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Agiasmatsi: a Greek cave sanctuary in Sphakia, SW Crete1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Jane Francis ,
Simon Price ,
Jennifer Moody  and
Lucia Nixon
Jane Francis
Affiliation:
Dept. of Classics, Modern Languages andLinguistics Concordia University
Simon Price
Affiliation:
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Jennifer Moody
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
Lucia Nixon
Affiliation:
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Abstract

The Agiasmati cave in SW Crete, investigated as part of the Sphakia Survey, served as a sanctuary in the Hellenistic-Early Roman period. It has four points of interest, (1) Two of its principal types of artefacts, ladles and multiple-nozzle lamps are rare or even unique to this site. (2) Fabric analysis has enabled significant progress to be made with the interpretation of the pottery. (3) Cave worship in this period is not well known on Crete. (4) Intensive exploration by the Sphakia Survey of the region in which the cave lies enables us to place the cave in the context of the contemporary settlement pattern and to reconfirm the value of archaeological survey.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 95 , November 2000 , pp. 427 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2000

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References

2 Thanks to a generous permit obtained from the Greek Archaeological Service through the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens, researchers began working in Sphakia in 1987. The Survey is co-directed by Lucia Nixon and Jennifer Moody. Fieldwork was conducted in 1987–90, 1992; final site revisiting 1996; study seasons 1992–5, 1997–9. For preliminary publications of Survey material sec: Nixon, L., Moody, J., and Rackham, O., ‘Archaeological survey in Sphakia, Crete’, Echos du monde classique/Classical Views, 32, n.s. 7 (1988), 159–73Google Scholar: Nixon, L., Moody, J., Price, S., and Rackham, O., ‘Archaeological survey in Sphakia, Crete’, Echos du monde classique/Classical Views, 33, n.s. 8 (1989), 201–15Google Scholar; Nixon, L., Moody, J., Price, S., Rackham, O., and Niniou-Kindeli, V., ‘Archaeological survey in Sphakia, Crete’, Echos du monde classique/Classical Views, 34, n.s. 9 (1990), 213–20Google Scholar; Nixon, L., Moody, J., Price, S., and Rackham, O., ‘Rural settlement in Sphakia, Crete’, in Doukellis, P. and Mendoni, L. G. (eds), Structures rurales el sociétes antiques (Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon; Paris, 1994), 255–64Google Scholar; id., ‘Surveying poleis and larger sites in Sphakia’, in Gavanagh, W. G., Curtis, M. et al. (eds),Post Minoan Crete, (BSA Studies 2; London, 1998), 87–95Google Scholar. We have also made a video about the survey: Nixon, L. and Price, S., The Sphakia Survey (Greece): Methods and Results (Oxford: Educational Technology Resources Centre, 1995Google Scholar), and an interactive website: Sphakia Survey: The Internet Edition, http://sphakia.classies.ox.ac.uk. The final publication of the Survey is nearly complete; it will appear, in two volumes, from OUP. This article is designed to present some of our methods and to offer a more detailed account of the Agiasmatsi material than will be possible in the final publication.

3 The field work on the cave was conducted by various members of the Sphakia Survey: Lucia Nixon, Jennifer Moody, Simon Price, Jane Francis and David Crowley (then a student at the University of New Brunswick at Saint John). The museum study and fabric analysis were primarily the responsibility of Jane Francis, (building on the work of Jennifer Moody). Lucia Nixon supervised the finds photography done by Kathy May. Jane Francis wrote sections II, III, and V and part of I; Simon Price and Lucia Nixon wrote the introduction and sections I and IV, but the article also incorporates important contributions on the pottery by Jennifer Moody.

4 On sacred landscapes see Alcock, S. E. and Osborne, R. (eds), Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece (Oxford, 1994)Google Scholar: Crumley, C. L., ‘Sacred landscapes: constructed and conceptualized’, in Ashmore, W. and Knapp, A. B. (eds), Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives (Oxford and Maiden MA, 1999), 269–76Google Scholar. For other recent studies of landscape see Ucko, P. J. and Layton, R. (eds). The Archaeology and Anthropology of landscape: Shaping your Landscape (London and New York, 1999CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

5 Phoukarakis, A., 'Εθνική (Khania), 12 Apr., 1963Google Scholar, non vidimus; Alexiou, S., Kr. Chron. 15 (1963), 412Google Scholar.

6 Faure 1967: 135–8.

7 Faure 1969: 200.

8 Tyree 1974: 48–50, 192, 216, 230; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 49.

9 Cf. Faure 1967: 136 fig. II.

10 These are Faure's dimensions; our figures are slightly smaller: 3 × 6 m.

11 Again, these arc Faure's dimensions. Ours are smaller: 10 × 15 m.

12 Faure 1967: 135 wonders if this is a new idol or an oblong altar. He also describes another group of stalagmites (cf. Faure 1967: 136 fig. 12) as resembling ‘vaguely’ a group of a human figure, accompanied by a sort of quadruped (dog?). This ‘description’ seems to us too personal to be useful.

13 We are grateful for advice on some of the pottery to: John Hayes (formerly Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto); Alan Johnston (University College London); Pamela Armstrong (Oxford); Eva Parisinou (London); and joann Freed (Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario). The drawings have been done by Anne Bowtell (Oxford), Christopher Sparey-Green (London) and Don Evely (Institute of Archaeology, Oxford). The photography is by Kathy May (INSTAP Study Center for East Crete).

14 The glass was analysed (in photographs and drawings) by Martine Newby (London). The worked stone was analyzed by Lucy Wilson (University of New Brunswick at Saint John). The few bone fragments have been studied by Tina McGeorge (Athens).

15 This fabric analysis is the work primarily of Jennifer Moody, aided by Harriet Lewis Robinson (Maine, USA). Cf. Moody, and Robinson, , ‘The fabrics of life in Sphakia’, the Eighth International Cretological Congress (Sept. 1996), forthcoming.Google Scholar

16 Some of these fabric names may vary slightly from those to be presented in the final publication of the Sphakia Survey, since the fabric analysis of all the material is still under way.

17 Chip Family is a another characteristic fabric for the Graeco-Roman period. It contains matt chips of hard shale or slate in an orange and/or buff clay. It is somewhat surprising that there are no examples of true Chip fabrics from the Agiasmatsi Cave.

18 For the Aptera lamp (Khania, Museum), see A. Delt. 17 (1961–1962), Chr. pl. 358gGoogle Scholar; for the Knossos example, see Wardlc, K. A., ‘Two notes from Knossos’, BSA 67 (1972), no. 5, pp. 273, 276Google Scholar and fig. 3; for the Kommos lamp, see Shaw, J. W., ‘Excavations at Kommos (Crete) during 1980’. Hesp. 50 (1981CrossRefGoogle Scholar), no. C2653, pl, 58d.

19 A similar rim form can be seen on a lamp from Tell Taannek in Palestine, where locally produced examples have an everted rim with seven trefoil spouts, set on a tall foot. Tegzör, D. Kassab and Sezer, T., Catalogue des lampes en terrecuite du musée archéologique d'Istanbul (Paris, 1995), 37Google Scholar no.18 and pl. 18.

20 For instance, prehistoric lamps from Crete show two nozzles pulled out from a shallow bowl set on top of a tall, spreading pedestal with flat foot: an example from Platanos is cited in Xanthoudides, S. A., The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara (2nd edn; Farnborough, 1971), 97Google Scholar no. 6905 and pl. 51 b; for other Cretan lamps, see also Bailey, D. M., A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum i. Greek, Hellenistic and Early Roman Lamps (London, 1975), 27–8Google Scholar, nos Q10–11, and pls 6–7. C–H multiple-nozzle lamps from Gortyn show small, close-set nozzles on a high pedestal and a narrow channel for the bowl: Rutkowski, B., ‘Lampes sacrées de Gortyne’, Études et Travaux, 13 (1983), 321–4Google Scholar. For other examples, see Broneer, O., Isthimia iii. Terracotta Lamps (Princeton, 1977), 22Google Scholar no. 219 and pls 4 and 18 (second half of 3rd–2nd c. BC). See also Howland, R. H., The Athenian Agora iv. Greek Lamps and their Survivals (Princeton, 1958), 154Google Scholar, no. 611 and pl. 48 (c. 266–225 BC); and Bruneau, P., Délos, xxvi. Les Lampes (Paris, 1965), 23Google Scholar, nos. 115–36 and pl. 2; 27 no. 312 and pl. 6; and 30, no. 1599 and pl. 7 (mid-2nd to early 1st c. BC).

21 Coldstream 1973: 33, dep. E, nos. 35–7 and fig. 16; these lamps date to the mid-3rd c. BC and are therefore potentially contemporary with the Agiasmatsi examples.

22 Faure 1967: 135 8. Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 49 also treat the cave as a possible LM III cult site.

23 Painted glass seems to have been introduced to North Italy from Syria in the 1st c. AD. There are several fragments of North Italian pottery in the cave (31, 32), and this glass could have travelled with them to Crete. See Rütti, B., ‘Early enamelled glass’, in Newby, M. and Painter, K. (eds), Roman Glass: Two Centuries of Art and Invention (Society of Antiquaries Occasional Papers, 13; London, 1991), 122–36Google Scholar.

24 The primary shape during this time was the small, open cup or bowl. The ladles are but another instance of these vessels. See discussion in previous section on ladles.

25 Knossos, above n. 18 and Homann-Wedeking, B., BSA 45 (1950), 183Google Scholar, fig. 23, no. 3; Selinon, below, n. 34.

26 Johnston, D. E., ‘The Byzantine basilica church at Knossos’, BSA 57 (1962), 228Google Scholar, nos. 92–3 and fig. 19.

27 For long-term settlements, see, for instance, the Franchthi cave (Jacobsen, T. W., ‘Franchthi cave and the beginning of settled village life in Greece’, Hesp. 50 (1981), 303–19Google Scholar).

28 For the use of caves as burials, see Pini., I.Beiträge Zur minoischen Gräberkunde (Wiesbaden, 1968), 3–4Google Scholar; AR 36 (1989–1990), 76Google Scholar (Pseira).

29 Papadopetrakis, G., ῾Ιστορἰα τῶν Σφακἰων ἢ τοι μἐρος τῆς Κρητικης ῾ιστορἱας (Athens. 1888Google Scholar; repr. Athens, 1971), 33, 543–4: Mourellos, I. D., ῾Ιστορἱα τῆς Κρὴτης, 3 vols (2nd edn; Heraklion, 1950), iii. 1350Google Scholar.

30 Cf. below Catalogue (Items not seen by Survey), no. 24.

31 Watrous, L. V., Kommos iii. The Late Bronze Age Pottery (Princeton, 1992), 77Google Scholar, no. 1315 and fig. 49; 95, no. 1653 and fig. 62 and pl. 42; Betancourt, P. P., The History of Minoan Pottery (Princeton, 1985), 161Google Scholar, fig. 117; and Mercando, L., ‘Lampade, lucerne, bracieri di Festòs’, ASA 36–7 (1974–1975), 102–67, esp. 116–22Google Scholar.

32 Georgiou, H., ‘Minoan fireboxes’, SMEA 21 (1980), 123–92Google Scholar; and ‘Coarse wares and technology’, in Krzyszkowska, O. and Nixon, L. (eds), Minoan Society. Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium, 1981 (Bristol. 1983), 75–92Google Scholar.

33 Bailey (n. 20), 216–17, no. Q283 and pl. 93 (7th c. BC).

34 The major finds from the sanctuary have been put on display in the Khania museum (M. Andreadaki-Vlasaki, The County of Khania through its Monuments (Ministry of Culture Archaeological Receipts Fund; Athens, 1997), 59, 61–2Google Scholar). The date and dedication are supplied by an inscription. Knossos, above n. 25.

35 Sparkes, B. A. and Talcott, L., The Athenian Agora xii. Black and Plain Pottery (Princeton, 1970), 228–9Google Scholar, nos. 1991–2 and pl. 96; these ‘ladles’ are dated by context to the 5th c. and 420–390 BC respectively.

36 While it is common for prehistoric shapes to continue into later periods, it is rare for such forms to be readopted after a significant gap in later periods. For instance, the Early Iron Age, Aeolic grey ware from NW Anatolia maintains several elements characteristic of the region's prehistoric pottery; see N. P. Bayne, The Grey Wares of North-West Anatolia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age and their Relation to the Early Greek Settlements (D.Phil, thesis, Oxford, 1963), 165. We thank Nigel Spencer for this reference. For the more general tendency to continue or resurrect prehistoric religious practices in later periods, see Dietrich, B. C., ‘Evidence of Minoan religious traditions and their survival in the Mycenaean and Greek world’, Historia, 31 (1982), 1–12Google Scholar.

37 For a discussion of lamps in ritual contexts, see Parisinou, E., ‘Artificial illumination in Greek cult practice of the Archaic and the Classical periods: mere practical necessity?’, Thetis, 4 (1997), 95–108Google Scholar.

38 Wickens, J. M., The Archaeology and History of Cave Use in Attica, Greece from Prehistoric through Late Roman Times (Ph.D. Diss., Indiana University, 1986), 52–61Google Scholar. On the etymology of Agiasmatsi we are grateful for advice from Professor P. A. Mackridge, who notes that the ending of Ἀγιασμάτσι is unexpected and that the etymology in Peristerakis, A., ΣΦακιανά (Athens, 1991), 80, 177Google Scholar, from το ἀγιάζι, is wrong.

39 For similar vessels in metal used as paterae, see Barbera, M., ‘I materiali dell'Antiquarium del Musco Nazionale Romano: ultime indagini, prime conclusioni’, Archeologia Laziale, xii.i (Quaderni di Archeologia Etrusco-Italica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche; Rome, 1995), 213–23Google Scholar.

40 Shaw (n. 18), 226 and pls 48 c and 59 a

41 Faure, P., Fonctions des cavernes crétoises (Paris, 1964Google Scholar) and ‘Cavernes sacrées de la Crète antique’, Cretan Studies, 4 (1994), 77–83Google Scholar; Tyree 1974; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996. For Cretan caves in general see Platakis, E., Σπὴλαια καἱ ᾶλλαι κἀρστικαι μορφαἱ τῆς Κρὴτης (Herakleion, 1973Google Scholar).

42 Kamares: Tyree 1974: 38–40; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 30–2. Amnisos: Amnisos, i (Berlin, 1992)Google Scholar; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 21–4.

43 e.g. Zeus (Idaean and Dictaean caves; below n. 44); Demeter e.g. Pologiorgi, M., ‘Latreutiki spilia istorikon khronon sta Khania’, Πεπραγμἑνα του Ε Διἑθνους Κρητολογικοὺ Συνεδρἰου (Αγ. Νικὀλαος ) [Heraklion, 1981], i. 301–21Google Scholar); Pan and Nymphs (cf. RE 1558–1572 s.v. Nymphs); Eileithyia (Amnisos: above, n. 42).

44 Idaean cave: Sakellarakis, J. A., ‘The Idaean cave. Minoan and Greek worship’, Kernos, I (1988), 203–14Google Scholar; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 26–9; Chaniotis, A., ‘Plutarchos, praeses insularum’, ZPE 68 (1978), 227–31Google Scholar and ῾Μια ἀγνωστη πηγἠ για τη λατρεἱα στο Ιδαἰο ᾿Αντρο στην ὐστστη αογαιὀτητα ᾿. Πεποανμἐνα του Στ Δηεθνοὺς Κεητολογικοὺ Συνεδρἰου, Χανιἀ 1986 (Khania, 1990), i.2. 393–401Google Scholar reveals a LR visitor to the cave. Dictaean cave: Watrous, L. V, The Cave Sanctuary of Zeus at Psychro. A Study in Extra-Urban Sanctuaries in Minoan and Early Iron Age Crete (Aegaeum 15; Liège and Austin, TX, 1996Google Scholar); Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 7–19.

45 Melidoni: Tyree 1974: 43–5; AR 36 (1989–1990), 80Google Scholar; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 63–5. Patsos: Tyree 1974: 45–7; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 42–4. Tsoutsouros: Tyree 1974: 31–3; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 39–40.

46 Watrous (n. 44), 97–111.

47 Amnisos, : Amnisos i. 84Google Scholar. Lera: Tyree 1974: 56–8; A. Guest-Papamanoli and Lambraki, A., ‘Les grottes de Lèra et de l'Arkoudia en Crète occidentale aux époques préhistoriques et historiques’, A. Delt. 31 (1976), i. 178–243Google Scholar; Rutkowski and Nowicki 1996: 59–61.

48 Peatfield, A., ‘Rural ritual in Bronze Age Crete: the peak sanctuary at Atsipadhes’, CAJ 2 (1992), 59–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar; id., ‘After the “Big Bang” what? or Minoan symbols and shrines beyond palatial collapse’, in Alcock and Osborne (n. 4), 19–36; Jones, D. W., Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete: A Comparison of Artifacts (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature PB 156; Jonsered, 1999Google Scholar).

49 See the provisional discussion in Nixon and Moody et al. 1994 (n. 2).

50 Nowicki, K., ‘Report on investigations in Greece VIII. Studies in 1991’, Archeologia, 43 (1992), pp. 113 19, at p. 119Google Scholar published the first note on this site.

51 The notion of ‘site trajectory’ was developed by Nixon. See her articles, ‘Minoan palaces and their connection with outlying settlements in the Second Palace Period’, in Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. (eds). The Function of the Minoan Palaces: Conference on the Function of the Minoan Palaces, Swedish Institute, Athens, 1985 (Stockholm, 1987), 95–9Google Scholar; ‘Minoan settlements and Greek sanctuaries’, in Πεπραγμένα (n. 44), i. 2. 59–67.

52 There was a major mudslide on to the plain in the historic period, but at present it is impossible to date it closely. Although the pottery contained in it seems to be Graeco-Roman, it buries the LR basilica at Ag. Nikitas, suggesting a Byzantine to Venetian date for the event.

53 Hood, M. S. F., ‘Some ancient sites in south-west Crete’, BSA 62 (1967), 47–56 at 55–6Google Scholar.

54 Sanders, I. F., Roman Crete (Warminster, 1982), 123Google Scholar.

55 The religious history of Attica, where there was renewed pagan use of eaves in late antiquity, was very different: Fowden, G.. ‘City and mountain in late Roman Attica’, JHS 108 (1988), 48–59, at 54–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; S. Alcock, ‘Minding the gap in Hellenistic and Roman Greece’, in Alcock and Osborne (n. 34), 247–61.

56 Above, n. 29. The cave is said by Andreas Daradoulis, our local source, to have been a refuge again during World War II.

57 For the sacred landscape of the Frangokastello plain in the Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish periods see Lucia Nixon, ‘Archaeological survey and sacred landscapes in early modern Greece: outlying churches and icon stands in Sphakia, SW Crete’ (forthcoming).