page_title: Cave Sanctuaries of the Akropolis
section_title: Aglaureion
hierarchical_section_title: Cave Sanctuaries of the Akropolis / Aglaureion
caption_attribution_description: English: Cave of Aglauros, in the East of Acropolis of Athens Deutsch: Höhle der Agraulos östlich der Akropolis von Athen
context_page_description: The Cave Sanctuaries of the Akropolis, Athens, are the natural fissures in the rock of the Akropolis hill that were used as sites of worship for deities of the panhellenic pantheon in antiquity. Traditionally a sharp distinction has been drawn between the state religion practised on the summit of the akropolis and the cult practice of the shrines on the lower slopes. Recently, however, interest has burgeoned in the individual religious experience or personal piety in Greek society of which these cult sites may be the expression. The proceeding description follows the order of the shrines from the Klepsydra at the northwest face of the akropolis clockwise via the Peripatos round to the foot of the Nike bastion.
context_section_description: On the east slope is the Aglaureion, the largest of the Akropolis caves at 14m across the mouth. Aglauros was one of the daughters of Kekrops who according to legend jumped to her death to save the city as decreed by the Delphic oracle.  Herodotos records that the Persians in 480 BCE used this part of the hill to scale the Akropolis. Pausanias described the Aglaureion as being above the sanctuary of the Dioskouroi near the Prytaneion. These sources were the only inconclusive clues to the location of the shrine which was not identified as its current site until the 1980 stele find. Dating from 247/6 or 246/5 BCE, the inscription on the stele mentions the Aglauros priestess Timokrite who was honoured by the Athenian demos with this memorial. This stele was part of the peribolos of the sanctuary. While the cult of Aglauros was a women’s cult, the ephebes  also practised the aglauria there when they swore oaths and received their weapons. The inscription as refers to a pannykhis (an all-night vigil) as part of the festival.
caption: Aglaureion.
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