Cynosarges

Cynosarges (Greek: Κυνόσαργες Kynosarges) was a famous temple of Heracles, public gymnasium, and surrounding grove located just outside the walls of Ancient Athens[1] on the southern bank of the Ilissos river and near the Diomeian gate.[2] The modern suburb of Kynosargous is named after it.

Overview

Its exact location is unknown but it is generally located in what is now the southern suburbs of Athens.[3]

Its name was a mystery to the ancients that was explained by a story about a white[3] or swift dog, etymologising the name as Kynos argos, from genitive of kyon (dog) and argos (white, shining, or swift). The legend goes that on one occasion when Didymos, an Athenian, was performing a lavish sacrifice, a white (or swift) dog appeared and snatched the offering; Didymos was alarmed, but received an oracular message saying that he should establish a temple to Heracles in the place where the dog dropped the offering.[4]

Herodotus mentions a shrine there in 490/89 BC,[5] and it became a famous sanctuary of Heracles that was also associated with his mother Alcmene, his wife Hebe and his nephew/helper Iolaus.[6] It appeared that Heracles and Hebe each had a dedicated altar whereas Alcmene and Iolaus shared one.[2] A renowned gymnasium was built there;[7] it was meant especially for nothoi, illegitimate children.[8] The Cynosarges was also where the Cynic Antisthenes was said to have lectured, a fact which was offered as one explanation as to how the sect got the name of Cynics.[9]

A festival was held at Cynosarges in honour of Heracles in the month of Metageitnion, at which twelve nothoi were chosen to be parasitoi (fellow diners), who ate a meal with the cult statue of the god. They returned for smaller meals each month for a year where a priest would perform sacrifices.[2] People who refused to serve as parasitoi were liable to be prosecuted in the Athenian court system.[10] Clement recorded that Phillip II of Macedon was honoured with a cult at the site, who claimed Heracles as an ancestor.[2]

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References
  1. Κυνόσαργες. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  2. Fredricksmeyer, E. A. (1979). "Divine Honors for Philip II". Transactions of the American Philological Association. 109: 49–50. JSTOR 284048.
  3. The Stones of Athens, Wycherley, R.E., Princeton 1978.Pg 229
  4. Suda, κ2721, ε3160. In another account, (Suda, ει290) a white dog was being sacrificed, and an eagle stole and dropped the offering.
  5. Herodotus, Historiae 6.116
  6. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.19.3.
  7. Plutarch, Themistocles, 1; Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica 393, 24; Diogenes Laërtius. "Book VI" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers . Translated by Robert Drew Hicks – via Wikisource.
  8. Demosthenes 23.213; Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 6.234E; Plutarch, Themistocles, 12
  9. Diogenes Laërtius. "Book VI" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers . Translated by Robert Drew Hicks – via Wikisource.
  10. Parke, H. W. (1977). Festivals of the Athenians. Thames and Hudson. p. 51.


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