Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

170 The Arrhephoroi

sanctuary of Eros and Aphrodite attested by numerous niches in the rock and two rock-
cut inscriptions dating from the middle of s. V B.C. (Hesperia 1932 i. 31—55 with figs.
1—17, of which fig. 2 gives a ground-plan and figs. 10 and 11 facsimiles of the inscriptions
on rock B: (r) toi "Epori he eopre | [VjerpacSi hitna.fit'v\o~\ | Mo»<ixio><[o]s p.ev[6s] and (2)
'A<ppoo[i]T[a.]). Adjoining the sanctuary, on the west was a small area (Z) which yielded
a Hellenistic relief of Eros; on the east, a cave in which were found a small votive shield
of painted stone and fragments of undecorated shields in terra cotta, also the figurine of a
sleeping babe. North-east of the cave was a space dotted with small stuccoed altars (?) of
various shapes (a—w), oval, rectangular, triangular, or like a low wall, poorly built and
resting on loose earth. These had carried small stones (phailoiT) set upright in mortar—
one was still in situ—and, further east, close to another group of niches (N) was a phallds
of island marble (id. ib. 1933 ii. 329—417 with pi. xi (extended plan) and figs. I—91, of
which figs. 9, 14, i8 = my fig. 74a, b, c, id. ib. 1935 iv. 109—188 with pi. i (=my pi. xxi)
and figs, r—77, of which figs. 8 and 9 show the 'altars.' See further infra § 9 (h) ii (8)

Fig- 74-

sub fin.). It is highly probable that the relief-frieze with a procession of Erotes, c. 350—
300 B.C. (Svoronos Ath. Nationalmus. p. 453 ff. nos. 1451, 1452 pi. 102), and the relief
of a draped woman, with a child, sitting on a rock with a cave in it (National Museum
no- 3257) came from the same sanctuary of Eros and Aphrodite (O. Broneer loc. cit. 1935
iv. 143 ff. no. 17 figs. 33—35 and 36).

As to the bearing of these finds on the Arrhephoria, Broneer loc. cit. i. 52 (cp. iv. 126)
writes: ' The whole action of the ceremony becomes clear if we admit that the sanctuary
just discovered is the peribolos mentioned by Pausanias. Below the underground stairs to
the Aglaurion a modern path leads eastward to the new sanctuary, and it is reasonable to
suppose that the same path may have existed in ancient times, connecting with the rock-
cut irepliraTos below. The immense chasm, through which the descent from the Acropolis
began, might well have lent color to Pausanias' weird description of the place. The only
inaccuracy which remains is the impression which the Greek text gives that the subterranean
passage and the sanctuary are immediately contiguous, while actually one must first pass
through the one and thence by a short path reach the other3 (;,Doubtless the passage in
the sanctuary itself was somehow used in the ceremony; but until we know how it con-
nected with the cave to the east it is unsafe to make any definite statement about it)- It-
can hardly be a coincidence that a sanctuary of Aphrodite which fits so well the account