The Pan-Ionic cult and sanctuary of Helikonios Poseidon in Helike of Achaea, Greece

D. Katsonopoulou

THE PAN-IONIC CULT AND SANCTUARY OF HELIKONIOS POSEIDON IN HELIKE OF ACHAEA, GREECE

The most important and venerated cult center of Helikonios Poseidon was located in Helike of Achaea on the southwest shore of the Corinthian Gulf (Fig. 1), forty stades (about 7 km) southeast of Aigion (Paus. 7.24.5)1. Since the Bronze Age, the sanctuary in Helike (Il. 8.201-204)2 had gained panhellenic reputation. In the relevant Homeric scene, Hera vexed addresses Poseidon watching indifferently the loss of the Greeks who, however, used to bring to his sanctuary in Helike many and beautiful gifts! Drawing on the bull sacrifice to Poseidon during the festival of Panionia, Homer described in a very vivid way the death of Ippodamas who, wounded by Achilles, left his last respiration bellowing like the bull when dragged to the altar of the Helikonios anax (Poseidon) to be sacrificed (Il. 20.403-405)3.

The festival of Panionia, in honor of Poseidon, was celebrated of old in Helike uninterruptedly until the city&s destruction by an

rcoM,a xs Kai xapisvxa; ou Se o^ioi Pou^so vlk^v. (Il. 8.201-204).

Kouprov e^KQvxrov; yavuxai Se xs xoiq EvooixOrov. (Il. 20.403-405).

earthquake and tsunami in the Classical period4. It was also celebrated in Asia Minor, where Ionians from Helike settled (Paus. 7.24.5) after the Achaeans established themselves in Achaea at the end of the Mycenaean period, under the leadership of Tisamenos, son of Orestes (Katsonopoulou 1999). Strabo mentions5 that in his time, the Panionia was still held in the country of the Prienians (Fig. 2) originated from Helike. In keeping with the customary rites of the Pan-Ionic sacrifice, the Prienians appointed as basileus a young Prienian man to superintend the sacred ceremonies and believed that they obtain omens when the bull bellows while being sacrificed, as said by Homer (Il. 20.403-405).

According to Herodotos (1.148), the festival was held at Panionium on the promontory of Mykale (Fig. 2). Pausanias (7.24.5) mentions two other altars of Helikonios Poseidon, one in Miletos on the way to the spring Biblis and a second in Teos (Fig. 2). Diodoros drawing on Ephoros adds that in later times because of the outbreak of wars in the area of Mykale, the Ionians had to transfer the Panionia to a safer place near Ephesos (Fig. 2). To this end, they received an oracle from Delphi to sacrifice at the ancient ancestral altars at Helike of Achaea and transfer the sacred relics to the new cult place near Ephesos. In obedience to the oracle, the Ionians sent envoys to Helike and asked for permission to sacrifice by speaking before the Achaean council. Although they were granted permission by the Achaeans, the Helikaeans did not allow them to sacrifice because of an old oracle saying that they would be endangered if Ionians should sacrifice at Poseidon&s altar and opposed them by saying that the sanctuary was their own possession and not common property of the Achaeans. Finally, the envoys sacrificed at the altar

but the Helikaeans seized them and their sacred possessions were scattered (Diod. 15.49.1-3)6. Pausanias (7.24.6)7 and Aelian (11.19)8 say that the Ionians were even killed in the sanctuary. Because of the committed sacrilege, soon after Poseidon sent the earthquake and tsunami and destroyed the city and its impious inhabitants.

The mission of envoys from Ionia is probably connected with the historical events of the early 4th c. BC involving Sparta&s diplomacy, the revival of the Athenian League and the efforts for the reconstitution of the Koinon of the Ionians placed around 400 BC (Anderson 1953; Caspari 1915). The principal purpose of the mission, the sacrifice at the altar in Helike, exhibits the oldness,

ànoax^aaaw èK xoù LEpoù Kai ànoKxEÎvaaiv, oùk èpéllnaE xo prjvipa èK xoù noaEiSwvoç. àllà aEiapoç èç x^v x^pav a^iaiv aùxLKa KaxaaK^yaç xwv xe oiKoSopnpàxrov x^v KaxaaKEu^v Kai ôpoù x^ KaxaaKEu^ Kai aùxo x^ç nôlEroç xo eSa^oç à^avèç èç xoùç enEixa ènoi^aE. (Paus. 7.24.6).

sanctity and importance of Poseidon&s sanctuary there. According to Diodoros (15.49.1-2), the envoys were instructed to take the a^iSpu^axa from the ancestral altars at Helike and according to Strabo, preserving the testimony of Herakleides (8.7.2)9, to ppexa^ tou nooeiSwvo^ and if not t^v a^iSpuciv tou Lepou. The exact meaning of the terms used by ancient authors for the objects requested by the Ionians, usually wrongly interpreted as copies of the altars or of the statue or of the temple of Poseidon, was correctly restored by Brunel a long ago (1953). The a^iSpu^aTa to be taken from Helike back to Ionia are the &sacred relics& of the sacrifice at Poseidon&s altar, burned bones of the sacrificed animals and sacred ashes. This interpretation explains satisfactorily the insistence of the Ionians to sacrifice at Poseidon&s altar regardless the opposition of the Helikaeans. It also explains the act of the latter, who seized the envoys and dispersed their sacred possessions. The sacrifice explicitly reported by Diodoros, is indirectly suggested by Strabo&s reference to the a^lSpuoi^, the means by which the Ionians could obtain the a^iSpu^aTa mentioned by Diodoros. Strabo (8.7.2) notes that following Helike&s destruction, the Achaeans granted the Ionians the requested a^lSpuoi^. Since it would have been impossible for the Achaeans to give the Ionian representatives the model of Poseidon&s temple, completely inundated and submerged in 373 BC as a result of the earthquake and tsunami (Katsonopoulou 1998 and 2005), Brunel&s restoration solves the problem of interpretation of the events. The Ionians were allowed to sacrifice in the remaining land of Helike and take the sacred relics back to Ionia.

The same story sheds light in another aspect of Poseidon&s cult and sanctuary at Helike, however unnoticed by scholars. The fact that the Ionian envoys sacrificed at the altar although the Helikaeans denied this privilege suggests that they took refuge in the sanctuary as supplicants. Such a function of the sanctuary shows that it served as a place of asylum for supplicants in addition to its asylum function

as federal seat of the Ionian/Achaean Confederacy. Therefore, the maltreatment and seizure of the envoys by the Helikaeans inside the precinct were a sacrilegious act. The envoys, as supplicants, were &sacred& persons under the protection of the god, immune under the institution of supplication, the hiketeia, sharing in the inviolability of the sanctuary. They would probably have claimed immunity as political persons as well. Pausanias (7.24.6) explicitly mentions that the refugees to the sanctuary were supplicants, LKSTai. The same is suggested by Aelian (NA 11.19) who says that the Helikaeans acted impiously by killing the envoys &on the altar&, therefore they violated the divine law of supplication.

This other side of the sanctuary&s function is even more evident in the story of another supplicant narrated by Polyainos (Strateg. 8.46)10. Themisto, the daughter of Krithon from Oiantheia on the north shore of the Corinthian Gulf (across from Helike) fled to Poseidon&s sanctuary at Helike as Lksti^, seeking refuge from her pursuers, the tyrant of Oiantheia Frikodimos and his son Herakon. The Helikaeans handed Themisto over to her enemies thus committing sacrilege and provoking the god&s wrath, who sent a tremendous earthquake and sea wave to swallow up the city and its inhabitants. Themisto&s story, who fled to Helike as supplicant, suggests that the sanctuary was known as a place of refuge beyond Achaea, in the major geographic area around the Corinthian Gulf.

Additional evidence suggesting the inclusion of Poseidon&s sanctuary at Helike in the places of &asylum& in ancient Greece, is the epithets of &holy&, ayiov (Pol. Strateg. 8.46), and &holiest&, ayiroTaTov (Paus. 7.24.5) used by ancient sources for the sanctuary, terms characterizing other known places of refuge and above all the sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia (Paus. 2.33.2), where the Athe10 ©spioxw KpiOrovoq OiavOsiou Ouyaxnp ... povn avaxOsioa Kaxsn^suosv eq &Ewk^v no^iv x^q Axaiaq, evOa noosiSwvoq ispov ayiov ^v xoux^ npoos^uysv iKsxiq. ^piKoSnpoq xov exspov xwv uiwv, aSs^ov xou ^ovsuOsvxoq, HpaKwvxa, enspysv e^aix^oovxa napa xwv E^iKsrov x^v Kopnv. oi pev S^ e^sSroKav, ensi Se dvqxOnoav, xsipwv psyaq e^sroos xo oKa^oq eni xo &Piov x^q Axataq ... oi Se x^v &Emk^v oiKouvxsq ouk siq paKpav KaxsnoOnoav auxoi xs Kai ^ no^iq, x^q pev y^q osioOsio^q, xou Se ns^ayouq eniK^uoavxoq, eSo^s xo p^vipa ysvsoOai xou noosiSwvoq, oxi x^v iKsxiv auxou napOsvov xolq no^spioiq e^sSroKav. (Pol. Strateg. 8.46).

nian orator Demosthenes fled. Another element is provided by Pausanias& narration of the catastrophe sent by Poseidon against the people of Helike. At the end of his description of the earthquake types and of the particular disaster which befell Helike, Pausanias says that this natural destruction was but the proof that the wrath of the Iksoio^, the God of Supplicants, is inexorable against those who do not respect supplicants \ I believe that under the epithet of Iksoio^ here, is meant Poseidon and not Zeus to whom usually the epithet is applied. Such an evocation of Poseidon well accords with the function of his sanctuary at Helike as a place of refuge for supplicants.

I now come to a last observation regarding my interpretation of the origins of the epithet Helikonios under which Poseidon was worshipped in Helike, which differs from the long established view (Farnell 1896) connecting it with Helikon, the mountain in Boiotia. The city of Helike got its name from the princess Helike, daughter of the local king of the Aigialeians Selinous, who, according to one source (Steph. Byz. s.v. éAÍKq) was son of Poseidon thus making Helike his grand daughter. In the hymn of Kallimachos (Del. 5.100105), Helike is mentioned as companion to Poseidon, nooeiSárovo^ éxaípn. On the other hand, Helike is, in mythological tradition, a water deity, Nymph of inspiration, waters and mysteries. Poseidon in his primeval qualities is the god of all waters both on earth and beneath it, Leader of the Nymphs, worshipped as Krenouchos and Nymphagetes. The symbol of the nymph Helike is the water-loving tree, the willow tree, which in Arkadia adjacent to Achaea was called é^ÍK^, according to Theophrastos (Hist. Plant. 3.13.7). The main river flowing through the area and the plain of Helike, is homonymous to her father, the king Selinous. Poseidon, Selinous&s father and Helike&s grand father was the patron god of the city.

In the light of these correlations between Helike (the princess, the nymph, the tree, the city) and god Poseidon (the grand father, the Leader, the patron god), I have suggested (1998) that the epithet Helikonios derives from Helikon not the mountain in Boiotia, as Farnell suggested, but the place of the same name in Helike, where é^ÍKai (the willow trees) grow. It must be noted, however, that

Farnell himself admitted the lack of historical evidence to support his suggestion, especially because the authentic source of the epithet, the poet of the epics, knew Helike in Achaea as Poseidon&s most important cult center. Willow trees were most probably the typical tree in Poseidon&s sacred grove in Helike. It is worth noting that even today willow trees are typical tree of the coastal zone between the Selinous and Kerynites rivers where the ancient site of Helike is located (Fig. 3). The name Helikon was most probably a second one for the city. The hypothesis that Helike was also called Helikon was advanced in the past by Solmsen (1909) on the grounds that toponyms originating from names of trees are represented by two types, one being the same as the name of the tree (in this case ¿Mixn) and the second indicative of the place where the tree grows (¿Mixrov). It escaped Solmsen&s attention that a connection existed between the name of the city and that of the tree and thus his original view was soon forgotten. From references to the city by ancient sources, it appears that between the two types of names Helike prevailed over Helikon. However, it is possible that the second type, Helikon, is preserved in the Homeric Hymn, where Poseidon is mentioned as possessor of Helikon and the wide city of Aigai12. The simultaneous reference of Helikon and Aigai, where Poseidon was also worshipped (Il. 8.203-204), suggests that Helikon mentioned here is probably Helike and not Helikon in Boiotia. That Aigai is the Achaean city and not Aigai of Euboea, where Poseidon&s residence is said to be found at the depths of a lake (Il. 13.21), it is shown, I believe, among others by Homer&s reference to Helike and Aigai as the two known great cult centers of Poseidon (Il. 8.203-204).

The origins of Poseidon&s evocation as Helikonios from the place Helikon at Helike, as I suggested above, and the ancient rites of the bull sacrifice performed at his sanctuary since the Mycenaean period show that his cult in Helike was associated with his primordial powers as master of all waters - on and beneath the earth - and thus god of earthquakes. The tragic end of the city itself exhibits this side of his worship by the Helikaeans. The characteristic symbols of Poseidon as god of waters and earthquakes, the trident and the dolphins, are represented on the reverse of the early 4th c. BC Helike

coins (Fig. 4a). On the obverse of the coins a superb head of Poseidon, probably reproducing the cult statue of the god, is depicted surrounded by a circle of sea waves and bearing the inscription of the ethnic name ELIK (Fig 4b). Marinatos (1960) noted the resemblance of Poseidon&s head on the Helike coins to Poseidon of Pheidias on the east frieze of the Parthenon and wondered if the cult statue of the god could have been made by Pheidias himself. Could it be the cult statue of Helikonios Poseidon?

References

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