DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0161
11. LAIRBENOS. 135
nos. 41-53, the authors are represented as having approached the
hieron or engaged in the service of the deity while polluted with
some physical or moral impurity, and therefore unfit to appear before
the god: they are chastised by the god generally with some disease,
no. 43, sometimes through their property, no. 42, or their children2:
they confess and acknowledge their fault (egofio\oyeo/icu): they
appease the god, by sacrifice and expiation, no. 43 : they are freed by
him from their chastisement: and finally they narrate the whole in
a public inscription as a warning and an exemplar to all not to treat
the god lightly. In at least one case, however, the offence is failure to
present oneself at the sanctuary at the proper time, no. 42. This
implies that the offender was bound to present himself; now there
was no idea in ancient religion that all people ought to appear
regularly for worship at the time; therefore the offender in this case
must have been under some pecuhar regulation. It is probable that,
though he does not think it necessary to state the fact, he was a
hieros.
(c) Hieroi. The class of persons called hieroi are frequently found
in Asia Minor and occasionally in Greece (p. 147); but then position
and character are very obscure. It is probable that all hieroi were
bound to certain terms of service at the temple; that during their
service they had to abandon the social life which was usual in the
Greek world, and go back to the primitive social state in which the
Anatolian rebgion had arisen; that they formed a class apart from
the community, and did not rank as citizens; that some were born
hieroi, others were dedicated as hieroi, and a third class were ordinary
citizens who voluntarily took service on themselves for a time, acting
as hieroi though not belonging to the class, and then went back to
the fife of the world (p. 95). The hieroi had certain advantages, no
doubt: they were under the protection of the temple: they probably
had a share in any lands that were left to the temple, cultivating
them and receiving a share of the produce. In the old time the hieroi
had doubtless been far more numerous, when vast estates belonged to
the great hiera; and they acted, for example, as skilled gardeners
on the grounds of Apollo at Magnesia Mae. in the fifth century B. c.
The evidence on this subject is stated more minutely in the following
pages, and in the commentary on no. 38.
the second and third centuries among J Dedications inep a-mrrjptas rUvav
a peculiarly illiterate people (p. 131). have not been found at the hieron; but
It spread from the Laodicean lawcourts they occur in other parts of Phrygia,
through the country. though without any confession of guilt.
nos. 41-53, the authors are represented as having approached the
hieron or engaged in the service of the deity while polluted with
some physical or moral impurity, and therefore unfit to appear before
the god: they are chastised by the god generally with some disease,
no. 43, sometimes through their property, no. 42, or their children2:
they confess and acknowledge their fault (egofio\oyeo/icu): they
appease the god, by sacrifice and expiation, no. 43 : they are freed by
him from their chastisement: and finally they narrate the whole in
a public inscription as a warning and an exemplar to all not to treat
the god lightly. In at least one case, however, the offence is failure to
present oneself at the sanctuary at the proper time, no. 42. This
implies that the offender was bound to present himself; now there
was no idea in ancient religion that all people ought to appear
regularly for worship at the time; therefore the offender in this case
must have been under some pecuhar regulation. It is probable that,
though he does not think it necessary to state the fact, he was a
hieros.
(c) Hieroi. The class of persons called hieroi are frequently found
in Asia Minor and occasionally in Greece (p. 147); but then position
and character are very obscure. It is probable that all hieroi were
bound to certain terms of service at the temple; that during their
service they had to abandon the social life which was usual in the
Greek world, and go back to the primitive social state in which the
Anatolian rebgion had arisen; that they formed a class apart from
the community, and did not rank as citizens; that some were born
hieroi, others were dedicated as hieroi, and a third class were ordinary
citizens who voluntarily took service on themselves for a time, acting
as hieroi though not belonging to the class, and then went back to
the fife of the world (p. 95). The hieroi had certain advantages, no
doubt: they were under the protection of the temple: they probably
had a share in any lands that were left to the temple, cultivating
them and receiving a share of the produce. In the old time the hieroi
had doubtless been far more numerous, when vast estates belonged to
the great hiera; and they acted, for example, as skilled gardeners
on the grounds of Apollo at Magnesia Mae. in the fifth century B. c.
The evidence on this subject is stated more minutely in the following
pages, and in the commentary on no. 38.
the second and third centuries among J Dedications inep a-mrrjptas rUvav
a peculiarly illiterate people (p. 131). have not been found at the hieron; but
It spread from the Laodicean lawcourts they occur in other parts of Phrygia,
through the country. though without any confession of guilt.