Tag Archives: hestiatorion

Ancora sulla stoà a U di Locri Epizefiri

Author: P.G. Guzzo

Download article as .pdf: Ancora sulla stoà a U di Locri Epizefiri

We discuss again the relevance of the U-shaped stoa to the cult of Aphrodite; and its diachronic destination as a hestiatorion. It can be observed that in sanctuaries where the presence of a hestiatorion is attested, this is located within the related temenos. During symposiums the presence of hetairai was expected. In many sanctuaries (from Pyrgi to Erice) “sacred prostitutes” are documented, they are mentioned also in Epizephyrian Locris. We discuss the information on this subject contained in Iustinus and in Klearchos. We conclude by assuming the activity of hetairai, not of hierodulai, within the hestiatorion located in the U-shaped stoa.

Hestiatoria nei santuari dei Grandi Dei e dei Cabiri. Forme, modelli e ritualità

download articles as .pdf: Hestiatoria nei santuari dei Grandi Dei e dei Cabiri. Forme, modelli e ritualità

This paper focuses on the cult of the Cabiri and that of the Great Gods, with particular reference to the ritual use of wine drinking within buildings specifically intended for such practices. This aspect seems to maintain a central role in the liturgy of the Cabiri and characterises itself as a fundamental element in the structure of the sanctuaries. An analysis of literary and archaeological evidence related to this aspect is followed by an attempt to delineate common patterns and lines of development within the cult.

Lo hestiatorion dell’Asklepieion di Kos

download article as .pdf: Lo hestiatorion dell’Asklepieion di Kos

This paper resumes the text of the IV mimiamb of Herodas, which, set at the Asklepieion of Kos, tells of the visit at the sanctuary of two women and their sacrifice of a cock to the god. In his tale the poet describes the monuments and works of art encountered and admired by the characters, description that has been widely studied and analyzed especially with regard to the altar, with the statues made by the sons of Praxiteles, and the famous paintings on the walls of the pronaos of the temple. So far, however, no scholar has focused on the last verses of the poem, in which, after the sacrifice of the cock, the two women purposed to go and eat their meal in the nearby oikoi. Taking inspiration from the text of Herodas, the article will confirm the destination as a ritual banquet hall of the building immediately to the south of the temple, the so-called “building D”, generally known as abaton; towards it, in fact, the two women may have gone after sacrifice to eat their meal.

Edifici pubblici e pasto rituale in Attica

download article as .pdf: Edifici pubblici e pasto rituale in Attica Continue Reading

This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is now an updated version. The article concerns the issues related to ritual meal in Attica, especially by analyzing the function of several buildings showing an array of cases that has not been properly assessed yet. Each case’s specific features lead to the hypothesis that banquet building rooms’ plan and furniture, as well as the overall number of available seats, point to the existence of different usage methods reflecting coherent social and religious structures. Athens, Eleusis and Brauron are taken into account as examples of a functional system that autonomously organizes its own spaces on the basis of social and institutional needs.

Il pasto collettivo nei santuari dell’Egeo meridionale: struttura e forme di partecipazione

download article as pdf: Il pasto collettivo nei santuari dell’Egeo meridionale: struttura e forme di partecipazione

This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is now an updated version.

The stoà of Camirus, on the Acropolis sanctuary dedicated to Athana and Zeus Polieus, is one of the most important urban monuments in the southern Aegean sea. Several epigraphic texts speak about his function and use inside the sanctuary and mention the organization of meetings and banquets inside the rooms of the building. The rooms behind the portico, in fact, are organized in tree-rooms complexes that could be interpreted as hestiatoria or banquet houses, very similar at Macedonian or Egyptian prototypes. The archaeological and textual evidence prove that the stoà is a multifunctional structure that serves to religious and political necessity of the polis. Perhaps, it is also possible to locate in the structure the hierothyteion, testified by epigraphic fonts, in which public meals were offered by the polis itself.

Hestiatoria nella tradizione rituale delle colonie d’Occidente

download article as pdf: Hestiatoria nella tradizione rituale delle colonie d’Occidente

This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is an updated version.

The ritual collective meal is a widespread practiced aspect in the Greek background and its study concerns not just the exam of ritual practices, in the strict sense of the word, but also architectural structures, intended for the consumption, which were situated within the sanctuaries. In Magna Graecia this tradition finds significant examples, although in different chronological periods, in the extra-urban sanctuary of Aphrodite in Locri, (the so-called “U-shaped Stoà”, in the area of Centocamere, datable around the 6th century) as well as in the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia in Capo Colonna of Crotone (the so-called “H-building”, which dates back to the Hellenistic age). Starting from the examination of these two contexts, the study presents an outline of the documentation pertinent to the ritual meal tradition in Magno-Greek ambits, in order to propose a summing up of the data we have been gathering so far, which might sketch out evidences, reception modalities and possible developments of such a worship-practice in the Greek west.