The Sanctuary of Artemis Chitone

According to ancient tradition, the sanctuary of Artemis Cithone counts amongst the oldest sanctuaries of Miletus. In his Hymn to Artemis (Call. h. 225–227), Callimachus refers to the goddess as the leader of the emigrants under the mythical founder Neleus. In 1995, it was possible to identify the location of the temenos by means of two inscriptions found on the eastern terrace of the Kalabaktepe, the southernmost hill within the unfortified archaic city. Already during the excavations carried out by T. Wiegand in 1906/1907, a terracotta sima and marble sculptures (today in the Alten Museum in Berlin) were found there, indicating the presence of a sacred area with a temple.

The goal of the new excavations of 2006–2008 was to obtain, by means of stratigraphic cuttings, more precise information regarding the chronology and building phases as well as the extent, architectonic appearance, cult practices, and history of this important civic sanctuary. The finds cover a time period from the 8th century B.C. up until the middle of the 5th century B.C. A two-roomed structure, set into the incline, dates to the late geometric epoch and is in part preserved up to the full height of the walls. In the mid-7th century B.C., the temenos was expanded to the north by a massive heaping up of material. In the second half of the 6th century B.C., after a renovation of the terrace walls, a temple was erected, from which it was possible to uncover the foundations and an altar set up to the east. From the late archaic period, a number of sculptures and reliefs of marble are preserved, which were ritually deposited. When the Persians conquered Miletus in 494 B.C. and the city was made an example of and punished for being the ringleader of the Ionian revolt, the Artemis sanctuary was also destroyed and subsequently profaned. A residential district of the early classical period was built over it, yet this too was abandoned in the middle of the 5th c. B.C. It is the only one of its kind known to date in Ionia. The sanctuary of Artemis Chitone, however, was then relocated to the city which was now much smaller. During the Hellenistic period, the venerable cult location was remembered, and terracotta figures were deposited there.

Duration of Project

Excavations 2006–2008; processing of finds 2007–2010

Financing

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

OeAI

Cooperation

Miletus-Excavation

Volkmar von Graeve

Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Epigraphy and written sources

Norbert Ehrhardt, Institut für Alte Geschichte, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Terracottas

Fikret Özcan, Arkeoloji Bölümü, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Isparta

Bibliography

• Th. Wiegand, Sechster vorläufiger Bericht über die von den Königlichen Museen in Milet und Didyma unternommenen Ausgrabungen, AbhBerlin 1908, 4–6.
• A. v. Gerkan, Kalabaktepe, Athenatempel und Umgebung, Milet 1, 8 (Berlin 1925), 8–26 Taf. 1–2. 12–14.
• W. Günther, »Vieux et inutilisable« dans un inventaire inédit de Milet, in: D. Knoepfler (Hrsg.), Comptes et inventaires dans la cité grecque. Actes du colloque international d’épigraphie Neuchâtel 23–26 septembre 1986 en l’honneur de Jacques Tréheux (Neuchâtel 1988) 215–237.
• M. Kerschner – R. Senff, Die Ostterrasse des Kalabaktepe, AA 1997, 120-122.
• A. Herda, Der Kult des Gründerheroen Neileos und die Artemis Kithone in Milet, ÖJh 67, 1998, 1–48.
• M. Kerschner, Das Artemis-Heiligtum auf der Ostterrasse des Kalabaktepe. Stratigraphie und Keramikfunde der Sondagen des Jahres 1995, AA 1999, 7-51.
• F. Özcan, Funde aus Milet. XXIV. Hellenistische Terrakotten von der Ostterrasse des Kalabaktepe, AA 2009/1, 159–165.

Contact

Michael Kerschner