DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0159
9. HIERON OF LETO AND LAIRBENOS. 133
goes along with Attes, and must belong to the same stratum, whereas
we saw that Leto probably came in from Cyprus and Pamphylia
(Ch. Ill § 3); and history confirms the inference that Kybele and
Attes were the ancient Phrygian names1 of the Mother and the Son.
§11. Lairbenos. The deities worshipped in this temple were in Koman
times called Mother Leto and Apollo Lairmenos, no. 34. Their relation
as mother and son is obvious; and their connexion was so intimate
that their cultus was practically a single one on the same altar (no. 41).
The name Leto has been discussed (Ch. Ill §§ 3, 4). Lairmenos occurs
in the varying forms Aepfi-qvos, Aapfi-qvos, Aaipfir]vbs, Avp/irjvo?,
Avep/j.rji>6$. The great variety of forms shows that the epithet was
non-Greek and contained a vowel-sound that could not properly be
represented in the Greek alphabet (probably approximating to German
0). The epithet seems to be local, of the common Anatolian form,
'god of LSrbe,' and is probably derived from the chief seat of his
worship. Lyrbe, an inland city on the borders of Pisidia and Isauria,
probably near Seidi-Sheher lake (Trogitis Hist. Geogr. p. 419), bears the
same name; and probably it was looked on as his special home, as
Artemis Pergaia was introduced at Halicarnassos (CIG 2656)2. In
that case the name used in later times points to a southern origin;
and we find in this hieron the old worship of Cybele and Attis over-
laid by later forms coming from the south (p. 91).
The name Lairbenos occurs on coins of Hierapolis. The deity is
in all probability the same; and the Hierapolitan coins mention him
for the same reason that they mention Zeus Bozios, see inscr. 53, be-
cause their influence extended over the territory of Mossyna right up
to the neighbourhood of the hieron.
Various grecized modes of addressing the god occur in the in-
Both occur in the old Phrygian names connected with Men all bear a late
monuments of the eighth or seventh and grecized stamp, Menodotos, Meno-
century b.c. The name Ma or Maia is phantos, &c. (see Ch. IX § 3). Men is
also deeply rooted in both personal and probably a grecized form of the real
local names, and belongs to a very native and old Phrygian divine name
ancient period: it seems to mean both Manes, which became a stock term
' Mother' and ' Earth' (the two ideas for a Phrygian slave, and occurs as
were identified in the primitive Anato- a divine name in an inscription of
lian religion), Mai-av&pos and Sxd^- Siokharax.
«"Spof (Sra/z-, Skt. ksham-, xsi>") are 2 So Helios Apollon Kisauloddenos
equivalent names for rivers : Hesychius was imported to the acropolis of Smyrna
gives jx<»u as Lydian for 'earth'; and Mous. Sm. no. p£s'. The site of the
"" for av is a common phenomenon on hieron near Dionysopolis was not called
the Ionian coast: we find also Mat- Lorbe. Perhaps lorbe denotes an attri-
a-a-aWos (cp. 2npu-, 'Aktciv-, Uapav-, bute (bipennis ? p. 145), and the epithet
°-o-<»XXof, &c. BCH 1880 p. 316). But the means 'user of the lorbe': Addenda.
goes along with Attes, and must belong to the same stratum, whereas
we saw that Leto probably came in from Cyprus and Pamphylia
(Ch. Ill § 3); and history confirms the inference that Kybele and
Attes were the ancient Phrygian names1 of the Mother and the Son.
§11. Lairbenos. The deities worshipped in this temple were in Koman
times called Mother Leto and Apollo Lairmenos, no. 34. Their relation
as mother and son is obvious; and their connexion was so intimate
that their cultus was practically a single one on the same altar (no. 41).
The name Leto has been discussed (Ch. Ill §§ 3, 4). Lairmenos occurs
in the varying forms Aepfi-qvos, Aapfi-qvos, Aaipfir]vbs, Avp/irjvo?,
Avep/j.rji>6$. The great variety of forms shows that the epithet was
non-Greek and contained a vowel-sound that could not properly be
represented in the Greek alphabet (probably approximating to German
0). The epithet seems to be local, of the common Anatolian form,
'god of LSrbe,' and is probably derived from the chief seat of his
worship. Lyrbe, an inland city on the borders of Pisidia and Isauria,
probably near Seidi-Sheher lake (Trogitis Hist. Geogr. p. 419), bears the
same name; and probably it was looked on as his special home, as
Artemis Pergaia was introduced at Halicarnassos (CIG 2656)2. In
that case the name used in later times points to a southern origin;
and we find in this hieron the old worship of Cybele and Attis over-
laid by later forms coming from the south (p. 91).
The name Lairbenos occurs on coins of Hierapolis. The deity is
in all probability the same; and the Hierapolitan coins mention him
for the same reason that they mention Zeus Bozios, see inscr. 53, be-
cause their influence extended over the territory of Mossyna right up
to the neighbourhood of the hieron.
Various grecized modes of addressing the god occur in the in-
Both occur in the old Phrygian names connected with Men all bear a late
monuments of the eighth or seventh and grecized stamp, Menodotos, Meno-
century b.c. The name Ma or Maia is phantos, &c. (see Ch. IX § 3). Men is
also deeply rooted in both personal and probably a grecized form of the real
local names, and belongs to a very native and old Phrygian divine name
ancient period: it seems to mean both Manes, which became a stock term
' Mother' and ' Earth' (the two ideas for a Phrygian slave, and occurs as
were identified in the primitive Anato- a divine name in an inscription of
lian religion), Mai-av&pos and Sxd^- Siokharax.
«"Spof (Sra/z-, Skt. ksham-, xsi>") are 2 So Helios Apollon Kisauloddenos
equivalent names for rivers : Hesychius was imported to the acropolis of Smyrna
gives jx<»u as Lydian for 'earth'; and Mous. Sm. no. p£s'. The site of the
"" for av is a common phenomenon on hieron near Dionysopolis was not called
the Ionian coast: we find also Mat- Lorbe. Perhaps lorbe denotes an attri-
a-a-aWos (cp. 2npu-, 'Aktciv-, Uapav-, bute (bipennis ? p. 145), and the epithet
°-o-<»XXof, &c. BCH 1880 p. 316). But the means 'user of the lorbe': Addenda.