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"Unearthing the Earth-Shaker" with Professor Ioannis Mylonopoulos

Columbia University's Department of Art History and Archaeology invites to to the

following lecture: Professor Ioannis Mylonopoulos, "Unearthing the Earth-Shaker:

The Excavations at the Sanctuary of Poseidon in Boeotian Onchestos."

References to specific sanctuaries in the Homeric work are rare. In its famous

Catalogue of Ships, however, the Iliad addresses the sacred grove of the

sanctuary of Poseidon in Boeotian Onchestos (Il. 2.506). In addition, the Homeric

Hymn to Apollo (ll. 229-238) describes a puzzling ritual in Poseidons cult site that

seems to have been connected to the examination of the fitness of young horses

for drawing chariots. Despite the well-known importance of the sanctuaries of

Athena Itonia, Zeus Karaios, and Apollo Ptoos as pan-Boeotian religious centers,

the selection of the sanctuary of Poseidon as the seat of the Boeotian League

suggests that this cult place never lost its importance in the Boeotian collective

memory. Compared to the importance of the sanctuary, its study through

excavation has been rather occasional. Brief rescue excavations by the 9th

Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at the modern site of Steni

Mavromatiou showed that two large areas between the 91st and 92nd km of the

National Road from Athens to Lebadeia are associated with the ancient

sanctuary.

The summer of 2014 saw the beginning of Columbia Universitys excavation at

the sanctuary of Poseidon under the auspices of the Archaeological Society at

Athens and in collaboration with the 9th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical

Antiquities. The campaign began with a geophysical survey that explored the two

areas and identified several points that are bound to become future foci of the

project. Site A corresponds to the sanctuarys center, the site of the temple. Here,

an impressive rectangular building with three, probably wooden, interior columns

was explored. The structure dates back to the 6th century BCE and was enlarged

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in the late 4th or early 3rd century. Site Bsituated in the plain next to the Kopais

lakecorresponds to the sanctuarys administrative center and includes a large

square building with an interior courtyard surrounded by colonnades. The survey

also revealed the existence of additional buildings, one of which a substantial

round structure with a diameter of slightly over 40 m remains a puzzle. The

excavation yielded a rich array of finds: vases and vase-fragments (several

bearing graffiti), numerous bronze objects (including a strigil), bronze and silver

coins, weapons, objects associated with horse- and chariot races, and a Doric

capital with traces of color from the 4th or 3rd century BCE.