New Thoughts on an Old Hill: The Kolonos Agoraios (20 min)

Presenters

Kathleen Lynch, University of Cincinnati

Abstract

Recent restudy of the Hephaisteion, located on the Kolonos Agoraios, above the Athenian Agora, included detailed study of pottery found nearby. One deposit atop the hill (C 9:6) may be evidence for the shrine of Eurysakes where the Athenian genos, or religious association, the Salaminioi gathered.

In his 1941 publication of the Hephaisteion, William Dinsmoor used fine pottery from deposit C 9:6, 33 m away from the temple, as evidence for a construction date for the temple in the 440s B.C.E. The pottery in this deposit dates from ca. 520 to 450 B.C.E., and Dinsmoor considered it votive offerings from a predecessor cult. In fact, very few pieces have a clear votive function; excavations have found no archaeological evidence of a pre-Hephaisteion; and there is no evidence of pottery offered as votives to the existing classical temple. For these reasons, deposit C 9:6 should be disassociated from the Hephaisteion.

Instead, Deposit C 9:6 was found close to the findspots of three significant inscriptions that record activities of the genos Salaminioi, two of which instruct erection in the Eurysakeion (I 3244, I 3625, and I 3394). Athenian gene were associations based on kinship, and each oversaw a number of Athenian and Attic cults. The fine pottery from C 9:6 includes abundant drinking equipment and points to large commensal gatherings. Rather than votive objects, the pottery likely reflects banqueting in the Eurysakeion used to solidify group identity. The pottery illuminates yet another form of group drinking beyond the symposium in ancient Athens.