DOI article:
Waldstein, Charles: [Excavations and discoveries at Eretria, 1891-1895]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0140
128
A TEMPLE IN ERETRIA.
theatre. We found a temple there, but are not disposed to count
this as settling the case. What we wanted and did not get was
proofs in the shape of inscriptions.
But it will be readily granted that when a temple and altar and
theatre seem to make one complex, the presumption is that the
temple and theatre belong together (the northeast corner of the
temple is only 19 m. from the southwest corner of the stage
building). Also it will be granted that if Dionysus was wor-
shipped at all in Eretria, the theatre probably belonged to him.
That Dionysus was worshipped in Eretria, and had a temple there,
is certified by inscriptions. C1G., K"o. 2144, speaks of the
lepevs tov Aiovvaov, irojiTtr] rod Aiovvaov, and x°P01 T°v Aiovvaov.
Another inscription, in honor of Theopompos, given in Rhangabe,
Ant. Hell, n, p. 266 ff., also speaks of the tto^ttt) tov Aiovvaov.
These inscriptions are generally thought to belong to the Mace-
donian or Roman period. But the irofiirr) is thought of as some-
thing existing, and not then first introduced. Rhangabe hesi-
tates to put the latter inscription into Roman times, and inclines,
in spite of the late appearance of some of the letters, to put it
back of the Macedonian supremacy. It indicates a time of free-
dom and prosperity. Eretria votes to erect statues to one of her
own citizens, who has presented the city with a fund of 40,000
drachmas, to buy oil for the athletes in the gymnasium. Per-
haps the time between the Peloponnesian War and the battle of
Chaeroneia, when her coffers were no longer drained by Athens
for the adornment of the Acropolis, was the really wealthy period
of Eretria. It is not unlikely that the theatre in its second period,
i. e., substantially in the form in which it has come down to us,
and the temple, which seems to go with it, were built at this time.
But just where we get our explicit information of a temple of
Dionysus our difficulty begins. The first of the inscriptions re-
ferred to comes from Cyriac of Ancona, who says that he saw it
on a large and finely wrought piece of marble in a vineyard,
where there was to be seen a temple of Dionysus fallen into decay
from age.6 Can we believe that Cyriac, nearly five hundred years
ago, saw our temple before it had disappeared from the face of
8 In agro vineorum, ubi templum Bacchi collapmm veiere conspicitur, in magna
et ornaiissimo marmore. Boeckh, under C1 Q. 2144.
A TEMPLE IN ERETRIA.
theatre. We found a temple there, but are not disposed to count
this as settling the case. What we wanted and did not get was
proofs in the shape of inscriptions.
But it will be readily granted that when a temple and altar and
theatre seem to make one complex, the presumption is that the
temple and theatre belong together (the northeast corner of the
temple is only 19 m. from the southwest corner of the stage
building). Also it will be granted that if Dionysus was wor-
shipped at all in Eretria, the theatre probably belonged to him.
That Dionysus was worshipped in Eretria, and had a temple there,
is certified by inscriptions. C1G., K"o. 2144, speaks of the
lepevs tov Aiovvaov, irojiTtr] rod Aiovvaov, and x°P01 T°v Aiovvaov.
Another inscription, in honor of Theopompos, given in Rhangabe,
Ant. Hell, n, p. 266 ff., also speaks of the tto^ttt) tov Aiovvaov.
These inscriptions are generally thought to belong to the Mace-
donian or Roman period. But the irofiirr) is thought of as some-
thing existing, and not then first introduced. Rhangabe hesi-
tates to put the latter inscription into Roman times, and inclines,
in spite of the late appearance of some of the letters, to put it
back of the Macedonian supremacy. It indicates a time of free-
dom and prosperity. Eretria votes to erect statues to one of her
own citizens, who has presented the city with a fund of 40,000
drachmas, to buy oil for the athletes in the gymnasium. Per-
haps the time between the Peloponnesian War and the battle of
Chaeroneia, when her coffers were no longer drained by Athens
for the adornment of the Acropolis, was the really wealthy period
of Eretria. It is not unlikely that the theatre in its second period,
i. e., substantially in the form in which it has come down to us,
and the temple, which seems to go with it, were built at this time.
But just where we get our explicit information of a temple of
Dionysus our difficulty begins. The first of the inscriptions re-
ferred to comes from Cyriac of Ancona, who says that he saw it
on a large and finely wrought piece of marble in a vineyard,
where there was to be seen a temple of Dionysus fallen into decay
from age.6 Can we believe that Cyriac, nearly five hundred years
ago, saw our temple before it had disappeared from the face of
8 In agro vineorum, ubi templum Bacchi collapmm veiere conspicitur, in magna
et ornaiissimo marmore. Boeckh, under C1 Q. 2144.