The Parthenon Enigma

by Joan Breton Connelly

  One can only wonder if the small naiskos and altar identified by Manolis Korres in the north peristyle of the Parthenon (this page) has something to do with an ancient understanding of a very early shrine beneath the platform of the Periklean temple. We recall Athena’s words to Praxithea in the Erechtheus: “It is necessary that these daughters have a precinct that must not be entered [abaton] and no one of the enemies should be allowed to make secret sacrifice there.”92 Could this naiskos mark the spot of the inaccessible holy place of the maiden daughters of Erechtheus perceived to be down below?

  NEARLY THIRTY YEARS AGO, Donald G. Kyle argued that the Panathenaia developed from funeral games initiated by prominent old Athenian families.93 This would explain why games and competitions (in memory of the heroic dead) were such an integral and essential part of the Panathenaic festival. It would also signal that the grand procession from the Kerameikos to the Acropolis (insert this page, top) had as its ultimate destination not only the altar of Athena but also the tombs of Erechtheus and his daughters. Thus, from cemetery to cemetery the citizenry marched, ever mindful of lives lost across the ages to ensure the very survival of Athens itself.

  We have noted earlier that “Parthenos” is not a proper epithet for Athena. Instead, I maintain that the name comes to the goddess by attraction, referring not to Athena herself but to the youngest daughter of Erechtheus, the girl who is called “Parthenos” throughout Euripides’s play. So intimately was this maiden associated with Athena that in time their identities merged. And so the foundation myth gave rise to a double-barreled cult title incorporating the name of the divinity with that of the local heroine: Athena-Parthenos. This follows the same pattern through which the cult title Poseidon-Erechtheus was formed. At the end of the Erechtheus, Athena proclaims that on account of his killer, Erechtheus will henceforth be called Holy Poseidon-Erechtheus. The double-barreled cult names, Poseidon-Erechtheus and Athena-Parthenos, thus represent the incorporation of local hero cult into the worship of local Olympians.

  This same model of double-barreled worship, combining an Olympian deity with a local hero, is found at other Greek sanctuaries. Zeus-Agamemnon was worshipped at Sparta, Apollo-Hyakinthos at Amyklai, and Artemis-Iphigeneia at Brauron. Each of these sites features the tomb of the local hero/heroine situated close to the temple of the locally worshipped Olympian.94 The pattern at Athens is the same, only more so, for the daughters of Erechtheus are part of a larger program of paideia. They are vitally central to the teaching of a unique set of values and the establishment of a common knowledge that made Athens different from every other city-state in Greece.

  THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP between tombs and temples brings us to the larger question of the role of hero cult in shaping sacred space.95 Greeks of the historical period regularly stumbled upon remains from the prehistoric era. The great stretches of Cyclopean masonry surviving from the Late Bronze Age were fairly indestructible, becoming a permanent feature of ancient sites. Mycenaean walls are visible to this day on the Athenian Acropolis, juxtaposed with constructions postdating them by eight hundred years and more (this page). Classical Athenians would have understood these remains to be relics from the time of their earliest ancestors. They clearly constructed stories, and rituals, around them.

  Iron Age Greeks of the Peloponnese discovered Bronze Age ruins and believed them to be the tombs of epic heroes. A Mycenaean bridge is still in use to this day at Arkadiko near the modern road leading from Tiryns to Epidauros. One of a handful of bridges that survive from the Late Bronze Age, it is made of Cyclopean masonry and runs some 22 meters (72 feet) in length, supported by a corbeled arch.96 Recognizing the great antiquity of this structure, historical Greeks of the classical period erected a shrine near it, following a larger pattern by which hero cult was established in proximity to Bronze Age remains.

  The relationship of tombs, temples, and foundation myths can in fact be observed at far-flung Panhellenic sites, battening down our argument for Athens. If the perceived tombs of local heroes influenced the development of sacred space at these other sites, it becomes more reasonable to infer that the “tombs” of Erechtheus and his daughters played significant roles in the planning of the Erechtheion and the Parthenon, and thus shaped what the Parthenon meant to the Athenian people as a whole.

  Athens was the earliest state to ardently emulate Olympia in developing its own festival of Panhellenic proportions. Indeed, the Great Panathenaia’s close association with the Olympic model both established and reinforced its high status.97 Of the four periodos sites, Olympia maintained the strongest ties to the elite, aristocratic origins from which it sprang. The Athenians, never to be outdone, enlarged, expanded, and highlighted this aspect of exclusivity, forging for themselves a hugely comprehensive display of elite tribal excellence that harkened back to the aristocratic glory days of the city. All the while, of course, the noble origins of the festival and athletic contests were veiled beneath the mantle of democratic values shared with those lucky enough to be numbered among the citizenry. Athenians had competed and won with great success at the Olympic Games throughout the seventh century, beginning with Pantakles’s victory in the stade race of 696 B.C.98 No wonder they wanted a Panhellenic festival all their own.

  And looking to the model at Olympia, we find the tomb of Pelops, local founder of the games, right in the heart of the sanctuary. He was a hero of such proportion that, to this day, the whole of southern Greece is called the Peloponnese, Island of Pelops. An immigrant from Lydia, Pelops won the hand of the daughter of the king of Pisa by beating him in a chariot race, thereby becoming a member of the royal family of Elis. His open-air precinct, the Pelopion, stood within the sacred grove (altis) at Olympia and just beside the great ash altar, close to the foundations of early apsidal buildings that harken back to the distant past. The heroön of Pelops was flanked by the Archaic temple of Hera and the great classical temple of Olympian Zeus.99

  In the sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, also in the Peloponnese (this page), a hero shrine to the baby Opheltes, mythical prince of the city, has been unearthed close to the temple.100 Here, as at Athens, a child of the local king dies, is buried near the local temple, and is honored in funeral games. The son of King Lykourgos, Opheltes was born under a dark prophecy. Death would come to the child if any part of his body touched ground before he learned to walk. One day, when in a leafy grove with his nurse, Hypsipyle, Opheltes met his fate when seven Argive warriors passed by and asked for a drink of water. Hypsipyle laid the baby down in a bed of celery, whereupon a snake sprang out and fatally bit the child. The warriors killed the snake and instituted funeral games in the boy’s honor, changing his name from Opheltes to Archemoros.101

  Pausanias saw the heroön of Opheltes and the tomb of his father, King Lykourgos, during his visit to Nemea in the second century A.D.102 Excavations have revealed a pentagonal, open-air precinct, identified as the enclosure for the tomb and altar of Opheltes-Archemoros.103 It represents the Hellenistic phase of a shrine already established in the Archaic period, when the Nemean Games were inaugurated (573 B.C.) and the first temple of Zeus was built.104 Not far from Opheltes’s shrine, twenty-three planting pits for fir or cypress trees have been unearthed, constituting a sacred grove that memorialized the spot where Opheltes died among the celery plants.105

  Tomb, temple, and games: they can be found, as well, at the Panhellenic sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia. Here, a princely child dies and is honored with athletic competitions. Melikertes was the son of Athamas and Ino, king and queen of Orchomenos in Boiotia. Hera was angry at Ino for having raised the child Dionysos, illegitimate son of her own husband, Zeus. In retaliation, she caused Athamas to go mad and murder his eldest son. Fearful for the life of her remaining boy, Ino took Melikertes and leaped with him into the Saronic Gulf. Mother and son were transformed into sea deities and acquired new names: Ino became Leukothea (“White Goddess”) and Melikertes became Palaimon. Just as with Opheltes-Archemoros, the prince gains a double-barreled
name: Melikertes-Palaimon. Dolphins carried his corpse to the shores of nearby Isthmia, where the Corinthian king Sisyphos discovered the body. Before meeting his tormented end of forever pushing a stone uphill, Sisyphos buried the boy in a pine grove near the sea and instituted the Isthmian Games in his memory.106

  Excavations at Isthmia have revealed an open-air sanctuary identified as the heroön of Melikertes-Palaimon.107 Though Roman in date, it is built upon a classical manhole cover for the water reservoir of the early stadium. By the mid-first century A.D., this opening was perceived to be the tomb of Melikertes-Palaimon, becoming the focal point of the hero’s cult worship. So vital was the foundation myth and the physical remains that “proved” its existence that both could be invented in later periods and proudly projected back into a newly remembered past.

  Athens might have started by copying Olympia, but it was not long before other cities and sanctuaries began to emulate the Athenian model of matchless pomp in festival ritual. Nowhere is this more strongly felt than at the sanctuary of Apollo-Hyakinthos at Amyklai, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) south of Sparta. Here, a handsome local prince, Hyakinthos, suffered death before his time, was buried within the temple of Apollo, and was commemorated in a festival called the Hyakinthia. This feast included a grand procession, the ritual weaving of a dress (chiton) for the god, as well as an all-night vigil, or pannychis—in which maidens and youths sang and danced—sacrifices, and a feast.108 In time, athletic competitions were added to these festivities. Each of these elements can be seen to draw inspiration from the Panathenaia. Even more, the Amyklaion developed into a major shrine for the display of arms and armor and played a critical role in local paideia, preparing the young men of Sparta for their future role as warriors. It is clear that young women participated in the cult as well, singing and dancing at the Hyakinthia festival.

  Hyakinthos was the son of the eponymous founder of Amyklai, King Amyklas. As a beautiful boy, he was deeply loved by both Apollo and Zephyr, the West Wind. One day, when Apollo and Hyakinthos were out throwing the discus, jealous Zephyr interfered, causing the discus to blow off course. It hit and killed Hyakinthos on the spot. Apollo was inconsolable. In memory of his beloved, the god inaugurated the Hyakinthia festival. King Amyklas buried his son directly beneath Apollo’s cult statue, the base of which took the shape of an altar.109 Upon entering through the bronze doors of the temple, worshippers first made offerings upon this altar/base to the dead hero Hyakinthos before sacrificing to Apollo himself.

  According to Pausanias, the venerable cult statue of Apollo was aniconic (not unlike Athena’s old olive wood image at Athens). It consisted of a great cylinder standing 13 meters (43 feet) tall, crowned with a helmet and given vestigial arms, in which it held a spear and a shield.110 Apollo’s conspicuous martial aspect at Amyklai served to inspire the young men of Sparta toward a future in the great fighting force of the city-state. The bronze armor of Timomachos of Thebes (said to have aided the Spartans in their war against the Amyklaioi) was displayed in the sanctuary along with other spoils and booty. Pausanias especially remarks on the large number of dedications made by soldiers and athletes he saw during his visit to the shrine.111 Exposure to objects of memory from military exploits of the past fortified the effect of the Hyakinthia as a kind of initiation for young men about to become warriors.112

  The name Hyakinthos is a very ancient one with pre-Greek origins, signaling the great antiquity of cult worship here.113 But the Hyakinthia festival was probably not introduced until sometime in the eighth century B.C. when the sanctuary was formalized.114 So important was the observation of these sacred rites to Spartans, and especially to the Amyklaioi, that they interrupted warfare each summer so that all could return home to participate in the three-day festival.115 From what we can tell, it began with a solemn day of mourning and sacrifice, commemorating Apollo’s grief in losing his beloved. In contrast, the second day was one of joy, expressed in a colorful procession along the Sacred Way from Sparta to Amyklai. There was singing and dancing by maidens, performances by choruses of boys and adult males, the singing of a paean, and the presentation of a woven chiton to Apollo, all culminating in a celebratory communal banquet.116

  There is obvious overlap between the daughters of Erechtheus and the young hero Hyakinthos; indeed, at the end of the Erechtheus, Athena proclaims that the girls will henceforth be called the “Hyakinthian goddesses.”117 Like Hyakinthos, the maidens die young, are buried beneath the temple of the goddess with whom they are so closely associated, and come to be remembered in cult worship, festival, and contests. But comparison stops here. Unlike Hyakinthos, a victim of Zephyr’s petty jealousy, the daughters of Erechtheus died for the noblest of causes, saving their city, an act that speaks to the core values that made Athenians different from everyone else.

  The best-known story of the dying Hyakinthos is how his blood dripped upon the earth and was transformed into the violet flower we still call hyacinth today.118 According to one tradition, all three of the daughters of Erechtheus were sacrificed at a place called Hyakinthos Pagos, “the Purple Rock.”119 Assimilation of the Spartan myth with the Athenian tale of the Erechtheids may also account for a late tradition in which Hyakinthos was an adult Spartan living at Athens. When a plague threatened the city, an oracle demanded virgin sacrifice to make it stop, and so Hyakinthos offered his daughters to be killed.120 Thus the mythical and ritual orbits of Athens and Sparta become very much entwined.

  Let us conclude our pilgrimage through the Panhellenic periodos sites at the very center of Earth. In primordial times at Delphi, the earth-serpent Python presided over the cult center of his mother, Ge. Apollo wanted to take Delphi for his own and so slew the mighty Python, burying him deep within a cleft on the slopes of Mount Parnassos. This is the spot from which oracular vapors rose, sometimes called the omphalos, or “navel,” the very center of the earth. It is atop this fissure and the burial place of Python that Apollo’s temple came to be built. Thus we find, once again, a “tomb” beneath a temple. Python gives his name to the Pythia, the priestess who sat above the cleft on a tripod within Apollo’s temple, pronouncing oracles. Python also gives his name to the Panhellenic festival the Pythaia and athletic competitions known as the Pythian Games. Thus, the serpent is forever commemorated within Apollo’s sacred precinct.121

  A second monumental death occurred within the sanctuary at Delphi, one that was commemorated with a tomb, shrine, festival, and sacrifices. Neoptolemos, son of Achilles, was killed by a priest in the doorway of Apollo’s temple.122 We are told that his body was first buried on the spot where he was killed, that is, beneath the temple’s threshold. King Menelaos later moved it a short distance away.123 Strabo speaks of Neoptolemos’s grave, and Pausanias claims to have seen it, just to the left, or north, as one exits the temple of Apollo.124 Foundations for a small building unearthed on this spot have been identified as belonging to the hero shrine of Neoptolemos, though this is not certain (above).125

  Location of Shrine of Neoptolemos and the Akanthos Column set just beside it, sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi. (illustration credit ill.91)

  Still, the importance of Neoptolemos at Delphi is of paramount interest. In Homeric epic, the young warrior takes center stage in a number of grisly episodes. On the night of the fall of Troy, Neoptolemos savagely beats King Priam to death, using the body of Astyanax, the king’s own little grandson, as a club. The fact that this murder takes place upon the Altar of Zeus makes it a grave sacrilege. Indeed, it is believed that the priest at Delphi killed Neoptolemos in retaliation for the blasphemy. Neoptolemos also kills Polyxena, daughter of King Priam and consort of his own father, Achilles (this page). And Neoptolemos himself suffers a violent death, murdered just before the altar of Apollo, which is, of course, the fire altar for all of Greece.

  Heliodoros’s novel, the Aethiopika, describes in detail a festival honoring Neoptolemos and celebrated during the Pythian festival.126 Throngs of youths and maidens marched all the way from Thessaly
to participate in the holy rites, offering a sacrifice of a hundred animal victims (hekatomb) in front of Neoptolemos’s tomb. The feast seems to have held special meaning for the young people who experienced a kind of initiation rite through procession, dance, and sacrifices.

  Daughters of Erechtheus as dancing Hyakinthides/Hyades. Akanthos Column, sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi. (illustration credit ill.92)

  Sometime during the 330s B.C., when Lykourgos was holding up the example of the Erechtheids as inspiration for the young of Athens, a unique monument showing three beautifully sculptured maidens was set up at Delphi—right in front of Neoptolemos’s hero shrine (previous page). The girls were literally held aloft, supported by a high pillar standing some 14 meters (46 feet) tall, reaching the height of the Apollo temple itself. Facing outward, their backs joined to the column from behind, the maidens seem to hang in the air, their diaphanous, knee-length dresses fluttering in the breeze. The tips of their toes are pointed downward, hovering just above a ring of large, unfurling akanthos leaves, exquisitely carved in lush, teeming foliage. But the apparent fecundity of the akanthos plant belies a darker meaning; we know by now that the akanthos signals death.

  The Akanthos Column is one of the most enigmatic monuments to survive from the sanctuary of Apollo. Gloria Ferrari has identified its three maidens as the daughters of Erechtheus shown catasterized as the dancing star cluster Hyades, set in the heavens by Athena herself, as we have seen at the end of Euripides’s Erechtheus.127 The column propels the girls into the sky where they belong, joined in an eternal circle dance among the stars as the Hyakinthian goddesses. Their heads are crowned with basketlike diadems resembling those worn by kalathiskos, or “basket” dancers. We can picture the maidens of Heliodoros’s Aethiopika, those who danced their way to Delphi with trays and baskets upon their heads, reaching their destination at the shrine of Neoptolemos, beneath the image of the dancing Erechtheids. Here, they may have joined hands in a circle dance, imitating their heroic role models, who floated high above them.