10.30.2008
Temple of Artemis to be Rebuilt
"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught [anything] so grand'" - Antipater of Sidon
Word has come from Turkey that the famous Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is going to be rebuilt and restored to its former glory.
Artemis of Ephesus
"With support from Austrian scientists, [Dr. Atilay] Ileri [founder of the Selcuk Artemis Culture, Arts and Education Foundation] had Swiss architects prepare a plan for the reconstruction of the temple. Ileri, who has dreamed of reconstructing the temple for 10 years, said: 'When completed, the temple will not be a copy or an imitation of the original Artemis but the Artemis itself. And its sisters of the past will set their eyes on it with pride and emulation.'"
The project will cost an estimated 150 million dollars, and will involve sculptors from around the world. The government of Turkey, while not directly financing the project, is supportive of Ileri's efforts. The new temple will be 1,500 meters from the original temple, and is expected to break ground once official permission is granted. Ileri hopes the rebuilt temple will become a new "center of world sculpture".
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and was initially destroyed by the world's first fame-seeker (who shall not be named here) in 356 BCE. The temple was rebuilt in 323 BCE, only to be destroyed once more by Goths (the Germanic tribes, not the clove-smoking black-clad subculture) in 262. The Ephesians rebuilt it once again (you have to admire their dedication), only to have it dismantled by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom in 401 CE. Some of the columns were then used to build the Hagia Sophia.
While I'm certain the new temple will be a hive for tourism and the arts, I can only imagine how rebuilding one of the most famous goddess temples will resonate culturally around the world. Will it become a place of pilgrimage? Will a new cult to the Ephesian Artemis revive? Will it signal a new trend in not simply preserving old temples and landmarks, but actually rebuilding them to their former glory? Could we see a new Delphi or Colossus of Rhodes? An embracing of our pre-Christian heritage slipped through the side-door of "tourism", "art", and "culture".
Labels: Archaeology, art, Artemis, Ephesus, goddess, Paganism, Temple of Artemis, Turkey
10.17.2008
For Sale: Temple of Cybele, Slightly Used
Are you a Pagan who has a spare 700,000 Euro burning a hole in your pocket? Then why not head to Bulgaria where Boris Kushlev is selling a 680-square-meter plot in downtown Balchik, home to a recently-discovered temple to the goddess Cybele.
Statue of Cybele from Balchik.
"The ancient temple of the Hittite, Phrygian, and Greek goddess Cybele, which was discovered by accident in Bulgaria's Black Sea town of Balchik in May 2007 has been declared for sale, the Varna daily Pozvanete reported ... The temple of the goddess Cybele is preserved really well, and according to archeologists, is the only one of its type in Europe. The temple is also the best-preserved building from the Hellenic Age in the Balkans. It includes a number of statutes of Cybele, coins from the time of the Roman Emperor Valens, and other ancient artifacts."
The Director of the Balchik History Museum is calling the proposed sale a "sacrilege", and is disappointed both with Kushlev's asking price (too expensive for the city, who have already paid 100,000 BGN to secure and cover the site), and the lack of movement by the Bulgarian state to nationalize the site. Unless the state makes a move, anyone can now swoop in an claim this former temple, and the statues and artifacts within it, for themselves. Potentially robbing Bulgaria of a unique archaeological find.
"The temple of the goddess Cybele is preserved really well, and according to archeologists, is the only one of its type in Europe. The temple is also the best-preserved building from the Hellenic Age in the Balkans. It includes a number of statutes of Cybele, coins from the time of the Roman Emperor Valens, and other ancient artifacts."
Scientists believe that this temple, unlike other finds from the Hellenic era, can be completely restored and opened to the public. It would truly be a shame if it were dismantled and spread around to museums and private collections across the globe. Will the goddess show her hand and stop the destruction of her temple, preserved for so long beneath the earth? Only time (and an influx of money or political will) will tell if this temple is destroyed, or turned into a place of pilgrimage and learning.
Labels: Archaeology, Bulgaria, Cybele, EU, goddess, Hellenism, Paganism, temple
8.21.2008
Happy Anniversary Venus!
2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Venus of Willendorf, a 25,000 year old statue that some believe represents proof of widespread prehistoric goddess worship. Excavated on August 7th, 1908, the figurine has since become a true modern icon, and is being celebrated with a special exhibition at Vienna's Natural History Museum.
Venus of Willendorf
"The first and only statuette of her kind before the French Venus of Lespugue and the Russian Venus of Kostienki joined her two decades later, the lady from Willendorf still attracts crowds. "I think a lot of visitors come to the museum just to see the Venus," said Mr Antl-Weiser. But where she came from and whether she represented a goddess or women's elevated place in society remains a mystery ... "we can't prove that women played a predominant role during this period and that these female statuettes honoured them. There are many other statuettes [from that period] representing animals, part-humans and part-animals or asexual human beings." Rather than being a goddess, the Venus of Willendorf could have been part of a ritual or a belief shared by several tribes over 20,000 years ago. Although excavated at opposite ends of the continent, the French and Russian venuses are similar in form to their Austrian sister. "They could have been expressions of a single belief that spread through Europe," said Ms Antl-Weiser."
Though we don't know the true name for this goddess, the Venus of Willendorf's image is venerated once again throughout the West. You have Venus of Willendorf-shaped soap, coffee mugs, jewelry, refrigerator magnets, wands, t-shirts, and chocolate treats. While the once-popular theory of a matriarchal golden age (which the various "Venus" figurines played an important role in) has come under scholarly fire since its hundred-year heyday (1870s through the 1970s), the Venus remains an important key to understanding the minds of our ancient ancestors. Not to mention the cultural and religious shifts that came in the wake of her, and similar finds, discovery.
So happy anniversary to the lost goddess, found once more. Oh, and if you happen to be in Austria anytime soon (you lucky devils), the special exhibition will run through February.
Labels: Archaeology, Austria, feminist theology, goddess, The Goddess, Venus of Willendorf
3.10.2008
New Stones, Old Stones, and "Witch" Pits
Britain's sacred landscape is very much in the news lately, with new finds, concerns over the land's archaeological heritage, and plans to build new sacred sites getting attention from mainstream media. To start, Jonathan Jones from The Guardian looks at Stonehenge, and the increasing encroachment of development onto the site.
"In the misty, rainy morning, pairs of bright white lights keep appearing on the near horizon, and across the grass there is the unholy spectacle of a continuous flow of cars and trucks on the A303. Amazingly, this crowded road is soon going to get worse. In February, it was revealed that Tesco plans to build a gigantic warehouse near Andover, from which it is estimated a Tesco juggernaut will emerge every minute - many of them on to the A303. The Tesco "MegaShed" is just the final, farcical insult after the terrible news that hit Stonehenge three months ago. Just before Christmas, after nearly two decades of ambitious planning to rescue this landscape from traffic, came a brutal government press release: Tom Harris, under-secretary of state for transport, declared that plans to enclose the A303 in a tunnel under Salisbury Plain 'would not represent best use of taxpayers' money'."
Jones, pondering why the British people don't care more about Stonehenge, wonders if the recent de-mythologizing of the site by experts and archaeologists has led to a blase' attitude towards Stonehenge's fate.
"Stonehenge is a miracle, a mystery, like the ancient world sites that are its peers: the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico. This is why the tourists come. But official archaeology only tells us what we shouldn't think: we must not believe that this is about astronomy, or druids, or mathematics, let alone - as Oxbridge scholars argued in the 1950s - that the dagger carving on stone 53 betrays a link with the ancient Aegean world. No, it's the very people whose job it is to describe the unique nature of Stonehenge who make it sound as if it's nothing more exciting than all the earthworks they dig up in bogs with a couple of wooden posts stuck in the peat. Stonehenge has been talked down by the experts. And now the philistines have an excuse to treat it as if it was nothing special."
If Stonehenge is losing its enchantment thanks to modern science, the urge for scared monuments haven't left the British people. In Northamptonshire, two new sacred circles, one explicitly Pagan, are being constructed.
"A 'woodhenge' in Rothersthorpe and a new stone circle in Crick are both under construction. The woodhenge is being constructed by organic cooperative Permorganics ... The other structure, which will be made of four massive stones, is an art project being sponsored by the East Midlands Arts Council which will eventually stand on Cracks Hill, Crick."
The stone circle at Cracks Hill will have its foundation markers laid out by local youths on the Spring Equinox, with the project reaching completion in five years. The Permorganics project will take longer, since it has to wait for the planted orchard to grow and surround the sacred grove. Both projects seem to speak to a desire for re-sacralizing the landscape by embracing elements from the land's pre-Christian past.
Speaking of re-sacralizing the landscape, certain Pagan practitioners are going to love the following story. It seems that excavation efforts of 35 pits along the Cornish countryside have turned up evidence of pre-Christian offerings from a decidedly Christian time-period.
"Evidence of pagan rituals involving swans and other birds in the Cornish countryside in the 17th century has been uncovered by archaeologists. Since 2003, 35 pits at the site in a valley near Truro have been excavated containing swan pelts, dead magpies, unhatched eggs, quartz pebbles, human hair, fingernails and part of an iron cauldron. The finds have been dated to the 1640s, a period of turmoil in England when Cromwellian Puritans destroyed any links to pre-Christian pagan England. It was also a period when witchcraft attracted the death sentence."
Archaeologist Jacqui Woods then makes an interesting comment regarding one of the finds.
"Often when secret rituals are abandoned people will talk about 'things that were done in my grandmother's day' but there has been no whisper of this. It really makes me wonder whether that is because it is still going on."
Pagan survivals? Folk customs given a Christian gloss and performed by people who considered themselves good Christians? None of the above? The article all but screams "witches", and no doubt these discoveries are going to end up generating some interesting conversations among Witches and other Pagans.
These articles all point towards a palpable desire to embrace a sacred landscape that is not only post-Christian, but increasingly post-secular as well. A land filled with myth, story, and art. Enhanced by a ritualized awareness of the changing seasons, and reinforced by natural and man-made monuments. A land where modern Paganism fits right in.
Labels: Archaeology, Paganism, standing stones, Stonehenge, UK, Witchcraft
