Unit:
Department of History and Archaeology
Title:
Quelques considérations sur le culte héroïque à Akrai (Sicile)
Languages of Item:
French
Abstract:
The heroic cult has had an important role in ancient Greek society, constituting not only the link between the world of the Gods and that of men, but also in fulfilling the innate needs such as the city's identity. In his Sicilian excursus, Thucydides does not mention any names of oikistes for Acrae, the first sub-colony of Syracuse, founded in 664 BC on Hyblaean mountains. This lack has been frequently noted by modern historians who have variously interpreted the silence of Thucydides, believing the new foundation was just a phrourion and not a polis as is, the youngest and rebellious Camarina. Traces undisputed of heroic cult, however, can encounter both towards the hero par excellence, Herakles, towards to private individuals (military or not) that in the Hellenistic age are revered in extra-moenia Heroa, like that of so called ‘Templi Ferali’. During the reign of Hiero II (275-214 BC), the urban development of Acrae goes hand in hand with the creation of a civic consciousness culminating in the very short experience of coinage, on the eve of the storming of Syracuse metropolis by the Roman legions of the consul Marcellus (212 BC).
Authors:
Paolo Daniele Scirpo
Publisher:
Morlacchi Editore - University Press
Conference title:
«Héros fondateurs et identités communautaires dans l’Antiquité, entre mythe, rite et politique». Colloque international (Grenoble, MSH, 3-5 mai 2017)
Keywords:
Άκραι, Σικελία, Ιερά, Ιέρων Β', Ήρωες, Δαίμονες, Θεοί, λατρείες
Main subject category:
Archaeology
Official URL (Publisher):
