Assesia

Assesia (Ancient Greek: Ἀσσησία) was a cultic epithet for the goddess Athena in Greek mythology, derived from the town of Assesos in Ionia, where she had a temple.^[1]

The historian Herodotus relates several anecdotes about this aspect of the goddess, as having a temple at Assesos that was accidentally burned down by the forces of the 7th century BCE Mermnad king Alyattes I, while his forces were waging war against the Milesians, and burning all their grain.^[2] After falling ill, the king consulted the Pythia, who told him no answer would be forthcoming until the temple was rebuilt, which Alyattes did, ultimately building two temples to Athena Assesia.^[3]^[4]

The ruin of one of these temples still exists today, and is a significant source of south Ionian pottery for modern scholars.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Herodotus, Histories 1.19
^ Hanson, Victor Davis (1998). Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780520215962. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^ Avery, Catherine B., ed. (1972). The New Century Handbook of Classical Geography. Appleton-Century-Crofts. p. 208. ISBN 9780390669308. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^ Hägg, Robin, ed. (1996). The Role of Religion in the Early Greek Polis: Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, Organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 16-18 October 1992. The Swedish Institute at Athens. p. 26. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^ Papadopoulos, John K. (2023). "The East Greek Fine Pottery". In Papadopoulos, John K.; Morris, Sarah P. (eds.). Ancient Methone, 2003-2013: Excavations by Matthaios Bessios, Athena Athanassiadou, and Konstantinos Noulas. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. pp. 834–835. ISBN 9781950446339. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^ Miles, Margaret M. (2014). "Burnt Temples in the Landscape of the Past". In Pieper, Christoph; Ker, James (eds.). Valuing the Past in the Greco-Roman World: Proceedings from the Penn-Leiden Colloquia on Ancient Values VII. Mnemosyne: Monographs on Greek and Latin Language and Literature. Vol. 369. Brill Publishers. p. 114. ISBN 9789004274952. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Assesia". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 388.

[1] Herodotus, Histories 1.19

[2] Hanson, Victor Davis (1998). Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780520215962. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

[3] Avery, Catherine B., ed. (1972). The New Century Handbook of Classical Geography. Appleton-Century-Crofts. p. 208. ISBN 9780390669308. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

[4] Hägg, Robin, ed. (1996). The Role of Religion in the Early Greek Polis: Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, Organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 16-18 October 1992. The Swedish Institute at Athens. p. 26. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

[5] Papadopoulos, John K. (2023). "The East Greek Fine Pottery". In Papadopoulos, John K.; Morris, Sarah P. (eds.). Ancient Methone, 2003-2013: Excavations by Matthaios Bessios, Athena Athanassiadou, and Konstantinos Noulas. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. pp. 834–835. ISBN 9781950446339. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

[6] Miles, Margaret M. (2014). "Burnt Temples in the Landscape of the Past". In Pieper, Christoph; Ker, James (eds.). Valuing the Past in the Greco-Roman World: Proceedings from the Penn-Leiden Colloquia on Ancient Values VII. Mnemosyne: Monographs on Greek and Latin Language and Literature. Vol. 369. Brill Publishers. p. 114. ISBN 9789004274952. Retrieved 2024-08-18.

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