THE ATHENS GREEK RELIGION SEMINAR, Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
The Sanctuary of Athena at Miletos: Cult Continuity from the Minoan Period to
the Persian Destruction of 494 BC
Miletus, not Athens, would have become the intellectual and economic centre of
Greece if the city had not been completely destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC. This
was Jakob Burckhardt’s assessment of the largest and most powerful Ionian-Greek
city of the 7th and 6th centuries BC, which founded over 70 colonies around the
Black Sea and was with Thales, Anaximenes and Anaximandros the centre of Ionian
natural philosophy. It also possessed a number of important sanctuaries, in particular
the oracle sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma, but also other important sanctuaries. Of
these, that of Athena is associated with scholarly controversies that could only be
released by our excavations. These have brought to light a cult continuity from the
Minoan period of the 17th century BC to the destruction by the Persians in 494 BC
and clarified the disputed sequence of the temple buildings.
The seminar takes place on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 17.00h (Athens)
with live presence at the Swedish Institute and online via Zoom.
To participate, please register at:
https://www.sia.gr/en/events.php?eid=391#ParticipationForm