“Sacred Houses” in Early Iron Age Greece?

On January 22nd, I visited the lecture ”Sacred Houses” in Early Iron Age Greece. Dr. Alexander Ainian, who is an archaeologist, held the lecture. I had never heard of the existence of the so called ‘Sacred Houses’ before, so it was very interesting to get to know more about this topic. The whole lecture was based on facts about houses in Greece that might have been sacred houses. Many facts speak for the existence of the ‘Sacred Houses’ in Greece as Dr. Ainian explained by giving a number of examples, which I will explain in the following summary.

The location of those “Sacred Houses” was mainly in the area Attica in Greece, leading archaeologists back to the Early Iron Age, when Athens first started to gain power. The first location Dr. Ainian referred to was The Sanctuary of Eleusis, which is located in todays Athens. On the ground of the sanctuary, there is a building in which archaeologist found a human skeleton. There is cult activity visible in the burial of this skeleton. Additionally, animal bones, and ashes were found, hence it can be concluded that the so called ‘Sacred House’ in which the body was found was used for religious activities back in the Early Iron Age.

The second location Dr. Ainian related to was The Academy of Athens (Platon). Today, only the central part of the academy is preserved. Archaeologist found remains of a house on the ground of the academy, similar to the case before. Again, there were smashed, and whole vases found, seashells, and animal bones, which are all things that were used in sacrifices. Also there is proof that some sacrifices were made on top of the wall. This shows that the sacrifices might have taken place when the house was no longer used for living. Next to the house was a burial found with several layers of vases, at least 40 vases, containing bones of children. Moreover, in the area of the Academy a number of other burials were found, including adult burials.

Another important location was Thorikos, in eastern Attica, an area known for its silver mining. Once again, there is a building that stands in close relationship to a burial, as they are right next to each other. The excavators suppose that it was used for cult, but it was also a house for the elite of a small community were important dinners were held.

Dr. Ainian continued with two other examples that had similar features, and are also located in the same area. All the buildings brought archaeologists to similar conclusions about the use of it as a house for living, but also as a place were sacrifices and religious activities took place. Those two very different activities probably took place in different time periods within the existence of the houses.

Altogether it was really interesting for me to learn about ‘Sacred Houses’, and that archaeologists found a number of these with similar characteristics in the area of Attica. Dr. Ainian, an associate professor at the University of Thelassy in Larissa, Greece, seems to have a lot of experience and knowledge, since he was part of archaeological excavations in Greece. I am looking forward to the next lecture.

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