Β. Λαμπρινουδάκης - S. Prignitz - Ε. Καζολιάς: Η Αφροδίτη, η Θέμις και οι Ναοί Λ και L στο Ασκληπιείο Επιδαύρου (original) (raw)
2020, Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στην Πελοπόννησο 2
Pausanias writes that he saw, among other monuments, “…a sanctuary of Aphrodite and of Themis” in the Asklepieion of Epidaurus. Two building accounts from the sanctuary (IG IV21, no. 106-107) refer to an Aphrodition and a temple of Aphrodite. Until now, there were no satisfactory answers to the questions: a) whether the two goddesses were venerated in separate sanctuaries or in the same one and b) which of the Asklepieion’s two extant temples, apart from those of Asklepios and of Artemis, i.e. the temples Λ and L, could belong to Aphrodite. A recent, much more complete, reading of inscription no. 106, combined with a re-investigation of the remnants of the two temples in 2017, proved that Aphrodite and Themis were worshiped in the same sanctuary at Epidauros. Temple L was the temple of Aphrodite, and together with other structures surrounding it, including a shrine for Themis (Aphrodite’s companion in the legend of Hippolytos resurrected by Asklepios), would comprise the hieron, the sanctuary of the goddesses mentioned by Pausanias. It turns out that temple Λ had been ruined long before the ancient traveler visited Epidauros.