ATHENE CULT 4

ATHENA was the Olympian goddess of the defense of towns and the crafts of weaving, pottery and sculpture.

This page describes her cult in northern Greece, the islands of the Aegean, and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor and Italy. The most significant of her shrines in the area were those of Itonos in Thessaly and Lindos on the island of Rhodes. The most curious of her cults was surely that of the Opuntian Lokrians, who regularly sent maidens to Troy--and almost certain death--to appease the goddess for the mythical wrongdoings of the Trojan War hero Ajax.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

CULT IN PHOCIS (CENTRAL GREECE)

I. DELPHI (DELPHOI) Town & Sanctuary in Phocis (Phokis)

Callimachus, Fragment 220 (from Scholiast on Aeschylus Eumenides 21) (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Pallas [Athena] the Delphians established as Pronaia (Before the Temple)."

Parthenius, Love Romances 25 (trans. Gaselee) (Greek poet C1st B.C.) :
"From Phylarkhos [aGreek historian]. The tyrant Phayllos [historical] fell in love with the wife of Ariston, chief of the Oitaian . . . Now she had a great longing for a necklace that was at that time hanging in the temple of Athene Pronoia (goddess of Forethought): it was said formerly to have belonged to Eriphyle; and this was the present for which she asked. Phayllos took a great booty of the offerings at Delphoi, the necklace among the rest."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 8. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"When you enter the city [of Delphoi] you see temples in a row. The first of them was in ruins . . . the fourth is called the temple of Athena Pronoia (Forethought). Of its two images the one in the fore-temple is a votive offering of the Massiliots, and is larger than the one inside the temple. The Massiliots are a colony of Phokaia in Ionia . . . The votive offering of the Massiliots is of bronze. The gold shield given to Athena Pronoia by Kroisos the Lydian was said by the Delphians to have been stolen by Philomelos."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 10. 1 :
"On the base below the wooden horse [dedicated by the Athenians at Delphoi] is an inscription which says that the statues were dedicated from a tithe of the spoils taken in the [historical] engagement at Marathon. They represent Athena, Apollon, and Miltiades, one of the generals."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 13. 4 :
"Images of Apollon, Athena, and Artemis were dedicated [at Delphoi] by the Phokians from the spoils taken from the [shrines of the] Thessalians."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 13. 7 :
"[At Delphoi, Phokis is a statue group in which] Herakles and Apollo are holding on to the tripod, and are preparing to fight about it. Leto and Artemis are calming Apollon, and Athena is calming Herakles. This too is an offering of the Phokians, dedicated when Tellias of Elis led them against the Thessalians. Athena and Artemis were made by Khionis."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 15. 2 :
"The Aitolians have statues [dedicated at Delphoi] of most of their generals, and images of Artemis, Athena and two of Apollon, dedicated after their conclusion of the [historic] war against the Gauls."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 18. 1 :
"The Akhaians dedicated an image of Athena [at Delphoi] after [historically] reducing by siege one of the cities of Aitolia, the name of which was Phana."

Suidas s.v. Pronoia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Pronoia : A particular temple of Athena at Delphoi was named Pronoia, because of its being situated pro tou naou 'in front of the temple.' Herodotos names her Proneie in his book eight."

Suidas s.v. Pronoia Athena :
"Pronoia Athena (Athena of Foresight) : Some say that her statue was so-called because it stood before (pro) the temple (naos) at Delphoi; others because she foresaw that Leto would give birth."

II. Near CORONEA (KORONEIA) Village in Phocis

Strabo, Geography 9. 2. 29 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"When they [the Boiotians] got the mastery of Koroneia [in Phokis after the Trojan War], they built in the plain before the city the temple of Athena Itonia, bearing the same name as the Thessalian temple; and they called the river which flowed past it Kuarios, giving it the same name as the Thessalian river. But Alkaios calls it Koralios, when he says, ‘Athena Polemedokos (Warrior queen), who dost keep watch o'er the cornfields of Koroneia before thy temple on the banks of the Koralios River.’ Here, too, the Pamboiotian Festival used to be celebrated. And for some mystic reason, as they say, a statue of Haides was dedicated along with that of Athena."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 34. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"Before reaching Koroneia [in Boiotia] from Alalkomenai we come to the sanctuary of Athena Itonia. It is named after [the mythical hero] Itonios the son of Amphiktyon, and here the Boiotians gather for their general assembly. In the temple are bronze images of Athena Itonia and Zeus; the artist was Agorakritos, pupil and loved one of Pheidias. In my time they dedicated too images of the Kharites (Graces). The following tale, too, is told. Iodama, who served the goddess as priestess, entered the precinct by night, where there appeared to her Athena, upon whose tunic was worked the head of Medousa the Gorgon. When Iodama saw it, she was turned to stone. For this reason a woman puts fire every day on the altar of Iodama, and as she does this she thrice repeats in the Boiotian dialect that Iodama is living and asking for fire."

III. DAULIS Village in Phocis

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 4. 9 :
"At Daulis [in Phokis] is a sanctuary of Athena with an ancient image. The wooden image, of an even earlier date, the Daulians say was brought from Athens by [the mythical heroine] Prokne."

IV. TITHOREA Village in Phocis

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 32. 10 :
"The most noteworthy objects in the city [of Tithorea, Phokis] are the grove, temple and image of Athena."

V. Near ELATEIA Village in Phocis

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 34. 7 :
"About twenty stades away from Elateia [in Phokis] is a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Kranaies. The road to it slopes upwards, but so gentle is the ascent that it causes no fatigue--in fact one scarcely notices it. At the end of the road is a hill which, though for the most part precipitous, is neither very large nor very high. On this hill the sanctuary has been built, with porticoes and dwellings through them, where live those whose duty it is to wait on the goddess, chief of whom is the priest. They choose the priest from boys who have not yet reached the age of puberty, taking care beforehand that his term of office shall run out before puberty arrives. The office lasts for five successive years, during which the priest boards with the goddess, and bathes in tubs after the ancient manner. This image too was made by the sons of Polykles. It is armed as for battle, and on the shield is wrought in relief a copy of what at Athens is wrought on the shield of her whom the Athenians call ‘Parthenos’ (the Virgin)."

CULT IN OZOLIAN LOCRIS (CENTRAL GREECE)

I. AMPHISSA Main Town of Locris (Lokris)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 38. 5 :
"On the citadel of Amphissa [in Lokris] is a temple of Athena, with a standing image of bronze, brought, they say, from Troy by Thoas, being part of the spoils of that city. But I cannot accept the story."

CULT IN OPUNTIAN LOCRIS (CENTRAL GREECE)

The Opuntian Lokrians despatched maidens every few years to the temple of Athena in the Troad, most of which were stoned to death by the locals. Those few who managed to find sanctuary in the her temple were appointed as priestesses.

For more information see Cult of Athena in the Troad (below)

CULT IN MALIS (NORTHERN GREECE)

I. TRACHIS (TRAKHIS) Main City of Malis

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 22. 1 :
"A regiment of Gauls [historical attempted to go up to Oeta by way of Herakleia. Here too a narrow path rises just past the ruins of Trakhis [in Malis]. There was also at that time a sanctuary of Athena above the Trakhinian territory, and in it were votive offerings. So they hoped to ascend Oeta by this path and at the same time to get possession of the offerings in the temple in passing."

CULT IN THESSALY (NORTHERN GREECE)

I. ITONUS (ITONOS) Village of Histiaiotis in Thessaly (Thessalia)

Strabo, Geography 9. 5. 15 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"The Krokian Plain is situated in the interior back of [Thessalian] Thebes [in Phthiotis] near the end of Othrys; and it is through this plain that the Amphrysos flows. Above this river are the Itonos, where is the temple of Itonia [Athena], after which the temple in Boiotia is named, and the Kuarios Rivers."

Strabo, Geography 9. 5. 17 :
"In Histiaiotis [in Thessalia] the Peneius and the Kuralios flow through its territory. Of these rivers, the Kuralios flows past the temple of the Athena Itonia and empties into the Peneios."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 13. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"Overpowering the native troops of Antigonos and his Gallic mercenaries he [the historical general Pyrrhos] pursued them to the coast cities, and himself reduced upper Makedonia and the Thessalians. The extent of the fighting and the decisive character of the victory of Pyrrhos are shown best by the Celtic armour dedicated in the sanctuary of Athena Itonia (of Itonos) between Pherai and Larissa, with this inscription on them :--‘Pyrrhos the Molossian hung these shields taken from the bold Gauls as a gift to Athena Itonia, when he had destroyed all the host of Antigonos. 'Tis no great marvel. The Aiakidai are warriors now, even as they were of old.’"

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 9. 13 :
"When the Boiotians were put to flight [by the Spartans in a historical war in Thessalia], certain of them took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena surnamed Itonia. Agesilaos, although suffering from a wound received in the battle, did not sin against the suppliants."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 1. 10 :
"[In the historical war of the Phokians against the Thessalians] the watchword given in battle on every occasion by the Thessalian generals was Athena Itonia, and by the Phokian generals Phokos, from whom the Phokians were named."

II. NEA Island of the Salonic (Saloniki) Gulf of Thessaly

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4. 72 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"[Islands in the Gulf of Saloniki :] Nea, an island sacred to Minerva [Athene]."

CULT IN CEOS (GREEK AEGEAN)

I. POIËESSA Town in Ceos (Keos)

Strabo, Geography 10. 5. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Near Poiëessa [main town on the island of Keos], is a temple of Apollon Sminthaios; and between the temple and the ruins of Poiëessa is the temple of Athena Nedousia, [both] founded by Nestor when he was on his return from Troy."

CULT IN CHIOS (GREEK AEGEAN)

I. CHIOS (KHIOS) Main Town of Chios

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 41 :
"There are to be seen many of the ancient wooden images of Athena in a sitting posture, as, for example, in Phokaia, Massalia, Rome, Khios, and several other places."

CULT IN SAMOS (GREEK AEGEAN)

I. SAMOS Main Town of Samos

Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 14 :
"The temple [of Hera in the main town of Samos], which is open to the sky, is likewise full of most excellent statues. Of these, three of colossal size, the work of Myron, stood upon one base; Antony took these statues away, but Augustus Caesar restored two of them, those of Athena and Herakles, to the same base."

CULT IN RHODES (GREEK AEGEAN)

I. LINDOS Main Town in Rhodes (Rhodos)

Pindar, Olympian Ode 7. 33 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"The land circled by the sea [Rhodes], where once the great king of the gods [Zeus] showered upon the city snowflakes of gold; in the day when the skilled hand of Hephaistos wrought with his craft the axe, bronze-bladed, whence from the cleft summit of her father's brow Athene sprang aloft, and pealed the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos (Heaven) trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia (Earth).
Then was it too the great god Hyperionides [Helios the sun], giver of light to mortal men, this task to his beloved sons [i.e. the Heliadai of Rhodes] enjoined to ensure well hereafter : that they first to the goddess built a shining altar, and founding holy rites of sacrifice, make glad the heart of Zeus, and the maid of the sounding spear. Now Reverence, the daughter of Forethought, gives to men virtue and valour's joy.
And yet comes too, on stealthy wing, that cloud of forgetfulness, drawing our baffled minds off from the straight road of their acts' intent. For they mounted aloft, but carried in their hands no seed of burning flame, but on the city's height [i.e. the acropolis of Lindos] founded a precinct without holy fire. Yet for these men Zeus brought the saffron cloud, and rained flood of gold, and the grey-eyed goddess herself endowed them the gift of skill, that of all men on earth, their hands in craft excelling have the mastery. And the roads acarried their worked images of life and movement, and widespread was their renown."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 12 (trans. Frazer) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Danaus [a mythical prince of Egypt], in fear of the sons of Aigyptos, under Athena's supervision built a ship (the first man to do so), put his daughters [the 50 Danaides] on board and escaped. Putting in at Rhodes, he dedicated the statue of Athena Lindia. From there he went to Argos."

Callimachus, Fragment 105 (from Eusebius Praep. Ev. 3.8) (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Not yet the polished work of Skelmis [a Daktyl, mythical inventor of bronze-working,] wert thou [the cult statue of Athena of Lindos in Rhodes], but still according to ancient custom only a board unpolished by the carvers knife [a primitive wooden statue]. For in such wise did they in those days establish their gods : yea, in Lindos also did Danaus set up for Athene an unsculptured board."

Strabo, Geography 14. 2. 11 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"In Lindos [a city on the island of Rhodes] there is a famous temple of Athena Lindia, founded by the daughters of Danäus."

Strabo, Geography 14. 2. 10 :
"Gold rained on the island [of Rhodes] at the time when Athena was born from the head of Zeus, as Pindaros states."

Aelian, On Animals 9. 17 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd to 3rd A.D.) :
"If you try to cut them with steel, so well and truly have they been interwoven that they will not yield, any more than that linen corslet which they say Amasis [king of Aigyptos] gave as an offering to Athena at Lindos."

Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 27 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :
"[From a description of an ancient Greek painting at Neapolis (Naples) :] The Birth of Athena . . . Two peoples are already sacrificing to Athena [i.e. on the day of her birth] on the acropolis of two cities, the Athenians and the Rhodians, one on the land and one on the sea, [sea-born] and earth-born men; the former offer fireless sacrifices that are incomplete, but the people of Athens offer fire, as you see yonder, and the savour of burnt flesh. The smoke is represented as fragrant and as rising with the savour of the offerings. Accordingly the goddess has come to the Athenians as to men of superior wisdom who make excellent sacrifices. For the Rhodians, however, as we are told, gold flowed down from heaven and filled their houses and their narrow streets, when Zeus caused a cloud to break over them, because they also gave heed to Athena. The divinity Ploutos (Wealth) also stands on their acropolis, and he is represented as a winged being who has descended from the clouds, and as golden because of the substance in which he has been made manifest."

CULT IN CRETE (GREEK AEGEAN)

I. CNOSSUS (KNOSSOS) Main City of Crete (Krete)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 40. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"Of the works of [attributed to the mythical craftsman] Daidalos . . . there are two wooden images in Krete, a Britomartis at Olos and an Athena at Knossos, at which latter place is also Ariadne's Dance, mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, carved in relief on white marble."

CULT IN THE TROAD (ASIA MINOR)

I. ILIUS (ILIOS) Town in the Troad

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E6. 20 - 22 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Lokrian Aias, when he saw [the mythical Trojan princess] Kassandra clinging to the wooden statue of Athena [during the sack of Troy], raped her . . . Athena was enraged at . . . the impious act of Aias [and destroyed his ship in a storm] . . .
The [rest of Aias'] Lokrians [also caught in the storm] regained their own country with difficulty, and three years afterwards, when Lokris was visited by a plague, they received an oracle bidding them to propitiate Athena at Ilion [Troy] and to send two maidens as suppliants for a thousand years. The lot first fell on Periboia and Kleopatra. And when they came to Troy they were chased by the natives and took refuge in the sanctuary. And they did not approach the goddess, but swept and sprinkled the sanctuary; and they did not go out of the temple, and their hair was cropped, and they wore single garments and no shoes. And when the first maidens died, they sent others; and they entered into the city by night, lest, being seen outside the precinct, they should be put to the sword; but afterwards they sent babes with their nurses. And when the thousand years were passed, after the Phokian war they ceased to send suppliants."

Callimachus, Aetia Fragment 1. 8 (from Scholiast on Iliad 13. 66) (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Athena compelled the Lokrians for a space of a thousand years to send to Ilios maidens selected by lot. The story in Callimachus Aitia 1."

Callimachus, Aetia Fragment 2. 1 (from Scholiast on Lycophron 1141) :
"A plague having come on Lokris through the assault of Aias upon Kassandra, the god [Apollon] told them by an oracle that for a thousand years they must send maidens every year to Troy for Athena. When they arrived they were slain by the Trojans who met and stoned them. Any who escaped made their way secretly to the temple of Athena and became for the future her priestesses. Those who were killed were burnt with fruitless and wild wood. Their bones were thrown into the sea from Mount Traron at Troy and the Lokrians sent others in their stead."

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 26 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"It is said that the city of the present Ilians [of Ilios in the Troad] was for a time a mere village, having its temple of Athena, a small and cheap temple, but that when Alexandros [the Great] went up there after his victory at the Granikos River he adorned the temple with votive offerings . . . and later, after the overthrow of the Persians, he sent down a kindly letter to the place, promising to make a great city of it, and to build a magnificent sanctuary, and to proclaim sacred games. But after his death Lysimakhos devoted special attention to the city, and built a temple there."

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 40 :
"The present Ilians [Trojans] further tell us that the city was, in fact, not completely wiped out at its capture by the Akhaians and that it was never even deserted. At any rate the Lokrian maidens, beginning a little later, were sent every year. But this too is non-Homeric, for Homeros knows not of the violation of Kassandra . . . and yet he does not so much as mention any violation of her or say that the destruction of Aias in the shipwreck took place because of the wrath of Athena or any such cause . . . But the fact is that the Lokrian maidens were first sent when the Persians were already in power."

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 41 :
"The Ilians tell us [that Troy was deserted not destroyed], but Homer expressly states that the city was wiped out . . . And other such evidences of the same thing are set forth; for example, that the wooden image of Athena now to be seen [at modern Ilion] stands upright, whereas Homeros clearly indicates that it was sitting, for orders are given to put the robe ‘upon Athena's knees’ . . . There are to be seen many of the ancient wooden images of Athena in a sitting posture, as, for example, in Phokaia, Massalia, Rome, Khios, and several other places."

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 42 :
"It was in the time of the Lydians [during the reign of Kroisos] that the present settlement [of Ilion] was founded, as also the temple [of Athena]."

II. PEDASUS (PEDASOS) Town in the Troad

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 59 :
"The Pedasians [of Pesasos in the Troad] of whom Herodotos says that when any misfortune was about to come upon them and their neighbors, the priestess of Athena would grow a beard; and that this happened to them three times."

CULT IN LYDIA (ASIA MINOR)

I. SMYRNA City in Aeolis - Lydia

Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 4 :
"The city [of Smyrna] was in ancient times round the Athenaion (Sanctuary of Athena), which is now outside the city near the Hypelaios [a fountain], as it is called."

Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 21 :
"The city of Ephesos was inhabited both by Karians and by Leleges, but Androklos [from Athens] drove them out and settled the most of those who had come with him round the Athenaion (Temple of Athena) and the Hypelaios [spring]."

II. PHOCAEA (PHOKAIA) Town in Ionia - Lydia

Strabo, Geography 13. 1. 41 :
"There are to be seen many of the ancient wooden images of Athena in a sitting posture, as, for example, in Phokaia, and Massalia."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 31. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"Now the Phokaians, too, in Ionia [Lydia] have an old temple of Athena, which was once burnt by Harpagos the Persian."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 5. 4 :
"Two temples in Ionia were burnt down by the Persians, the one of Hera in Samos and that of Athena at Phokaia. Damaged though they are by fire, I found them a wonder."

III. ERYTHRAE (ERYTHRAI) Town in Ionia - Lydia

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 5. 9 :
"There is also in Erythrai [in Lydia] a temple of Athena Polias and a huge wooden image of her sitting on a throne; she holds a distaff in either hand and wears a firmament on her head. That this image is the work of Endoeos we inferred, among other signs, from the workmanship, and especially from the white marble images of Kharites (Graces) and Horai (Seasons) that stand in the open before the entrance."

CULT IN LYCIA (ASIA MINOR)

I. PHASELIS Village in Lycia (Lykia)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 3. 8 :
"The [bronze] spear of Akhilleus is dedicated in the sanctuary of Athena at Phaselis [in Lykia]."

CULT IN PAMPHYLIA (ASIA MINOR)

I. SIDE Village in Pamphylia

Strabo, Geography 14. 4. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Side, a colony of the Kymaians [in Pamphylia], which has a temple of Athena."

CULT IN SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I. HIMERA Town in Sicily (Sikelia) (Greek Colony)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 3. 4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :
"And both Athene and Artemis, the myth goes on to say, who had made the same choice of maidenhood as had Kore [Persephone] and were reared together with her [on the island of Sicily], joined with her in gathering the flowers, and all of them together wove the robe for their father Zeus. And because of the time they had spent together and their intimacy they all loved this island above any other, and each one of them received for her portion a territory [from Zeus], Athene receiving hers in the region of Himera [the cult centre of the goddess on the island]."

CULT IN LUCANIA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I. HERACLEIA (HERAKLEIA) Town in Lucania (Leukania) (Greek Colony)

Strabo, Geography 6. 1. 14 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"On the [River] Siris [in Italia] there used to be a Trojan city [colony] of the same name, but in time, when Herakleia was colonized thence by the Tarantinoi, it became the port of the Herakleotes . . . Writers produce as proof of its settlement by the Trojans the wooden image of Athene Ilia [of Ilion or Troy] which is set up there--the image that closed its eyes, the fable goes, when the suppliants were dragged away by the Ionians who captured the city; for these Ionians came there as colonists when in flight from the dominion of the Lydians, and by force took the city, which belonged to the Khones, and called it Polieion; and the image even now can be seen closing its eyes. It is a bold thing, to be sure, to tell such a fable and to say that the image not only closed its eyes (just as they say the image in Troy turned away at the time Kassandra was violated) but can also be seen closing its eyes; and yet it is much bolder to represent as brought from Troy all those images which the historians say were brought from there; for not only in the territory of Siris, but also at Rome, at Lauinion (Lavinium), and at Lukeria, Athene is called Athena Ilia, as though brought from Troy."

CULT IN CALABRIA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I. SALENTINE Town in Calabria (Greek Colony)

Strabo, Geography 7. 1. 5 :
"The Salentinoi [of Italia] are said to be a colony of the Kretans. The temple of Athene, once so rich, is in their territory."

CULT IN CAMPANIA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I. SURRENTUM (SURRENTON) Town in Campania (Kampania) (Greek Colony)

Strabo, Geography 5. 4. 8 :
"Surrenton [in Italia], a city of the Kampanoi (Campani), whence the Athenaion (of Athena) juts forth into the sea, which some call the Cape of Seirenoussai (of the Sirens). There is a sanctuary of Athena, built by Odysseus on the tip of the Cape."

CULT IN APULIA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I. LUCERIA (LUKERIA) Village of Daunii in Apulia (Greek Colony)

Strabo, Geography 7. 1. 9 :
"In these regions [of Arpi, Italia] are to be seen the Plain of Diomedes and many other things, among which are the old votive offerings in the temple of Athene at Lukeria--a place which likewise was in ancient times a city of the Daunii, but is now reduced."

Strabo, Geography 6. 1. 14 :
"At Rome, at Lauinion (Lavinium), and at Lukeria, Athene is called Athena Ilia, as though brought from Troy."

Aelian, On Animals 11. 5 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd to 3rd A.D.) :
"In the country of the Daunii [northwest of Apulia in Italia] there is a temple to Athena of Ilion which is celebrated. And they say that the Hounds that are kept there fawn upon any Greeks that arrive but bark at foreigners."

CULT IN LATIUM (CENTRAL ITALY)

I. ROME Imperial Capital

Strabo, Geography 6. 1. 14 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"At Rome, at Lauinion (Lavinium), and at Lukeria, Athene is called Athena Ilia, as though brought from Troy."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 23. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"The Palladion [a sacred image of Athena], as it is called, was manifestly brought to Italia by Aeneas."

The Roman Emperor Domitian adopted Athena as his patron goddess:--

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 7. 32 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to 2nd A.D.) :
"[The sage Apollonios of Tyana to the Roman Emperor Domitian :] ‘I imagined that Athene was your tutelary goddess, O sovereign, in the same way as she was Diomedes' long ago in Troy.’"

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 7. 24 :
"[A man] omitted to mention in the public prayers that [the Roman Emperor] Domitian was the son of Athene. Said Apollonios : ‘You imagined that Athene could not possibly have a son, because she is a virgin, for ever and ever; but you forgot, methinks, that this goddess one on a time bore a Drakon to the Athenians.’"

II. CIRCEI (KIRKAION) Town in Latium

Strabo, Geography 5. 3. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Kirkaion [in Italia] . . . has a little city and a temple of Kirke and an altar of Athene, and people there show you a sort of bowl which, they say, belonged to Odysseus."

CULT IN IBERIA (SOUTHERN SPAIN)

I. ODYSSEIA Village in Iberia (Greek Colony)

Strabo, Geography 3. 4. 3 :
"Beyond the regions in question [Abdera in Iberia], in the mountain country, Odysseia [a Greek colony] is to be seen, and in it the temple of Athene, as has been stated by Poseidonios, Artemidoros, and Asklepiades the Myrlean . . . According to Asklepiades, shield and ships' beaks have been nailed up in the temple of Athene as memorials of the wanderings of Odysseus."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
• Callimachus, Fragments - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
• Parthenius, Love Romances - Greek Mythography C1st B.C.
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C.
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
• Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd - 3rd A.D.
• Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.
• Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Greek Biography C2nd A.D.

ROMAN

• Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Encyclopedia C1st A.D.

BYZANTINE

• Suidas, The Suda - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.