Greek Religion and Epigraphic Corpora: What\u27s Sacrae about Leges Sacrae?

The Latin phrase leges sacrae and its various translations (sacred laws, loissacrées, heilige Gesetze) have been applied since at least the nineteenth cen-tury to various collections of inscribed documents. It is a modern inventionborn out of the German Wissenschaft ideology of systematic, scientific, com-prehensive methods of inquiry. This rubric and the collecting of Greek inscrip-tions under it have always been recognized as problematically subjective, andin the last decade or so a flurry of scholarship has critiqued the corpora moredirectly. Much of this analysis has focused on the leges half of leges sacrae:whether “sacred law” corresponds to an ancient category, what legal aspects ofsacred laws distinguish them from other laws and decrees, and how their termsmight have been enforced. What has been less examined, however, is what de-fines the subject matter that led to the classification of these documents assacrae. What is sacred about Greek sacred law

The Athenian Calendar of Sacrifices: A New Fragment from the Athenian Agora

Presented here is the editio princeps of a new fragment of the late-5th-century b.c. Athenian calendar of sacrifices. The fragment, Agora 17577, was discovered during excavations conducted in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies. Inscribed on both faces (Face A: 403-399 b.c., Face B: 410-404 b.c.), it is associated with, but does not join, the group of fragments of Athenian legal inscriptions often referred to as the Law Code of Nikomachos. The text provides important additional evidence for the form of the calendar and the manner of its publication, and casts new light on broader issues of Athenian cult and topography

Hephaisteion, also known as “Temple of Hephaistos”

The Hephaisteion was an temple to the Greek god Hephaestus located on the Kolonos Agoraios hill overlooking the Athenian Agora to the east. This placement was especially meaningful because it kept this god of craftsmen close to both the Industrial District and the commercial center. According to the Roman traveler Pausanias, Athena, goddess of craft, was worshiped alongside him and present in the cult statue. This Doric temple was built mostly of marble, and its sculptural decoration featuring a centauromachy (frieze) and the labors of the Athenian hero Theseus (metopes) emphasized the eastern end that was most visible to those in the Agora below. The Hephaisteion notably provides evidence of the landscaping of sanctuaries; planting pits and vessels dating to the third century BCE were excavated throughout the precinct. Although not treated in this entry, this temple had a long and varied religious life through its conversion to a Christian church (7th c. CE) and use as a Protestant cemetery (19th c. CE).Non UBCUnreviewedFacult

The Athenian Agora Museum Guide

Written for the general visitor, the Athenian Agora Museum Guide is a companion to the 2010 edition of the Athenian Agora Site Guide and leads the reader through all of the display spaces within the Stoa of Attalos in the Athenian Agora — the terrace, the ground-floor colonnade, and the newly opened upper story. The guide also discusses each case in the museum gallery chronologically, beginning with the prehistoric and continuing with the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. Hundreds of artifacts, ranging from common pottery to elite jewelry held in 81 cases, are described and illustrated in color for the very first time. Through focus boxes, readers can learn about marble-working, early burial practices, pottery production, ostracism, home life, and the wells that dotted the ancient site. A timeline, maps, and plans accompany the text. For those who wish to learn more about what they see in the museum, a list of further reading follows each entry.https://ecommons.luc.edu/facultybooks/1028/thumbnail.jp

Eleusinion, also known as “City Eleusinion (Athens)”

The Eleusinion was the satellite sanctuary for the Eleusinian goddesses (Demeter and Kore) located in the city center of Athens on the north slope of the Akropolis just above the Athenian Agora. The sacred items used in the Eleusinian Mysteries were brought here at the beginning of the festival in order to be returned to Eleusis in a great procession. The remains of a temple to Triptolemos have been uncovered, but the full extent of the sanctuary is unable to be excavated.Non UBCUnreviewedFacult