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Islanders are being invited to learn about the history of important Iron Age cult centre Delos in a free online lecture next week.
The next in the JICAS Café Scientifique series, the talk will be taking place on Zoom Wednesday 10 May 2023 at 18:30, led by Dr Erica Angliker of the British School of Athens.
She shared more about what to expect from the talk:
“Delos became an important cult centre in the early Iron Age (ca. 8th century BCE), a time when long-distance trade on the Aegean Sea was intensifying.
“Located at an intersection of east-west sea routes, the island’s natural resources provided travellers with essentials such as food, water, and a harbour that sheltered ships from the strong winds of the Cyclades.
“These features, together with its politically neutral status as a place where nascent poleis staged non-violent competitions and displayed their growing wealth, made Delos a popular gathering place for religious groups, especially those from other islands. Over the eighth century, various groups worshipped at Delos and, after the Archaic period, the island enjoyed periods of freedom alternating with domination by an external power.
“This paper provides an overview of the cult practices on Delos, exploring the evolution of the religious landscape of the sanctuary from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity, including the developments in the region that led to its eventual abandonment.
“Thus, I explore Delos from a long-term perspective based on the material evidence and the literary/epigraphic record. In reconstructing the interface between this small island environment and the human populations that made use of it, I tell a story of fragility and resilience extending from Neolithic times to the present day as this space evolved from a place for refugees and hunters to a Pan-Hellenic sanctuary to a refuge for pirates, followed by abandonment and, most recently, a focus of historical heritage as the home of a museum.”
You can join the FREE lecture on Zoom by clicking here.
