the cult of achilles in the euxine - The American School of Classical

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THE CULT OF ACHILLES IN THE EUXINE
F ALL THE DIFFERENCESb etweenh ero-worshipa ndd ivinew orshipi n ancient
O
Greece, possibly the most fundamentali s the differencei n the geographicall imits of
the two types of cult.1A hero-cult was most often restrictedt o a particularl ocale, whereas
the wors-hipo f an Olympian god or goddessw as usually widespread.2T he site of a hero-cult
requires some connectionw ith the hero, the physical remains of the body being the most
direct3. With respectt o this general distinctionb etween heroica nd divine worship the cult of
Achilles is problematic.O n the one hand, there was a cult near Troy at the site identifieda s
the burial moundo f Achilles. We hear in the Odysseyt hat a great tumulus was heaped up by
the Achaeanso n a promontorya t the mouth of the Hellespont, "sot hat it may be conspicuous
to men travelling by sea, those living now as well as those to come" (Homer, Odyssey
24.80-84). The little we know about the cult at the tumulus of Achilles is from literary
sources.I t is as early as the 5th century if not earlier, and it was regularlyp atronizedb y
B.C.,
I This paper was first publicly presenteda t the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in March
of 1986 as an After Tea Talk; for the opportunityt o participatei n this lectures eries I wish to thank the former
Director of the School, Stephen G. Miller. I am grateful to Gloria F. Pinney for suggestingt he cult of Achilles
as a potentially fruitful topic for research and for supervising the writing of an M. A. thesis on the subject.
Translations of important Russian articles were provided by Arkadia X. Kocybala, for which I am very
grateful. For reading this paper at its various stages and making helpful suggestionsa nd improvementst o the
text I also wish to thank J. B. Carter, G. R. Edwards, A. J. Graham, R. Hamilton, M. L. Lang, E. P.
McGowan, M. J. Mellink, B. S. Ridgway, and J. S. Ruston.
Works frequentlyc ited are abbreviateda s follows:
Bravo = B. Bravo, "Une lettre sur plomb de Berezan':c olonisatione t modes de contactd ans le
Pont,"D ialogues d'histoirea ncienne 1,1974, pp. 111-187
Diehl, "Tolstoi" = E. Diehl, "Ivan Tolstoi, OstrovB elyi i Tavrika na JevksinskomP onte," Gnomon 3,
1927, pp. 633-643
Diehl, "Pontarches"= E. Diehl, s.v. Pontarches,R E XXII, 1953, cols. 1-18
Heidel = A. Heidel, The Frame of Ancient GreekM aps, New York 1937
Hommel = H. Hommel, Der Gott Achilleus (SBHeid 1), Heidelberg 1980
Kocybala = A. X. Kocybala,G reekC olonizationo n the North Shoreo f the Black Sea in the Archaic
Period, diss. University of Pennsylvania, 1978 (U.M.I. no. AAD79-08760)
Latyschev = V. V. Latyschev,I nscriptionesa ntiquaeo rae septemtrionalisP onti Euxini, Petrograd,
I, 2nd ed., 1916; IV, 1901
Nagy = G. Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans,B altimore/London 1979
Pinney = G. F. Pinney, "Achilles Lord of Scythia," in Ancient Greek Art and Iconography,
W. G. Moon, ed., Madison 1983, pp. 127-146
Rohde = E. Rohde, Psyche, W. B. Hills, trans., London/New York 1925
Rusyaeva, 1971 = A. S. Rusyaeva, "Kul'tovip redmety z poselennia Beikush poblyzu o-va Berezan',"
Arkheolohiia( Kiev), 1971, fasc. 2, pp. 22-28
Rusyaeva, 1975 = A. S. Rusyaeva, "Voprosyr azvitiia kul'ta Akhilla v Severnom Prichernomor'e,"i n
Skifskiim ir, Kiev 1975, pp. 174-185
2 H. Abramson, Greek Hero-shrines, diss. University of California, Berkeley 1978 (U.M.I. no. AAD79-
14523), pp. 40-41.
3 Rohde, p. 121; Abramson,o p. cit., p. 41, note 159 with further bibliography.
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314 GUY HEDREEN
the Thessalians.4O ccasionallyo ther notablesw orshippedt he hero there, includingt he Per-
sian expeditionaryf orce, Alexandert he Great, and the emperorC aracalla.5
On the other hand, Achilles was also worshipped at a number of other places in the
ancientw orld, including Krotoni n South Italy, Lakonia and Elis in the Peloponnese,A sty-
palaia in the Cyclades,a nd Erythrai in Asia Minor.6W e know very little about these cults,
which are mentioned in passing in the anciernts ources, but their existence shows that the
worship of Achilles was not confinedt o one place or to the immediatev icinity of his tomb.
What is most puzzling is the popularityo f the cult of Achilles among the Greeks who settled
along the northernc oast of the Euxine and among the sailors who traveledi n this area. The
evidence for the cult in this region is considerablea nd far outweighs the evidence for the
worship of Achilles in other parts of Greece, includingt he Troad.7T he cult appearst o have
originatedi n the 6th century B.C. and was still in existence in the 3rd century after Christ.
Achilles was worshipped at the Milesian colony of Olbia as well as on an island in the
middle of the Euxine from the Archaicp eriod on. A third locationo f cult activityi n honor of
the hero was a long strandlikel and formations outheasto f Olbia. The evidencef or the cult
of Achilles in the Euxine is not very well known, partly because some of it has been pub-
lished only in Russian. A very useful summary of the material was written by Diehl in
1953,8 but since then interesting new material has appeared. The more recent study of
Hommel touches on some of the new archaeologicalm aterial but is primarily concerned
with theological questions.9I will review the evidence for the worship of Achilles in the
Euxine and then considero ne of the pressing questions surroundingt he cult.
A series of inscribedd edicatorys telae to Achilles Pontarchesd ates from the 2nd and 3rd
centuries after Christ.10T hese are public dedicationsm ade by the archons, generals, and
I The earliest referencet o the grave of Achilles is Herodotos' referencet o the battle between Athens and
Mytilene at the town of Achilleion (Herodotos, 5.94): later writers tell us that Achilleion was a town founded
at the site of the hero's grave (Pliny, HN 5.125; Strabo, 13.1.32 [C595]; Diogenes Laertius, 1.74). The yearly
Thessalian expedition to the grave of Achilles for worship is describedb y Philostratos (Her. 53.8-18). If
Philostratosi s correct,t he rites began considerablye arlier than the 5th century On the difficultm atter of
B.C.
the locationo f the tumulus of Achilles, see J. M. Cook, The Troad,O xford 1973, pp. 159-164, 173-174, and
185-186.
Persians:H erodotos, 7.43. Alexander:D iodorus Siculus, 17.17.3; Arrianus,A nab. 1.12.1; Cicero, Arch.
5
24; Plutarch,A lex. 72. Caracalla:D io Cassius, 77.7.
6 See J. Escher, s.v. Achilleus, RE I,1894 (cols. 221-245), cols. 222-223 for references.
7There are even late literary sources which suggest that some who worshippedA chilles at his tumulus in
the Troad recognizedt hat the hero's chief centero f worship was not there but in the Euxine. The hymn which
Philostratosa ssertst he Thessalians sang upon their arrivala t Troy explains that "howeverm uch [of Achilles]
is mortalT roy retains,b ut howeverm uch he drew of your [sc. Thetis'] divine nature, the Pontos holds"( Philo-
stratos,H er. 53.10). See Hommel, p. 42.
8 Diehl, "Pontarches,"c ols. 1-18.
9 Hommel. See also the discussionso f the cult in Bravo, pp. 134-149; Rusyaeva, 1975, pp. 174-185.
10L atyschev, I, nos. 53 and 130-144; IV, nos. 17 and 18. Probably also belonging to the series are I,
nos. 145, 146, 149, 155, 156, 158, and 685. Additions to the series since Latyschev include Inscriptiones
Olbiae,T . N. Knipovicha nd E. I. Levi, edd. (AkademiaS cientiarumU RSS), Lenigrad 1968, nos. 85-90. On
the inscriptionsi n general see, in addition to Latyschev'sc ommentary:G . M. Hirst, "The Cults of Olbia,"
JHS 23, 1903 (pp. 24-53), pp. 45-47; E. H. Minns, Scythiansa nd Greeks,C ambridge1 913, pp. 473 and 481;
N. Dzikowski, "The Olbian InscriptionC IG 2080 Rediscovered,"J HS 59, 1939, pp. 84-91; Diehl, "Pontar-
ches,"c ols. 1-2 and 12-16; Bravo, pp. 145-147.
THE CULT OF ACHILLES IN THE EUXINE 315
priests of Olbia, thank-offeringst o Achilles for the well-being of the city and of the dedi-
cants themselves.A chilles' status was never higher than in the Roman period at Olbia. We
learn from the inscriptionst hat he was the patron of the college of archons,a nd as such he
presumablyw as endowed with powers approachingt hose of a god; there are few significant
differencesb etween the inscribed dedicationst o Achilles Pontarches and those to Apollo
Prostatesa nd Hermes Agoraeus, the patrons of the Olbian generals and the agoranomoi.11
This accordsw ell with what Dio Chrysostomosr eports after his visit to Olbia around the
end of the 1st century after Christ. He writes that the Olbians honor Achilles as their god
and that they had established two temples in the hero's honor, one in Olbia itself and
anothero n "Achilles'i sland". 12
For many years the earliest evidencef or the cult at Olbia dated to the Classical period.
Recently published graffiti, however, from the city and the surroundinga rea indicate that
the cult began at least as early as the secondh alf of the 6th centuryB .C. The most interesting
class of Achilles-relatedg raffiti consists of shortjinscriptionsa nd crude drawings on clay
disks made from pottery fragments. The disks are more or less carefully worked into the
shape of a circle, ranging in diameterf rom three to six centimeters.T he largest number of
inscribedd isks comes from the late 6th-centurys ite of Beikush located at the confluenceo f
the Berezan and Beikush inlets, approximately forty kilometers west of Olbia.13T hirty-
nine disks from the site bear graffiti,m ost includingt he name of Achilles or an abbreviation
of the name: A, AXI, AXIAA,A XIAAE,o r AXIAAEII. n addition to the letters, many of the
disks have depictions of objects, including snakes, human figures, and perhaps boats,
swords,a nd daggers.4 The excavatoro f the Beikush disks also publishede ight similar disks
II Diehl, "Tolstoi,"p p. 641-642; Bravo,p . 146; Hommel, p. 10, note 13. On the great importanceo f Achil-
les at Olbia in the Roman period see A. S. Rusyaeva, "Les cultes agrairesa Olbia pontique,"D ialogues d'his-
toirea ncienne 9, 1983 (pp. 185-195), p. 193. One of the 'Pontarches'i nscriptionsd iscovereds ince Latyschev
(InscriptionesO lbiae,n o. 90) shows that Achilles' original nature as a hero was never forgottena t Olbia. This
inscriptiond iffers in no way from the rest of the series except that it is addressedt o the "heroA chilles"r ather
than to Achilles Pontarches.S ee Bravo, pp. 146-147.
Dio Chrysostomos,O r. 36.9 and 14. On Dio's visit to Olbia see C. P. Jones, The Roman Worldo f Dio
12
Chrysostom,C ambridge, Mass./London 1978, pp. 61-62. There is some question as to what island Dio is
describing.T here is abundante videncef or an island sacred to Achilles, Leuke, locatedo pposite the mouth of
the Istros river. Several late geographicals ourcesa lso refer to an island sacredt o Achilles beforet he mouth of
the Borysthenisr iver, in the vicinity of Olbia (Mela, 2.98; Dionysios Periegeta, 542; Solinus, 19.1). There is in
fact an island in the mouth of the Borysthenisr iver, now called Berezan, although it is not certain that it was
an island throughouta ntiquity (cf. J. G. F. Hind, "Greeka nd BarbarianP eoples on the Shores of the Black
Sea,"A R 30, 1983/1984 Ipp. 71-97], p. 79). The question is whether Berezan really was a second island in
the Euxine sacred to Achilles or simply a misidentificationo n the part of one or more geographers.F or the
former view see Bravo, pp. 137-140; the latter view, however, seems more likely. See Pliny, HN 4.82-83
together with 4.93: the distances cited by Pliny in no way apply to Berezan. Ptolemy (3.10.17) also distin-
guishes Berezan from the island of Achilles.
13 The graffiti from the site were published by A. S. Rusyaeva, 1971. The small settlement of Beikush is
made up of fifteen houses all dating to the second half of the 6th century See Kocybala, pp. 219-220;
B.C.
A. Wasowicz, Olbia pontique et son territoire (Annales litteraires de l'Universite de Besancon: Les belles-
lettres 168), Besancon 1975, p. 149, no. 58.
14 Rusyaeva, 1971 (p. 25) argues that the interconnectionsb etween the various disks in terms of drawing
show that the entire series is connectedw ith Achilles, and that the isolated letter A or the letter combination
AXI are abbreviationso f the name of the hero. For the practiceo f using an abbreviationf or the name of the
316 GUY HEDREEN
from Olbia.15 These disks, formed out of black-glazedp ottery fragments,a re characterized
by more careful workmanship than the Beikush examples. Six of them are incised with
figures or letters, but only one, bearing a solitary letter A, is exactly comparablet o the
Beikush series. Three other inscribed pottery disks from Olbia were published by Yai-
lenko.16O ne bears the letters AXIAEp lus an obscure drawing. The other two have draw-
ings and the letter A. Since Beikush is the most fully excavated of some three dozen late
Archaic Greek settlementsi n the vicinity of Berezan, there is hope that other, as yet unex-
plored settlementsw ill yield further Achilles-relatedd isks.
The meaning and function of the clay disks associatedw ith Achilles are uncertain.T he
contexts in which the disks were found at Beikush are domestica nd not, as far as one can
tell, religious.17T wo of the disks, however, preservet he name of Achilles in the dative case,
indicatingt hat they, at least, were votive offeringst o the hero1. 8 The use of the clay disk as a
votive offering to a hero is attested elsewhere in the Greek world. Twelve uninscribedc lay
disks cut from Late Geometrica nd Proto-Atticp ottery were found in the triangular hero-
shrine in the Athenian Agora1. 9 One hundreda nd nineteen disks fashionedf rom Geometric
and Proto-Atticp ottery fragmentsw ere among the finds from a 7th-centuryv otive deposit
recipient of a dedication,c f. K. Lehmann, Samothrace,I I, ii, The Inscriptionso n Ceramicsa nd Minor Ob-
jects, New York 1960, pp. 29-32. It should be noted that an additional3 4 disks, similar in material and work-
manship to the inscribedd isks but bearing no graffiti,w ere also recoveredf rom Beikush. See Rusyaeva,p . 26,
Group VI. Accordingt o V. P. Yailenko ("GraffitiL evki, Berezani i Ol'vii," VDI 1980, fasc. 3 [pp. 75-116],
p. 84, note 21), the objectsr epresentedo n the disks are thought by U. M. Otreshkot o depict either offerings
broughtt o Achilles or objectss olicited from the hero. The charactero f the identifiableo bjects,h owever, does
not entirely suit this hypothesis.
15 Rusyaeva, 1971, pp. 26-27. No dates or contexts are given for these disks.
16 Yailenko (footnote1 4 above), pp. 84-87, nos. 84, 87a, and 88 ( = SEG XXX, p. 260, no. 927, and p. 261,
nos. 931 and 932). All three are said to be of 5th-century date. Cf. also the graffitio n a 4th-centuryb lack-
B.C.
glazed fragment (Yailenko, p. 86, no. 86 = SEG XXX, p. 261, no. 929), which include the representationo f
what appears to be a horse's head and the letter A or the combinationA X.
17 Rusyaeva, 1971, p. 22, note 3: the disks were found in groups in various subterraneane arth houses. A
very few disks were accidentalf inds. V. M. Otreshko ("PozdnearkhaicheskiPe oseleniia BerezanskogoL ima-
na," Otkrytiiam olodyikha rkheologivU krainy I, Kiev 1976 [pp. 31-33], p. 32) states without elaboratingt hat
one of the pits uncovereda t Beikush is connectedw ith offerings brought to Achilles. There is no mention in
Rusyaeva'sp ublication,h owever, of any non-domesticc ontext in connectionw ith the disks.
18 One is larger than average and not quite circular, measuring 7.5 x 9.5 cm. (Rusyaeva, 1971, p. 25). It
bears the inscriptionA XIAAEIb oundedb y wavy lines, a drawing of a snake, and a drawing of what may be a
sword. Near one edge it is pierced by a small hole. The other disk includes a longer inscriptionc onsistingo f
three rows of letters. Rusyaeva (1971, p. 26) identifiedt he following letters: IHAFPOTOYITEA/AHIAXIA-
AEI/OIKOEENTa nd interpretst he inscriptiont hus: "May Agrotas send to Achilles from home."B elow the
inscriptiont hree brancheso r trees are represented.
19G . V. Lalonde, "A Fifth Century Hieron Southwest of the Athenian Agora," Hesperia 37, 1968
(pp. 123-133), p. 131. Found in situ at one cornero f the triangular structurew as a boundarys tone inscribed
TO HIEPO,i ndicatingt hat the structurew as a hero-shrine.A shallow circular depressioni n the bedrocko n
the line of the restoredw est wall of the structurei s quite similar to the depressionsi nto which bronze burial
cauldronsw ere placed in the Late Geometricp eriod at Eretria;o ver these a triangulars tructurew as erectedi n
the 4th centuryB .C. (C. Berard,E retria, III, L'Heroona la porte de l'ouest, Bern 1970). As Lalonde suggested
(p. 126), perhapst he triangulars tructurei n the Athenian Agora markedt he place where offeringsw ere made
at an early grave. Cf. H. A. Thompson, "SomeH ero Shrines in Early Athens,"i n Athens Comeso f Age: From
Solon to Salamis; Papers of a Symposium Sponsoredb y the ArchaeologicalI nstitute of America, Princeton
Society, and the Department of Art and Archaeology,P rinceton University, Princeton 1978 (pp. 96-108),
pp. 96 and 98.
THE CULT OF ACHILLES IN THE EUXINE 317
on the north slope of the Areiopagos at Athens.20B urr suggested that the material in the
votive deposit came from a near-by shrine of the chthonic Semnai, but the charactero f the
deposit (consistingo f small terracottas hields, terracottaf igurineso f warriors,h orsemena nd
horses, and painted plaques) would be equally appropriatea t a hero-shrine.21O ne clay disk
was found by Schliemanni n the fill above the shaft graves at Mycenae.22I nsofar as heroes
are numbered among the deceased, it may be significant that disks were also appropriate
grave gifts.23
In short, clay disks appear to have been appropriateo fferings for heroes. As for their
function or meaning, they have been called stoppersf or vessels or gaming pieces.24I n favor
of the latter interpretation is the fact that gaming boards and dice have been found in
Archaic graves in Greece.25T he gaming boards are small clay models, made especially for
burial. Heroes enjoyedp laying games and at least occasionallya re representeda s playing
games in the afterlife.26A chilles in particulars eems to have been well known as a player of
board games, to judge from the series of Attic black-figuredv ases showing him engaged in
20 D. Burr, "A Geometric House and a Proto-Attic Votive Deposit," Hesperia 2, 1933 (pp. 542-640),
pp. 564 and 603-604. The deposit was situated on top of the collapsedw alls of an apsidal house of Geometric
date, in the immediatev icinity of Geometric graves. See ibid., pp. 549-550 and 636-637. For the graves see
T. L. Shear, "The Campaigno f 1932,"H esperia 2,1933 (pp. 451-474), pp. 468-470; H. A. Thompson, "The
Excavationo f the Athenian Agora. Twelfth Season: 1947," Hesperia 17, 1948 (pp. 149-196), pp. 158-159.
21 Burr, op. cit., pp. 604-621 and 636 for the deposit in general. Burr (p. 637) comparedt he Late Geo-
metric and Archaic material from the dromoso f the tholos at Menidi. See N. Coldstream," Hero-cultsi n the
Age of Homer," JHS 96, 1976 (pp. 8-17), p. 11. Compare also the deposits from the Agamemnoneiona t
Mycenae: J. M. Cook, "Mycenae 1939-1953, Part III. The Agamemnoneion,"B SA 48, 1953, pp. 30-68;
idem, "The Cult of Agamemnon at Mycenae," in FEpas 'AvT(vLov KEpa,uo7rovAAoAv,t hens 1953,
pp. 112-118; the Menelaion in Lakonia: A. J. B. Wace et al., "The Menelaion," BSA 15, 1908-1909,
pp. 108-157; H. W. Catling, "Archaeologyin Greece, 1975-76," AR 22, 1975/1976 (pp. 3-33), p. 14; H. W.
Catling and H. Cavanaugh, "Two Inscribed Bronzes from the Menelaion, Sparta," Kadmos 15, 1976,
pp. 145-157; and the votive pit at Sounion tentatively identified as a shrine to Phrontis: H. Abramson, "A
Hero Shrine for Phrontis at Sounion?"C SCA 12, 1979, pp. 1-19. Abramson'ss tudy of the Sounion deposit
includes a discussion of the type of offerings appropriate to hero-worship. Thompson ([footnote 19 above]
pp. 98-99) emphasizedh ow appropriatet he Areiopagosf inds would be for a hero-shrine.
22 H. Schliemann,M ycenae, New York 1878, p. 115. Includedi n the same discussion,b ut not clearly from
the same archaeologicalc ontext, is the 5th-centuryb lack-glazedf ragmentw ith the graffito" to the hero".F or
the graffitos ee L. H. Jeffery, The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece,O xford 1961, p. 174, no. 6.
23O ne disk was found in a grave adjacentt o the tholos in the Agora: R. S. Young, Late GeometricG raves
and a Seventh Century Well in the Agora (Hesperia Suppl. 2), Athens 1939, p. 86. Twenty-seven other disks
cut from potteryf ragmentsw ere found in a 7th-centuryB .C. well deposito n KolonosA goraiosa t Athens:i bid.,
pp. 191-192. The origin of the material in the deposit is uncertain. It may have come from a shrine or from
graves destroyedd uring the leveling of a near-by hilltop. Four disks come from one of the Late Geometric
graves at Eretria markedb y the triangular heroon:B erard (footnote 19 above), p. 33.
24 See Burr (footnote 20 above), p. 603; Young (footnote 23 above), p. 191; Lalonde (footnote 19 above),
p. 131; G. Davidson, Corinth, XIII, The Minor Objects, Princeton 1952, p. 217 (gaming pieces); Berard
(footnote 19 above), p. 33; E. Brann, "ProtoatticW ell Groups from the Athenian Agora,"H esperia 30, 1961
(pp. 305-379), p. 342, no. F65, concerninga disk cut from the body of a coarsep ithos, found in a Proto-Attic
well.
25 E. Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 1979,
p. 80 with bibliography.
26 Palamedesi s said to have invented a board game in order to while away the time at Troy: see H. Lewy,
"Palamedes,"in AusfuihrlicheLs exikon dergriechischenu nd romischenM ythologieI II, i, W. H. Roscher,e d.,
Leipzig 1897-1902 (cols. 1264-1274), cols. 1270-1271. Accordingt o Pausanias (10.31.1), Polygnotosd epict-
ed Aias, Palamedes, and another shooting dice in his picture of the underworlda t Delphi.
318 GUY HEDREEN
play with Aias; it has even been suggestedt hat the setting of the scenes may have been the
underworlda nd not Troy.27T hus it seems plausible that the disks from Beikush and Olbia
might.h ave been intended as gaming pieces for Achilles, although the obscure little draw-
ings on some of the pieces, as well as the contexts in which they were found, remain
problematic.28
In additiont o the inscribedd isks, numerousg raffitiw ith the name of Achilles have been
found in the vicinity of Olbia. Many have been reportedf rom a late 6th-centurys ite just east
of Beikush called Bol'shaia Chernomorka.2T9 welve graffitic ontainingt he name of Achilles
are also reportedt o have been found on the island of Berezan, the earliest dating to the 6th
centuryB .C.30 Fifteen graffitic ontainingt he name of Achilles or an abbreviationo f the name
are said to have been found in the Tauric Chersonese.31F rom Olbia itself some twenty to
thirty potteryf ragmentsi ncised with the name of Achilles have been reported.32
In the Classical and later periods, the worship of Achilles also encompassedt he area
southeasto f Olbia. At the east end of the extremelyn arrow spit of land called the Tendra, a
low mound of earth and ash was found to contain many coins and several fragmentaryi n-
scriptions dedicatedt o Achilles.33T he Tendra itself was known in antiquity as the "Race
Course of Achilles" ('AXLAAE'O8 po4Losg)T. he toponym first appears in Herodotos; later
writers include dimensionsf or the remarkablel and formationa nd possible explanationsa s
27 For the series see S. Woodford, "Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game on an Olpe in Oxford,"J HS 102,
1982, pp. 173-185. On the setting, and on the playing of board games by the dead, see Vermeule (footnote2 5
above), pp. 77-82.
Of the identifiablei mages on the disks from Beikush two, snakes and ships, may be particularlya ppro-
28
priate for Achilles. Heroes and snakes are closely associated:s nakes appear on reliefs depicting heroes, e.g.,
0. Broneer," HeroC ults in the CorinthianA gora,"H esperia 11,1942 (pp. 128-161), pp. 130-133 with fig. 1.
Heroes can take the form of snakes, e.g., Kychreusd uring the battle of Salamis (Pausanias, 1.36.1). On snakes
and heroes generally see K. A. Rhomaios, "TegeatischeR eliefs,"A M 39, 1914 (pp. 189-235), pp. 213-221;
M. P. Nilsson, Geschichted er griechischenR eligion I, Munich 1941, pp. 183-184. The representationso n
disks possibly depicting ships may symbolizeA chilles' importancet o sailors (on which see p. 322 below).
29 Otreshko (footnote 17 above), p. 32. On the site generally see Kocybala,p p. 221-222. The graffiti were
incisedo n black-glazedv essels and coarsea mphoras,w hich were found in pits in the floorso f several semisub-
terraneanh ouses.
30 Hommel, pp. 8-9, note 7, based on a list of Achilles-relatedg raffiti compiled by J. G. Vinogradov.S ix
graffiti on pottery and one fragmentarys tone inscriptiona re published by V. P. Yailenko (Greceskajak olo-
nizatsija, VII-III vv. do N. E., Moscow 1982, p. 290, nos. 101-103, and p. 294, nos. 124-127, which I have
not seen). See SEG XXXII, p. 213, nos. 742-744, and p. 215, nos. 765-768. The graffiti include the name
of Achilles in the dative or genitive cases;t wo include merely the letters A and X, presumablya n abbreviation
of the hero's name. The earliest graffito, Yailenko, no. 101, occurs on a black-glazedv essel dated to the 6th
century The limestone fragment,Y ailenko, no. 124, includes little more than the name of Achilles and is
B.C.
datedt o the 5th centuryB .C.
31 Hommel, pp. 8-9, note 7. A series of graffiti with the name, or an abbreviationo f the name, of Achilles
was found at the colony of Chersonesos.S ee E. I. Solomonik," Nekotorieg ruppi graffitii z antichnykhC herso-
nesa," VDI 1976, fasc. 3 (pp. 121-141), pp. 135-136 with fig. 12; SEG XXVI, p. 196, no. 812. The graffiti
occur on pots dating from the 5th to the 2nd centuriesB .C.
32 Yailenko (footnote 14 above), p. 85; Rusyaeva (1971, p. 28) mentionse ight unpublishedg raffiti with the
full name of Achilles from Olbia. No dates are given.
33 The coins were published by A. N. Zograf ("Nakhodkim onet v mestakh predpolagaemykha ntichnykh
sviatilishchn a Chernom More," SovArch7 , 1941, pp. 152-161, which I have not been able to consult). A list
of cities representedb y the coins may be found in Diehl, "Tolstoi,"p . 639, note 3. The inscriptions:L atyschev,
I, nos. 328-332. Two of the five inscriptions( nos. 328 and 329) preservee nough letterso f the name of Achilles
to secure the identification.O n the inscriptionss ee also Diehl, "Pontarches,"c ols. 13-14.
THE CULT OF ACHILLES IN THE EUXINE 319
to how it came to be called the race course of Achilles.34T he most likely explanation of the
name, one which was not consideredi n the ancient sources, is that it was connectedw ith
athletic games held in honor of Achilles by the Olbians. We know of the existence of the
games from an Olbian inscriptiono f the 1st century There is evidencei n the inscrip-
B.C.35
tion, though not conclusivee vidence,t o suggest that the games were held outside the city of
Olbia, alongside or even on the race course of Achilles.36L ater Olbian officials inscribed
their names at the bottom of Achilles Pontarchesi nscriptionsa s victors in various athletic
events, presumablya lso part of the games in honor of Achilles.37T he antiquity of the games
in honor of Achilles is uncertain.T hey may be referredt o in a 4th-centuryi nscriptionf rom
Miletos, and if the explanationo f the name of the land formationi s correct,t he games should
be at least as old as Herodotos,w ho first mentionst he race courseo f Achilles.38
There are other places along the north coast of the Euxine which were sites of Achilles
worship. On the Asiatic side of the CimmerianB osphoros,n ear the entrancet o the Maiotis,
there was a town called Achilleionw ith a temple of Achilles.39F artherw est, in the mouth of
the Borysthenisr iverj ust off the Kinburn spit, a cylindricall imestonea ltar was found. The
altar bears an inscribed dedication to Achilles.40B y far the most famous site of Achilles
worship in antiquity, however, was Leuke, the "white island". An island located in the
northernE uxine, 50 kilometerss outheast of the Istros river delta, is identifiedb y a variety
of sourcesa s the ancient white island. The early Hellenistic geographerD emetrios located
the white island of Achilles 400 stadia off the mouth of the Istros, which is approximately
one and one-third the present distance.41S everal inscriptionsf rom the island itself include
its ancient name. The most famous of these was inscribedo n a black-glazedl ekythos some-
time in the 5th centuryB .c. and reads:" Glaukos,s on of Posideios,d edicatedm e to Achilles,
lord of Leuke."42
Herodotos,4 .55 and 76; Strabo, 7.3.19 (C307); Anonymous,P eripl. 58; Lykophron,A lex. 192 and 200;
34
Pliny, HN 4.83; Mela, 2.5.
3 Latyschev,I , no. 34. The significantp assage is in line 30: .. . in the contesto f the chariotr ace in honor of
Achilles [sC.e stablished]a ccordingt o the order of the oracle at Delphi."
36 There is no certaintyi n this matter:s ee Diehl, "Tolstoi,"p p. 640-641; Bravo, pp. 142-144.
3 Latyschev, I, nos. 130, 138, 155, 685, and probably also nos. 156 and 158. The events include javelin,
discus,j umping, wrestling, and running. See also Diehl, "Pontarches,"c ol. 15.
3 Inscription at Miletos: A. Rehm in Milet, I, iii, Das Delphinion in Milet, Berlin 1914, pp. 289-291,
no. 136. The inscription allows for the attendance of Milesian citizens at Olbian games of some kind. See
Bravo, pp. 141-142.
Strabo, 7.4.5 (C310) and 11.2.6 (C494); Anonymous,P eripl. 25 and 28.
39
40 Latyschev,I , no. 327. The inscriptionr eads: "[so-and-sod edicated]t o Achilles the altar and the kedros."
The place whence this altar came, presumablyo n the near-by Kinburn spit, may be the "groveo f Achilles"
mentionedb y Strabo( 7.3.19 [C307]):s ee Diehl, "Pontarches,"c ols. 4-5. One difficultyw ith the inscriptiono n
the altar is the word KEpos0, which means cedar tree or cedar "fruit"( LSJ, s.v. Keposf/lKE'bpov). Diehl ("To
KEbpov," Acta UniversitatisL atviensis 10, 1924, pp. 299-302) takes the word to mean cedarc one, but perhaps
it refers to a tree dedicatedi n the grove of Achilles.
41 Demetriosi n [Scymnus],7 86-792. See also Lykophron,A lex. 188-189; Arrianus,P eripl. M. Euxine. 21;
Anonymous,P eripl. 64; Maximus Tyrius, 9.7; Pausanias, 3.19.11. About its distance from the coast, Hind
([footnote1 2 above]p . 78) has written:" Parto f the island'ss ignificancem ay have been that it is the only such is-
land out in the deep of the Pontos,b ut it also lay on the directr oute from Istrost o the W part of the Crimea...."
42 FAaViKd1sE9 a&E'OJKEV 'AXLAAtAiLE VKj E8 EovrTL7 raL<E>SI Hoo-tLo. The inscription was recently re-
edited by V. D. Yailenko ("GraffitiL evki, Berezani i Ol'vii," VDI 1980, fasc. 2 [pp. 72-99], pp. 84-86, no. 3
[ SEG XXX, p. 254, no. 869]). See also Diehl, "Tolstoi,"p . 638. The dedicatoryi nscription is inscribed
320 GUY HEDREEN
The reason for the importanceo f the white island as a cult center was the belief that
Achilles dwelt on the island as an immortal.T he earliest literary accounto f this was in the
lost epic poem entitled the Aithiopis, if we can trust the summary of the epic by Proklos.43
Accordingt o the summary,t he Aithiopisn arratedt he death and funeral of Achilles. Prior to
the cremationo f the body, "Thetis snatchedh er son from the funeral pyre and carriedi t to
the white island."T his is all that the summaryt ells us, but we know that Achilles was made
immortal there, since many ancient writers speak of the immortal Achilles on the white
island. The white island is often comparedw ith the Islands of the Blest in the Worksa nd
Days and the Elysian Fields in the Odyssey.44T hese are places which in early Greek poetry
were reserved for select heroes who were allowed to elude death and become immortal.
These places were located on the earth-encirclingr iver Okeanos, far from the inhabited
portions of the earth. The one differenceb etween the white island and the Islands of the
Blest or the Elysian Fields lies in the conceptiono f the latter as outside the mortal sphere:
they remainedb eyondt he range of normal human travel throughouta ntiquity.45T he white
island, however, lay within the limits of the Greek world from the 6th century on.
B.C.
Referencest o the white island in 5th-centurya uthorst end to be brief.46T he accountso f
the island by later writers, especially by the geographers,a re more interesting.T he name
Leuke refers to the color of the cliffs or to the color of the many snakes and birds dwelling
there.47T he birds were the servants of Achilles, keeping his precinct clean with their
wings.48T here was a temple on the island and a statue of Achilles in the temple:o ne writer
describedt he statue as a xoanon, anothera s Achilles and Helen making love.49T he types of
offerings left for the hero accordingt o the literary sources include precious stones, rings,
phialai, coins, and inscriptions.50O ne point which is emphasizedi n the sourcesi s the belief
that Achilles was present on the white island. There are many reports of sailors who
claimed to have seen Achilles darting around the island in his armor or heard the hero
singing or riding horses, as they approachedt he island.51
around the inside of the foot of the vessel. On the outside of the foot there is a shorter,l ess legible inscription,
which is interpretedb y Yailenko as "Glaukos,b e careful sailing in!" There are minor difficulties with the
interpretationo f part of the longer inscription as well. Four other 5th-centuryg raffiti from the island (Yai-
lenko, op. cit., p. 86, nos. 4-7 = SEG XXX, p. 254, nos. 870-871), as well as one 3rd-centuryg raffito (ibid.,
no. 8 = SEG XXX, p. 254, no. 872), include part of the name of Achilles in the dative case.
43 Proklos, Chrest.2 .
44 Hesiod, Op. 167-173; Homer, Od. 4.564-569. See Rohde, pp. 65-66; Escher (footnote 6 above), cols.
223-224; Hommel, p. 18; Nagy, pp. 167-168.
4 Rohde, p. 537. For attempts to find them see Rohde, p. 565, note 101.
46 Pindar, Nem. 4.49; Euripides, IT 435-438; Euripides,A ndr. 1260-1262.
47 Arrianus, Peripl. M, Eux. 21; schol. Pindar, Nem. 4.79; Dionysius Periegeta, 541-545.
48 Philostratos,H er. 54.9; Arrianus, Peripl. M. Eux. 21. Cf. also [Scymnus],7 93-794.
49 Arrianus,P eripl. M. Eux. 21; Philostratos,H er. 54.3; Pausanias, 3.19.11; Anonymous,P eripl. 66; Max-
imus Tyrius, 9.7. Accordingt o Antoninus Liberalis (27), Iphigeneiad welt on Leuke with Achilles, as his wife.
Arrianus, Peripl. M. Eux. 21-22. Accordingt o Arrian, the coins are left as part of an unusual ritual:
50
those who planned to land at Leuke broughtt heir own sacrificialv ictims, some of which they turned loose on
the island, while the others they sacrificed.T hose who unexpectedlyl anded due to bad weather paid for one of
the victims already on the island; when enough money had been paid out Achilles would drive a victim to the
visitor. Cf. also Maximus Tyrius, 9.7, Philostratos,H er. 56.4-5, and, for the ritual, I. Tolstoi, "Une miracle
d'Achille dans l'ile blanche,"R A, 5th ser., 25-26, 1927, pp. 201-206.
51 Arrianus, Peripl. M. Eux. 23; Philostratos,H er. 55.2-3, 56.2-4, and 56.6-9; Maximus Tyrius, 9.6-7.
THE CULT OF ACHILLES IN THE EUXINE 321
The first moderns cholarlyd escriptiono f the island was written in 1824.52A t that time,
walls of large, roughly finished limestone blocks, believed to belong to the temple of
Achilles, were still standing.53T he island itself is describeda s a solid mass of limestone
rising steeply out of the sea to a height of some thirty meters. It is small, now measuringo nly
about one-quarter of a square kilometer.54V egetation is sparse, but there are many sea-
birds nesting on the island; there are also many snakes, hence the modern name of the
island, Zmeinyi (Russian), Ophidonis (Greek), and Yilanada (Turkish), which mean
"snake-island".5T5 he island was explored in the 1840's, when it was discoveredt hat the
constructiono f a lighthouse had obliterateda ll traces of the temple of Achilles. During this
expedition the Glaukos inscription was found and presumably also at this time, an Attic
red-figuredf ragment now in Odessa.56T he fragment includes the signatures of the vase-
painter Epiktetos and the potter Nikosthenes; it thus dates to the last quarter of the 6th
century and is the earliest closely datable find from the island.57T he island was also
B.C.
exploredi n the 1960's by Piatysheva;t he explorationsr eportedlyy ielded a small amount of
Greek potteryd ating to the early or middle 6th century.58
The only finds of any size on the island are two inscriptionsi n stone. One is of the 5th or
4th century on a base for a statue dedicated to Achilles lord of Leuke from an Olbian
citizen.59T he other inscription,d ating to the 4th century includes the text of a public
B.C.,
An Attic black-figuredn eck-amphorai n London (B.M. B 240), which shows a warrior with wings flying
from a white rock over a ship at sea, has been thought perhaps to show the psyche of Achilles: see D. Kemp-
Lindemann, Darstellungen des Achilleus in griechischeru nd romischerK unst, Bern 1975, p. 229; J. Pouil-
loux and G. Roux, Enigmes a Delphes, Paris 1963, -p. 118, note 1.
52 H. Koehler, "Memoires ur les iles et la course consacreesa Achille dans le Pont-Euxin," Memoires de
l'acadeimieim pe'rialed es sciences de St. Petersbourg1 0, 1826 (pp. 531-819), pp. 600-602. This is the only
detailed descriptiono f the island in a language other than Russian known to me. A detailed account is pro-
vided by I. Tolstoi (OstrovB elyi i Tarrikan a JerksinskomP onte, Leningrad1 918, which I have not seen). See
the review of Tolstoi by Diehl ("Tolstoi,"p p. 633-643).
5 Koehler, op. cit., pp. 602-605. The remains of the walls indicateda square plan 30 meters on each side,
divided into two parts by a central north-south wall. The western part was further subdividedi nto three
rooms. The architecturalr emains consisted of large limestone blocks roughly cut; fragments of a marble
cornice and a column capital, not clearly belonging to the same building, were also reported.I f the building
describedb y Koehler actually was the temple of Achilles, one might compare,f or the general plan, the shrine
of Agamemnona t Mycenae: see Abramson( footnote2 above), pp. 115-118.
54 The dimensionsg iven by Pausanias (3.19.11) and Philostratos( Her. 54.2) are somewhat greater.
5 Pausanias (3.19.11) maintainedt hat Leuke was wooded. Philostratos (Her. 54.2) says that there was a
grove of trees aroundt he temple and relates the story (57.11-17) of an unsuccessfula ttempto n the part of the
Amazons to invade the island and cut down the trees.
56 Kantharosf ragment,J . D. Beazley, ARV2, p. 77, no. 87.
5 Two graffiti from Leuke, published by Yailenko ([footnote4 2 above]p . 84, nos. 1 and 2 [ SEG XXX,
p. 254, nos. 867'and 868]), are dated 550-500
B.C.
58 N. V. Piatysheva," Arkheologicheskooeb sledovanieo -va Levki (o-v Zmeinyi) osen'iu 1964 g," in Trudy
GosudarstvennogoM uzeia Izobrazitel 'nykh Iskussty im A. S., Moscow 1966, pp. 58-70, which I have not
seen. See K. S. Gorbunova, "ArchaeologicalI nvestigationso n the Northern Shore of the Black Sea in the
Territory of the Soviet Union, 1965-70," AR 18, 1971/1972 (pp. 48-59), p. 49; Rusyaeva, 1975, p. 175.
Other finds apparently made during these explorations include a terracottas eated figurine, a fragmentary
male figurine, a terracottar ooster, a terracotta cedar cone, as well as bronze seals with representationso f
snakes. See Rusyaeva, 1975, p. 180; Rusyaeva, 1971, p. 27, note 14.
59 Latyschev,I , no. 326. Cf. Bravo, p. 141.
322 GUY HEDREEN
decreeo f Olbia to erect a statue in honor of a personw ho had defeateda band of pirates.60A
noteworthyp art of this inscriptioni s the statementt hat an additionalp urposeo f the dedica-
tion is to show to the Greeks that Olbia continuedt o look after the white island as was its
custom accordingt o tradition. The statement suggests that Leuke was of Panhellenic im-
portance,a nd this is confirmedb y the heterogeneousc haractero f the coins recoveredf rom
the island.61
As a hero, Achilles' powers were limited. This point is emphasized in a passage of
Arrian: "Some say that Achilles appeared to them on their ships as they approachedt he
white island, just as the Dioskouroi are wont to do. But Achilles is less powerful than the
Dioskouroi, for they appear to sailors everywhere, and can assist them in a crisis, while
Achilles only appearst o those who are approachingt he white island."62T he cult of Achilles
and the belief in his continuedp resence after death revolveda round a particulari sland in
the northern Euxine. The question is, why was this particular island, rather than some
other, identifiedi n antiquity as the white island of Achilles? Some scholarsh ave suggested
that a non-Greek god worshipped in this area was identified with Achilles by the earliest
Greek explorers.63W hile this explanation is conceivable,i t is yet to be demonstrated.O th-
ers have stressedA chilles' associationw ith the sea. His chief connectionw ith the sea was, of
course, his mother Thetis.64A chilles was worshippedt ogetherw ith Thetis and the Nereids
at Erythrai,a nd one of the Achilles Pontarchesi nscriptionsw as addressedt o Thetis as well
as to Achilles.65M any of the votive offerings to Achilles on the white island and elsewhere
in the Euxine were made by sailors, as the dedicatoryi nscriptionsa nd the literary sources
indicate.66F leischer suggestedt hat the popularityo f Achilles among sailors led to the estab-
lishment of a cult in his honor on an island in the Euxine when the colonizationm ovement
broughtt hem frequentlyi nto that area.67
The popularity of the cult of Achilles among sailors seems undeniable, but it is an
insufficiente xplanation for the cult in the northernE uxine as a whole. It does not explain,
60 Latyschev, I, no. 325. See also E. Egger, "Inscriptiond e l'ile de Leuce," BCH 9, 1885, pp. 375-379;
L. Robert, "Epigrammev otive d'Olbia,"H ellenica 11-12, 1960 (pp. 267-276), p. 274; Bravo, p. 141. It is as-
sumed that the pirates were using the white island as a base of operations,b ut this is not certain.
61 See the list in Diehl, "Tolstoi,"p . 638, note 2 and the map in Rusyaeva, 1975, p. 181, fig. 2. The coins
from Leuke are discussedb y S. A. Bulatovich ("Monetnyen akhodi na o. Levke,"M aterialy po Arkheologii
SevernogoP richernomor'ia7 , 1971, pp. 212-226, which I have not seen).
62A rrianus, Peripl. M. Eux. 23.
63 M. Rostovzev,q uoted by E. Belin de Ballu, Olbia:c ite antique du littoral nord de la Mer Noire, Leiden
1972, p. 79; Rusyaeva (footnote 11 above), p. 193; I. Malkin, Religion and Colonizationi n Ancient Greece,
Leiden 1987, pp. 162-163.
64 Cf. Nagy, pp. 343-344.
65 Cult at Erythrai:S IG4, 1014, lines 50 and 75; Pontarchesi nscription:L atyschev,I , no. 142.
66 The inscribedd edicationsf rom sailors include a 3rd-centuryg raffitof rom Leuke (Yailenko [footnote4 2
above]p p. 86-87, no. 9 = SEG XXX, p. 254, no. 873); Latyschev, I, nos. 330 and 332 from the 'AXtXXAsE
6p14os;a nd probably the Glaukos inscription. See also Arrianus, Peripl. M. Eux. 23; Maximus Tyrius,
9.6-7; Philostratos,H er. 55.2-3, 56.2-4, and 56.6-9. For Achilles' connectionw ith the sea, see also Pausanias
(2.1.8), who speaks generally of precinctso f Achilles by the sea.
67 C. Fleischer, "Achilleus,"i n AusfiihrlicheL exikon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie I, i,
W. H. Roscher, ed., Leipzig 1884-1890 (cols. 11-66), col. 58. Cf. Diehl, "Pontarches,"c ols. 16-17; Bravo,
p. 135 with further bibliography.