2004) is underlined by the clear overlap between military training and competitive athletics in the Greek city-states. The centrality of the gymnasium for cultivation of male citizen fitness and male citizen bonding not only strengthened the “male club” which was the basis of polis life, but prepared the same male community for the regular interstate warfare which characterized Aegean life during the Archaic to Classical eras. There were even explicit links in events such as foot races in armor.
World History
