History

Nestled in southwestern Türkiye’s Meander River valley, Aphrodisias stands as one of the region’s most impressive archaeological sites. This city, named after Aphrodite, flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 6th century AD, leaving behind an archaeological treasure trove. Renowned for its exquisite marble sculptures and well-preserved monuments, Aphrodisias offers an unparalleled glimpse into ancient urban life. Its significance was recognized in 2017 with UNESCO World Heritage status. From its monumental Temple of Aphrodite to the vast 30,000-seat stadium, Aphrodisias captivates all who visit with its impressive monuments and archaeological finds. 

Aphrodisias: Another Hidden Gem in Türkiye

It’s believed that the history of Aphrodisias stretches back to prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a human settlement in the area as early as 5000 BC. Considering the region’s fertile soils and the abundance of nearby water sources, this would make sense. The location would have been a prime candidate for early agricultural communities.

Hellenistic Period

Aphrodisias rose to prominence as a planned Hellenistic city during the 2nd century BC. This would have been during the tumultuous period that followed Alexander the Great’s conquests. The city features all the hallmarks of a Hellenistic city of this period. Its grid-pattern streets and central Argos reflect the era’s urban planning strategies. 

Ruins of the ancient city of Aphrodisias. (Brocken Inaglory/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Roman Era

Aphrodisias did particularly well under Roman rule. In 88 BC, the city sided with Rome during the Mithridatic Wars. This was a wise choice. Rome rewarded the city for its loyalty by granting it the privileged status of “free city” in 39 BC.

This made the city exempt from taxes as well as giving it a degree of autonomy. Unsurprisingly, this special relationship with Rome led to heightened growth and prosperity. 

In fact, Aphrodisias did so well with the Romans that in the first century AD, it was made the capital of the Roman province of Caria. The city peaked during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, a period marked by massive building projects and artistic achievements.

Late Antiquity and Byzantine Period

The 4th century AD was a period of serious change for Aphrodisias. Christianity was spreading through the Roman Empire, and Aphrodisias, a pagan city by nature, was forced to adapt, and these pagan traditions gradually gave way to the new faith. The Temple of Aphrodite was converted into a Christian basilica around 500 AD, symbolizing this religious transition.

Despite this religious upheaval, Aphrodisias thrived as a regional center for a while longer. As late as the 7th century AD, the city was still doing well. However, a combination of factors, including earthquakes, changing trade routes, and the broader decline of urban life in the Byzantine Empire, led to the city’s gradual abandonment. By the 12th century, Aphrodisias had largely faded from prominence, leaving behind the ruins that would later captivate archaeologists and historians.

Key Monuments and Features of Aphrodisias

Temple of Aphrodite

The most famous edifice at Aphrodisias is arguably the Temple of Aphrodite. Built in the heart of the city, it was constructed in the 1st century BC. This Ionic-style temple, featuring 40 columns, was erected in honor of the city’s patron goddess and was built from marble sourced from the region.

The temple’s importance continued even as the city transitioned to Christianity, with its conversion into a basilica around 500 AD. This transformation preserved much of the original structure, allowing modern visitors to appreciate its enduring beauty.

Stadium

Perhaps the most impressive structure in Aphrodisias is its huge stadium, built in the 1st century AD. Stretching 262 meters (859.58 ft) in length and 59 meters (193.57 ft)in width, it could accommodate up to 30,000 spectators, making it one of the largest and best-preserved stadiums of the ancient world. The stadium hosted athletic competitions, gladiatorial combats, and civic events, serving as a central gathering place for the city’s inhabitants.

The stadium (Carole Raddato/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Theater

The theater of Aphrodisias, dating to the 1st century AD, could seat approximately 8,000 people. Its well-preserved state offers valuable insights into ancient performance spaces. Of particular interest is the theater’s “Archive Wall,” which contains numerous inscriptions detailing the city’s history and its relationship with Rome, providing a wealth of information for historians.

The Roman Theater (north) (Carole Raddato/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sebasteion

This unique complex, dedicated to the imperial cult, is a masterpiece of Roman architecture and sculpture. Built between 20 and 60 AD, the Sebasteion consists of a long, narrow courtyard flanked by two three-story buildings adorned with elaborate relief panels. These panels depict scenes from Greek mythology, Roman imperial history, and allegorical representations, offering a fascinating glimpse into how Aphrodisias viewed its place within the Roman Empire.

The Sebasteion (Carlos Delgado/ CC BY-SA 3.0)

Tetrapylon

The Tetrapylon, a monumental gateway built in the late 2nd century AD, marked the entrance to the sacred precinct of the Temple of Aphrodite. This ornate structure, with its four groups of four Corinthian columns, highlights the city’s architectural sophistication and the high quality of its marble craftsmanship.

The monumental gateway or tetrapylon. (Bernard Gagnon/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Baths of Hadrian

The Baths of Hadrian, constructed in the 2nd century AD, exemplify the importance of public bathing in Roman society. This complex included hot and cold rooms, a palaestra (exercise area), and intricate mosaic floors. The baths not only served hygienic purposes but also functioned as a social hub where citizens could gather, relax, and engage in intellectual discussions.

Baths of Hadrian. (Bernard Gagnon/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Conclusion

Aphrodisias is a remarkable example of the artistic and cultural achievements of the Greco-Roman world. Its impressive ruins, including the grand Temple of Aphrodite and the expansive stadium, display the city’s architectural sophistication and social vibrancy. The renowned sculpture school produced exquisite works that influenced art across the Roman Empire. 

As ongoing excavations continue to reveal new discoveries, Aphrodisias provides invaluable insights into ancient urban life, religious practices, and political dynamics. This UNESCO World Heritage Site preserves a rich historical legacy and highlights the enduring significance of ancient civilizations in shaping our cultural heritage.

Top image: Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias, Aydin, Turkey.    Source: Esin Deniz/Adobe Stock

By Robbie Mitchell

This summer marked another milestone in an ongoing archaeological excavation in northwest Bükk, Hungary, where a team of specialists is excavating the remains of an ancient village atop the Verebce-bérc mountain. The archaeologists uncovered the charred remains of buildings that were burnt down during a violent attack that brought an abrupt end to the settlement, which was flourishing in the 6th and 7th centuries BC.

Additionally, a comprehensive metal detector survey of the surrounding area yielded a significant collection of metal objects: a treasure trove of over 60 bronze and iron objects, many of which appear to have been hastily buried during the siege in an effort to safeguard them from looting: this is an indication to how sudden and violent the attack likely was.

Left; Remains of a wooden building presumably burned during the attack. Right; The rubble of another building contained a mass of burned, imprinted pieces of plaster. (Institute of Archaeology of ELTE BTK)

An Iron Working Centre, A Site of Violent Siege

The collection consists largely of jewelry and horse harness components revealing connections to broader cultural trends in southeastern Europe, says a press release by the Institute of Archaeology of ELTE BTK (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities). In fact, there are loose similarities between the artifacts and those found in the Balkan region, highlighting the extensive trade networks and cultural exchanges that linked this village with distant communities during the Iron Age.

The village or perhaps hillfort at Dédestapolcsány-Verebce was violently destroyed by Scythian warriors, originating from the Pontic Steppe (modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia). Evidence of this dramatic event has been uncovered through archaeological investigations, with hundreds of early Scythian bronze arrowheads found scattered throughout the site during other investigations.

In addition to the evidence of the attack, the hillfort site has yielded a wealth of material indicating that Dédestapolcsány-Verebce was a significant ironworking center: a high concentration of iron blooms, along with over 600 objects, suggest that the settlement played a key role in the production and processing of iron during the Iron Age.

Brain and Young Intellect: A Successful Research Project

Led by a group of university researchers with expertise in the Bronze and Iron Ages, the project has now reached its sixth year, with the current phase representing the third official excavation season. The team, comprised of students, professionals, and local volunteers, who’ve provided their inputs.

Several renowned archaeologists from across Europe have joined the team, including Bernhard Heeb, a highly regarded archaeologist from Berlin, whose focus on prehistoric metallurgy has been instrumental in analyzing the metal artifacts found at the site, and Martin Golec, a professor at the University of Olomouc, whose archaeological knowledge has been invaluable to the broader analysis of the site, reports LBV Magazine.

Central to the success of the excavation is the involvement of young researchers who bring fresh perspectives and energy to the project. One of the standout contributors is Mogyorós Péter, a PhD student who has played a key role in the research. Mogyorós began his academic journey in 2017 at Eötvös Loránd University, where he focused on prehistoric archaeology, with a particular interest in migration-era societies. Now working towards his doctorate, Mogyorós is also collaborating with the Budapest Historical Museum, where he contributes to both the fieldwork and the broader research agenda, reports Arkeonews.

The project has crucially served as a platform for training the next generation of archaeologists, offering students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the field, working under the guidance of seasoned professionals, learning excavation techniques, artifact preservation, and the methods of archaeological interpretation.

Top image: The bundle of Bronze and Iron objects retrieved at Bükk, Hungary.  Source: Institute of Archaeology of ELTE BTK

By Sahir Pandey

References
Altuntas, L. 2024. A 2700-year-old collection of more than 60 bronze and iron objects found in Bükk in north-western Hungary. Available at: https://arkeonews.net/a-2700-year-old-collection-of-more-than-60-bronze-and-iron-objects-found-in-bukk-in-north-western-hungary/.

Carvajal, G. 2024. A Treasure of Bronze and Iron Objects Hidden During the Attack That Destroyed a Prehistoric Village, Found in Hungary. Available at: https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/10/a-treasure-of-bronze-and-iron-objects-hidden-during-the-attack-that-destroyed-a-prehistoric-village-found-in-hungary/.

Milligan, M. 2024. Archaeologists uncover deposits of Iron Age objects at Dédestapolcsány-Verebce. Available at: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/10/archaeologists-uncover-deposits-of-iron-age-objects-at-dedestapolcsany-verebce/153559.

For the second time in the past eight years, astronomers examining stars in the Milky Way close to Earth discovered a planet orbiting one of these celestial objects. The first such discovery took place in 2016, when astronomers identified an exoplanet (the name for any planet beyond our solar system) orbiting the star Proxima Centauri in the 4.2-light-years-distant Alpha Centauri solar system. The latest discovery was confirmed earlier this year, when professional stargazers positively identified a small-sized planet circling a lone solar traveler known as Barnard’s star, a red dwarf that can be found 5.96 light-years from Earth.

This planet was found by researchers affiliated with the Europe Southern Observatory (ESO), using a Very Large Telescope (VLT) array installed by the ESO on the summit of Cerro Paranal mountain in the Atacama Desert region of northern Chile.

This extremely sensitive and powerful array of four interconnected telescopes includes an instrument known as the Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO), which can detect tiny gravitational wobbles in the orbit of a faraway star caused by another celestial body orbiting around it. The newly discovered planet caused these wobbles in the motion of Barnard’s star, and further analysis of the orbital path of this planet over a five-year period verified its true identity.

The setting Sun dips below the horizon of the Pacific Ocean, bathing the Paranal platform and the Very Large Telescope in light in this amazing aerial image from the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. (ESO/G. Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/CC BY 4.0)

While the three-star Alpha Centauri system is the nearest multi-star system to Earth, Barnard’s star is the closest single star (with the exception of the Sun, also a single star). Its red dwarf status is shared by 70% of the other stars in the Milky Way galaxy (there are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy in total), and if other red dwarf systems also have planets it means the number of planets in the Milky Way in total could approach or even surpass the one trillion mark.

Introducing Barnard’s b, Earth’s Next-Door Neighbor (Relatively Speaking)

This newly discovered planet is estimated to have less mass than the Earth (about half the mass of Venus, to be more exact). It has been given the name Barnard’s b, and it was found to have an orbital path that puts it approximately 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers) from the surface of its sun.

This is only five percent of the distance between our Sun and Mercury. However, the planet does not burn up because Barnard’s star is a red dwarf that produces a surface temperature that is only half that of the Sun. This explains why the temperature on the surface of exoplanet Barnard’s b is much lower than the temperature on Mercury (125° Celsius vs. 430° Celsius), despite being so close to its star.

Despite this huge difference, Barnard’s b is no more capable of supporting life than Mercury.

“Barnard b is one of the lowest-mass exoplanets known and one of the few known with a mass less than that of Earth,” stated study lead author Jonay González Hernández, a researcher from Spain’s Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in a European Southern Observatory press release.

“But the planet is too close to the host star, closer than the habitable zone. Even if the star is about 2,500 degrees [Fahrenheit] cooler than our sun, it is too hot to maintain liquid water on the surface.”

Planet Hunters Celebrate

Astronomers from around the world have been studying Barnard’s star intently for many years, looking for among other things evidence that it might have planets. Its proximity has made it a relatively easy planet to study, and the fact that it is a red dwarf also made it an attractive target for exoplanet hunters.

Because red dwarfs have less mass than other types of stars (Barnard’s star is 80% less massive than the Sun), wobbles in their movements caused by planets are easier to detect.

Another advantage of looking for planets near red dwarfs is the stars’ relatively low production of heat. They have a smaller habitable zone (called the “Goldilocks zone” by astronomers) in comparison to brighter stars that radiate more heat, meaning the search for planets that could have liquid water on their surfaces—and possibly support life—has to cover a less expanse area of space.

Another advantage still is that planets attached to red dwarfs complete their orbits quite quickly (a year on Barnard’s b is only three Earth days long), so astronomers are able to monitor and evaluate the nature of their movements in a shorter period of time.

Interestingly, the conventional theory of planet formation suggests red dwarfs are at a disadvantage when it comes to planet formation. In comparison to hotter stars like the Sun they are less rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and these elements are believed to be essential to the creation of solid planetary-like bodies.

But as this new research shows, red dwarfs can indeed form planets, regardless of any obstacles that might prohibit such an outcome.

Artistic impression of an exoplanet orbiting a Red Dwarf. (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani/CC BY 4.0)

There May Be Exoplanets Galore in the Barnard’s Star System

All the detailed observations and mathematical calculations that allowed the ESO-affiliated researchers to find this exoplanet are explained in a new article just published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

As exciting as this discovery was, there may be other thrills coming soon for the exoplanet hunters scoping out the Barnard’s star solar system. As they explain in their journal article, the team of researchers found clues to suggest that there may at least three other planets circling around this modestly-sized red dwarf, and there are hopes that one or more of these planets will be found within the Goldilocks zone.

In the coming months and years the team members will be relying on the ESPRESSO technology to verify the existence of these astronomical bodies.

“We now need to continue observing this star to confirm the other candidate signals,” said study coauthor Alejandro Suárez Mascareño, another researcher from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.

“The discovery of this planet, along with other previous discoveries such as Proxima b and d, shows that our cosmic backyard is full of low-mass planets.”

If indeed any of these planets are found within the star’s temperate zone, it raises the possibility that they might support some kind of life—although this will likely remain impossible to prove.

Top image: This artist’s impression shows Barnard b, a sub-Earth-mass planet that was discovered orbiting Barnard’s star.           Source: ESO/M. Kornmesser

By Nathan Falde

The long history of Egyptian afterlife writings began during the 3rd millennium BC, when the body of compositions known as the Pyramid Texts were carved onto the walls and coffins of the pyramids of Old Kingdom rulers at Saqqara, the necropolis of the ancient capital of Memphis. The function of the writings was to ensure that the ‘spiritual’ components of the deceased—the Ba and the Ka—were reunited after separating upon the death of the material body. The unification of these spiritual elements caused the deceased to be reborn as an Akh, which may be described as a transcendent, celestial being. As summarily explained by James Allen (2005:7):

“At death, the ka separated from the body. In order for an individual to survive as a spirit in the afterlife, the ba had to be reunited with its ka, its life force: in the Pyramid Texts and elsewhere, the deceased are called ‘those who have gone to their kas.’ The resultant spiritual entity was known as an akh: literally, an ‘effective’ being. No longer subject to the entropy of a physical body or the limitations of physical existence, the akh was capable of living eternally, not merely on earth but also in the larger cosmic plane inhabited by the gods.”

The Pyramid Texts established the two themes that would permeate Egyptian afterlife literature for thousands of years: transfiguration and reintegration. Through a ritualized process of embalming, mummification, and entombment the deceased would be reborn into an immortalized condition with access to the various planes of being. From the earliest times the journey of the Ba-soul of the deceased to attain this blessed condition was correlated with that of the Sun god Re as he traveled through the underworld at night following sunset and to then unite with Osiris so as to emerge reborn at dawn. The deceased was therefore closely associated with the forms assumed by Re during his journey across the sky during the day and through the nethersky in the underworld at night.

The Greco-Roman Renaissance

The above-mentioned themes informed Egyptian afterlife texts throughout the ages, including the Coffin Texts, The Book of Amduat, The Book of Gates, The Book of Caverns, The Books of the Sky, and The Book of the Dead. While these texts are well-known in both academic and non-professional circles, what has received considerably less attention is the fact that the last centuries of the Egyptian civilization when the country was under Greek and then Roman rule witnessed a virtual renaissance in the field of afterlife literature.

Pyramid text utterance 302-312 (Unas pyramid). (Public Domain)

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Top image: Depiction of Pharaohs and Egyptian gods.        Source: Creative mind / Adobe Stock

By Jason Jarrell

Born in Greek mythology, Orpheus is an ancient Thracian prophet, the founder of religious-philosophical teaching Orphism, and according to ancient authors he was also a singer, musician, and poet. Numerous ancient authors call him the greatest singer and poet of antiquity. He was the founder of religious rites called orphic mysteries, which became popular in the Hellenistic world in the era after the conquests of Alexander III of Macedon, i.e., after 323 BC up to 30 BC.

Orpheus is credited with the authorship of a large number of hymns called Orphic, which praised the deities of nature. Through these hymns, Orpheus taught his countrymen to pay respects to the nature. His teaching was an attempt to ennoble the harsh manners very common at his time and to improve the culture of people.

Among the numerous variants of the Orphic legends, the most sustainable are those of his amazing gift as a musician and singer. His initial canonized image is the tamer of the wild world through music created by his miraculous lyre.

But the recovery of the biographical facts from life of the mythological figure of Orpheus is an uncommonly difficult and risky task, not immune to mistakes. However, a closer look over the ancient sources can help to recover at least partially the personality of the ancient prophet.

Where Did Orpheus Come From?

Let’s first focus on Orpheus’ origin and ethnicity. In Western scholarship it is accepted that Orpheus belongs to Greek history and culture. Orpheus had indeed a huge influence over ancient Greek culture, but his origin is not Greek, as evidenced by numerous ancient texts. There are straight statements in ancient sources written by respected ancient scholars that reveal unequivocally the origin and ethnicity of Orpheus.

Orpheus mosaic at Dominican Museum, Rottweil, Germany. (Public Domain)

The ancient Greek geographer and author of ‘Description of Greece’ Pausanias wrote:

“This Egyptian thought that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were clever magicians, and that it was through their enchantments that the beasts came to Orpheus.”

In another chapter of the same work, Pausanias mentions the following:

“Of the gods, the Aeginetans worship most Hecate, in whose honor every year they celebrate mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thracian established among them.”

The ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus mentioned a brief biographical article of Orpheus in his work ‘Bibliotheca Historica’. Here is part of it:

“Since we have mentioned Orpheus, it will not be inappropriate for us in passing to speak briefly about him. He was the son of Oeagrus, a Thracian by birth, and in culture and song-music and poesy he far surpassed all men of whom we have a record. […] He journeyed to Egypt, where he further increased his knowledge and so became the greatest man among the Greeks both for his knowledge of the gods and for their rites as well as for his poems and songs.”

Orpheus with the lyre and surrounded by beasts. Byzantine & Christian Museum. (Ricardo André Frantz (Tetraktys)/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Diodorus Siculus specifically mentions that Orpheus was a Thracian by birth but also by culture. ​Therefore, it is important to clarify that the Thracians and the Greeks are two different ancient peoples who live in the Balkans but speak different languages ​​and each of them develops its own specific culture.

The Thracians first settled on the Balkan Peninsula around 3500 BC according to archaeological data. (For comparison, scholars believe that the Greeks settled in the Balkans around 1900 BC).

Unlike the Greeks, who were mostly a sea people, Thracian culture was associated with the land primarily. (According to some ancient sources the Thracians had their own fleet, but their culture developed mainly in the Balkan lands.)

The Thracians built solid stone fortresses even high in the mountains, produced very high-quality wine, but also cultivated wheat, oats, flax, hemp and other crops. The Thracians mined gold in the bowels of the Rhodope Mountains, and mastered metalworking, creating magnificent gold and silver works of art. They also raised numerous herds of large and small cattle. And they also bred horses, whose qualities were mentioned with admiration even by Homer in the Iliad.

The Thracians fought on the side of the Trojans in the Trojan War, according to the ancient epic text. Actually, both the horses and the chariots of the Thracians were so impressive that they were described by Homer in the Iliad with great admiration:

“There are the Thracians, who have lately come here and lie apart from the others at the far end of the camp; and they have Rhesus son of Eioneus for their king. His horses are the finest and strongest that I have ever seen, they are whiter than snow and fleeter than any wind that blows. His chariot is bedight with silver and gold, and he has brought his marvelous golden armor, of the rarest workmanship – too splendid for any mortal man to carry and meet only for the gods.” (Homer, The Iliad, Book X)

The ancient historian Pliny the Elder wrote that Orpheus descended from Thracian tribes as well:

“About the shores of the Euxine, the Moriseni and the Sithonii, the forefathers of the poet Orpheus dwell.”

The Moriseni and the Sithonii are Thracian tribes who originally lived on the shores of the Black Sea, later the Sithonis migrated southwest to the Halkidiki peninsula.

There is great controversy in the ancient texts about the birthplace of Orpheus. At least six different geographical locations claim to be the birthplace of Orpheus, according to the descriptions of the ancient authors. Here are just some of them:

1. Ancient city of Pimpleia, modern central Greece (according to Strabo, Geography)

2. Ancient city of Leibethra, modern central Greece (according to Suda Encyclopedia)

3. Ancient city of Maroneia and the lands of the Thracian tribe of Ciconians, modern Western Thrace (according to Pomponius Mela, Chorographia)

4. Lands of the Thracian tribe Bessoi, Western Rhodope Mountains, modern Bulgaria (according to Plutarch)

5. Lands of the Thracian tribe Odryssians, Northern Thrace, modern Bulgaria (according to Ioannis Tzetzes, Book of Histories, John Malalas, and other ancient authors)

6. The Black Sea coast north of Balkan Mountain, modern Bulgaria (according to Pliny the Elder, Natural History).

Orphic mosaics were found in many late-Roman villas. (Giovanni Dall’Orto/Wikimedia Commons)

When was Orpheus Around?

Identifying the era when Orpheus lived is a very difficult task. Restoring the exact year of birth of the ancient prophet is impossible based on the ancient sources that reached modern times.

The most precise source regarding the time when Orpheus lived is the Suda Encyclopedia. This is a medieval source probably from the 10th century AD. What is valuable in this source is that the authors of the encyclopedia had access to ancient written sources, which later were lost and are not available to modern research.

According to Suda Encyclopedia, Orpheus was born 11 generations before the Trojan War. Dating the Trojan War is a problem in itself. More than 10 ancient authors provide different dates regarding the time Trojan War took place. The sources did not coincide with each other.

In order to simplify the analysis, the present study refers to Plato’s dating. According to Plato, the Trojan War began in 1193 BC. Eleven generations is imprecise information that prevents calculation of the exact number of years. But if we assume that the average interval between two generations is about 25 years, then 11 generations before 1193 BC sends us in the middle of the 15th century BC. For a simplified presentation, it can be assumed that Orpheus was born around 1450 BC.

Important sites in the life and travels of Orpheus (MaryroseB54/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Orpheus the Heretic

Orpheus was a kind of heretic of his time. He interpreted the messages of the gods in violation of the religious dogmas of his epoch. This is a very characteristic feature of a Prophet-Reformer. Orpheus rejected the religious practices of his time and began to alter them. The ancient Alexandrian geographer and scholar Eratosthenes of Cyrene wrote the following:

 “Orpheus did not honor Dionysus but considered the Sun to be the greatest of the gods, whom also he called Apollo; and arising during the night, he ascended before dawn the mountain called Pangaion that he might first catch sight of the Sun, therefore Dionysus was enraged and sent the Bassaridae against him, and they tore him to pieces…”

Ancient historian Diodorus Siculus left the following information about Orpheus:

“Orpheus was a man of natural genius and superlative training, who introduced many changes into the rites of the Mysteries: hence they called the rites which had their origin in Dionysus, Orphic.”

It is obvious that Orpheus was a prophet of the religion of Light, a worshiper of the Spiritual Sun and a reformer of popular orgies, organized in honor of the god Dionysus by introducing mysterious worship into earlier rituals. The result is that Orpheus was killed by supporters of the older, dogmatized and probably degenerate cult of the god Dionysus.

Orpheus (left, with lyre) among the Thracians, from an Attic red-figure bell-krater (c. 440 BC (Metropolitan Museum of Art/CC BY 2.5)

Orphic Teachings

Orphic teaching gives other important information to its followers about the nature of the human soul. According to Orphic teachings, the body is a prison for the soul. For this reason, the Orphic followers identified Hades with the physical universe and linked him to the incarnation’s imprisonment. Orpheus therefore teaches people the mysteries in order for the human soul to be able to escape this bondage through catharsis or purification.

The Orphic doctrines of the pre-existence, the penance, the reincarnation and the final purification of the soul seem to have been amplified with considerable detail in the lost Orphic Manual entitled “The Descent into the Realm of Hades”, in which were described the vicissitudes endured by the immortal soul, preparatory to its final freedom by penance from the Cycle of Birth.

There is a scientific notion that Dionysus was the first god who gave people the opportunity to be saved from the bondage of Hades (the cycle of rebirth in a material body), but Orpheus’ refusal to worship the god Dionysus does not confirm such a hypothesis. Of course, Orpheus can be seen as a reformer of the already corrupt mysteries practiced in his age and a return to the original teaching of Dionysus, which probably existed many centuries before the appearance of Orpheus.

In conclusion – after removing the mythological veil from the numerous legends about Orpheus described in ancient texts, the following facts from the life of the ancient prophet can be summarized:

1. He was an ancient Thracian prophet, born in the family of the ancient Thracian king Oeagrus.

2. He was born in present-day southern Bulgaria or in present-day central Greece, but he traveled to many places in the Balkans, and probably to ancient Egypt.

3. He probably lived in the 15th century BC.

4. He was the most virtuoso musician of the ancient world since he is remembered as such.

5. He performed cardinal religious reforms in the much older mysteries of the god Dionysus.

6. After his death, Orpheus was deified, and his image was mythologized.

7. His religious reforms had an impact for at least 14 centuries after his death since the Orphic religion was practiced until the end of the Hellenistic period – around the middle of the first century BC.

Top image: Orpheus charming the animals, mosaic. Source: cascoly2 / Adobe Stock                     

By Daniel Ganchev

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exist countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. 

An interdisciplinary research team has made a startling discovery at a prehistoric grave site in Spain’s Granada: a striking imbalance in the burials, with twice as many women as men! This gender bias is even more pronounced among juveniles, where the ratio stands at a whopping 10 females for every male. Can the researchers find an explanation?

Orthophotography with the location of the 9 excavated tombs at Panoría cemetery. Inset, location of the cemetery. (Marta, DZ.B.et al. / Scientific Reports)

The Panoría megalithic necropolis, situated at the easternmost point of Sierra Harana, consists of at least 19 graves, nine of which were excavated between 2015 and 2019. The research and excavations have been led by the Archaeometry research group from the University of Tübingen and the GEA research group from the University of Granada. “The Panoría population shows a clear sex ratio imbalance in favor of females, with twice as many females as males,” scientists wrote in the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

A Clear Sex Ratio Imbalance: the Science

These collective burial sites have yielded more than 55,000 skeletal remains. Radiocarbon dating places the first interments at around 5,600 years ago, with the site in intermittent use until about 4,100 years ago.

The researchers employed new bioarchaeological techniques to determine the chromosomal sex of the individuals buried here. Researchers analyzed DNA and a protein called amelogenin, found in tooth enamel, to create a detailed demographic profile of those interred. These cutting-edge methods are crucial for studying human remains where traditional skeletal analysis alone may not provide reliable sex identification, especially when the bones are fragmented or degraded.

Amelogenin was key to this study because it plays a critical role in identifying biological sex, as its levels differ greatly between males and females. By studying this protein in the teeth of the individuals buried at Panoría, researchers were able to obtain a precise and reliable profile of the sex distribution within the population.

Human bone remains from Phase A from Tomb 11 with an articulated individual. (Marta, DZ.B.et al. / Scientific Reports)

A Stark Imbalance: Matrilineal Descent?

The results revealed a significant gender imbalance, with female burials far outnumbering males. This discrepancy was consistent across all age groups and throughout the entire period of the necropolis’s use.

Such a stark imbalance is highly unusual, as human populations typically exhibit a near 1:1 male-to-female ratio. Only in exceptional cases—such as during times of conflict, war, or mass migration—does the ratio tend to skew heavily in one direction, reports a press announcement.

However, these explanations don’t seem to apply to Panoría, as the gender bias appears in all the graves and spans several centuries, suggesting a long-term, socially driven practice rather than the result of isolated events.

The question remains: what caused this enduring gender bias in the Panoría necropolis?

Given that the skewed ratio persists across all the graves, age groups, and time periods, it seems likely that this was a deliberate social decision rather than the outcome of random or extraordinary events.

One possibility is that the burial practices reflect a matrilineal society, where family lineage and social identity were determined through the maternal line. This could explain why female burials dominate the site and why young males may be largely absent—perhaps they joined other kin groups through male exogamy, a practice observed in many anthropological studies, reports LBV Magazine.

The over-representation of women in the necropolis could indicate a female-centered social structure, where gender played a significant role in shaping funerary customs and cultural traditions. Ultimately, the findings suggest that Panoría may have been home to a society where women held a central place, both in life and in death.

Top image: Aerial view of the necropolis at Panoría in Granada, Spain.                  Source: Marta, DZ.B.et al. / Scientific Reports

By Sahir Pandey

After Pergamon and Sardis (see here), two other great cities of western Asia had their turn to receive Hadrian and his party, Smyrna and Ephesus. Both metropoleis were perennial rivals, competing with each other for first place in the province and the granting of the acclaimed title neokoros. Travelling with Hadrian was one of the most renowned sophists of his time, Marcus Antonius Polemon, who was to use his rhetorical skills for the benefit of his adopted home, the Ionian city of Smyrna (Philostr. VS 530–31).

Born in Laodicea on the Lycus in Phrygia, Polemon attended Smyrna’s schools of rhetoric as a youth, where he received civic honours from the citizens for his services to the city. One of Polemon’s talents was to plead causes before the rulers of the Empire. Trajan granted the orator the privilege of unrestricted travel, a favour later extended by Hadrian. He then became an ambassador to Hadrian and served on many missions for the Emperor, including delivering the inauguration speech at the consecration of the Olympieion at Athens in 131/132. According to Philostratus (VS 1.25.1–4), Polemon persuaded Hadrian to spend ten million drachmae on Smyrna in a single day, from which the city built a “grain market, the most magnificent of all those in Asia” and “a temple that can be seen from afar”.

Smyrna has a long history and is traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Homer (Strabo 14.1.37). It was founded by the Aeolians at the beginning of the first millennium BC and later by the Ionians. Smyrna quickly became an important seaport and a thriving commercial centre on the Aegean coast. It was renowned as one of the most magnificent cities in Asia Minor (Strabo 14.646). Located about forty miles north of Ephesus, it occupied a beautiful territory at the mouth of a gulf. The Ionian city first rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia. The original town, now called “Old Smyrna”, was located northeast of the Gulf of Smyrna. It was known for its magnificent temple, which was dedicated to Athena. However, Old Smyrna was attacked and destroyed by the Lydian king Alyattes around 627 BC, and it remained abandoned for 400 years.

Smyrna was re-established during the time of Alexander the Great. A new and larger city was built on the slope of Mount Pagus. Legend has it that while on a hunting expedition there, the Macedonian king fell asleep under a tree and had a dream in which two Nemeses instructed him to build a city on that very spot. Mount Pagus then became the acropolis of New Smyrna. However, Alexander did not live to carry this plan into effect, which was only accomplished by his successors Antigonus and Lysimachus. Nemesis first appeared on Smyrnean coins in the 1st century AD and became more frequent in the 2nd century, with the introduction of the double Nemesis during the reign of Hadrian. Smyrna’s founding myth of Alexander’s hunt on Mount Pagos must have caught the attention of the Emperor, who had just experienced a successful bear hunt in Mysia (see here). His hunting activities in the area also left such a deep impression on the citizens of Stratonicea-Hadrianopolis that they later worshipped him as Zeus Kynegesios (Zeus the Hunter).

The new Hellenistic city (New Smyrna) was located twenty stadia south of Old Smyrna. It was renowned among ancient writers for its beauty, fine wines, beautiful buildings, and wealth. According to Strabo (Strab. 14.1.37), the streets of Smyrna were well paved with stone, and the city contained several squares, porticoes, fountains, a public library, and numerous temples and other public buildings. A temple dedicated to Zeus Akraios (Zeus dwelling on the tops of mountains) stood on the slopes of Mount Pagus, and the city possessed a harbour where the Temple of the Mother Goddess and the gymnasium stood. Strabo also mentions a “Homereium, a quadrangular portico containing a shrine and wooden statue of Homer. For the Smyrnaeans, above all others, urge the claims of their city to be the birthplace of Homer, and they have a sort of brass money.” The coins, a testament to Homer’s status in Smyrna, show him on the reverse seated, holding a scroll and resting his chin on his hand in a contemplative pose.

After establishing the Roman Province of Asia in 133 BC, Smyrna was rewarded with various grants and privileges, having sided with the Romans against the war with Mithridates. In AD 26, the city became a major centre for the imperial cult and was granted the privilege of building a local temple for Emperor Tiberius, earning the title of first neokoria. Coins struck between AD 29/30 and 34/35 during the administration of the proconsul Publius Petronius depicted Tiberius as pontifex in his completed temple on the reverse with Tiberius’ mother Livia and the personified Senate on the obverse (RPC I, 2469).

Thanks to Polemon’s interventions, Smyrna was allowed to build a second provincial temple dedicated to Hadrian and acquired the title of neokoros for the second time. Hadrian thus became the first emperor to allow more than one city in the same koinon (provincial league) to build a provincial temple to his own cult: first, Cyzicus (see here), then Smyrna, and later Ephesus (Burrell, 2003 & 2004). Hadrian’s generous gifts and benefactions to Smyrna during his visit in the summer of 124 are detailed in Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists and confirmed by an inscription (Smyrna 54).

Polemon so entirely converted Hadrian to the cause of Smyrna [from that of Ephesus] that in one day the Emperor lavished on Smyrna ten million [drachmae], with which were built a corn market a gymnasium—the most magnificent of all those in Asia, and a temple that can be seen from afar, the one on the promontory that seems to challenge Mimas. Philostratos, Lives of the Sophists 1.25.2 (531)

The forty-five-line inscription lists the benefactions of Hadrian, as mentioned by Philostratus, along with twenty-five other men and women, as well as the collective contributions of the Jews and the gifts they gave toward the construction and embellishment of the gymnasium complex (Boatwright, 2000). The grandeur of this building is evident from the mentioned gifts, such as a basilica with bronze doors, a columned anointing room with a gilt roof, a porticoed palm court with gardens, a temple of Tyche, and a sunroom (Burrell, 2004). The passage of Hadrian’s benefactions received through Polemon (lines 33–42) reports the second neocoria, festival games, the appointments of theologoi and hymnodoi, a great sum of money (although it differs from Philoststratos’ account), and columns for the gymnasium itself “… we obtained from the Lord Caesar Hadrian through Antonius Polemo: a second decree of the Senate through which we have become twice neōkoroi, a sacred contest, tax exemption, theologoi, hymnōdoi, one million and five hundred thousand, for the aleiptērion 72 pillars from Synnada, 20 Numidian, 6 of porphyry.”

The granting of the second neokoria is attested by another inscription (Smyrna 93), a presumably imperial letter confirming this special honour and mentioning the Roman consuls in office in AD 124. On this basis, this date is regarded as the terminus post quem for the inscription. The façade of a six-column Ionic temple can be seen on the reverse of the coins of Hadrian issued in Smyrna under the administration of Strategos Sextus (RPC III, 1970). Whether these coins represent the second provincial temple cannot be confirmed as the legend ‘neokoros’ is absent, and the same temple appears on the coins under Nero (RPC I, 2489). The first neokoros legend appears on the coins struck under Caracalla, which specifically identifies the temple of Hadrian among the three for which Smyrna was neokoros and shows his cuirassed figure as the cult image within it. The legend on the reverse of the coin proclaims the city as “three times neokoros of the Augusti” (see here).

Archaeologically, no concrete evidence has been discovered to prove the existence of the temple of Hadrian in Smyrna. However, Philostratus’ topographical remarks may help locate and identify the sacred place. The remains of the temenos of a large east-facing temple and scattered pieces of marble were unearthed directly overlooking the gulf in the Değirmentepe neighbourhood of Izmir in 1824/1825. The placement fits Philostratus’ description. This site could be described as an akra (meaning a height or a cape on the seacoast) and is visible from afar, situated on the city’s northwestern edge, closest to Mimas, a mountain range that runs across the Erythrae peninsula (Boatwright 2000 & Burrell, 2004). The temple’s foundations were dated by the nineteenth-century investigator Graf Anton Prokesch von Osten, who attributed them to the Hadrianic or Antonine period. Von Osten inferred that the temple originally had ten Corinthian columns on its short side and perhaps twenty-three on its long side (dimensions comparable to those of the Temple of Olympieion Zeus).

With no certainty as to whom the temple was dedicated, some scholars have claimed that Asclepius (mentioned by Pausanias 7.5.9), Zeus Akraios, or Hadrian were the deities worshipped there. Mary T. Boatwright suggests that the temple was originally dedicated to Zeus Akraios and was later transferred to belong to the cult of Hadrian when the city gained the second title of neokoros. Burrell, however, argues that the temple was dedicated to the worship of Hadrian himself, “neither with nor as Zeus”, as in Cyzicus and Ephesus (Burrell, 2002).

In addition to the sacred festival granted by Hadrian in 124, in which Polemon served as agonothetes, the city of Smyrna later established the Hadrianeia Olympia athletic games following Hadrian’s second visit to the city. These games included musical and dramatic competitions and were considered very important, as many Smyrnaeans who won were honoured in their city and abroad (Tataki, 2009). The sacred games were held in the stadium of Smyrna, where the Smyrnaeans dedicated altars to Hadrian Olympios (Smyrna 106 & Smyrna 104). Associations, too, honoured the Emperor. The initiate (mystai) of Dionysos Breiseus set up a monument in honour of Hadrian, “Olympios, saviour, and founder”. Smyrna’s gratitude towards Hadrian was further expressed by taking the title Hadriane (Birley, 1997).

The initiates (mystai) of the great Dionysos Breiseus before the city honoured emperor Trajan Hadrian Caesar Augustus Olympios, saviour and founder. This was done under the supervision of Dikaios Heliodoros, son of Alexandros, their own treasurer (tamias).

Polemon continued to act on behalf of Smyrna to the end of his life. Following his appointment as Smyrna’s strategos ca. 134/135, he issued an impressive number of medallions of Antinous, as well as coins for Hadrian as Zeus (RPC III, 1972) and Sabina (RPC III, 1974). The Antinous medallions portray animals associated with the cults of Dionysus, Hermes, and Attis (Men): a female panther, a ram, and a bull, linking the Bithynian boy with these deities.

The rivalry between Smyrna and its neighbours, Ephesos and Pergamon, continued in the following years. Each of the three cities claimed to be metropolis of Asia, and all kept a jealous eye on the others’ honours and titles. In ca. AD 143, Polemon was appointed to defend ‘the temples and their rights’ before the Emperor. This mission was probably ‘necessitated by some question of relationships among rival neokoroi cities in the koinon’ (Burrell, 2004). A letter from Antoninus Pius (see here) further indicates that there was a dispute between the three cities about the proper use of honorific titles. The tense situation continued until the time of Marcus Aurelius when the famous orator Aelius Aristides pleaded before the provincial assembly for the establishment of concord (homonoia) between the three cities (Aristid. Or. 23).

After Polemon’s death, one of the most important orators who made Smyrna his home and his cause was Aelius Aristides (AD 117-181). He pleaded before the provincial assembly for the establishment of concord (homonoia) between Smyrna, Ephesos and Pergamon (Aristid. Or. 23). In AD 178, a major earthquake hit Smyrna, destroying most of the city. Aristides wrote a letter of appeal to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus (Aristid. Or. 19) that was so instrumental in securing imperial funds for rebuilding that Philostratus would write, “To say that Aristides founded Smyrna is no mere boastful eulogy but most just and true.” (Philostr. VS 582-583). A bronze statue of Aristides was set up in the marketplace of Smyrna, inscribed, “For his goodness and speeches”.

The rebuilding efforts commenced soon after the earthquake with assistance from Marcus Aurelius, as evidenced by a depiction of his wife, Faustina the Younger, still discernible above an arch of the western colonnade of the Agora (see here). One prominent figure who governed Smyrna in the 3rd century AD was Cassius Dio, the well-known Roman statesman and chronicler famous for his 80-volume Roman History and his account of Hadrian’s reign. Emperor Macrinus appointed him to this esteemed position in AD 218.

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From Smyrna, Hadrian seems to have visited Erythrae on the coast facing Chios, apparently travelling by ship (Birley, 2007). The city founded a festival called the Megala Hadrianeia Epibateria (‘Great Hadrianic Landing Festival’), which, as its name suggests, celebrated Hadrian’s visit to the Erythrae peninsula (Erythrai 94).

The homeland and the sacred theatrical synod honoured Antonia Tyrannis Juliane, who was director of contests for the Great Hadrianeian Epibaterian contests in a glorious and trustworthy manner. They set up the statue from their own resources.

According to Pausanias (7.3.7), Erythrae was founded by Cretan settlers under the leadership of Erythros the Red, son of Rhadamanthys. Afterwards, the city was expanded and improved by the Ionian colonists led by Knopos, a descendent of Kodros, the last legendary Athenian king (Strab. 14.633). The eponymous hero Erythros is explicitly mentioned as such on a coin from the mid-3rd century AD -ΕΡΥΘΡΟΣ ΚΤΙΣΤΗΣ ΕΡΥ (‘Erythros, founder of the Ery(thraeans)- (RPC VI 4720). However, Erythrae had a multi-ethnic population with Lycians, Carians, and Pamphylians, also referred to by literary sources. Erythrae had a proud history to look back on as it belonged to the Panionion (or Ionian League), the political league of twelve Ionian cities, founded in the mid-7th century BC. It consisted of the following cities: Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Teos, Colophon, Erythrae, Clazomenae, Phocaea, Samos, Chios, and later Smyrna was added. This union served as a means of strengthening the national, social, and political cohesion of different populations that came from mainland Greece. 

The city was notable for being the seat of the Erythraean sibyls, Herophile and Athenais, the prophetesses presiding over the Apollonian oracle. Herophile is often credited for having predicted both the coming of Alexander the Great and the Greek victory of Troy and Homer’s telling of the story. In Christian tradition, however, the Sybil is also said to have prophesied the coming of the Redeemer with the acrostic “ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΕΙΣΤΟΣ ΘΕΟΥ ΥΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ” (“Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior, Cross”).

After the death of Attalos III in 133 BC, the Pergamene kingdom was bequeathed to the Romans, and Erythrae flourished as a free city (civitas libera) attached to the Roman province of Asia. However, its importance faded after the earthquakes of that region in the 1st century AD. In his Description of Greece, Pausanias writes that a temple of Athena Polias stood on the Acropolis and a huge wooden image of her sitting on a throne (Paus. 7.5.9). The temple was built in the second half of the 8th century BC and was expanded with various additions in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Terracotta goddess figures have been excavated in the eastern part of the temple, and Kore sculptures dated to the 6th century BC (see here).

The Hellenistic theatre at Erythrae, cut into the north slope of the Acropolis hill and constructed in the 4th century BC, was restored in AD 124 on the occasion of the visit to Hadrian to the city when the cavea and the analemma walls of the double diazoma were repaired. The orchestra was transformed into an arena at this time or later.

The Panionian League certainly appealed to Hadrian. At Teos, the Emperor was to be honoured with the name “Panionio” (Πανιώνιος) toward the end of his reign, granted to him by the Ionian League in conjunction with his titles Olympios and Panhellenios. The seat and sacred meeting place of the Ionians was called Panionion and was located north of Mykale, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Smyrna (opposite Samos). There, the Panionian games took place in honour of Poseidon Helikonios, which included annual festivals and libations and featured, among other things, poetic competitions. Herodotus describes it as follows:

The Panionion is a sacred ground in Mykale, facing north; it was set apart for Poseidon of Helicon by the joint will of the Ionians. Mykale is a western promontory of the mainland opposite Samos; the Ionians used to assemble there from their cities and keep the festival to which they gave the name of Panionia. Not only the Ionian festivals, but all those of all the Greeks alike, end in the same letter, just as do the names of the Persians. (Hdt. 1.148)

The Panionion was a sacred precinct located on the top of a hill on the northern side of Mykale. A monumental altar (4.26 m × 17.78 m), presumed to be the altar of Poseidon, surrounded by an unfinished temenos wall, was excavated by German archaeologists in the late 1950s. At the foot of the hill, 50 m (160 ft) southwest of the altar, is a small theatre cut into solid rock with a diameter of 32 metres and 11 rows of seats. The ancient remains date from the 4th century BC and represent the younger Panionion when the Ionian League attempted to revive the cult of Poseidon Helikonios (Diod. Sic. 15.49.1).

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The exact landing location of the imperial flotilla after departing from Erythrae is uncertain. They likely landed in Teos, home to the largest temple of Dionysus in Anatolia, and in Notium, the port of Colophon, a city that held a prominent role in the Ionian League (Birley, 2007). Teos was a thriving seaport boasting two excellent harbours and a member of the Panionium. Its Hellenistic Temple of Dionysus was an architectural masterpiece, said by Vitruvius to have been designed by the famous architect Hermogenes of Priene, to whom he also attributes the design of the Hellenistic temple of Artemis Leukophryene at Magnesia on the Maeander (Vitr. De Arch. 7.praef.12).

The Teian sanctuary of Dionysus, constructed in the last quarter of the 3rd century BC, consisted of a trapezoidal temenos that covered a large area of 8,869m2 (Kadıoğlu, 2020). It was surrounded by stoas in Doric, Ionic, and mixed Doric-Ionic orders. An altar with stairs stood to the east, and a newly discovered propylon served as the sanctuary’s main entrance. The temple itself, constructed entirely of marble in the Ionic order, had eleven columns on the longer side and six on the shorter side, measuring 18.50 m x 35 m. While some of the various architectural remains scattered around the temple are of Hellenistic origin, the surviving temple belongs to the Roman period. The temple underwent extensive repairs during the reigns of Augustus and Hadrian, possibly due to an earthquake in 14 BC. A fragmentary inscription on an architrave (Teos 76) attests to Hadrian’s responsibility for restoring the temple. The decision to restore the temple at Teos was likely taken during Hadrian’s visits to Teos in 124, 129 and 131.

Αὐτοκράτω[ρ Καῖσαρ]| Θεοῦ Τρ|[α]ϊαν|οῦ Πα|[ρθικοῦ υἱ]|ὸς Θεο|[ῦ Νέρου]|α υ[ἱωνὸς Τραϊανὸς Ἁδριανὸς Σεβαστὸς Ὀλύμπιος Πανελλήνιος —]
Παν[ι]ώνιο[ς ἀρχιερεὺ]|ς μέγι|[σ]τος| δημ|[αρχικῆς ἐξου]|σίας| [τὸ ․, ὕπατ]|ος τ̣|[ὸ —]

The inscription, dated to AD 132/8, celebrates Hadrian as Olympios, Panhellenios and Panionios, the latter epithet conferred on the Emperor by the Ionian Koinon and limited to Ionia itself (Robert, 1946). The image of Dionysus appears on the reverse of Teian bronze coins struck under Hadrian, showing him beardless, standing, and resting on a rectangular pedestal (RPC III, 1998).

The city of Colophon and its harbour at Notium may have been expecting a visit. It was the home of the Greek epic and elegiac poet Antimachus (ca. 400 BC), whom Hadrian considered superior to Homer. Antimachus wrote an epic, the Thebais, and an elegy on his dead love, Lyde, both characterised by extreme length and diverse mythological episodes. The Emperor’s approval ensured the poet gained public recognition, “whose very name had previously been unknown to many” (Dio, 69.4.6). Notium was located on a hill overlooking the sea. It served as a port for nearby Colophon, and pilgrims frequently passed through it on their way to the famed oracular sanctuary of Apollo at Claros. 

It is difficult to doubt an imperial visit to the Apollo oracle at Claros, one of the most important sights and sacred places in antiquity (Birley, 2007). Epigraphic evidence suggests that Hadrian was associated with restorations in the sanctuary of Apollo at Claros, where the god Apollo was worshipped alongside his sister Artemis and his mother, Leto. Evidence of cultic activity at the sanctuary can be traced back to the early Iron Age, if not earlier, but the construction of the monumental temple began in the 4th century BC. The earliest mention of Claros is in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (see here) from the 7th century BC. During this period, several altars and a marble temple dedicated to Apollo were constructed near a sacred spring. Later, in the 3rd century BC, various significant structures and cult statues of Apollo, Artemis, and Leto were built, along with a larger Doric Temple of Apollo.

The oracular sanctuary consisted of various buildings, such as the temple itself, an altar, treasuries, and other structures that were associated with the oracle’s activities. The temple was built between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC on the site of an earlier sacred building and was restored during the reign of Hadrian. The new temple was constructed on a five-stepped platform with dimensions of 26 × 46 m and had six columns on the narrow sides and eleven on the long sides.

During the early days of the Roman Empire, the Clarian oracle became very popular, attracting a large number of visitors who sought its counsel. Rulers, individuals and cities highly regarded the prophecies, and their fame was worldwide. In AD 18, Germanicus visited the oracle during his travels in the East and received a shocking prediction. The seer predicted that he would soon meet his end. This prediction came true just a year later when he passed away in Syrian Antioch (Antakya) at the young age of 34. Tacitus, who had likely visited the same oracle himself ten years prior as proconsul of Asia, described the procedure for receiving an oracle. He was surprised to discover that, unlike Delphi, no priestess was present but a male priest who spoke on behalf of Apollo (Tac. Ann. 2.54).

The oracular sanctuary consisted of various buildings, such as the temple itself, an altar, treasuries, and other structures that were associated with the oracle’s activities. The temple was built between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC on the site of an earlier sacred building and was completed during the reign of Hadrian. The new temple was constructed on a five-stepped platform with dimensions of 23 × 44 m and had six columns on the narrow sides and eleven on the long sides.

Numerous monuments were constructed during the Roman Period, and recent excavations have revealed that the sanctuary underwent significant modifications during the first half of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian played a vital role in restoring and completing the temple. A fragmented dedication of the temple of Apollo in which he is hailed as Olympios, Panhellenios and Panionios mentions Hadrian as the dedicator. The decision to restore the temple at Claros was likely taken during his visit in 124 (or 129), while the terminus post quem for the temple’s restoration is December 135 based on Hadrian’s titulature (Ferrary, 2000). Hadrian financed the entablature of the temple’s facade, which supported six columns and five more columns on each long side (Moretti, 2012). However, the temple was still not completed thirty or forty years after Hadrian’s death. Pausanias (7.5.4) mentions that the sanctuary of Apollo at Claros, along with that of Didyma, were unfinished buildings.

Αυτοκράτωρ Καΐσ[αρ θεού Τραιαν]οΰ Παρθικού ύός θεού Νέρβα υίω[νός Τραϊανός Αδριανός Σεβαστός, άρχιερεύς μέγιστος,] δημ[αρχικής εξουσίας το (–), αύ]το κράτωρ το δε[ύτερον, ύπατος] το (τρίτον), ‘Ολύμπιος και Πανελλήν[ιος και Πανιώνιος — ]

Hadrian is known to have supported oracles, and during his reign, Delphi saw a short-lived revival via his patronage. Hadrian’s visit to Claros suggests his profound interest in religious and cultural sites. He likely participated in rituals, made offerings, and sought advice from Apollo’s oracle. Hadrian was to become eponymous prytanis (local magistrate) of Colophon, responsible for the efficient functioning of the shrine (Boatwright, 2000). Two inscriptions show that Hadrian agreed to be the eponymous prytanis (see here #16).

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There is strong evidence that Hadrian was later present at Ephesus, the ‘first and greatest metropolis in Asia’. There, he gave audiences to embassies. One of the embassies he received was from the mountains of northern Lycia, three members of the council of the Termessians in Oenoanda, who had come to ask the Emperor’s approval for the establishment by C. Iulius Demosthenes of a new thymelic contest, the Demostheneia, in Oenoanda. On 29 August, Hadrian wrote to the demos of the Termessians, expressing his approval of the musical competition and the conditions of the foundation. The letter that the three envoys took back with them is dated 29 August and ends ‘from Ephesus’ (SEG 38.1462).

The letter of Hadrian was inscribed on stone and displayed in Oenoanda, together with four other documents which record the establishment of the festival. This 117-line inscription reveals that Oenoanda’s Demostheneia festival was to be held every fourth year and was entirely funded by Demosthenes’ private resources. It specifies the cost of each festival (4,450 denarii per celebration), with most of the expenditure going towards prize money for each victor. The musical and theatrical festival commenced on Augustus’ day in the month of Artemeisios (1 July), and the various events, including music competitions, vocal performances, and theatrical contests, were spread over 22 days. Additionally, the festival featured rituals honouring the Emperor, processions through the city with animal sacrifices, and a banquet. The festival continued to operate as late as 233 (Chaniotis, 2011).

English translation of Hadrian’s letter: The Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus, son of the god Trajan Particus and grandson of the god Nerva Germanicus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power for the eighth time, consul for the third time, greets the magistrates, council and people of the Termessians. I praise Iulius Demosthenes for the patriotic zeal (philotimia) he has shown to you, and I confirm the musical competition which he has promised to you. He himself will contribute the cost from his own treasuries. Let the penalties which he has fixed against those who contravene what he has fixed concerning his gift be enforced. The ambassadors were Artemon son of Diogenes Tobolasios, Simonides, son, grandson, and great grandson of Simonides, and Mertius Apelles. Farewell. 29 August, from Ephesus.

Gaius Iulius Demosthenes was a Roman knight and one of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens of Oenoanda. He was the son of Gaius Iulius Apollonios. The family probably acquired Roman citizenship under Caesar or Augustus, as their nomen gentilicium Iulius indicates. His career as a Roman knight likely dates back to the late 1st century AD. His career (tres militiae) included the legionary tribunate in the Legio VI Ferrata (IGR III 500). In Syria, he was praefectus of the Ala VII Phrygum. Under Trajan, he was given the post of centenarian procurator in Sicily (IGR III 487). After that, his career as a knight ended for reasons that were not entirely clear. From then on, he was involved in his hometown and the Lycian League.

It is not clear what exactly Hadrian did at Ephesus. He may have travelled to Samos across the bay or Magnesia on the Maeander a few miles inland (Birley, 1997). Furthermore, Ephesus was honoured with a second visit in 129 and perhaps a third in 131. His visits resulted in several monuments and benefactions, although most of them seem related to the second one. This includes granting Ephesus its second neokoria in the early 130s by allowing the city to build a temple for his cult, although this grant may not have been linked to any specific visit (Burrell, 2004). For his benefactions, Hadrian was celebrated as their founder and saviour by the boule (council) and demos (people) of Ephesus. A dedicatory inscription dated to 129 honoured the Emperor for his unsurpassed gifts to Artemis (the sanctuary gained the right of receiving legacies), for permitting the Ephesians to import grain from Egypt as well as for making the harbours navigable and diverting the Cayster (Kaystros) River (Ephesos 1007).

For the first visit of 124, an inscription records that the local ephebes (young performers) sang hymns in the theatre for the emperor, who listened to the performance with pleasure (Ephesos 603). The inscription doesn’t have a specific date, but the absence of Olympios in Hadrian’s titulature (a title bestowed from 129 onwards) suggests a connection with the first visit. The ceremony, overseen by Titus Flavius Potamon, the president of the gymnasium, was intended to attract the Graeculus (“Greekling”) emperor, who had a particular fondness for ancient religious ceremonies and Panhellenic worship.

When Titus Flavius Potamon, the fatherland-loving and emperor-loving, was president of the gymnasium, and the lord emperor Trajan Hadrian Caesar Augustus was staying in the city, the ephebes sang hymns of the emperor who listened [kindly] in the theatre, when ?lios Severus, son of a senator, was priest, who also […] and wore the golden garments officiating [for the Augustus in the] city and presented the ephebic youth [when he sacrificed] in the temple of Artemis. The new archon [Tib(erius) Claudius] Trophimos emperor-loving, admirable, [son?] of Tib(erius) Claudius Aristion the younger, president of the ephebes, [Cusonius]? Epigonos. (Translation: Aitor Blanco Pérez)

Another inscription that can be reasonably associated with this visit is a dedication of a statue of Hadrian by an association of chrysophoroi of Artemis, who consisted of sacred priests and victorious athletes of the Artemision charged with guarding the objects of the goddess (Ephesos 1001). The dedication is dated to the proconsular governorship of Quintus Pompeius Falco (123/124), and the erection of the statue was supervised by the winner of the Pythian games, Marcus Antonius Artemidorus, a priest who was probably a descendant of Mark Antony (Bowie, 2012).

Two other statues, one of Hadrian (Ephesos 1003) and the other of Sabina (Ephesos 1002), were also likely erected at this time by the Council and People of Ephesus. The dedications are dated to the proconsulate of Marcus Peducaeus Priscinus (124/125), the successor of Falco. The man who supervised the erection of Hadrian’s statue was one of the highest city magistrates, Tiberius Claudius Italicus, who served as grammateus of the demos (secretary of the people), while Sabina’s dedication named Tiberius Claudius Pius Pisoninus, who was later honoured at Teos as “ancestral benefactor” by the initiates (mystai) of the god Dionysos Setaneios with a statue and an altar (Teos 117). A portrait of Hadrian, which may have been commissioned in connection with the statue erected to commemorate his visit to the city in 124, was discovered among the ruins of the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates (see here). 

Ephesus was a significant port and trade city located at the mouth of the Cayster River. Its strategic position gave the city importance in Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea, with highways connecting it with the other major cities of the Empire. However, from the construction of the first temple of Artemis around 800 BC on a shoreline of Ephesus to its destruction a thousand years later by an earthquake, the people of Ephesus continually struggled with the impact of colluvium and alluvium sedimentary processes. Over time, the continual silting of the Cayster River forced the inhabitants to regularly shift the harbours westward.

Livy commented on the nature of the entrance to the harbour of Ephesus and reported that the mouth of the Ephesian port was “like a river, long, narrow, and full of shoals” (Liv. 37.14.6) while Strabo noted that the harbour engineering efforts there, such as the construction of a mole to prevent siltation, instead created a sediment trap that made things worse (Strab. 14.1.24–25). The harbour was first rebuilt in the Hellenistic period, and there were a few attempts to clean and maintain it in the times of Nero. Hadrian attempted to improve the navigability of the harbours by constructing a dam to divert the Cayster River and stop the sediment flow into the harbour.

Access from the town to the quay was permitted via monumental gates. Hadrian built the Middle Harbour Gate at the end of the Harbour Street (Arcadiane) Street. The gate, built in the Ionic order, comprised three passageways and four canopies resting on columns. This gate, built by Hadrian, was in use for over a century but was likely destroyed by earthquakes in the 3rd or 4th century AD. In addition to the Middle Harbour Gate, two more gates, the southern and northern gates, were built in the 1st half of the 3rd century AD and mid-3rd century AD.

At Ephesus, Hadrian would have admired the beautiful library that Tiberius Iulius Aquila Polmaeanus was building there in memory of his father, Celsus Polemaeanus, who served as governor of Asia in 105-106 during the reign of Trajan. Celsus, born to a Greek family of priests from either Ephesus or Sardis, bequeathed the money for building the library in his will. The library contained 12,000 scrolls, kept on wooden shelves in wall niches. However, the building was also intended to serve as his mausoleum. Below the apse floor, a crypt contained Celsus’s adorned marble sarcophagus (see here), a special honour reflecting his prominent role as a public official. Celsus’ son died before the completion of the library, and another wealthy Ephesian, Tiberius Claudius Aristion, took over the construction. The library had a lavishly decorated facade with relief carvings following the patterns of the facades of Roman theatres (scaenae frons), typical of the architectural style prevalent in the period under Hadrian. A letter from Hadrian congratulating Aquila on the library’s construction also seems to have been inscribed on the façade (Ephesos 189).

However, Ephesus was famous in its time for the nearby Temple of Artemis, the Artemision, a masterpiece of Ionic architecture that was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple was the largest building in the Greek world and was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. According to Pliny (NH 36.95), it measured 129 metres (425 ft) in length and 69 meters (225 ft) in width and featured 127 columns, each 18.3 metres (60 ft) high and 1.2 metres (4 ft) in diameter, almost double the size of the 5th-century BC Parthenon at Athens. Pausanias affirms that the temples of Ionia were without rivals, but surpassing all was the Ephesian Artemision (Paus. 4.31.8).

The sanctuary gained great fame in the 6th century BC when the Lydian king Croesus (r. 560-546 BC) financed the construction of a magnificent new temple to Artemis. However, the temple was destroyed by fire by a man named Herostratus in 356 BC, according to tradition, on the same night Alexander the Great was born. The Ephesians immediately started the construction of an even more beautiful temple. This is the structure that Hadrian saw when he visited Ephesus.

The image of Artemis Ephesus, which differs immensely from the huntress Artemis iconography, was reproduced an infinite number of times on coins, votive statuettes and votive offerings. Cistophoric tetradrachms minted at Ephesus coins connect Hadrian (RPC III, 1328) and Sabina (RPC III, 2081) with the great goddess Artemis, who is depicted standing in her temple or between two stags. Roman copies of the Artemis statue retaining its archaic traits were unearthed during excavations in the Prytaneum. One of Artemis’ characteristics is that she protects fertility, and the egg-shaped objects lining her chest have been variously identified as female breasts, eggs or bull’s testicles, all symbols associated with fertility.

A wealthy Ephesian citizen named P. Quintilius Valens Varius built and dedicated a small monument along Curetes Street, one of the chief thoroughfares of Ephesus, which he dedicated to Hadrian, but also to Artemis and the demos of Ephesus when the city was still once neokoros (Ephesos 290). The monument, known erroneously as the Temple of Hadrian, was sponsored in 119, along with the surrounding bath complex, and is therefore not connected to Hadrian’s presence in the city in 124. The temple-like prostyle building is of modest dimensions but intricately adorned and decorated with sculptures. The original purpose of the building remains unknown. It was previously thought to be an official cult temple of Hadrian because Ephesus had been given permission to build such a structure. However, this interpretation has been disproven, but researchers widely and often controversially discuss questions about its function.

The original function of the temple-like structure remains open to interpretation. It was long assumed to have been an official cult temple of the emperor Hadrian because Ephesus received permission to construct such a building. However, this interpretation has been refuted since it hardly seems possible that the Ephesians would have honoured Hadrian with such a small temple. Burrell has suggested a street-side shrine.

The building is a tetrastyle prostyle temple with rich architectural and sculptural decorations. Two Corinthian columns and two pillars on the edges support the entablature with a curved Syrian-type pediment decorated with floral patterns and bearing a relief of Tyche. The goddess of victory is wearing a crown depicting the walls and towers of the city. Behind the arch is an oblong pronaos, the inner area of the temple’s portico. It has a door opening crowned by a tympanum, a semi-circular relief depicting the gorgon Medusa among acanthus leaves and scrolls. The door leads to the cella, the monument’s interior, where a Hadrian statue may have stood. The cella measured 7.50m in width and 5m in length and was roofed by a barrel vault.

For Artemis Ephesia and for Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus and to the demos of Ephesus neokoros, by Publius Quintillius, son of Publius, of the tribe Galeria, . . .with . . . wife, and daughter Varilla, set up this temple from its foundation with all the things in it and its cult image by their own means, dedicated at the time of proconsul Servaeus Innocens, and when the grammateus of the Demē a second time, Marcus Claudius Publius Vedius Antoninus, was Asiarch; as promised when Tiberius Claudius Lucceianus was grammateus of the Demē.

The pronaos is decorated with a frieze consisting of four marble slabs depicting the foundation of the city of Ephesus by the Athenian prince Androclus. The frieze is not Hadrianic as it was not sculptured at the same time as the Temple. It was probably added to the monument from an unknown building during a restoration in the 4th century AD. The frieze on the Temple is a copy, the original is on display in the Ephesus Museum.

Ephesus, like Pergamon and Smyrna, would receive a second neokoria, but not at the time of Hadrian’s first visit. The neokorate temple authorised by Hadrian dates to the early 130s, as presented in inscriptions and on coins. The first inscription to call Ephesus “twice neokoros” (δὶς νεωκόρος) is an honorary dedication on a statue of Hadrian erected by the Ephesians at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens to celebrate Hadrian’s consecration of the temple. The inscription is dated to 132 (IG II² 3297), during the priesthood of Claudius Attikos, the father of the famous Herodes Atticus (Burrell, 2004).

Another mention of the title is from a dedication to Sabina at Ephesus under the proconsulship of the later emperor Antoninus Pius about 134/5 (Ephesos 1011), although the new temple was not yet standing. Its completion can be dated after 134/135 and before 138 (Burrell, 2004). An Ephesian, Tiberius Claudius Piso Diophantus, is said to have been responsible for getting permission from Hadrian to build a provincial temple dedicated to him at Ephesus as Polemon had done for Smyrna (Ephesos 335). The “twice neokoros” title also appears on the coins of Ephesus with the legend ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟ/ΡΩΝ (of the Ephesians, twice neocorate) and showing two temples, each containing a male figure holding sceptre (RPC III, 2077).

(This statue of) Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus Olympios Panhellenios, saviour (was dedicated by) the mother-city, first of all and greatest of Asia, and twice temple-warden of the Augusti, the city of the Ephesians, for their own founder and benefactor, through]the manager Marcus Tigellius Lupus, in the priesthood of Tiberius Claudius Atticus. (Translation by Chris de Lisle)

Pausanias is the only known source that reports on the Olympieion of Ephesus. He mentions the legendary founder of the city, Androclos, and notes that his tomb was still visible in his time “on the road leading from the sanctuary past the Olympieion to the Magnesian gate. On the tomb is a statue of an armed man” (Paus. 7.2.9). The temple has been identified in the northern district of Ephesus near the church of the Virgin Mary. It consisted of a huge colonnaded temenos with porticoes on all four sides, possibly of the Corinthian order. It faced south and covered an area measuring 350 x 225 m, which is quite close to the area of the Artemision. In the centre of the temenos was a south-facing temple. The foundations show that it had a peristasis (four-sided porch of columns surrounding the cella) of approximately 33 x 60 m and a cella 9 m wide.

The quotation by Pausanias led the excavators and scholars to assume that it was a temple dedicated to the cult of Zeus Olympios. As a result, they chose to call this temple complex “the Olympieion”. However, C.P. Jones (1993) argues that the temple should be called Hadrianeion, considering it is dedicated to worshipping Hadrian, not Zeus. In Ephesian inscriptions, the temple itself is only referred to as “of the god Hadrian” (θεοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ), not of Hadrian Olympios or any form of Zeus (Ephesos 335). However, there would be numerous inscriptions from Ephesus honouring Hadrian as Zeus Olympios (Ephesos 778–784), and an agonistic festival named Hadrianeia would be celebrated with the second neokorate of Ephesus at the time of the temple’s completion or consecration by Diophantus.

The Ephesians would later show enthusiasm for the new cult of Antinous by setting a statue of the young Bithynian as Androclus, the legendary founder of Ephesus, son of King Codrus of Athens, perhaps in the act of slaying a wild boat. Like Antinous, Androclus was also famed for a boar hunt, and it may be that Hadrian and Antinous went hunting the boar together in the vicinity (Birley, 1997). A youthful Androclus would also appear on the reverse of the Antinous coins minted in the city, depicted with a spear over his shoulder and, in this hand, a boar’s head (RPC III, 2084).

—

Ephesus was the last polis of the province of Asia that the emperor visited before departing to the Aegean islands. He would travel from Ephesus to Rhodes in September or October and sail through the Cyclades to the Greek mainland. A small passage of the Historia Augusta of this journey says that Hadrian “travelled by way of Asia and the islands to Greece” (HA Hadr. 13.1), while Rhodes is explicitly mentioned in Polemon’s account (“we went east to Rhodes”).

Several ships accompanied the emperor, two of whom were under the commands of the Ephesian captains, Erastos and Philokyrios. These two captains joined the Imperial fleet and operated in the Aegean Sea with their respective ships. They transported the Emperor and other entourage members and necessary supplies. A few years later, in 129, the same captains accompanied the imperial fleet carrying Hadrian as he sailed from Eleusis to Ephesus. In two identical letters to the magistrates and council of Ephesus, Hadrian recommends the two ship captains, Erastos (Ephesos 191) and Philokyrios (Ephesos 192), for honorary membership of the council. The letters were inscribed on the wall blocks of the scaenae frons of Ephesus Bouleterion.

The Emperor Caesar, son of the deified Trajan, conqueror of Parthia, descendant of the deified Nerva, Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribune of the People for the third time, Consul for the third time, Father of his country, to the Magistrates of the Ephesians and to the Council, greeting. Lucius Erastus affirms that he is a citizen of yours and sails much also on the sea and that, as far as he can from doing this, he makes himself serviceable to his country and continually conveys over the sea the chief men of the [Ionian] race. Moreover he had interviews with me on two former occasions, first, when I made a voyage from Ephesus to Rhodes, and now on my arrival at your city from Eleusis. His wish is to become a member of the Council, and I accordingly commit to you the legal investigation of his claims; and if nothing stands in the way, and he appears to you deserving of that honour, I will give the amount of money which they pay on being admitted to the Council, and to meet the expenses of the election. Farewell.

As Hadrian sailed into the port of Rhodes, he saw the remains of the celebrated fallen Colossus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Colossus was a massive bronze statue of the god Helios, constructed in the early 3rd century BC and towering over the harbour at over 30 metres (100 feet). It stood for just over 50 years in the 3rd century BC before being brought down by a powerful earthquake around 225 BC. In Hadrian’s day, the statue, still apparently in one piece, had been lying on the ground for centuries and was so impressive that many travelled to see it.

The early Byzantine chronicler John Malalas recounts a peculiar story about Hadrian assisting in the re-erection of the Colossus. He mentions that Hadrian provided cranes, ropes, and artisans for the project and even claims to know about the inscription commemorating the event (Malalas 279). However, this account has no corroboration, even if this was the type of project Hadrian would have been attracted to. John Malalas was possibly mistaken, as the Emperor is told in other sources that he relocated the Colossus of Nero in Rome closer to the new Temple of Venus and Roma with the aid of twenty-four elephants and transformed it into a statue of the Sun (HA Hadr. 19-12.13).

In his reign, Hadrian reerected the Colossus of Rhodes, which had fallen during an earthquake Rhodes suffered in earlier times, and lay on the ground for 312 years, with nothing having been lost. He spent to restore and erect it in the same place, for machines and ropes and artisans, 3 hundredweight, as he inscribed the year and expenses below it. Malalas 279

Pliny the Elder visited the Rhodian Colossus and described it as “by far the most worthy of our admiration.” “Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms,“ he wrote, “and its fingers are larger than most statues”. “Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior.“ In Pliny’s time, the Colossus was merely a ruin, slowly corroding where it had fallen more than a century before (Plin. Nat. 34.18). Yet, that did not diminish Pliny’s awe.

Panhellenic games, the Halieia, were held on the island every four years in honour of Helios, and each year, a chariot drawn by four horses (quadriga) was thrown into the sea as an offering to the god. The Helian games attracted great athletes from abroad. They involved running races and performances, many of which were hosted in the stadium and the Odeon of Rhodes’ Acropolis. There was a famous kithara (lyre) competition where crowns made of poplar were awarded to victors. One such victor was the famous kithara player Nikokles Aristokleos (IG II3 4 594), whose funerary monument on the Sacred Way in Athens is mentioned by Pausanias (Paus. 1.37.2).

Rhodes had been an important ally of Rome for almost three centuries and enjoyed numerous privileges. As a result, its ties with Rome were deeper and more significant than those of most other Greek cities. The island was famous for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy and attracted numerous distinguished Roman students to learn more about Greek culture, including Cicero, Julius Caesar, and Marc Antony. Tiberius, a philhellenist like Hadrian, studied rhetoric in the renowned school of Rhodes and chose to live in exile on the island for six years because of the “pleasantness and healthiness of the island“ (Suet., Tib., 11.1). The Lydians dedicated a votive exedra at Lindos to the euergetai (benefactors) Tiberius and his sons, Drusus the Younger and Germanicus, as well as his father-in-law, Augustus (see here).

The duration of Hadrian’s stay on the island is unknown, as does the location of his residence. He may have inspected the house where Tiberius lived (Birley, 1997) and visited the three principal cities on the island: Lindos, Kamiros and Ialysos. However, Rhodes must not have held Hadrian for an extended period. The imperial flotilla probably left by mid-September, most likely passing through the Cyclades, as Hadrian intended to be in Greece for the Eleusinian Mysteries, which began in the month of Boedromion.

There is no evidence that Hadrian visited other islands during his voyage across the Aegean Sea, and attempts to reconstruct the emperor’s exact route are speculative. However, there is good reason to assume that he sojourned on the Cycladic island of Paros (Kouremenos, 2021), where he wrote an epigram for the tomb of the 7th century BC lyric poet Archilochus (680-645 BC), showing his veneration for archaic Greek poetry (Anth. Pal., 7.674). Archilochus was the first poet to use the iambic metre, which afterwards played an important part in Greek verse. He even had a sanctuary, the Archilocheion, dedicated to him on Paros, which possibly consisted of a shrine, altars and a temenos.

This is Archilochus’ grave, whom to raging iambics
the Muse led, favoring the Maionian (i.e. Homer).
(Translation by W.R. Paton)

Another potential stopover on his way to Athens was the island of Syros, where the town dedicated a statue of him (IG XII,5 674), and an inscription expressing the islanders’ gratitude for his generosity has been found (IG XII Suppl. 239). However, such dedications are common and do not definitively indicate that the Emperor was physically present in those places (Kouremenos, 2021). In any case, in the autumn of 124, Hadrian was back in Athens, where he bestowed gifts, revised local laws, and was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries at Eleusis.

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Related

By examining ancient walrus DNA, an international research team led by Lund University in Sweden have retraced the walrus ivory trade routes of the Viking Age. They found that Norse Vikings and Arctic Indigenous peoples were probably meeting and trading ivory in remote parts of High Arctic Greenland, several centuries before Christopher Columbus “discovered” North America. The study is now published in Science Advances.

“On a more human level these remarkable encounters, framed within the vast and intimidating landscapes of the High Arctic, would probably have involved a degree of curiosity, fascination and excitement.”

In Medieval Europe, there was an enormous demand for elite products, among them – walrus ivory. With the Vikings playing a vital part in the ivory trade, this drove the Norse expansion into the north Atlantic to Iceland and then Greenland; as they looked for new sources of ivory. 

“What really surprised us was that much of the walrus ivory exported back to Europe was originating in very remote hunting grounds located deep into the High Arctic. Previously, it has always been assumed that the Norse simply hunted walrus close to their main settlements in southwest Greenland”, says Peter Jordan, Professor of Archaeology at Lund University.

The researchers used genetic “fingerprinting” to reconstruct precisely where traded walrus artifacts were coming from.

“We extracted ancient DNA from walrus samples recovered from a wide range of locations across the North Atlantic Arctic. With this information in place, we could then match the genetic profiles of walrus artifacts traded by Greenland Norse into Europe back to very specific Arctic hunting grounds”, explains Dr. Morten Tange Olsen, Associate Professor the Globe Institute in Copenhagen.

The research team extracted ancient DNA from museum collections. Sampling at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa (Emily Ruiz/Lund University)

As the new results started to emerge, another key question arose: if ivory was being obtained from the High Arctic, did the Greenland Norse have the seafaring skills and technologies to venture so deep into ice-filled Arctic waters?

Research team member Greer Jarrett sought answers to this question in a unique way: he actually reconstructed probable sailing routes, taking experimental voyages in traditional clinker-built Norwegian boats. 

“Walrus hunters probably departed from the Norse settlements as soon as the sea ice retreated. Those aiming for the far north had a very tight seasonal window within which to travel up the coast, hunt walrus, process and store the hides and ivory onboard their vessels, and return home before the seas froze again”, says Greer Jarrett, doctoral researcher at Lund University. 

Greer Jarrett undertook voyages with experimental vessels to understand Greenland Norse seafaring capabilities: Sailing at night in one of the larger expeditionary vessels likely used by the Norse (Photo: Greer Jarrett/Lund University)

After the Norse completed their perilous journeys, what might they have encountered? Importantly, these remote High Arctic hunting grounds were no empty polar wilderness; they would have been inhabited by the Thule Inuit and possibly other Indigenous Arctic peoples, who were also hunting walrus and other sea mammals. The new research provides further independent evidence for the long-debated existence of very early encounters between the European Norse and North American Indigenous peoples, it also confirms that the North Water Polynya was an important arena for these inter-cultural meetings. 

“This would have been the meeting of two entirely different cultural worlds. The Greenland Norse had European facial features, were probably bearded, dressed in woollen clothes, and were sailing in plank-built vessels; they harvested walrus at haul out sites with iron-tipped lances”, says Peter Jordan.

In contrast, the Thule Inuit were Arctic-adapted specialists, and used sophisticated toggling harpoons that enabled them to hunt walrus in open waters. They would have been wearing warm and insulated fur clothing and would have had more Asian facial features; they paddled kayaks and used open umiak boats, all made from animal skins stretched over frames.

“Of course, we will never know precisely, but on a more human level these remarkable encounters, framed within the vast and intimidating landscapes of the High Arctic, would probably have involved a degree of curiosity, fascination and excitement, all encouraging social interaction, sharing and possibly exchange. We need to do much more work to properly understand these interactions and motivations, especially from an Indigenous as well as more “Eurocentric” Norse perspective”, concludes Peter Jordan. 

Top image: The Norse transported “packages” of ivory back to Europe (with tusks attached to skull). Source: Mikkel Høegh-Post/Lund University

The article ‘Early Interactions Between Europeans and Indigenous North Americans Revealed’ was provided by Lund University.

Many 21st century Indigenous groups are descended from peoples who decorated the walls of caves, cliffs, and rocky outcroppings with impressive collections of rock art. These ancient peoples used drawings, engravings, and illustrations for the purposes of intergenerational communication, as they wanted to make sure the memories of their beliefs and experiences would be preserved indefinitely.
In a new research project, a rock art expert from Poland looked more closely at the work of modern Indigenous artists from Central Asia (Siberia and Kazakhstan) and Canada, to discover how much they have been influenced by ancient artistic traditions.
Ancient Themes by Modern Hands

According to archaeologist Andrzej Rozwadowski from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, rock art explores themes that should resonate with Indigenous groups still today. The purpose of his research was to find out how frequently Indigenous artists incorporate such themes into their work and to what extent they did so intentionally, as a way to help modern peoples reclaim their deeply historical cultural identities.

Works by Alexander Domozhakov, influenced by ancient rock art. (Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Surprisingly, there hasn’t been much research into this question before now. It seems that most archaeologists remain fixated on studying the past as the past, and consequently they don’t make much of an effort to find out if their discoveries have relevance to modern practices.

“The contemporary re-use of rock art is a growing phenomenon,” Professor Rozwadowski said. “However, to date, very little attention has been paid to how rock art inspires contemporary Indigenous artists, especially in such little-known areas as Siberia or Central Asia.”

Rozwadowski’s new study, which is entitled ‘Rock art as a source of contemporary cultural identity,’ is designed to fill in this knowledge gap.

Unique petroglyphs in the Tanbaly Valley Kazakhstan, which inspired local artists. (Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

“The main focus of this research is the work of contemporary Indigenous artists and assessing to what extent references to rock art, and sometimes more widely to prehistoric art, constitute a source of cultural identity in their work,” Rozwadowski explained in a new article about his research appearing in Antiquity.

“What kind of imagery do artists use, what factors determine the choice of particular motifs, to what extent are those choices inspired by archaeological interpretations or cooperation with archaeologists and how is rock art inscribed in the narratives construed by the artists? These questions lie at the heart of the research, which aims to demonstrate how important rock art is today and to show that archaeology is dealing with a socially sensitive heritage.”

Modern Indigenous art inspired by rock art. Left; Abdrashit Sydykhanov Planet Moon, 1996 (collection of Zauresh Sydykhanova); right) the petroglyphs from the Tanbaly—the anthropomorph standing on the bull. (Zauresh Sydykhanova / Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Preserving Ancient Traditions that Remain Relevant in the Modern Age

Professor Rozwadowski has identified two ways that modern interest in ancient rock art reflects the needs of Indigenous groups. One is that it helps to reinforce a sense of a shared cultural and communal identity that unites modern peoples with their ancestors, and with each other. This is especially essential now, since most Indigenous groups are small in population and not guaranteed to survive as a culturally identifiable group well into the future.

A second essential element in the current interest in ancient Indigenous art is that the latter explores themes related to the sacred connection between the people and the lands they occupy. This topic remains a concern for Indigenous groups, who must constantly fight to preserve and protect the land they still have left. The work of the modern artist reflects this concern, and as such it explores a vital theme that is of interest to all Indigenous people everywhere.

A notable aspect of Professor Rozwadowski’s project is that it has been carried out with the full cooperation of living artists associated with Indigenous cultures in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Canada. In addition to closely examining their works, to compare it to the ancient creations, he has also been interviewing these artists to get a sense of how they conceive of their artistic mission.

What he has discovered confirms that the modern rock artists are intentionally including ancient themes or motifs in their work. They are constantly updating or adapting those themes, however, to make sure their creations are relevant to the problems Indigenous peoples have faced trying to preserve their cultural identities in the face of oppression and discrimination by modern colonizers.

In Central Asia, for example, Indigenous cultural traditions were actively suppressed by the communist government of the Soviet Union, which autocratically ruled this region until the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1989. Artists connected with the oppressed groups report that their efforts to take inspiration from ancient rock art has generated great support and enthusiasm among their audiences, as modern Indigenous people are eager to explore and celebrate traditions that they were forced to deny not that long ago.

Left: Spirit of the Night by Khakas artist Alexander Domozhakov,1991 (collection of Olga Akhrimchik); right: the Bronze Age stela of the Okunevo culture (Khakas National Museum of Local Lore) (Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Likewise, among Canadian Indigenous groups there is still bitterness over the way European colonizers sought to assimilate First Nations peoples into their cultures, while simultaneously attempting to destroy cherished Indigenous cultural memories.

Many Indigenous artists in Canada have intentionally linked rock art traditions with condemnations of 20th century colonial injustices, including the residential schools system that abused so many First Nations children who were forced to attend these oppressive institutions. The idea is to repurpose the older rock art themes as symbols for opposition to colonialism in all its forms, to assist First Nations peoples attempting to heal the remaining emotional wounds that haunt their cultures.

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, southern Alberta, and its petroglyphs. (Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Indigenous Artist Sources: Universal Themes from Across Time and Space

The One of Professor Rozwadowski’s more fascinating discoveries is that modern Indigenous artists from different parts of the world have been incorporating similar rock art motifs into their work, despite their lack of any direct contact.

“It turned out that both Asian and Canadian artists see a lot of similarities in the art they create,” he said. “The most memorable thing for me was what Canadian artist from the Cree Nation Jane Ash Poitras said when I met her in Edmonton. When I showed her the work of the Khakass artist Alexander Domozhakov, from southern Siberia, she said: ‘Isn’t it Norval Morrisseau?!’ (Canada’s most prominent Indigenous artist).”

What this shows is that both the ancient rock artists and their modern equivalents explored themes with universal meaning and significance. This creates a cultural continuity that connects the past with the present, and peoples from all times and places with peoples from other parts of the globe.

Most significantly, the reuse of rock art themes in the 21st century is a deliberate act designed to ensure that cultural identities are preserved and that modern Indigenous peoples ever forget their roots.

“Rock art is a source of both aesthetic and identity inspiration for contemporary artists,” Professor Rozwadowski stated, summing up the findings of his research.  “It demonstrates how rock art is important to many Indigenous artists as a source for rediscovering their cultural identities, especially now in post-colonial times.”

Top image:  The late Grigori Krasnov with his work in his atelier in Abakan, Republic of Khakassia, Siberia. Source: Andrzej Rozwadowski/Antiquity Publications Ltd

By Nathan Falde