The Oracle and Cult of Ares in Asia Minor

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Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 45 (2005) 261–283

The Oracle and Cult of Ares

in Asia Minor

Matthew Gonzales

ERODOTUS

never fails to fascinate with his rich and

detailed descriptions of the varied peoples and nations

mustered against Greece by Xerxes;

but one of his

most tantalizing details, a brief notice of the existence of an

oracle of Ares somewhere in Asia Minor, has received little

comment. This is somewhat understandable, as the name of

the proprietary people or nation has disappeared in a textual

lacuna, and while restoring the name of the lost tribe has ab-

sorbed the energies of some commentators, no moderns have

commented upon the remarkable and unexpected oracle of

Ares itself. As we shall see, more recent epigraphic finds can

now be adduced to show that this oracle, far from being the

fantastic product of logioi andres, was merely one manifestation

of Ares’ unusual cultic prominence in south/southwestern Asia

Minor from “Homeric” times to Late Antiquity.

Herodotus and the Solymoi

[…] ésp¤daw d¢ »mobo˝naw e‰xon smikrãw, ka‹ probÒlouw

dÊo lukioerg°aw ßkastow e‰xe, §p‹ d¢ tªsi kefalªsi krãnea

xãlkea: prÚw d¢ to›si krãnesi Œtã te ka‹ k°rea pros∞n boÚw

xãlkea, §p∞san d¢ ka‹ lÒfoi: tåw d¢ knÆmaw =ãkesi

foinik°oisi kateil¤xato. §n toÊtoisi to›si éndrãsi ÖAreow

The so-called Catalogue of Forces preserved in 7.61–99. In light of W.

K. Pritchett’s thorough refutations of such scholars as O. Armayor, D.

Fehling, and S. West, who seek to discredit the authority of Herodotus on

this and other points, I will simply refer the reader to Pritchett’s two major

treatments of their work, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography IV (Berkeley 1982)

234–285 and The Liar School of Herodotus (Leiden 1993).

Page 2

262

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

§st‹ xrhstÆrion. Kabhl°ew d¢ ofl Mh¤onew, LasÒnioi d¢

kaleÊmenoi, tØn aÈtØn K¤liji e‰xon skeuÆn, tØn §g≈, §peån

katå tØn Kil¤kvn tãjin dieji∆n g°nvmai, tÒte shman°v.

MilÊai d¢ afixmãw te brax°aw e‰xon ka‹ e·mata §nepepor-

p°ato: e‰xon d¢ aÈt«n tÒja metej°teroi LÊkia, per‹ d¢ tªsi

kefalªsi §k difyer°vn pepoihm°naw kun°aw. toÊtvn pãntvn

∑rxe Bãdrhw ı ÑUstãneow.

[…] had small ox-hide shields and each had two wolf-hunter’s

spears. Upon their heads were bronze helmets with the bronze

ears and horns of an ox attached and crests on top. Their shins

were girded with scarlet strips of cloth. Among these men is an

oracle of Ares. The Meionian Kabelees (though they are called

Lasonians)

had the same equipment as the Cilicians, which I

shall describe when I come in course to the Cilicians’ detach-

ment. The Milyai had short spears and their vestments were

fastened with pins. And they had bows like those of the Lycians,

but on their heads they wore leather helmets fashioned from

strips of hide. Of all these Badres son of Hystanes was com-

mander (7.76–77).

At 7.75 Herodotus describes the Bithynian Thracians, after

which there is a lacuna in the text.

When the text resumes, he

R. W. Macan’s criticism that “The ‘Cabalians’ are (as Rawlinson ob-

serves) ‘identified by Hdt. with the Lasonians in one place and distinguished

from them in another’” (Herodotus Seventh etc. [London 1908] I 101) does not

pay attention to the syntax of Herodotus at this point:

Kabhl°ew d¢ ofl

Mh¤onew, LasÒnioi d¢ kaleÊmenoi, tØn aÈtØn K¤kiji e‰xon skeuÆn.

The

d°

after

Lasonioi shows that the following participle is adversative: the Meionian

Kabelees—though they are called Lasonians—had the same equipment as

the Cilicians. Herodotus thus offers an objection to, and implicit correction

of, another view which he knows to be incorrect from his researches into the

origins of the Lydians at 1.74 (

ofl d¢ Ludo‹ Mh¤onew §kaleËnto tÚ pãlai, §p‹ d¢

LudoË toË ÖAtouw ¶sxon tØn §pvnum¤hn, metabalÒntew tÚ oÎnoma)

, as well as

the composition of the satrapies (3.90) where the Lasonians and Kabelees

are listed separately.

H. Stein, Herodotus (Berlin 1894) ad loc., apparently following an earlier

text by dePauw (see H. Rosén, Herodoti Historiae II [Leipzig 1987] 212, line

861 notes), recognized a gap in the text and has been followed by all sub-

sequent editors save Rosén, who notes that Eustathius (Dion. 793 [GGM II

356]) cited Herodotus for an oracle of Ares among the Bithynians. Rosén

concludes from this that there is in fact no lacuna. His opinion is not borne

Page 3

MATTHEW GONZALES

263

is describing the equipment of a people in south/southwestern

Asia Minor. He ends the description, “Among these men is an

oracle of Ares.” Herodotus then details the tribes of the eastern

interior of Asia Minor, ending with the Colchians, completing

the rough circle begun with the Paphlagonians at 7.72. The

Kabelees—listed immedatedly after the mention of Ares’ oracle

—have been traditionally placed north of Lycia,

for Herod-

otus (3.90) records that these Kabelees were administered by

the Persians as one nomos, along with the Lasonioi, Hytennes,

Mysians, and Lydians. We are clearly dealing with a nomos

whose people hail, at least in part, from the inland region later

geographers called Pisidia, a designation unused by Herodo-

tus.

If we seek to find the name of the tribe missing in the

lacuna, we must turn to our other major source for the ethnic

geography of this region, Strabo.

___

out by the internal structure of the list, however. The leader of each con-

tingent consistently appears at the end of the description of that contingent.

In this instance, the leader of the “Asian Scythians” (= Eustathius’ Bithyn-

ians) has already been named—Bassakes son of Artabanos—before

ésp¤daw

d¢.

Moreover, Rosén’s interpretation of the text creates two distinct sets of

armaments for the Asian Scythians, which is unparalleled elsewhere in the

catalogue of forces. It should be noted that Eustathius cites Herodotus

almost verbatim and therefore has no independent value, pace Rosén. It is

highly probable that Eustathius, working in the twelfth century, was reading

an already corrupt manuscript of Herodotus.

Strab. 13.4.17, quoted below. See also R. Syme, Anatolica (Oxford 1995)

183–184.

It is therefore highly unlikely that

Pis¤dai

stood in the lacuna, pace Ph.

E. Legrand, Hérodote, Histoires (Paris 1932) 100–101. The other candidates

for the lacuna proposed by Stein are

ÑUtenn°ew

and/or

LasÒnioi

, who, along

with the Kabelees, are grouped with the Mysians and Lydians in the satrapy

list (3.90). Stein’s proposed restorations are not impossible, but I will pro-

pose a different restoration below. Wesseling’s proposed

XalÊbew

, supported

by G. Rawlinson, History of Herodotus IV (London 1875) 69 n.8, would place

in southern Asia Minor a tribe which Strabo 14.5.24 clearly locates on the

Pontic coast, far to the east of Sinope and Amisos, a localization which

accords well with Aeschylus Sept. 727–733 and 941–946. See W. W. How

and J. Wells, Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford 1912) I 157, with references.

Strabo’s Geography is an indispensable and largely reliable source for any

study of Anatolian geography and ethnography. While some have voiced

reservations as to the scope of Strabo’s travels, there is good reason to be-

Page 4

264

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

The Milyadeis, listed by Herodotus immediately after the

Kabelees, inhabited the hinterland east of Kibyra in Strabo’s

time.

This might suggest that the missing tribe that controlled

the oracle of Ares is to be placed in the Kibyratis or far western

Pisidia. The Kibyratis, Strabo informs us earlier, stretches from

Caria “as far as the Taurus and Lycia.”

But Strabo also tells us

that the Kibyratai of his day are descendants of the Lydians,

who once held the land of the Kabaleis, and of the Pisidians

who later migrated there.

The geographer also says that the

Kibyratai grew strong in Hellenistic times, annexing the

Kabalian cities Bubon and Oenoanda, before the tyrants of

Kibyra were put down by Murena.

It is, unfortunately, clear

from these passages that the ethnic and political geography of

the region in Strabo’s day do not simply correspond to that of

the fifth century

But there is another name intimately and consistently as-

sociated with this area from a very early period. Strabo says

___

lieve that his account of south and southwestern Asia Minor is based in no

small part on autopsy. Strabo studied under Aristodemus at Nysa in Caria

(14.1.48), saw the temple of Ma (Enyo) when he visited Cappodocian Co-

mana (12.2.3), and witnessed the rites of the Magi in that region. It seems

very likely that he had more than a passing familiarity with Lycia and Pam-

phylia as well. For a recent summary of the issue, with references, see D.

Dueck, Strabo of Amasia: A Greek Man of Letters in Augustan Rome (London/New

York 2000) 15–30, and, more generally, Syme, Anatolica.

Strab. 13.4.17,

MilÊa d' §st‹n ≤ épÚ t«n katå TermhssÚn sten«n ka‹ t∞w

efiw tÚ §ntÚw toË TaÊrou Ípery°sevw di' aÈt«n §p‹ ÖIsinda parate¤nousa ÙreinØ

m°xri SagalassoË ka‹ t∞w ÉApam°vn x≈raw.

Strab. 13.4.15,

tå d¢ prÚw nÒton ≤ KibÊra §st‹n ≤ megãlh ka‹ ≤ S¤nda ka‹ ≤

Kabal‹w m°xri toË TaÊrou ka‹ t∞w Luk¤aw.

Strab. 13.4.17,

l°gontai d¢ épÒgonoi Lud«n ofl Kiburçtai t«n kata-

sxÒntvn tØn Kabal¤da: Ïsteron d¢ Pisid«n t«n ımÒrvn §poikhsãntvn ka‹

metaktisãntvn efiw ßteron tÒpon eÈerk°staton §n kÊklƒ stad¤vn per‹ •katÒn.

Strab. 13.4.17,

hÈjÆyh d¢ diå tØn eÈnom¤an, ka‹ afl k«mai parej°teinan

épÚ Pisid¤aw ka‹ t∞w ımÒrou Miluãdow ßvw Luk¤aw ka‹ t∞w ÑRod¤vn pera¤aw:

prosgenom°nvn d¢ tri«n pÒlevn ımÒrvn, Boub«now BalboÊrvn Ofinoãndvn,

tetrãpoliw tÚ sÊsthma §klÆyh, m¤an •kãsthw c∞fon §xoÊshw, dÊo d¢ t∞w

KibÊraw: ¶stelle går aÏth pez«n m¢n tre›w muriãdaw flpp°aw d¢ disxil¤ouw:

§turanne›to d' ée¤, svfrÒnvw d' ˜mvw: §p‹ Moag°tou d' ≤ turann‹w t°low ¶sxe,

katalÊsantow aÈtØn Mourhnç ka‹ Luk¤oiw prosor¤santow tå Bãlboura ka‹

tØn Boub«na.

Page 5

MATTHEW GONZALES

265

that the Kibyratai used four languages: Pisidian, Greek,

Lydian, and the language of the Solymoi,

and Eustathius

adds that the Solymoi, whose name was apparently rendered

“Tzelymoi” in the regional barbarian tongue, inhabited a

barren area of Asia Minor and were regarded with suspicion by

the Lycians.

Herodotus also mentions the Solymoi in his

account of Sarpedon and the “foundation” of Lycia:

But when Sarpedon and Minos, the sons of Europa, fought over

the throne, Minos, being victorious, drove out Sarpedon and his

partisans. Having been expelled, they made landfall in Asia in

Milyan territory. The Lycians occupy this area now, but of old it

was Milyas, and the Milyai were then called Solymoi.

Such a close association of the two names appears genuine, for

the Milyas, in Strabo’s day, designated the mountainous area

stretching north-east toward Pisidia from the city of Termes-

sos,

and the inhabitants of that city called themselves Solymoi

and their main deity Zeus Solymeus.

The connection of the

Solymoi with this region is further reinforced by the epic tra-

Strab. 13.4.17,

t°ttarsi d¢ gl≈ttaiw §xr«nto ofl Kiburçtai, tª Pisidikª

tª SolÊmvn, tª ÑEllhn¤di, tª Lud«n.

R. Schafer, “Lycia, Milya, Solymoi. A

New Anatolian Language,” Minos 8 (1967) 125–129, has identified not two

but three distinct ‘Lycian’ dialects on the famous Xanthian Stele, one of

which he proposes to identify as the language of the Solymoi. For a brief

exposition of the ancient sources on the Solymoi see Ruge, “

SÒluma

” and

“Solymer,” Türk, “Solymos,” Kroll, “Solymeus,” in RE 3

(1927) 988–990.

Eust. Il. 369.8–12 (I 582 van der Valk); cf. 635.36–38 (II 285). As van

der Valk correctly points out (II 285), Eustathius has not drawn this material

from Strabo or any other source that has survived to us. “Qua de causa

conicio eum alium quoque fontem consuluisse.”

Hdt. 1.173.2,

tØn går nËn LÊkioi n°montai, aÏth tÚ palaiÚn ∑n Miluãw,

ofl d¢ MilÊai tÒte SÒlumoi §kal°onto.

Ps.-Herodian De pros. cath. p.52.32

Lenz, derives the name of the Milyas from the sister-wife of Solymos, the

tribe’s eponymous hero.

Quoted n.7. Note that Strabo appears to associate the area of the

Milyas of his day with the Solymian mountains of Homer (1.2.10):

ka‹ t«n

SolÊmvn tå êkra toË TaÊrou tå per‹ tØn Luk¤an ßvw Pisid¤aw kat°xontvn

Strab. 13.4.17,

t∞w goËn Termhss°vn êkraw ı Íperke¤menow lÒfow kale›-

tai SÒlumow, ka‹ aÈto‹ d¢ ofl Termhsse›w SÒlumoi kaloËntai;

TAM III 103.5,

127.1, 135.7.

Page 6

266

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

dition. The “glorious Solymoi” appear first in the Iliad as the

opponents of the Lycian hero Bellerophon

and his son Isan-

der.

Such legends apparently preserve or reflect the memory

of very real armed conflict between Greek colonists and the

indigenous peoples of the area,

for the the Lindos Chronicle

recorded the dedication of a sickle

and helmet taken from the

Solymoi by Lakios, the oikist of the Lindians’ mainland colony

Phaselis.

It is also worth noting, in this context, that Bellero-

Il. 6.184,

deÊteron aÔ SolÊmoisi max°ssato kudal¤moisi

. Cf. Strab.

13.4.16,

plhs¤on (

sc. Termessos)

d' §st‹ ka‹ ı BellerofÒntou xãraj ka‹ ı

Peisãndrou tãfow toË ufloË [aÈtoË] pesÒntow §n tª prÚw SolÊmouw mãx˙. taËta

d¢ ka‹ to›w ÍpÚ toË poihtoË legom°noiw ımologe›tai: per‹ m¢n går toË Bel-

lerofÒntou fhs‹n oÏtvw: deÊteron aÔ SolÊmoisi max°ssato kudal¤moisi. per‹

d¢ toË paidÚw aÈtoË: Pe¤sandron d° ofl uflÚn ÖArhw îtow pol°moio marnãmenon

SolÊmoisi kat°ktanen.

Il. 6.203–204,

ÖIsandron d° ofl uflÚn ÖArhw îtow pol°moio marnãmenon

SolÊmoisi kat°ktane kudal¤moisi

; cf. Strab. 13.4.16 (quoted n.16), whose

text gives the name Peisander.

Thus G. S. Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary II (Cambridge 1990) 185: “it is

a reasonable conjecture that the natives were driven into the mountains to

the north-east, but made incursions into colonized Lycia from time to

time.” Cf. Strab. 1.2.10, 13.4.17, 14.3.10. T. Bryce, “Political Unity in

Lycia during the ‘Dynastic’ Period,” JNES 42 (1983) 31–42, at 32, and The

Lycians (Copenhagen 1986) 32, 100, has demonstrated that before the late

sixth century Persian conquest of Lycia, its political boundaries extended no

farther than the Xanthos valley, and the chorai of Greek colonial ventures in

the area, e.g. Phaselis, were likewise restricted. We should, therefore, expect

large portions of the region to have been inhabited by other tribes, the Soly-

moi among them. See also P. Frei, “Solymer – Milyer – Termilen – Lykier:

Ethnische und politische Einheiten,” in J. Borchardt and G. Dobesch (eds.),

Akten des II. Internationalen Lykien-symposiums (Vienna 1993) 87–97, esp. 89–91.

A typical Anatolian weapon, cf. Hdt. 7.92; see N. Sekunda, “Anatolian

War Sickles and the Coinage of Etenna,” in R. Ashton (ed.), Studies in Ancient

Coinage from Turkey (Oxford 1996) 9–17; also known in Lydia: I. Ozgen, The

Lydian Treasure (Ankara 1996) 45, fig. 84.

I.Lindos 2.C.7, and see now C. Higbie, The Lindian Chronicle and the Greek

Creation of their Past (Oxford 2003), with commentary ad loc., who finds no

reason to doubt the essential accuracy of the tradition preserved by the

chronicle here. See also, in the same vein, Frei, in Akten 89. Indeed, Strabo

(14.3.9) notes that Phaselis lies at the southern foot of Mt. Solyma, whose

eastern slope was inhabited by the Solymoi of Termessos. The Phaselites

also worshipped Zeus Solymeus, perhaps a conflation of the Greek deity

Page 7

MATTHEW GONZALES

267

phon’s son Isander met his doom in the land of the Solymoi,

killed in battle by none other than Ares himself. Indeed, the

Etymologicum Magnum makes the Solymoi the sons of Ares.

Thus a wide range of sources associate the Solymoi and Ares

with the mountainous region in and near Lycia.

Both ancients and moderns have traditionally called this

region Pisidia,

but neither the term Pisidia nor the ethnic

Pis¤dai

appear as a designation of any place or people in

Herodotus, despite his relatively detailed descriptions of this

region’s peoples and their customs. It would seem that in his

time the Pisidians had not emerged or arrived as a distinct

ethnos in the region.

But what of the Solymoi? Herodotus, as

we have seen, identifies them with the Milyadeis, implying that

they had once occupied the Lycian coast before the arrival of

Sarpedon. To judge from the satrapy list (3.90), the Milyas of

Herodotus’ day appears to have been located between Lycia

and Pamphylia, probably to the east and north of Termessos.

But does this, in turn, mean that Herodotus did not know a

contemporary tribe known as Solymoi? When Herodotus says

that “the Milyai were then called Solymoi,” could he not be,

implicitly, distinguishing the contemporary Milyadeis, who oc-

cupied a fraction of their previous territory and had once been

called Solymoi, from a another contemporary tribe still re-

ferred to as Solymoi, perhaps also settled in the mountainous

area northeast of Lycia, as Strabo suggests?

The geographer

___

and an indigenous Solymian god: G. Petzl, EpigrAnat 33 (2001) 51. A. Keen,

Dynastic Lycia (Leiden 1998) 233–235, has collected the sources for the

foundation and early history of Phaselis.

Etym.Magn. s.v.

SÒlumoi;

cf. Steph. Byz. s.v.

Pisid¤a

, who makes them

the sons of Zeus and Chaldene.

Pliny HN 5.94 and Steph. Byz. s.v.

Pisid¤a

identify the inhabitants of

this region with the Solymoi. Cf. Strab. 13.4.16–17, who distinguished the

two peoples on the basis of language.

Thus How and Wells, Commentary II 157.

V. Bérard, “Inscriptions d’Asie Mineure,” BCH 16 (1892) 436–439,

followed by W. Calder and G. Bean, A Classical Map of Asia Minor (London

1958). For general discussion of the borders of the Milyas, see Keen, Lycia

19–20; Syme, Anatolica 177–203.

Strab. 1.2.10, 13.4.17, 14.13.10.

Page 8

268

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

also says that the Kabaleis, whose settlements included Oeno-

anda, Balboura, and Bubon, were considered Solymoi as

well.

The name maintained strong and lasting associations

with the peoples and regions to the north and northeast of the

Lycian coast.

It would appear that several peoples of the region claimed

descent from the legendary warrior tribe, raising the possibility

that Homeric epic had influenced the formation of ethnic

identity in this region.

But this possibility is vitiated by several

considerations. As we have seen, in Strabo’s day the language

of the Solymoi was still spoken in the area north of Lycia, and

the Termessians referred to themselves as Solymoi and ven-

erated Zeus Solymeus.

It seems unlikely that the Termessian

epigraphic use of the name merely reflects an appropriation

from epic, for the Milyadeis and Kabaleis could also boast

descent from the Solymoi, yet did not formally style themselves

so, while the name was ostensibly and deeply rooted in the cul-

tural and religious consciousness of the Termessians. To these

facts should be added two other significant pieces of evidence.

Plutarch relates that the Solymoi had once enthusiastically

worshipped Kronos, but after the god had killed their three

archontes and driven them out of their ancestral lands, the

Solymoi deified their deceased leaders, worshipping them as

sklhro‹ yeo¤.

The worship of a founding triad is well attested

epigraphically in northern Lycia and Kibyratis,

and Kronos

Strab. 13.4.16–17; Ptol. 5.3.5. See Syme, Anatolica 183–184.

Thus Syme, Anatolica 189.

His is likely the Doric temple excavated at Termessos: S. Mitchell,

“Hellenismus in Pisidien,” in E. Schwertheim, Forschungen in Pisidien (Asia

Minor Studien 6 [1992]) 10–11, with references.

Plut. Mor. 421

–

. These “Hard Gods” are probably not to be iden-

tified with, but are perhaps conceptually related to, the

yeo‹ êgrioi

of TAM

II 148 and I.Anazarbos 52.

In Lycia at Tlos, Pinara, and Kragos, in Kibyratis at Kibyra, Tabai,

and Kidrama. The specific names within each triad vary from place to

place, but all have a strong Anatolian flavor. See L. Robert, “Divinités

d’Anatolie,” Hellenica VII (1949) 51–52.

Page 9

MATTHEW GONZALES

269

had a cult and festival at Tlos in the Xanthos valley.

It would

seem that the Solymoi were a genuine, identifiable, and self-

conscious ethnic group whose language and religious practices

survived long into antiquity,

and while many other groups

could share in the glory of the name, the inhabitants of Ter-

messos had the greatest claim and identified with it most

closely. Indeed, in the land of the Termessians one could be

shown the former camp of Bellerophon and the tomb of his

son, cut down by the hand of Ares (Strab. 13.4.16), who was

the father of the Solymoi in some traditions (Etym.Magn. s.v.

SÒlumoi

). The ultimate origins of the Solymoi elude us, but

Choerilus of Samos in the fifth century

. may preserve a

general picture of their culture:

a hard-bitten people, eking

TAM II 554, 581, 585. This is unlikely to be a Greek phenomenon, as

the cult of Kronos, the deposed enemy of the Olympian order, was not

prominent in the Greek world. Rather, the “Kronos” of the region is prob-

ably an Anatolian deity, the origins of whose cult are perhaps indirectly

reflected by Plutarch. See Bryce, Lycians 189–191.

Bryce, Lycians 19–20. Pliny (HN 5.127) lists the Solymoi and Leleges

among Asian tribes that had “perished,” citing the prodigious Alexandrian

scholar Eratosthenes. This is somewhat troubling, for Strabo (13.4.17) and

Eustathius (Il. 369.8–12, 635.36–38) both suggest that the Solymoi and their

language survived much longer, perhaps even into later antiquity. Some

doubts as to the authority of Eratosthenes on this subject may be en-

tertained. The Carian Philip of Theangela (FGrHist 741

2 = Ath. 271

writing in the third century

. (i.e. roughly contemporary with Eratos-

thenes), and Plutarch (Mor. 302

) agree that the Leleges had not “perished,”

but had been subjected to the Carians, whose land they worked as serfs. In

light of this, when we consider the Solymoi, it may be wiser to rely on the

authority of Strabo, who specifically states that the Solymian language was

still spoken in the Kibyratis. Thus some aspects of Solymian culture seem to

have survived at least into the early Roman Imperial period. It seems

doubtful, however, that we can simply equate the Solymoi with the Isaurian

raiders of later antiquity, despite the testimony of Theodoret Hist.Rel. 10.5

or Zos. 4.20.1. Nor should the tales of a Solymian foundation of Jersusalem,

preserved in Tacitus (Hist. 5.2) and Josephus (Ap. 1.172–175) be taken

seriously.

Fr.4, P. Radici Colace, Choerili Samii reliquiae (Rome 1979) 41–48,

t«n d'

piyen di°baine g°now yaumastÚn fid°syai,

gl«ssan m¢n Fo¤nissan épÚ sto-

mãtvn éfi°ntew,

’keon d' §n SolÊmoiwresi plat°˙ parå l¤mn˙

aÈxmal°oi

korufåw troxokourãdew, aÈtår Ïperyen

·ppvn dartå prÒsvp' §fÒroun

§sklhkÒta kapn“.

Page 10

270

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

out a meager and isolated existence high in the mountains that

bore their name.

As all our sources makes clear, the ethnic geography of

southwest Asia Minor resulted from a long process of migration

and colonization/displacement. While Strabo does not de-

scribe the Solymoi as a contemporary ethnic group with

distinct geographical boundaries, he does attest an enduring

association of the Solymoi with the most important peoples—

Kabaleis, Milyadeis, and Pisidian Termessians—inhabiting the

area north/north-east of the Lycian coast, stretching toward

Pamphylia.

The fact that the Solymian language was still

spoken, among others, in Kibyra—even farther north and west

—raises the prospect that the territory associated with So-

lymian tribes contemporary with and known to Herodotus

could have extended far to the west of Termessos, and perhaps

even included other, “separate” peoples within their ambit.

Syme, Anatolica 189, casts doubt upon the location of the tribe de-

scribed by Choerilus: “Choerilus says that they wore helmets of hide, made

out of horses’ heads. That is the distinctive badge of the eastern Ethiopian

levies in Herodotus [7.70]; and Homer [Od. 5.283] provides the link

between Solymi and Ethiopians—when Poseidon paused and surveyed the

seas from the vantage-point on the Solyma mountains he was returning

from Ethiopian festivities. Choerilus must be abandoned, though not with-

out reluctance.” This general observation seems to go back at least to K.

Lanckoronksi, Städte Pamphyliens und Pisidiens II (Leipzig 1892) 5, but does not

account for the location of the tribe in the Solymian mountains, for no such

mountain(s) exists in Ethiopia. Strabo 1.2.10 naturally associates the So-

lymian mountains of Homer with the chain northeast of Lycia. Indeed, Ter-

messos stood at the foot of Mt. Solyma (Strab. 13.4.17, quoted n.15).

Syme’s statement (189) “Nor has the attribution to the Solymi of Pisidia

found much favor in recent years,” written during World War II, has itself

been overtaken by events, and prevailing specialist opinion now favors iden-

tification of the Solymian mountains of Homer with those to the northeast

of Lycia: Frei, in Akten 89–91, and Bryce, Lycians 19–20.

Later sources consistently separate Solymian territory from Pamphyl-

ian: schol. Pind. Ol. 13.90, Steph. Byz. s.v.

ÉOlb¤a.

Such ethnic “islands” within larger ethnic and political unities were

apparently common in the region, e.g. the temporary inclusion of the

Kabalis within the Kibyratis (Strab. 13.4.17, n.10 above) and the Solymian

Milyadeis floating in Pisidian territory south of Sagalassos (13.4.17, n.7

above). See also Syme, Anatolica 180.

Page 11

MATTHEW GONZALES

271

Such a supposition would be consistent with the order in which

Herodotus lists the tribal contingents of Xerxes’ Anatolian

levies, moving from west to east.

While absolute certainty is not to be had,

SÒlumoi

stands a

better chance of having been in the original Herodotean text

than

Pis¤dai.

It seems only natural that Herodotus would list

the Solymoi along with the Milyadeis and Kabelees of his day,

for not only did they inhabit the same general area, but they

also apparently shared similar customs and perhaps a common

language. If we accept

SÒlumoi

as the name to be restored in

Herodotus’ lacuna, then the oracle of Ares he attests finds its

best context in or near the city whose citizens called themselves

by that name—Termessos. A cult of Ares is attested there and

the names of his priests indicate that members of a wealthy

local clan tended the god.

The oracular Ares of southern Asia Minor

The cult of Ares is very well attested in the numismatic and

epigraphic record of Asia Minor from the fifth century

. to

the late Imperial period. Most strongly entrenched in the

south-central and southwest, Ares’ worship is epigraphically

attested at no fewer than twenty-nine sites and he appears on

more than seventy local issues in the region. This unusually

strong clustering led Louis Robert to conclude that the Ares of

southwestern Asia Minor was an indigenous god given a Greek

name.

Recently, two important inscribed dedications to this

indigenous Ares were found northeast of Side in Pamphylia.

The inscriptions, which likely date to the second or third cen-

tury

., record thank offerings to Ares as an oracular deity,

and many other aspects of these new texts are best illuminated

by comparison with other relics of Ares’ cult throughout south-

west Asia Minor.

TAM III 107, 212. These priests were in the same family as another

Osbaras who dedicated a stoa to the demos of the city: TAM III 20 with p.

302.

Robert’s seminal works on this are: Hellenica VII (1949) 67–73; X

(1955) 72–78, 214; XIII (1965) 43–44; Documents d’Asie Mineure méridionale

(Geneva/Paris 1966) 91–100; BCH 107 (1983) 572, 578–583.

Page 12

272

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

1. Fragment of a limestone half-column base, broken at the

top. Found in Gebece in a place named Çakıl. Height 0.37 m.,

thickness 0.37; letter height 0.018–0.02. “Recht unprofessi-

onele Schrift mit lunaren Buchstaben der fortgeschrittene

Kaiserzeit.”

J. Nollé, Side (IGSK 43–44) II no. 377, with I 120 and 281–282.

Kaikvni[

]a-

gow kat[å eÈxØn

] . a

Ouvjou, [xrhmatisye‹]w Í-

pÚ yeoË` [§pifanest]ãtou

ÖArevw, t[Ú êgalma §k] t«n

fid¤vn ka‹ [tÚ efikÒnio]n sÁn tª

♠ bãsi` én°[yhken] t“ ye“.

Kaikoni[ ... son of ...]ax, in accordance [with the vow of ... son/

daughter] of Woxes, [having received an oracl]e from the [most

manifest] god Ares, ded[icated] at his own expense the [statue]

and the [ico]n, along with the base, to the god.

2. In the area of Sazlınçesme, built into a house by the road-

way. Height 0.25 m., width 0.43, thickness, 0.17; letter height

0.022–0.03. “Recht sorgfältig geschriebene eckige Buchstaben

der späteren Kaizerzeit.”

K. Tomaschitz, “Unpublizierte Inschriften Westkilikiens aus

dem Nachlass Terence B. Mitfords,” DenkschrWien 264 (1998)

16 no. 7 [SEG XLVIII1789]; Nollé, Side II no. 378. Cf. G.

Petzl, Gnomon 75 (2003) 272.

ye“ ÖArei tÚ xãlk`[eon êgal]-

ma §k t«n fid¤vn §[peskeÊase],

xrhmatisye‹w Í[pÚ toË yeoË],

M°mnvn Trebh[mevw Íp¢r]

Trebhmevw Nesba ·`[levw ge]-

nom°nou yeoË ép`[°dvken eÈxÆn].

2 Petzl: ¶[sthse] Tomaschitz

Page 13

MATTHEW GONZALES

273

Having received an oracle from the god, Memnon son of Tre-

be[mes dedicate]d at his own expense the bronze statue on be-

half of Trebemis son of Nesba. [He] ful[filled his vow, for] the

god [w]as p[ropitious].

These two blocks served as bases for statues dedicated to the

god—common enough. But closer inspection suggests that we

face an Anatolian phenomenon in Greco-Roman guise. The

names Woxes, Trebemes, and Nesba are all distinctively

Anatolian.

Indigenous names, in fact, proliferate at rural

sanctuaries in this region and appear with fair regularity in the

urban centers as well.

The participle

xrhmatisye¤w

, restored

in the first text by analogy with the second, indicates that this

Ares had answered the questions of the dedicators,

either

through a dream or through a more formal oracular consulta-

tion

—a surprising circumstance, for Ares was not known as

an oracular god among the Hellenes, nor did the Romans

ascribe such powers to Mars. But these Sidean dedications to

an oracular Ares find a more comfortable, regional context in

light of Herodotus’ mention (7.75–76, discussed above) of Ares’

oracle in southern Asia Minor. This general region was ap-

parently rich in local seers and oracles, for the Lycian city of

Telmessos was renowned for its manteis, consulted by Croesus

(Hdt. 1.78), Gordius (Arr. An. 2.3.1–4), and Alexander.

The

impression of an Anatolian religious phenomenon in Greco-

Nollé, Side II 603, 605, with references.

The cult of Ares in this region provides several instances: the dedica-

tions of Thoas at Oenoanda, Robert, BCH 107 (1983) 572 (cf. F. Schindler,

I.Bubon no. 4, for Troilos son of Thoas, perhaps of the same family, attested

making a dedication to Ares at nearby Bubon); dedications to Ares by

Gimas and S..agloas son of Sendeos at Zekeriaköy, H. Swoboda, J. Keil, F.

Knoll, Denkmäler aus Lykaonien, Pamphylien und Isaurien (Brünn 1935) nos. 101

and 103; dedications by the Legetai and Skodes son of Molesis in the chora

of Sagalassos, Robert 582–583; [Opl]es and Obrimotos, priests of Ares at

Termessos, TAM III 107 and 212.

M. Büyükkolancı and H. Engelmann, “Inschriften aus Ephesos,” ZPE

86 (1991) 137–144, esp. 144.

L. Robert, Noms indigènes dans l’Asie-Mineure gréco-romaine (Paris 1963)

381.

Aristander of Telmessos, Arr. An. 1.11.2, etc.

Page 14

274

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

Roman garb gains substance as we consider the final lines of

the first dedication.

Nollé’s interpretation of line 6 in the first dedication presents

problems.

If, as he believes, the

êgalma

of the god has al-

ready been mentioned, as seems likely by analogy with the

second text, it makes little sense to refer to the same object

again in the next line, but by a different term,

efikÒnion

. More-

over, the syntax of the inscription seems to preclude this inter-

pretation, for

ka‹

must connect two separate objects of the verb

én°yeken,

êgalma

is to be rescued from grammatical limbo.

It would seem, then, that two distinct objects were dedicated to

the god, a statue and an

efikÒnion

with the base. What could

this separate

efikÒnion

be?

Several meanings are possible.

“Statuette,” “small image,” or “little figure” are all perfectly

valid translations, but in the absence of further guidance from

either inscription, the precise meaning of the term in this

context would remain unclear, were it not for a highly interest-

ing find from northern Lycia/Kibyratis.

A gilded, inscribed medallion now in the Boston Museum of

Fine Arts is one of two circular gilded silver plaques said to

have been unearthed at a place known as Sekiovası near Oeno-

anda in north-central Lycia.

One plaque, dedicated to Zeus,

“In diesen Zeilen wird zunächst das Votiv als solches—nämlich ein

Götterbild, gr.

êgalma—

genannt und dann in Zusammenhang mit dem

Weiheakt noch einmal in seiner Struktur genauer beschrieben (wahr-

scheinlich

efikÒnion, bãsiw

)”: Nollé, Side II 604.

Thus necessitating Nollé’s supplement of a second, understood, verb

(Side II 603).

In the authors (TLG)

efikÒnion

appears only twice in patently religious

settings. Athenaeus (574

) quotes Polemon (ca. 200

.) for an

efikÒnion

the hetaira Kottina, who was believed to have appeared near the shrine of

Dionysos in Sparta. Likewise, Plutarch Them. 22.3 mentions an

efikÒnion

Themistocles in the temple of Artemis Aristoboule at Athens. Cf. the better-

attested diminutive

efikon¤dion.

The topographic indications for the location of Sekia, as relayed to

Jacobstahl and Jones (16: “four miles north of Oenoanda … about halfway

along the road between Makri and Elmali”) are impossible to follow today.

On the 1:250,000 Map of Ancient Lycia prepared by Sabri Aydal, the

modern village of Elmalı lies to the E/SE of Oenoanda, and my autopsy of

the area revealed no villages to the north of Oenoanda bearing the names

Page 15

MATTHEW GONZALES

275

bears the name of the ancient community to which the cult(s)

belonged: Myangla. The other circular medallion is engraved

with a bust of a warrior. The figure turns his head to the right,

wears a very elaborate helmet with a double crest, feathers, and

long, decorated cheek-pieces,

and is clad in a two-layered,

decorated leather corselet.

The figure is identified as the god

Ares by the inscription.

Diameter of plaque: ca. 0.12 m; weight: 128.95 gr. Original

dedication in reign of Tiberius or Hadrian, depending on the

era chosen.

P. Jacobstahl and A. H. M Jones, “A Silver Find from South-

west Asia Minor,” JRS 30 (1940) 16–31. Cf. J. and L. Robert,

Bull.épigr. 1944, 172; Robert, BCH 107 (1983) 578–583. Vidi 8

February 2005.

To the left and above the bust of Ares, five lines which were

erased and gilded over. Only the first two can be easily read:

ÜAr[m]ostow

ÉAr[°]vw

tå égãlmata

xrus[ç - -]

[én°yhken?]

Harmostos son of Areus [dedicated?] the golde[n - -] adornments.

___

Elmalı or Makri. Makri is the old name of Fethiye, ancient Telmessos.

Robert, BCH 107 (1983) 579, was able to locate two other sites, Sekiovası

and Sekiçay (precise location unclear) in the vicinity of Oenoanda, and the

modern village of Seki lies ca. 10 km. east of Oenoanda. Whatever their

exact origins, the plaques were obtained by the Boston Museum of Fine

Arts in 1958 (accession numbers 58.351 and 58.352) and are now on display

there.

Cf. the helmet of a giant on the Artemis slab of the Pergamene altar

(Altertümer von Pergamon III.2 43 and fig.6), and the helmet in relief on a shield

from west-stoa pediment of Pergamene Trajaneum (V.2 48 and pl. 24).

Cf. the corselet depicted on a relief from Kadiköy, AA 46 (1931) 183–

185 and fig. 9.

Jacobstahl and Jones, JRS 30 (1940) 27–30.

Page 16

276

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

Below this, four very mutilated lines:

ÖAreuw ÑAr-

mÒstou

§w §piskeu`-

Øn < I[- - -].

Areus son of Harmostos, for repair, ? drachmas.

To the right and above the bust:

ÉAndr°aw ÉA-

greof«ntow

flerateÊsaw

st°fanon §-

pÒhse xrusoËn

ÖAr˙.

Andreas son of Agreophon, having been priest, made the golden

crown for Ares.

Below this, poorly written:

X`[. . . .]o-

tow §pe-

xrÊsv-

sen

Mene-

kl°ouw.

Ch[. . . .]otos son of Menekles gilded (it).

The Roberts interpreted the last two legible characters of 4 as an

abbreviation for a weight in drachmas followed by the beginning of an

illegible number. Jacobstahl and Jones, while noting this possibility, report

that Meritt preferred to see the epsilon and delta of

¶d[vken]

. My autopsy

seems to support the Roberts. But the surface of the plaque at this point is

extremely battered and damaged, so that it is impossible to tell whether the

last, partially legible line was orginally followed by one or more additional

lines that have now perished.

Page 17

MATTHEW GONZALES

277

Around the rim of the medallion:

M°nippow ÑErmofãntou toË Masa flerateÊsaw ÖAr˙ ka‹

t“ DÆmƒ ro (¶touw) ri

Menippus son of Hermophantes son of Masa, having been

priest, to Ares and the Demos, 180 year 110.

These extraordinary gilt plaques record dedications and

maintenance made by various individuals over a period of

seventy years.

Such maintenance by priests is well attested in

both Greek and Roman practice.

Medallions, decorating

men or the images of gods as elements of a crown or wreath,

were a Hellenistic fashion that continued into the Roman

period.

The mention of the wreath by the upper-right in-

scription could suggest that these items were part of such a

decorative crown, but Jacobstahl and Jones (23) insist that the

medallions are too heavy for this. As an alternative, they show

that typoi

such as these decorate the breast of images of

priests, kings, and gods throughout Asia Minor.

The Zeus

The first number (180) is understood by Jacobstahl and Jones (27) to

have been inserted between

dÆmƒ

and the second number (110) seventy

years after the first dedication, when the repairs noted in the inscription

were undertaken.

IG V.2 83,

Filokrãthw Damon¤k[ou] Íp¢r tÚn uflÚn DamÒnikon én°yhke tÚn

bv[mÚn] ka‹ §xrÊsvse tÚ ê[galma] toË ÉApÒllvn`[ow]

; TAM III 26,

ÉOtaniw

Mvtow flerateÊsaw Di‹ Svlume› eÈxÆn. DionÊsiow ÑHrakle¤kou épÚ ÉAlejan-

dr°aw §xrÊsvsen;

ILS 4107, Acca L. f. Prima ministra Matris Magnae Matrem

refecit Magnam et inauravit et Attini comam inauravit et Bellonam refecit. Attini aram,

lunam argent p(ondo unciis duabus) posit P. Marius Pharetra sacer(dos).

E.g. the gilded bronze diadem, with busts of Attis and Cybele, in Ber-

lin: AA 8 (1892) 111.

Ath. 211

–

(Alexander wearing a crown with a bust of Arete); Suet.

Dom. 4.4, certamini praesedit … capite gestans coronam auream cum effigie Iovis ac

Iunonis Minervaeque, adsidentibus Diali sacerdote et collegio Flavialium pari habitu nisi

quod illorum coronis inerat et ipsius imago.

This is the term Polybius (9.10.12) seems to use for such decoration.

Priests: now-lost statue of an Archigallus wearing typoi on his breast

(Jacobstahl and Jones 22 fig. 3). Kings: statues of Antiochos I of Com-

magene show such devices as fastenings for the royal robes (C. Humann

Page 18

278

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

plaque has, and the Ares plaque likely did have,

devices for

attaching the medallions to cords or necklaces. Could not a

plaque very much like this one have decorated the statue-base

or statue from Side? The Hellenistic temple inventories from

Delos can provide a parallel of sorts, for among the objects

catalogued is “a stone image (

êgalma l¤yinon)

of Isis with a

gilded

efikÒnion

, on the door, weight three drachmas”

—

apparently a decorative image of the goddess embellished with

a smaller figure. Moreover, this

efikÒnion

had been outfitted

with a chain (

ırm¤skow)

as well, from which it was no doubt

suspended from the

êgalma,

like the silver plaques from My-

angla. In light of this comparandum, a very literal translation

efikÒnion

as “icon” would seem doubly appropriate, for it also

neatly solves the seeming pleonasm of the first dedication.

It is tempting to suggest that the Sidean inscriptions record

dedications made in thanks for a propitious response from the

oracle of Ares attested by Herodotus. Where, precisely, this

oracle was located is difficult to determine. We have already

suggested placing the site of Herodotus’ oracle within the terri-

___

and O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien [Berlin 1890] pl. 35, 36,

39; see also the plates in the more recent volume by D. H. Sandars, Nemrud

Daghi II [Winona Lake 1996] 155–165, 185, 204, 207). Gods: bronze

statuette of Zeus Heliopolitanus wearing an image of the Moon on his

breast (Y. Hajjar, La triade d’Heliopolis-Baalbeck [EPRO 59 (1977)] no. 233).

Jacobstahl and Jones 18 and 23, with Plate V.

I.Delos 1442.A.56,

êgalma l¤yinon ÖIsidow §n yur¤di ¶xon [<e>fikÒni]on

xrusoËn, ıl.

|||

: ırm¤skon o ıl.

||||

, énãyhma Demon¤khw: <e>fikÒnion

kupar¤tt[inon.]

The restoration of (

e)fikÒnion

in the first instance is justified

by the context of the second, where the adjective

kupar¤tt[inon]

is added to

explain the greater weight of the chain when compared to the

<e>fikÒnion,

which, on the analogy of typoi like that attested in I.Delos 1444.B.16, would

normally be the heavier item. Other restorations of the lacuna in 56, such as

tÊpo]n

tÊpio]n

, are possible, given the poor script of this inventory. On

tÊpion

as a near synonym for the more common

tÊpow

, see inter alia I.Delos

1452.A.18, 34, etc., and S. Aleshire, The Athenian Asklepieion (Amsterdam

1989) 318, with her commentary on IG II

1534B+1535.85. Either term

could have stood in the Side dedication as well. Regardless of which restora-

tion(s) we choose, the essential nature of the object(s) in question remains

unchanged—a small decorative element fastened by a chain to a statue or

statue base.

Page 19

MATTHEW GONZALES

279

tory of Termessos, in view of that city’s strong Solymian ethnic

identity and prestigious Ares cult. Other sites, perhaps closer to

Pamphylian Side, are certainly possible, and the indigenous

Ares was worshipped at so many cities in south and south-

western Asia Minor that we may face the prospect of multiple

oracles of the god in south/southwestern Anatolia.

But dis-

tance was no obstacle to obtaining a response from a respected

source, and so an identification of Herodotus’ oracular Ares,

perhaps located at Termessos, as the moving force behind the

Sidean dedications presents no insuperable difficulty per se.

Indeed, in the late Hellenistic period both Iconium

and

Pamphylian Syedra sent official missions to an oracle whose

response, nearly identical in each case, was later inscribed for

public display. We present Robert’s text of the Syedrian in-

scription (vidi 17August 2003):

Pãmfuloi Suedr∞ew §pijÊn[ƒ §n éroÊr]˙`

na¤ontew xyÒna pammig°vn §[rib≈l]a`k`a fvt«n

ÖArhow de¤khlon §naim°ow éndrofÒnoio

stÆsantew mesãtƒ pÒliow [p]a[r]å ¶rdete yÊsyla

desmo›w ÑErme¤ao sidhre¤oiw min ¶xontew:

§g d

’

•t°roio D¤kh sfe yemisteÊousa dikãz[oi].

aÈtår ı lissom°nƒ ‡kelow p°loi: œde g[år Í]me›n

¶ssetai efirhna›ow, énãrsionxlon §[lã]ssaw

t∞le pãtrhw,rsei d¢ polÊliton eÈoxye¤an.

sÁn d¢ ka‹ Ím°ew ëptesyai kratero›o [p]Òn[oi]o,

µ seÊontew µ §n desmo›w élÊtoiw pe[d]Òv[ntew],

mhd

’

knƒ dÒmenai lhistÆrvn t¤s[i]n afin[Æn].

oÏtv går mãla pçsan ÍpegdÊse[sye k]Òlo[usin].

§[rib≈l]aka

Maróti;

E . . . . . . ATA

Mitford

Apollo had two oracles in Phocis alone: that at Delphi and the less well

known, but equally venerable, oracle at Abae (Hdt. 1.46; Paus. 10.35.2).

R. Heberdey and Ad. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” DenkschWien 6

(1896) 161 no. 267; Robert, Documents 96–97.

G. Bean and T. B. Mitford, “Journeys in Rough Cilica,” DenkschWien

85 (1965) no. 26; Robert, Documents 91–100; cf. E. Maróti, Gymasium 98

(1991) 178.

Page 20

280

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

Pamphylians of Syedra, who inhabit a rich land of mixed men in

shared fields, plant a statue of bloody, man-slaying Ares in the

middle of the city and beside (him) perform sacrifices as you

bind him with the iron bonds of Hermes, and on the other side

let Justice administer the law and judge him; let him resemble a

suppliant. Thus will he become a peaceful deity for you, once he

has driven the enemy horde far from your country, and he will

give rise to prosperity much prayed for. And you, at the same

time, take great pain, either chasing them or placing them in un-

breakable bonds, and do not, out of fear of the pirates, pay their

terrible penalty. For thus will you escape from all degradation.

Apollo

Claros, on the distant Ionian coast, was advanced

by Robert as the source of these oracles; but the substance of

the reply may suggest another source. The oracle bade each

city to set up a statue of Ares being bound

by Dike

and Her-

mes and to establish an annual festival at which they ritually

bound the statue. Such ceremonial is not necessarily to be seen

simply as prophylactic magic meant to bind and thus inca-

pacitate a demonic Ares.

Rather, the oracle makes clear that

Ares, bound in this manner, will actively ensure the protection

and prosperity of their land.

Indeed, Ares as karpodotes, be-

stower of fruits, is well attested in Lycia and Pisidia.

Given the

prominence and characterization of Ares in both responses, it

seems at least plausible that these responses originate not from

the oracle of Apollo at Claros, but from the southern Anatolian

In Greek myth, Ares was bound by the Titans Ephialtes and Otys: Il.

5.385–391, cf. Od. 8.270–325.

The link between Ares and Dike was firmly established by the fifth cen-

tury at least: so Aeschylus’ depiction of Ares as exactor of divine Justice

(

D¤kh)

in the Oresteia. See M. Gonzales, Cults and Sanctuaries of Ares and Eny-

alios: A Survey of the Literary, Epigraphic, and Archaeological Evidence (diss. Univ.

California Berkeley 2004) 20–31.

C. Faraone, “Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil,” CQ 41 (1991)

166–172.

Pausanias 3.15.7 understood the bound statue of Enyalios in Sparta in

a similar fashion. The images of other gods were also bound by the Spar-

tans: Paus. 3.15.11 (Aphrodite) and Clem. Al. Protr. 2.38.3, 2.38.5 (two

distinct manifestations of Artemis).

See Gonzales, Cults 372–477.

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MATTHEW GONZALES

281

oracle of Ares, perhaps located at Termessos. A decree of

Syedra honoring a Termessian priest who had aided the Pam-

phylian polis tends to suggest an intimate and official rapport

between these two ancient centers. If this was indeed the case,

it stands to reason that the oracular Anatolian Ares would have

been consulted by the citizens of many regional centers, among

them Syedra, Iconium, and Side.

Despite Ares’ greater prestige and unusual attributes in

southern Asia Minor, he did not completely dominate the

religious life of the cities in the region. Side, for example,

boasted important cults of Athena, Apollo, and Zeus as well.

Still, the helmet of Ares is represented on a carved limestone

lintel alongside the emblems of the other important Sidean

gods,

and Ares appears on the coins of the city in both the

Hellenistic

and Roman Imperial periods.

Indeed, the mani-

festations of Ares in Side, Iconium, and Pamphylian Syedra

were merely three of many regional cults of the god. In the

Kibyratis, Kabalis, and Lycia, Ares’ cult is epigraphically at-

tested at no fewer than seven sites—Bubon (twice: I.Bubon nos.

3, 4), Kyaneiai (IGR III 700), Oenoanda,

Myangla (above),

Xanthus (TAM II 264), and Sidyma (SEG XXXVII 1228),

while Kyaneiai,

Podalia (Inv. Waddington 3175), and Arycan-

all depict an armored warrior on their coins. In Pisidia

and Lycaonia, farther to the northeast, coins and inscriptions

Nollé, Side I 281–282.

W. Leschhorn, “Ein Schatzfund sidetischer Münzen,” in P. R. Franke

et al. (eds.),

S¤dh

(Saarbrucken 1989) 27 no. 8.

Coins from the time of Caracalla show the deity placed before an over-

sized bust of the emperor: C. C. Vermeule, Roman Imperial Art in Greece and

Asia Minor (Cambridge [Mass.] 1968) frontspiece with XVII. The Imperial

cult, like Hellenistic ruler cult before, attached itself to the cults of many

gods in Side. Cf. A. Nock “

SUNNAOS YEOS

,” HSCP 41 (1930) 1–62; Nollé,

Side I 112, 122–125 with references.

R. Heberdey and Kalinka, “Zwei Reisen in südwestlichen Kleinasien,”

DenkschWien 44 (1896) 53–54 no. 76; cf. L. Robert, Hellenica III (1946) 63

n.2, X (1955) 214 n.5, BCH 107 (1983) 572.

J. G. Milne, “Notes on the Oxford Collections,” NC V.80 (1940) 224

no. 2 and pl. 12.9, with Robert, Hellenica VII (1949) 69.

BMC Lycia 45 no. 7 and pl. X.6.

Page 22

282

THE ORACLE AND CULT OF ARES IN ASIA MINOR

attest temples, shrines, statues, and dedications at over twenty

regional centers, while Pamphylia and Cilicia boast eighteen

more sites for Ares’ worship.

The inscribed rupestral dedica-

tions at Zekeriaköy (now Tashlıpınar), which easily fall within

the Anatolian “Rider-God” tradition,

are the best-known

monuments to this Anatolian Ares.

Although Ares was not so

neglected by the cities of mainland Greece as many would have

us believe,

this extraordinarily strong clustering of Ares cults

in southwestern Asia Minor certainly reinforces Robert’s

notion of an indigenous warrior deity who had taken the name

of the Greek god.

Herodotus’ testimony on the oracle of Ares clearly indicates

that the roots of the worship of “Ares” in southern Asia Minor

pre-date the Roman period by centuries; but how deeply

anchored are they and what is their ultimate source? As we

have seen, epic tradition too seems to associate Ares with the

area north of Lycia and Pamphylia and the cult of Ares

appears throughout south and southwest Asia Minor. The

Pisidian city of Termessos worshipped a Zeus Solymeus—a

hybrid of the Greek deity and the city’s eponymous hero

Solymos—depicted as an armed and armored warrior on its

coins. In Caria, the Stratoniceians worshipped a Zeus Chrysa-

oreus,

probably a conflation of the Storm-god with the great

indigenous warrior-hero Chrysaor.

The association of the

Greek Ares with another such indigenous hero or deity may go

See Gonzales, Cults 372–477.

I. Delemen, Anatolian Rider Gods (Asia Minor Studien 35 [1999]) 76–87.

Swoboda/Keil/Knoll, Denkmäler nos. 101–103 (Delemen, Rider Gods

nos. 374–376.).

See Gonzales, Cults 1–64.

Strab. 14.2.25; his temple was held in common by all the Carians and

served as a meeting place for the assembly for Carian koinon. Cf. Hdt.

1.171.5–6; I.Stratonikeia 16, 236, 249, 251, 252, 291, 293, 296a, etc.

Steph. Byz. s.vv.

Xrusaor¤w

and

ÉIdriãw;

Pausanias 5.21.10 says that all

of Caria was once called Chrysaoris. See also Steph. Byz. s.vv.

MÊlasa

and

EÈrvpÒw.

Page 23

MATTHEW GONZALES

283

some way toward explaining both the relative prominence of

Ares in this area and the oracular powers ascribed to him.

February, 2005

Classics Department

St. Anselm College

Manchester, NH 03102

mgonzales@anselm.edu

I would like to thank Professor Ronald Stroud, Professor Kent Rigsby,

and the anonymous readers of this journal, whose incisive criticisms of

previous versions greatly strengthened the final product. Uxori meae.