DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0115
2. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 89
§ 3. Mother Leto. There is a deep gorge in the mountains, two or
three miles north of Mandama, a village about six miles N.W. of
Hierapolis}. In this gorge there is a large rude cave with no trace
of artificial cutting, on the roof and sides of which-many graffiiti are
rudely inscribed. Only one of these could be deciphered, a dedication
by Flavianus Menogenes to 'the Goddess,' no. 17 2.
We may compare the account given by Pausanias X 32 of the cave
Steunos at Aizanoi, sacred to Cybele (see also Ch. VIII § 9). The
deity to whom Flavianus addressed himself was ' The Goddess' of the
district, the tutelary deity of the mountains, whose sanctuary was
this rude cave. She is the great goddess of Hierapolis, Leto or
Mother Leto, who was worshipped also beyond the mountains at
Dionysopolis, just as the ' Mother of Sipylos' was the tutelary deity
both of Smyrna on the south and of Magnesia on the north of Mount
Sipylos.
The Mother-Goddess had her chosen home in the mountains, amid
the undisturbed life of Nature, among the wild animals who continue
free from the artificial and unnatural rules constructed by men. Her
chosen companions are the lions, strongest of animals, or the stags,
the fleetest inhabitants of the woods. As Professor E. Curtius says,
' the spirit of this naturalistic cultus leads the servants of the goddess,
while engaged in her worship, to transform themselves into the sem-
blance of her holy animals, stag, cow, or bear, or of plants which
stand in relation to her worship.' Hence we find that 'the baskets
danced' before Artemis Koloene beside the Gygaean Lake, near
Sardis (Strabo p. 626), and women wearing crowns of reeds danced
before the Spartan Artemis. Lakes, like mountains, were often chosen
by the goddess as her home. But her life was seen everywhere in
Nature, in the trees, in the crops, in all vegetation, in all animal life,
and in many beings intermediate between men and animals, Seilenoi,
&c, who were closer to her because they retained the free life of
Nature.
The great religious festival of Hierapolis was the Letoia, named
after the goddess Leto. She was a local variety of the Mother-
goddess, who was worshipped under many names but with practical
identity of character in all parts of Asia Minor. The epithet' Mother
1 Ak-Tcheshme (White Fountain) is but there can be no question that the
another name for the village : Mandama religion of Hydrela and Hierapolis was
is perhaps an ancient word. The vil- the same.
lage, which lies on the direct road 2 With time and appliances probably
from Serai-Keui to Tchal Ova, may others might be read,
perhaps be in the territory of Hydrela.
§ 3. Mother Leto. There is a deep gorge in the mountains, two or
three miles north of Mandama, a village about six miles N.W. of
Hierapolis}. In this gorge there is a large rude cave with no trace
of artificial cutting, on the roof and sides of which-many graffiiti are
rudely inscribed. Only one of these could be deciphered, a dedication
by Flavianus Menogenes to 'the Goddess,' no. 17 2.
We may compare the account given by Pausanias X 32 of the cave
Steunos at Aizanoi, sacred to Cybele (see also Ch. VIII § 9). The
deity to whom Flavianus addressed himself was ' The Goddess' of the
district, the tutelary deity of the mountains, whose sanctuary was
this rude cave. She is the great goddess of Hierapolis, Leto or
Mother Leto, who was worshipped also beyond the mountains at
Dionysopolis, just as the ' Mother of Sipylos' was the tutelary deity
both of Smyrna on the south and of Magnesia on the north of Mount
Sipylos.
The Mother-Goddess had her chosen home in the mountains, amid
the undisturbed life of Nature, among the wild animals who continue
free from the artificial and unnatural rules constructed by men. Her
chosen companions are the lions, strongest of animals, or the stags,
the fleetest inhabitants of the woods. As Professor E. Curtius says,
' the spirit of this naturalistic cultus leads the servants of the goddess,
while engaged in her worship, to transform themselves into the sem-
blance of her holy animals, stag, cow, or bear, or of plants which
stand in relation to her worship.' Hence we find that 'the baskets
danced' before Artemis Koloene beside the Gygaean Lake, near
Sardis (Strabo p. 626), and women wearing crowns of reeds danced
before the Spartan Artemis. Lakes, like mountains, were often chosen
by the goddess as her home. But her life was seen everywhere in
Nature, in the trees, in the crops, in all vegetation, in all animal life,
and in many beings intermediate between men and animals, Seilenoi,
&c, who were closer to her because they retained the free life of
Nature.
The great religious festival of Hierapolis was the Letoia, named
after the goddess Leto. She was a local variety of the Mother-
goddess, who was worshipped under many names but with practical
identity of character in all parts of Asia Minor. The epithet' Mother
1 Ak-Tcheshme (White Fountain) is but there can be no question that the
another name for the village : Mandama religion of Hydrela and Hierapolis was
is perhaps an ancient word. The vil- the same.
lage, which lies on the direct road 2 With time and appliances probably
from Serai-Keui to Tchal Ova, may others might be read,
perhaps be in the territory of Hydrela.