Apollo, Dionysus and Zeus: On the Sacred Landscapes of Ancient Naxos (2007)

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APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS

SARAH P. MORRIS

“Why has Zeus vanished from the land, leaving scarce a trace behind him?”

Cook 1914, 165

The island of Naxos welcomes the visitor with a monumental marble doorway, part of an unfin-ished archaic Ionic temple on the “Palatia” headland associated with Apollo (fig. 1). To the

east, the tallest mountain in the Cyclades (1003 m.) dominates the skyline with a summit sacred toZeus since antiquity (fig. 2), while an unfinished colos-sal statue still in its quarry site near the northern endof the island (fig. 3a-b) once shared its name with thelocal cape and town, known as “Apollonas.” ProfessorVassilis Lambrinoudakis has devoted his professionalcareer to the exploration of other Greek sanctuaries onNaxos, in particular the temple identifed with Dio-nysos at Hyria (Livadi)1, co-explored with GottfriedGruben, whom he also joined in research and conser-vation on the temple near Sangri perhaps sacred toDemeter2. Most recently, he has identified a newspring sanctuary near the Melanes quarries3. In hon-our of a career dedicated to the sacred landscapes ofNaxos, I offer some observations on three principaldeities of the island and their domains.

1. LAMBRINOUDAKIS 1991 and earlier citations; see below,p. 100, for further discussion.

2. Discovered by N. Kontoleon in the 1950s and studiedby V. LAMBRINOUDAKIS, G. GRUBEN, and M. KORRES,Prakt 1976-1979, 1981-1982, 1984, 1991; summaryby GRUBEN 1986, 342-344. Dedications naming

Apollo and Zeus as well as Demeter and Kore were alsofound in the vicinity, but the unusual nature of the tem-ple, closed on three sides, suggests a mystery cult andhence Demeter.

3. LAMBRINOUDAKIS 2005, 81-85.

Fig. 1. Portara. Temple of Apollo (?), Palatia,Naxos (photo S. Morris).

APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS 97

Fig. 2. View of summit of Mount Zas, from west (photo S. Morris).

Fig. 3b. Profile view of colossal statue in quarry, Apollonas, Naxos (engraving published in Ross, Inselreisen, 32).

Fig. 3a. Aerial view of colossal statuein quarry, Apollonas, Naxos (photo byW. and E. Myers, Archaeology Nov./Dec. 1980, p. 39 [reversed]).

98 S. P. MORRIS

4. PEDLEY 1976, 18 ff. For Delos and the early sculptureand architecture of Naxos, see GRUBEN 1997.

5. First argued by GRUBEN 1972, 361-366. Early visitorsto Naxos (Spon, de Tournefort, Ross) were shown thisruin as a “palace” (temple) of Bacchus.

6. ROSS 1985, 32-34.7. First reported by Pash de Krienen in 1773: CASSON,

1932, 21-25; KOKKOROU-ALEVRAS 1975, 24 K 20;1995, 101-103 K 60, pls. 31-33, figs. 50-52, and 1992,115-117; ROMANO 1980, 300-305; KARAKATSANIS

1986, 64 K6, 166-168.8. GRUBEN 1997, 294 n. 78, 415-416, for summary of

arguments, many of which assume the role of Lygda-mis, or specific destinations for the image at Delphi and

Apollo

The chief god of the Cyclades enjoyed a seat at Delos that attracted some of the earliest monumentalsculpture and architecture in marble in the Ionic world of the islands, largely from Naxos4. OnNaxos itself, his presence is signaled by the large archaic temple at the entrance to harbor and citythat complements the Oikos of the Naxians on Delos, although its identification as a Delion, orsanctuary of Delian Apollo, remains largely conjecture5. Plenty of kouroi found still in quarry siteson Naxos and throughout the Greek world express the spirit of Apollo in the archaic world, yet itis the religious life of Naxos beyond Apollo that is the chief aim of this paper.

The town of Apollonas on the northeast tip ofthe island takes its name from a rock-cut inscrip-tion first noted by Cyriacus of Ancona in 1445. Itclearly proclaims √ƒ√™ Ãøƒπ√À π∂ƒ√À ∞¶√§§ø-

¡√™ (fig. 4: IG XII 5, 43), in letters close in styleand date (4th century BC) to those that mark theboundary of Zeus’ domain on the island’s centralpeak (fig. 7 and below). A set of quarries aroundthe small bay offers a handy source for workingstone into statuary destined for Delos, nearestisland to the north, or other locales accessible bysea. But beyond the inscription, no ancient remainscan be associated with a cult of Apollo or with anyother sanctuary in this locale. As Ludwig Ross observed in 1835, the name in the inscription migrat-ed in local parlance to the colossal image still in the quarry, known as “Apollo,” and eventually tothe landing place and town itself (“Apollonas”)6.

The unfinished statue (fig. 3a), extracted from its rock bed and dislodged two feet downhill, wasabandoned before completion, either due to difficulties in transport or perhaps when large fissuresdeveloped across its face. It measures close to ten and a half meters in length (30 feet) and 2.55 macross the shoulders, and remains the largest marble figure sculpted (if never erected), in antiquity7.A bearded figure draped in chiton and himation (the seam of the mantle is visible under his leftarm), it cannot be a kouros or an archaic Apollo related to the local Apollo cult attested in theinscription. The date of the statue remains disputed: first dated by Kokkorou-Alevras among herearliest group of Naxian statues in the mid-sixth century, it was then down-dated by her andothers to the later sixth or even early fifth century BC, on technical and historical grounds, butthis work is surely archaic8.

Fig. 4. Rock-cut inscription at Apollonas, Naxos (IGXII 5, 43. Photo S. Morris).

APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS 99

The right arm of the figure projects forward from the body at the elbow and ends in a squareblock of marble that would have eventually been carved into some helpful identifying attribute (fig.3b). Dionysos, Poseidon, Hermes and Zeus all wear beards and mantles in the archaic period, butthe most convincing identification has been made for Dionysos, holding a kantharos in his righthand (and possibly a thyrsus in his left)9. This inspires a closer look at the role of Dionysos in mythand cult on Naxos.

Dionysos

Greek legends make the god of wine the chief deity of the island, and local inscriptions (IG IX 5,45-46) testify to his cult on Naxos. In ancient myths, Dionysos was born or raised on Naxos (Hom.Hymn to Dionysos 4; Diod. Sic. 3.66, 5.52), but the island is more famous for his appearance thereafter Theseus escaped from Minos on Crete and abandoned Ariadne on his return to Athens (Diod.Sic. 5. 51, Plut. Thes. 20, Catullus 64). In the earliest version of this legend, Homer has her felledby Artemis much closer to Crete, on the island of Dia just north of modern Heraklion and ancientKnossos (Od. 11.321-5), a name some ancient commentators report as an alternate name for Naxos(perhaps under the influence of the leading locale for Ariadne’s fate). But Naxos became popular asthe place where the hero left the princess who betrayed her father for him, only to have Dionysos,part rescuer and part rake, capture her “on the rebound” as his consort instead. As a couple,Dionysos and Ariadne enjoy a long relationship in ancient myth and art, but were also both wor-shipped on Naxos, and the chief feature of their union on Naxos involves satyrs (silenoi). In Greekvase painting these creatures turn the rescue into an orgy of the kind to which Dionysus gave hisname. The ancient reputation of the island for viticulture (advertised since the 6th century BC onNaxian coins with kantharos and grapes) no doubt lies behind many of these stories linkingDionysus and silens to Naxos.

Guy Hedreen has identified archaic vase-painting scenes of silens as companions of Dionysos,and often of nymphs, as specific to myths set on Naxos10, such as the return of Hephaistos and theunion of Dionysos and Ariadne. The silens play a key role in getting the lame god drunk, to bringhim back to Olympus after his expulsion by Hera, and the locus for this banquet with Dionysos isNaxos11. Other sources refer to a “power struggle” between Dionysos and Hephaistos over Naxos(schol. Theocr. 7.149). Scenes of the two gods banqueting together, the prelude to gettingHephaistos drunk enough to mount a donkey and return to Olympus, include Ariadne, thus thetwo types of silen scenes are linked to each other, and to the island, in archaic Greek iconography.

Olympia. Colossal images in marble are rare after thesixth century, but further precision is difficult for anunfinished sculpture.

9. First suggested by VON MASSOW 1932, 266; ROMANO

1980, 303-305 compares the marble image of Dionysusat Ikaria in Attica (316-334, figs. 15-18; 1982, 398-409), and doubts that a thunderbolt or trident wouldhave fitted in the unfinished marble block surrounding

the right hand; HEDREEN 1992, 89, calls the full beardinappropriate for Poseidon or Zeus, the two otherbearded gods of archaic Greece, pointing to their char-acterization on the François Vase.

10. HEDREEN 1992, esp. chapter III, “The Silens of Naxos.”Cf. COOK 1914, 163-164.

11. As first argued by Wilamowitz from a scholion on Iliad23.92: HEDREEN 1992, 20-21.

100 S. P. MORRIS

Given this rich documentation for Dionysus in cult and myth on Naxos, it was natural to iden-tify him as the chief deity at Hyria. Whoever was worshipped here enjoyed cult attention from theBronze Age to the Roman period, but little evidence survives to identify him or her. An ivory earfound in the adyton of the temple indicates an archaic chryselephantine cult image of the mid-sixthcentury, probably male, but fails to identify a deity12. A cuirassed statue of the Roman generalAntony, who identified himself with Dionysus (and ceded Naxos to Rhodes while he commandedthe Roman East with Cleopatra before the Battle of Actium) was found at Hyria. This first led theexcavators to Dionysus, as the god whom the self-styled Bacchus or his admirers might have singledout to receive such an imperial image. A dedicatory inscription to Dionysos was found at Polichni(IG XII 5, 45), which lies closer to the temple at Sangri (n. 2). Hyria lies just south of the main cityassociated with Dionysos, and in a marshy area, an environment favored for his cult en limnais inAthens. All add to the evidence for the god as a focus of worship at Hyria, but none of it is conclu-sive.

Modern consensus on the chief cults of Naxos thus leaves us with at least one temple (of Apollo?)near the capital of the island, a sanctuary to the same god attested in an inscription alone on thenorth coast, and a possible sanctuary to the god Dionysos south of the capital city. This leaves thechief god of the Olympian pantheon to discuss for his presence on Naxos.

Zeus

Like Dionysos, the infant Zeus was said to be raised on Naxos, so in myth he is as much at homeon the island as the wine god. The peak of the mountain sacred to Zeus in antiquity, when it wascalled Drios (Diod. Sic. 5.51), commands a magnificent vista of the Cyclades (fig. 5): the Marquisde Nointel could see 60 islands from the summit in the late 17th century AD13. It has long beenidentified as a cult site, based on the scatter of burned bones and sherds dated by Langdon to theseventh and sixth centuries BC14. Such finds are still visible in abundance on the rock surface sur-rounding the peak (fig. 6), but unlike those found on Mount Hymettos, none were inscribed withthe name of Zeus. In 1988 I spotted on this summit a marble cover-tile of the kind common inCycladic architecture, which implies the presence of a more substantial structure on the peak15.Without systematic investigation of the surface area, the ancient contours and history of the sanc-tuary cannot be determined, but it should not be assumed that all peak shrines were simply definedby an ash altar and votive ceramics.

12. LAMBRINOUDAKIS 1992, 206-207 fig. 6; LAPATIN 2001,no. 34, 60, fig. 146.

13. In a rock-cut inscription on the summit: LANGDON

1976, 111 n. 36; VANDERPOOL 1977, 257-258. DE

TOURNEFORT (1741, 235) knew of this inscription butcould not find it and was told by local guides that it hadbeen destroyed by a thunderbolt.

14. LANGDON 1976, Appendix B, 111.

15. I would like to thank Aenne Ohnesorg for identifyingthis object from a sketch and description, and confirm-ing its context in early Cycladic marble architecture: seeOHNESORG 2003, Taf. 29, and 2005, fig. 8, for the typeof marble roof it once crowned. A fragment of a discacroterion seen in the 1980s on Mount Apesas, Nemea,suggests that other peak sanctuaries of Zeus may havehoused more than an altar.

APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS 101

The stormy summit of the mountain, often buried in clouds even on sunny days, suggests Zeuswas honored here, as on other peaks, as bringer of rain. At least one inscription from Naxos (IG XII5, 47, from the Capuchin monastery) indicates Zeus was worshipped as a storm god (Maimaktos)on the island. Near Philoti, a dedication to Zeus Stration was found (IG XII 5, 50), and Zeus Soterwas honored as well, according to an inscription from the Kastro (IG XII 5, 51); finally, OlympianZeus enjoyed a precinct on Naxos (CIG ii, 2417). But the specific identity of the deity worshippedon the mountain has long been confirmed as a pastoral form of Zeus, thanks to a rock-cut inscrip-tion first noted in the 18th century (IG XII 5, 48: fig. 7). It identifies the boundary (¬ÚÔ˜) of theprecinct (presumably the mountain to the south and above) of Zeus MËÏÒÛÈÔ˜, or Zeus of theFlocks (from ÌÉÏÔÓ, the ancient word for sheep)16. This inscription lies along the natural ascent tothe summit from the north, which begins as a path near the chapel of Agia Marina, where the mod-ern road crosses the saddle between Zas and the next mountain to the north, Koronos. A cult titleknown in other locales, the epithet of Zeus (inscribed on a loomweight seen by Dodwell on Corcyra:IG XI 1, 702) makes the chief Olympian a special protector of pastoralists and their flocks on Naxos,still famous for its cheeses. Moreover, it has recently been recognized that this cult identity for Zeuswas shared on Salamis, according to a landscape by the Bavarian court painter Carl Rottmann(1797-1850)17. In a panorama capturing a distant view of the Acropolis of Athens and Lykabettos,the artist shows in the left foreground a block inscribed as the boundary of Zeus Melosios (fig. 8).Barring a creative transfer of the epithet from Naxos by the traveling artist, Zeus was worshipped aspatron of pastoralists in more than one classical island.

Likewise associated with Zas, albeit on different, modern grounds, is a cave with a prehistoricsettlement located below the peak to the west on the north face of a steep ravine. First, some clari-

16. First noted by the Marquis de Nointel and reported toJacob Spon, then seen by DE TOURNEFORT 1741, 235(mistaking ¬ÚÔ˜ for ùÚÔ˜), and Lord CHARLEMONT (n.

22; SEG XXXIV, no. 1760; STANFORD - FINOPOULOS

1984, 56); COOK 1914, 163-165.17. WIRBELAUER 2002, 125-128.

Fig. 5. View northwest from summit ofMount Zas, Naxos (photo S. Morris).

102 S. P. MORRIS

fication of the testimonia is in order, begin-ning with the actual name of the site. The“Cave of Zas” takes its modern archaeolog-ical title from the mountain above it, as itlies below the peak called Zas; but it wasmore common in local parlance as the ™Ë-ÏÈ¿ ÛÙ’ ∞ÚÁÈ¿ (ÙˆÓ ∞ÚÁÈÒÓ), a name takenfrom a local spring and from the cork oaksnative to the area18. Thus evidence for anancient cult in the cave cannot derive fromthe name recently conferred upon it, unlikethe mountain confirmed as the domain ofZeus by inscription since the fourth centuryBC. Modern alternate names for the moun-tain include Zia and Dia, sometimes con-fused with Homeric Dia, where Theseusabandoned Ariadne in Homer, usuallyidentified with an island north of Crete (seeabove).

Secondly, the location of the inscriptionidentifying the mountain as sacred to Zeus,and its relationship to the cave site, deservessome close attention. The cave lies in a steepravine west of the peak (fig. 2), not close tothe northern ascent with the inscription,thus no direct link exists between cave,peak, and inscription, the three locales forcult on the mountain. While the epithet of Zeus, as suggested above, suits the modern pastoraleconomy of inland Naxos, this is only a tempting analogy. Modern practices suggest further paral-lels: when Theodore Bent visited the island in the 1880s, he reported Orthodox celebrants still hold-ing a special liturgy for shepherds outside the cave, at a rock altar he heard called the “church of Zia”where shepherds would also swear oaths to one another19. He also noted the presence of a hot springinside the cave, no longer active or visible, but such a water source might well have attracted wor-ship of the nymphs, who inhabit many a sacred cave in Greece, including one on Naxos (Porph.20), where they may have raised Dionysos20. At Franchthi Cave in the southern Argolid, famousfor its Paleolithic and Neolithic habitation, a “pool” in its farthest recesses was found full of pottery

18 MELISSENOS 1958, 51; PROBONAS 1986, 64-68; 1996,198-205.

19. BENT 1885/1965, 354ff.20. EDWARDS 1985, 11-27; LARSON 2001, 181-182.

Fig. 6. Fragments of pottery visible on summit of Mount Zas,Naxos (photo S. Morris)

Fig. 7. Rock-cut inscription on north slope of Zas, Naxos (IGXII 5, 48. Photo S. Morris).

APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS 103

of many historic periods21. One might expect to find Pan or the Nymphs worshipped in a cave (IGXII 5, 53 names the ‘Inner Nymphs,” Nymphai Mychiai), or even Dionysos: this cave was noted byearly travelers as the locale of ancient “bacchants” and “orgies”22. Thus there exist multiple possi-bilities for ancient cults in the cave, beyond the name of Zeus borrowed from the peak above. Butno ancient testimonia make this cave sacred to Zeus –rarely worshipped in caves outside of Crete –or indeed a cult site at all, hence its archaeological contents are crucial.

In 1985, the Ephorate of Speleology and Caves, alerted to local looting, began a systematic inves-tigation of the prehistoric levels of this cave, under the direction of Drs. Kostas Zachos and AngelikaDouzougli. The most significant levels of ancient occupation in the cave represent the FinalNeolithic through Early Bronze Age in important stratified levels that revise previously acceptedphases of Greek prehistory23. Thanks to the kind invitation of the excavators to publish the archaicand classical finds, I have had the opportunity to examine the evidence for cult practice in the cavein connection with its long-term nomenclature. For the long-assumed association between Zeus andboth cave and peak calls for a close examination of the material found inside the cave for its cultpotential.

21. DENGATE 1999, 111-117. 22. DE TOURNEFORT 1749, 235, and STANFORD -

FINOPOULOS 1984, 56: reports possibly derived fromDiod. Sic. 5.50 (about a cave in Thessaly involved in

the foundation legend of Naxos).23. ZACHOS 1990, 29-38; 1994, 99-113. The so-called

Kythnos hoard of tools in the British Museum mayhave been collected in this cave on Naxos.

Fig. 8. View of landscape on Salamis by Carl Rottman (1797-1850). After Wirbelauer 2002, pl. X.

104 S. P. MORRIS

What precisely constitutes archaeo-logical evidence for worship insidethe cave? Surface levels were foundheavily disturbed by modern visitorsand shepherds, and stratified levels ofthe historical period were not pre-served. Nevertheless, copious histori-cal finds allow some preliminaryobservations on the nature of activityin the cave during archaic and classi-cal times.

After a hiatus in occupation sincethe Neolithic and Bronze Ages,which indicates the cave was not vis-ited during the Early Iron Age(Protogeometric through Late Geometric periods), ceramics are concentrated in the Archaicthrough Classical periods, with only sporadic finds from the Hellenistic and Roman phases. Theearliest finds date from the later archaic period (sixth century), and are characterized by theSubgeometric style popular in the Cyclades (fig. 9). Imported archaic fine ware cups (Attic,Corinthian, and East Greek) also date primarily to the sixth century BC. Equally numerous in pro-portion to later periods are ceramics of the Classical period, predominantly black-glazed and plainwares of the fifth century (some Attic); those shapes most sensitive to chronological phasing, suchas cups and lamps, show affinities primarily with types of the fifth century. Use of the cave seemsto drop off by the fourth century, after which a few Hellenistic pieces (five mold-made bowls, oneWest Slope Ware cup) and even rarer Roman finds (including one coin) attest to scanty visits. Whilevessel types are predominantly drinking cups – the most frequent shape in most ancient Greekdeposits of fine wares – there are also a few large bowls (including a Lakonian krater rim), lekanaiand kraters, and some coarse and cooking wares. Storage vessels were infrequent, as well as non-ceramic finds to be expected from a cult cave.

On the negative side, the pottery found inside the cave could be interpreted as an ordinarydeposit slightly dominated by fine ware cups, poor in specifically or exclusively ritual objects.Nothing marks these finds as votives, in particular: no graffiti identify a divine recipient, and offer-ings typical of other cave shrines – figurines, lamps, astragaloi, etc. – are conspicuous by theirabsence. When compared to other Cycladic sanctuaries where ivory, faience, seal stones, and metalfinds are consistent and copious in the archaic and classical periods (Delion on Paros; Mandra onDespotiko, Delos itself, and those explored by Lambrinoudakis on Naxos)24, the finds from the caveof Zas are difficult to certify as religious dedications.

24. RUBENSOHN 1962, 67-170; SIMANTONI-BOURNIA

1998, 61-74, and 2002, 269-280, suggests a double cultof Ariadne and Dionysos at Hyria. KOURAYOS 2005,

105-133 (note that fig. 21 is Subgeometric, not Geo-metric, and dates to the Archaic period).

Fig. 9. Archaic cup fragments with concentric circles in metopes, fromCave of Zas, Naxos (1985-1987 excavations. Photo S. Morris).

APOLLO, DIONYSOS AND ZEUS: ON THE SACRED LANDSCAPES OF ANCIENT NAXOS 105

On the positive side, the chronological distribution of these finds fits into an interesting patternwhen compared to those found on the peak, which are concentrated in the preceding Late Geo-metric and Subgeometric periods (8th and 7th centuries BC), and the date of the inscription. Moreprecisely, the archaic and classical pottery from the cave fills a chronological gap between the peri-od of dedications on the peak – with some slight overlap among plain brown skyphoi of the earlyarchaic period represented at both peak and cave – and the period marked by the fourth-centuryinscription on the north face of the mountain. But whether this justifies linking both areas to thesame worship of Zeus in antiquity is open to debate. Does this mean that cult activity began on thepeak, migrated inside the cave for two centuries or so, and until the period marked by the inscrip-tion when forms of worship changed again, with the entire mountain becoming sacred to Zeus? Atstake is the changing nature of the divine in the natural landscape, and how that divine presence canbe reconfigured or re-imagined over time and place.

Meanwhile, Zeus may lurk elsewhere on the island. As rare it is to find him represented in archa-ic monumental statuary25, I propose to return to Apollonas and the unfinished statue in the quar-ry (fig. 3a). While Dionysos remains a plausible suggestion, with Hyria a possible destination for thecolossus, it has been pointed out that he would only be suitablethere as a large votive statue, as his height exceeds the cella ofthe archaic temple (estimated at 7.5-8 m.), where an image ofthe god in gold and ivory may have stood instead (n. 12). Inthe light of these uncertainties regarding the colossus onNaxos, I would like to reconsider the candidacy of Zeus for itsancient identity. The massive size and solemn authority of thisfigure (fig. 3a) call for a leading Olympian identity for this stat-ue. Perhaps archaic Naxian ambitions aspired to surpass the rit-ual supremacy of Apollo in the Cyclades with a symbol of theirgeographic dominance of the Aegean, expressed in nature bythe size of their island and the height of its formidable peak,sacred to Zeus.

On the analogy of bronze figurines of similar type, repre-senting Zeus as he dominates peaks like Mount Lykaion inArkadia, I would like to propose that the Apollonas statue mayhave been destined for a Zeus sanctuary. In particular, the typerepresented by the bronze figurine in the Fogg Museum atHarvard (fig. 10) has been identified by Jane Carter, in a bril-liant seminar paper delivered at Harvard University many yearsago, as an Arkadian type of Zeus, comparing it to those foundat Berekla, Hagios Sostis, the sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios or near

25. ROMANO 1980, 4-5, 142-47, 429-432; cf. 1985, 348.

Fig. 10. Bronze figurine of god withstaff, Fogg Museum 1965.533 (photocourtesy of Harvard University ArtMuseums).

106 S. P. MORRIS

Andritsaina over 100 years ago. This figurine is one of several from Arkadia that depict a standing,draped Zeus with lituus and thunderbolt, or simply a staff in his right hand26. Can we imagine themarble colossus on Naxos with a staff (perhaps made of separate material) or even a short verticalthunderbolt in his right hand?

Of course, one can hardly expect a statue of this size to have been transported inland and uphillto crown the highest peak in the Cyclades, which is why moving him by sea to Delos or coastalNaxos for dedication will always be attractive. The primacy of this figure might even encourage usto re-consider the Palati (Portara) temple as one designed for a figure other than Apollo, as has beensuggested in imagining the colossal Apollonas statue there, where it would fit inside the cella of 15m. in height27. What would a sanctuary look like, with such a colossus rivaling or dwarfing Apolloor Dionysos, or their temples, on Delos or Naxos?

Re-opening the question of his identity inspires us to re-examine the sacred landscapes of Naxosand realize how much there still is to explore and understand about ancient Greek religion. Asunstable as the sacred identities of Naxos may remain for modern scholars, they continue to attractsuch scholarly speculations, which Vassilis Lambrinoudakis has greatly enriched by a career ofresearch and conservation on the antiquities of Naxos.

μπμLIOGRAPHY

BENT 1885 J.T. BENT, Travels in the Cyclades, London 1885/1965.CASSON 1932 S. CASSON, An Unfinished Colossal Statue at Naxos, BSA 36-37, 21-25.COOK 1914 A.B. COOK, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, Cambridge.DENGATE 1999 J. DENGATE, Post-Neolithic Franchthi, in K. D. VITELLI, Franchthi Neolithic Pottery.

Vol. 2. The Later Neolithic Ceramic Phases 3 to 5. Excavations at Franchthi Cave,Greece. Fasc. 10, Bloomington and Indianopolis, 111-117.

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