CONNECTING THE EAST AND THE WEST: THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT ERETRIA
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-02-21

The Sanctuary of Apollo Daphnephoros at Eretria has yielded evidence to connect the sacred building to non-religious functions, such as a meeting point between pan-Euboean cultures and Near Eastern merchants. Eretria and Lefkandi in Euboea have had connections to the East since very early times, especially with places like Al-Mina. Near Eastern and, specifically, Phoenician presence in Eretria, told by Strabo and Herodotus, is believed to be up until the eighth century, and the archaeological record shows how important their presence in the island was. Inscriptions on locally made pottery and on bronze blinkers from North Syria dedicated to Hazael were found within the temple, some of them showing an alphabetic script, thought to be transmitted by Phoenicians. This temple, therefore, could have been a very significant point of contact between Phoenicians and Euboeans, a place where ritual practices, such as meals and drinking sessions, could have contributed not only to the spread of writing but also to commercial transactions, as well as to the change or adaptation of religious practices and beliefs. A few oriental objects have been found within the temple, such as Egyptian figurines, scarabs and seals and Phoenician glass beads.. Moreover, a goldsmith’s working area has been detected near the temple. These finds can be compared to other Aegean sanctuaries like Kommos (Crete), a stopping point between the East and West; the Temple of Artemis Orthia (Sparta), an ivory working space; the Sanctuary of Kition-Bamboula (Cyprus), a point of commercial exchanges with a bronzesmith workshop; and the Heraion of Samos, a Greek sanctuary where Egyptian deities were presumably worshipped. Therefore, the Temple of Apollo at Eretria can be connected to commercial exchanges between foreigners and locals, as well as to a hybridisation of religious practices that denotes that cultures cannot be understood in isolation.


Author(s): Muñoz Sogas, Judith (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)