Eucleia

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For the daughter of Hephaestus and Aglaia, see Eucleia, Euthenia, Eupheme, and Philophrosyne.

In Ancient Greek Religion, Eucleia or Eukleia (Ancient Greek: Ευκλεία, lit. 'Good Repute')[1] was the name of a goddess and epithet of Artemis. The exact relationship between the two is unclear.[2] The month name Eucleios derives from the goddess's name.

Goddess

There is no mention of Eucleia in Hesiod's Theogony, and no early genealogy is known for the goddess. However, a fragment of Euripides suggests that as a personified abstraction Eucleia was, by the fifth century BC at least, considered to be the daughter of another personified abstraction Ponos (toil).[3] In Athens, Eucleia was a personified abstraction, representing good reputation and glory.[4] She shared a common Athenian sanctuary and priest with another personified abstraction Eunomia ('Good Order').[5] The Greek lyric poet Bacchylides, in Ode 13 (c. 485-483 BC),[6] also associates the two goddesses, saying that on the island of Aegina, "Excellence [Arete]" guides the state along with "garland-loving" Eucleia, and "sound-minded" Eunomia,[7] The geographer Pausanias reports that a sanctuary of Eucleia (with no mention of Eunomia) was set up in or near the Athenian market as a thank-offering for the victory at Marathon (490 BC).[8]

The name "Eucleia", in reference to a goddess, was widespread.[9] In addition to the Athenian personified abstraction, there are also references to a goddess Eucleia in Boetia, Locris,[10] Corinth, and Delphi.[11] According to Plutarch, although Eucleia was generally regarded as the same as Artemis, others said she was a daughter of Heracles and Myrto, and that she died a virgin and was worshipped among the Boeotians and the Locrians:[12]

Eucleia religious festivals were celebrated in Corinth, and Delphi.[13] The Corinthian festival was multi-day and hence of some importance.[14] According to Xenophon, a "sacrilegious" mass murder took place in the Corinthian market place on "the last day" of the Eucleia festival.[15] The Eucleia at Delphi was an important festival for the Labyads who offered sacrifices at the festival for newlyweds and newborns that were being initiated into the family.[16] From the festival name comes Eucleios, the name of a month for several, particularly Doric, communities, such as Corfu, Astypalaia, Byzantium, and Taormina.[17] In Paros and Epiros, military generals (stratêgoi) offered dedications to Eucleia along with Aphrodite, Zeus Aphrodisios, Hermes, and Artemis.[18]

Epithet of Artemis

The name Eucleia was also used as an epithet and cult name of Artemis.[19] Which of the above mentions of a goddess Eucleia are meant as references to Artemis, rather than an independent goddess, as well as, whether Eucleia was originally an epithet of Artemis who became an independent goddess, or an independent goddess who became equated with Artemis is unclear.[20]

At the time Plutarch is writing (c. 100 AD), he can say that "Eucleia is regarded by most as Artemis".[21] However the association of Artemis with the name Eucleia occurs as early as Sophocles's Oedipus Rex (c. 429 BC), where the chorus calls Artemis "eucleia":

On you first I call, daughter of Zeus, immortal Athena, and I implore your sister who protects the land, Artemis, seated on her round throne, far-famed [εὐκλέα], in the market-place,[22]

— Sophocles, Oedipus Rex; translation by Hugh Lloyd-Jones

That an Athenian playwright can make such an association, and expect to be understood, provides evidence of the antiquity of the identification and the general spread of the cult.[23]

Apparently the cult of Eucleia Artemis was particularly popular in Boetia.[24] Both Plutarch and Pausanias mention cult sites of "Eucleia Artemis" located in Boetia.[25] According to Pausanias, there was a temple of Eucleia Artemis at Thebes, which had a cult statue by the fourth-century BC sculptor Skopas,[26] while according to Plutarch there was a sanctuary of Eucleia Artemis at Boeotian Plataea.[27]

Sophocles has Eucleia Artemis "seated on her round throne" in Thebes' market-place (agora), where Pausanias says her temple was located,[28] and apparently it was common throughout Boetia to locate her cult sites in the city market.[29] According to Plutarch, Eucleia Artemis "has an altar and an image built in every market place" in Boetia (and Locris).[30] Corinth also apparently held its Eucleia festival in its market place (from Xenophon, see above) where her cult site would then also have been located.[31]

The only known cult customs are sacrifices involving marriage and childbirth. According to Plutarch, couples made offerings to Eucleia before a wedding,[32] and according to the Labyad inscription,[33] the Labyads sacrificed to her for newlyweds and newborns.[34] There also seems to have been a tradition of honoring local heroes by burying them in the sanctuary of Eucleia Artemis.[35] Cults of Eucleia Artemis have been assumed wherever Eucleia festivals were celebrated, or the month name Eucleios was in use.[36]

There are similarities between Artemis and this Locrian-Boeotian-Corinthian goddess, both of whom are connected with marriage, childbirth, and the young. Some scholars have suggested that such similarities account for the identification of the two.[37] Martin P. Nilsson, however, sees little connection between the Locrian-Boeotian-Corinthian wedding goddess (Hochzeitsgöttin) and the Eukleia who was paired with Eunomia in Athens.[38]

Sanctuary at Aegae

There was a sanctuary dedicated to Eucleia at Aigai (Aegae), the ancient capital of Macedonia.[39] The sanctuary consisted of a 4th-century BC Doric temple, a small Hellenistic era temple, and two stoas.[40] At least two statue bases were votive offerings by Eurydice, paternal grandmother of Alexander the Great; it has been suggested that these offerings were made to commemorate Philip II's victory at Chaeronea in Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC).[41] It is possible that there was a statue of Eucleia in the sanctuary.[42] In the area surround the sanctuary, at least three burials of significant people, who were crowned with golden oak leaf wreathes, have been discovered.[43]

Iconography

Eucleia, along with Eunomia, appears in Athenian vase paintings, from the last two decades of fifth century BC, often shown among the attendants of Aphrodite,[44] where she represents good reputation, one of the desired virtues for a happy marriage.[45]

Notes

  1. ^ LSJ, s.v. εὔκλεια.
  2. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea; Kossatz-Deissmann, s.v. Eukleia; Smith, W., s.v. Eucleia; RE, s.v. Eukleia 1.
  3. ^ Smith, A. C. 2011, p. 71; Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 48; Euripides fr. 474 (Collard and Cropp p. 562}: "Toil [πόνος], as they say, is the father of fame [εὔχλεια].
  4. ^ Smith, W., s.v. Eucleia; LSJ, s.v. εὔκλεια.
  5. ^ Nilson 1906, p. 237; RE; LSJ, s.v. εὐνομία. For their common sanctuary ("ἱερὸν Εὐκλείας καὶ Εὐνομίας"), see IG II2 1035.53 [= Kirchner 1913, p. 468, l. 53], SEG 26:121.53 for their common priest ("ἱερέα Εὐκλείας καὶ Εὐνομίας"), see IG II2 3738.2–3 [= Kirchner 1935, p. 172 = IG III 738 (Dittenberger 1878, p. 156)], 4193A.13–14 [= Kirchner 1935, p. 235 = IG III 623 (Dittenberger 1878, p. 129)].
  6. ^ Campbell, p. 5.
  7. ^ Bacchylides, 13.183–189.
  8. ^ Smith, A. C. 2011, p. 71; Palagia, 94; Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 49; RE, s.v. Eukleia 1; Pausanias, 1.14.5.
  9. ^ Nilson 1906, pp. 237–238; Nilsson 1967, pp. 493–494; PHI Greek Inscriptions, Εὐκλείας.
  10. ^ Plutarch is the only source for the goddess being worshipped in Locris, see Schachter 1981, p. 106 n. 1; Bloch, s.v. Euclea.
  11. ^ Nilsson 1906, p. 237.
  12. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea; Smith, W., s.v. Eucleia; Plutarch, Aristides 20.6.
  13. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea; LSJ, s.v. εὔκλεια.
  14. ^ Nilsson 1906, p. 238.
  15. ^ Nilsson 1906, p. 238; Xenophon, Hellenica 4.4.2.
  16. ^ Nilsson 1906, pp. 237–238; RE, s.v. Eukleia 1.
  17. ^ Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 49; Nilsson 1967, pp. 493–494 n. 11; Nilsson 1906, p. 237; RE, s.v. Eukleios 2; LSJ, s.v. εὔκλεια. For Corfu, see PHI IG IX,1 694.51, 57, 59 [= Dittenberger 1897, p. 154, ll. 51, 57, 59].
  18. ^ Budin, p. 85.
  19. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea.
  20. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea; Schachter 1981, p. 106 with n. 2.
  21. ^ Plutarch, Aristides 20.6.
  22. ^ Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 159–161.
  23. ^ Braund, p. 184; Nilsson 1906, p. 237.
  24. ^ Bloch, s.v. Euclea.
  25. ^ Schachter 1981, 106, which notes that both Plutarch and Pausanias "place the epithet first before Artemis, which would suggest that the independent nature of Eukleia was fairly strong".
  26. ^ Paglia, p. 94; Schachter 1981, 104; Pausanias, 9.17.1–2.
  27. ^ Schachter 1981, 102; Plutarch, Aristides 20.5.
  28. ^ RE, s.v. Eukleia 1; Pausanias, 9.17.2, which says an image of Hermes Agoraeus (Hermes of the Agora) stood near the temple.
  29. ^ Schachter 2015, s.v. Boeotia, cults of; Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 49.
  30. ^ Plutarch, Aristides 20.5–6.
  31. ^ Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 49; Nilsson 1906, p. 238; RE, s.v. Eukleia 1.
  32. ^ Plutarch, Aristides 20.6.
  33. ^ Schwyzer 323 (pp. 162–165) [= Dittenberger 438 (pp. 25–37) 438 = SIG2 438 = GDI 2561].
  34. ^ Nillson 1906, p. 237; Schwyzer 323B l. 2 (p. 163); Dittenberger 438b l. 65 (p. 29). Braund, p. 185, sees evidence suggesting that the audience for Euripides's Hippolytus was "expected to be aware not only of the cult title of Artemis Eukleia but also of the practice of her cult" related to "prospective brides and bridegrooms".
  35. ^ Schachter 1981, p. 104; RE, s.v. Eukleia 1. According to Plutarch, Aristides 20.5, Euchidas, was buried in the sanctuary at Plataea, while according to Pausanias, 9.17.1, Androcleia and Aleis, daughters of Antipoenus were buried in the sanctuary at Thebes.
  36. ^ RE, s.v. Eukleia 1.
  37. ^ Kossatz-Deissmann, p. 49; Schachter 1981, p. 106 n. 2; Nilsson 1967, p. 494; Nilsson 1906, p. 237.
  38. ^ Nilsson 1906, p. 237. According to Palagia, p. 94, that the temple of Eucleia was set up by the Athenians as a thank-offering, "indicates a different sort of cult" than the one at Boeotia.
  39. ^ Drougou 2006, s.v. Vergina (CT); Drougou 2010, pp. 245, 247, 249, 252.
  40. ^ Palagia, p. 90.
  41. ^ Palagia, p. 94.
  42. ^ Palagia, pp. 90–94.
  43. ^ Kyriakou 2014.
  44. ^ Smith, A. C. 2011, p. 74.
  45. ^ Smith, A. C. 2005, pp. 1, 23–24.

References

  • Bloch, René, s.v. Euclea, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006
  • Borza, Eugene, In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, Princeton University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-691-05549-1.
  • Braund, D. C., "Artemis Eukleia and Euripides' Hippolytus", in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1980, Vol. 100, Centennary Issue (1980), pp. 184-185. JSTOR 630741.
  • Budin, Stephanie, "Aphrodite Enoplion", in Brill's Companion to Aphrodite, Smith, Amy C. Smith and Sadie Pickup, (eds.), Leiden and Boston, Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-18003-1.
  • Drougou, Stella (2006), s.v. Vergina (CT), in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.
  • Drougou, Stella (2010), "Chapter 12. Vergina—The Ancient City of Aegae", in Brill's Companion to Ancient Macedon, Robin J. Lane Fox (editor), Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2011. ISBN 978-90-04-20650-2.
  • Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (Attic Inscriptions after the year of Eucleides), 2nd edition, Part I.1, Decreta Continens. Decreta Annorum 403/2-230/29 (IG II2 1-1369), ed. Johannes Kirchner, Chicago, Ares Publishers, 1974 (Berlin 1913). Internet Archive.
  • Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (Attic Inscriptions after the year of Eucleides), 2nd edition, Part III.1 (IG II2 2789-5219), ed. Johannes Kirchner, Chicago, Ares Publishers, 1974 (Berlin 1935). Internet Archive.
  • Kyriakou, Athanasia, "Exceptional burials at the sanctuary of Eukleia at Aegae (Vergina): the gold oak wreath", The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2014, Vol. 109 (2014), pp. 251-285 . JSTOR 44082095.
  • Palagia, Olga, "Visualising the gods in Macedonia: from Philip II to Perseus". Pharos 22(1) 2016, pp. 73–98. doi:10.2143/PHA.22.1.3285002.
  • Pauly, August, Georg Wissowa, Wilhelm Kroll, Kurt Witte, Karl Mittelhaus, Konrat Ziegler, Hans Gärtner (eds), Pauly's Real-Encyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1893-1980.
  • Schachter, Albert (1981), Cults of Boiotia: 1. Acheloos to Hera, University of London, 1981. Internet Archive
  • Smith, Amy C. (2011), Polis and Personification in Classical Athenian Art, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2011. ISBN 978-90-04-19417-5.
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