The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce the publication of Hesperia 85.4.
Topics in this issue include the gold rings found in the grave of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos, the Archaic Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, the practice of the cult of the nymphs at Corinth, two inscribed silver Hellenistic vessels found in the tomb at Golyama Kosmatka, and the "gentle" conversion of the Hephaisteion from a pagan temple to a Christian church.
Subscribers can read the issue online at JSTOR, which now hosts all current issues of Hesperia as well as an archive of past volumes.
Lord of the Gold Rings: The Griffin Warrior of Pylos, by Jack L. Davis and Sharon R. Stocker—the first academic article on the unlooted grave of the Griffin Warrior—focuses on the four gold signet rings found with the warrior. Davis and Stocker present the excavation of the grave, its finds, and the warrior himself, providing context for the rings. Then they describe the rings themselves and the religious scenes they depict. The significance of the rings’ iconography is also discussed, with special consideration given to the possible relationships between the items shown on the rings and the objects found within the grave.
The Archaic Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, by Jessica Paga and Margaret M. Miles, provides a full account of the present positions of the extant architectural blocks of the Archaic Temple of Poseidon, many of which had been used in the construction of the Classical temple. Paga and Miles also present an accurate plan of the Archaic temple, and, in a detailed catalogue, they provide all the details of the individual blocks. Paga and Miles then go on to place the Archaic temple within its historical context with a consideration of the motivations for its construction.
The Greek Cult of the Nymphs at Corinth, by Theodora Kopestonsky, shows that the cult of the nymphs was prevalent at Corinth, most likely having been practiced at Kokkinovrysi, the Sacred Spring, Peirene Fountain, and the area of the Peribolos of Apollo. Kopestonsky discusses each of these sites and the evidence relevant to their being identified as sites dedicated to the nymphs. She points out that at Corinth their worship seems to have been focused on water sources, and that the landscape of the shrines or the built features themselves were constructed so as to evoke the natural settings, such as caves, in which the nymphs were very often worshipped. She also ties the presence of certain types of figurines to ritual activity involving the nymphs. The worship of the nymphs in the region surrounding Corinth and in the Corinthian colonies is also considered.
Accounts from the Treasury of Seuthes III: Inscribed Silver Plate Found in the Tomb of the Golyama Kosmatka Mound, by Chavdar Tzochev, examines two silver vessels—a pitcher and a calyx cup—dating to the Hellenistic period, whose inscriptions indicate that they were the property of Seuthes III. They also show that the vessels were weighed using the Alexandrian/Attic weight standard in the unusual unit of the tetradrachm. Tzochev proposes that the vessels must have been weighed against actual coins as part of an inventory that was conducted after the vessels were manufactured. The information provided in the inscriptions also differs from that given on vessels owned by previous Odrysian kings decades earlier, and Tzochev discusses the likely historical reasons for the differences.
The Afterlife of the Hephaisteion: The Interpretatio Christiana of an Ancient Athenian Monument, by Jaqueline P. Sturm, examines the ways in which the iconography of the Hephaisteion could have been interpreted by early Athenian Christians and proposes that these Christian interpretations of the imagery contributed to the building being converted into a church rather than being destroyed. Sturm reviews other architectural settings in which Herakles, Theseus, and the Centauromachy were accepted as allegorizations of Christian themes and discusses the reasons why the Athenians in particular would have wanted to preserve one of their prominent religious buildings, despite its former pagan associations.
Current subscribers can view the issue online at JSTOR. The printed version will be mailed shortly.
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