Detailansicht

The island of Aigina has often played a key role in the history of Greece. The well-known temple of Aphaia, having been in existence since the Late Archaic Period of the Iron Age, was preceded 1100 years, by a Doric temple on the same site. The publication is focused particularly on those early days. Terracotta-statues and other finds point to a major Mycenean cultural and religious centre on the east terrace of Aiginia, the highest point on the island, upon which, in the Archaic and Classic Periods, the altar was located. The book is divided into a catalogue of finds, (terracottas, pottery, animal-shaped rhyta, and chariots), an investigation into the presence of a bronze-age cult, a look at the nature of the deity 'Kourothropos', an elaboration on the substantiated bronze-age cult, a historical summary and an appendix.

Die Autorin geht dem Ursprung des archaischen Heiligtums nach. Die enorme Anzahl an Terrakotta-Statuetten läßt auf einen der populärsten Kultplätze des mykenischen Griechenland schließen. Im Vergleich mit anderen Kulturzentren zeigt sich, daß die Gottheit besonders als 'Kourothropos', Amme und Hüterin von Kindern, verehrt wurde.