Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Titel o.

Abschnitt

Anne Marie Carstens

Bringing Wool to Zeus Labraundos

Introduction
This contribution sets out to explore the meaning
of the woollen bands depicted on representations
of a series of cult images from Western Anatolia in
the Hellenistic and Roman period (fig. 1). The Aph-
rodite from Aphrodisias is one example,1 Artemis
Ephesia is another and more well-known. These
cult images were first studied in depth in the
monograph of Robert Fleischer from 1973: „Artemis
von Ephesos und verwandte Kultstatuen aus Ana-
tolien und Syrien".

Artemis Ephesia
The majority of the representations of the Ephesian
Artemis date to the Hellenistic-Roman period, the
first centuries BC and AD.2
One fine example is a lustrous marble statue, the
so-called „Schöne Artemis Ephesia" (fig. 2).3 Artemis
is depicted here as an archaic wooden cult image
("xoanon") with only a few naturalistic features,
and she is dressed in the most incredible garment.
The cult image, of which we believe statues like this
to be copies, 4 is wearing the characteristic hat, a
"polos", together with a magnificent veil somehow
attached to the polos and falling onto her shoul-
ders. Most striking and eye-catching are the ani-
mal protomes depicting lions, "pegasoi", sphinxes, Artemis is depicted en face with her arms bend at Fig. 1
felines, hinds and cattle, which somehow – in all the elbow and her hands reaching out towards the Map of Karia
Foto: Anne Marie
its unlikelihood – seem to grow from the textile of viewer. On the plinth of the Ephesian statue two Carstens
both the veil and the dress. A pectoral jewellery in interesting objects are carved in the round, namely
the form of an acorn necklace of quite enormous the remains of woollen bands, which are the topic
size and an animal frieze decorate the neck opening of this paper. Their finals are in the shape of elabo-
of the dress. And then, of course, there is the pecto- rate tassels. Remains of the woollen bands them-
ral and abdomen decoration of larger acorn shaped selves were found together with „die Schöne Arte-
or ovoid objects. mis" (fig. 3).7
The nature of these objects is one of the many Often the marble copies of Artemis Ephesia are
obscure and hotly debated elements of the cult only partly preserved, with the outreaching under-
image. Traditionally they were seen as depictions arms and thus the woollen bands missing. But
of breasts, a reference to the "Diana Efesia mul- many coin images show the cult statue of Artemis
5
timammia" as Late Antique references have it. Ephesia in her temple and here the bands are quite
However, in 1979 Gérard Seiterle suggested that the a prominent feature (fig. 4).
ovoid objects, the "breasts" were indeed represen- They spring to the eye of the beholder to such
tations of bulls' scrota, including a strong reference a degree that it seems safe to conclude that they
to Artemis as a fertility goddess and to her animal were a particular characteristic feature of the sta-
sacrifices.6 tue. To be included into the coin image, they must

135
Titel o. Abschnitt Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter

Bringing wool to Zeus Labraundos

a typical 4th century BC draped "contrapposto" type

(fig. 5).
Although it is reasonable to imagine that the
archaistic Zeus indeed depicts an ancient cult sta-
tue in the sanctuary, it only appears on reliefs and
coins from the Hellenistic period onwards.8 This is
also the case with the other statues of its "fami-
ly" in the borderland between Hellas and Anato-
lia. The most illustrative and detailed renderings
are a weathered relief on a quadrangular basis in
Stratonikeia (fig. 6), a now lost relief from Mylasa,
a depiction on a Mylasan coin issued under Geta,
and the relief from the Athena Alea sanctuary at
Tegea, where Zeus Labraundos is flanked by Idrieus
and Ada, two of the Hekatomnid rulers of the latter
half of the 4th century BC.9
The main feature of the Archaistic Zeus is that the
lower part of his body and his legs are wrapped ei-
ther in a cloth tied with long strings, or in some kind
of net. In some of the depictions it may look as if
this wrapping continues all the way up to the chest.
However, the upper end of this wrapping remains
unclear, since the chest and abdomen are decorated
with hanging ovoid objects, similar to those on the
cult image of Artemis Ephesia. Traditionally – and
in accordance with the multi mammia interpreta-
tion of Artemis Ephesia – these were understood
as breasts. But while that may make good sense in
connection with the then fertile and as a result of
that, polymastic Artemis, it is quite problematic to

Fig. 2 have been meaningful and important. They belon-

„Schöne Artemis ged to the deity as part of not only her attire, but
Ephesia"
Fleischer 2002, as her epithet.
p. p. 211 fig. 11
Zeus Labraundos
Another cult image belonging to this East Greek/
West Anatolian group is Zeus Labraundos, a Kari-
Fig. 3
Remains of the "wool- an Zeus Stratios located in a rural sanctuary in
len bands" belonging the southern part of the Latmos Mountains in
to the „Schöne Artemis
southwestern Anatolia. There are two ways of ren-
Ephesia"
Fleischer 2002, dering Zeus Labraundos: an archaisticc perhaps
p. 211 fig. 10 Karian type, closely related to Artemis Ephesia, and

136
 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Titel o. Abschnitt

Anne Marie Carstens

Fig. 4
Hadrian cistophoric
tridrach
BM 1968, 0908.1
The Trustees of the Bri-
tish Museum

explain this female feature as a characteristic of the The sanctuary at Labraunda

fierce Zeus Stratios Labraundos. The interpretation The rural sanctuary at Labraunda in the Latmos
offered by Gérard Seiterle in 1979 that suggested Mountains above the plain of Mylasa is old. Archi-
these ovoid objects to be scrota serves both Artemis tecturally, and not least ideologically, it must have
Ephesia and Zeus Labraundos. In ancient Anatolian been the most important sanctuary for the Heka-
religion, the bull represented fertility and together tomnids of the 4th century BC; here the Persian/
with the double axe (also always accompanying Karian satrap held a key position as religious and
Zeus Labraundos) it was one of the epithets of the political leader.10
Anatolian storm god as well as the sun goddess Two sanctuaries, the Zeus Karios sanctuary in
Hebat, who carries a "polos". Mylasa (the Karian "capital" until the 4th century
The archaistic cult statue of Zeus Labraundos is when it was transferred with Maussollos to Hali-
bearded (except on the Mylasa relief) and he wears karnassos at the coast) and the Zeus Labraundos
a "polos". It is not quite clear due to the weathe- sanctuary in the mountains northeast of the town
red state of the base, but perhaps two long locks were connected with a large paved procession road,
of slightly curly hair fall symmetrically over each wide and spectacular as it cut its way through the
shoulder on the Stratonikeia relief. This is confirmed steep mountainside.
on a Hadrianic cistophoric tetradrachm, where long Labraunda was an ancient Anatolian holy-rock
locks of hair are rendered falling onto the shoulders sanctuary. It seems to have been constructed accor-
of Zeus (fig. 7). In his right hand, Zeus lifts his dou- ding to the Anatolian religious and ritual tradition
ble-axe, the labrys, either with his arm at a right at least: the split rock – a Hittite "huwaši" or a holy
angle, or as on the Tegea relief lifted higher. Indeed rock – and the spring were at the core of the sanc-
the Tegea rendering differs a bit and may in some tity of the site. Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat has
ways form an intermediate version between the identified such an old traditional huwaši-rock at
Archaic and the "contrapposto" type: here the lower Tekerlekdağ in the Latmos Mountains later trans-
part of his body is draped in a "himation", the end of ferred to a Zeus Akraios temple,11 and we know of
which he carries over his left arm. This matches the the Hittite rituals performed at the Hazzi moun-
Stratonikeia relief as well as the Hadrianic cistopho- tain south of Seleukia Pirea, later transformed into
ric tetradrachm. In his left hand, he carries a spear. a Zeus Karios sanctuary.12
In all the renderings of the archaistic cult statue, A similar stone cult is well known in connection
his right arm also forms a right angle, probably with the Delphic omphalos. In his authoritative
depicting the traditional „Standmotiv" of Archaic work on Zeus, Arthur Bernard Cook pointed to the
sculpture. On some of the coin depictions, the origin of Delphi as a holy place as a site uniting "the
woollen bands that also adorn Artemis Ephesia are worship of the sky-father (Zeus), the earth-mother
shown hanging from his wrists to his ankles (fig. 7). (Ge, Themis) and their offspring (Dionysos), as ante-

137
Titel o. Abschnitt Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter

Bringing wool to Zeus Labraundos

Fig. 5 to an ancient shrine of Carian Zeus at Mylasa, to

Mylasan coin issued which Mysians and Lydians as brethren of the Cari-
under Geta Fleischer
1973, tab. 143 a ans (for Lydos and Mysos, they say, were brothers
of Car), are admitted."15 And according to Pausanias
a cultic communion of brethren consisted of Lydians
and Karians also included the Artemision at Ephesos.16

The Artemision at Ephesos

Such a cultic communion, a shared sanctuary more
than anything characterises the Artemision at Ephe-
sos. Indeed, while this is only indicated by circum-
stantial evidence at the Zeus Labraundos sanctua-
ry, the Artemision at Ephesos was truly an "inter-
national" place. Robert Fleischer has convincingly
argued that not only the position of the sanctuary,
at a central harbour city and a central market place
between east and west, but indeed the asylum
institution – that people fled for sanctuary at Ephe-
rior to the worship of Apollon, who inheritied, so to sos – granted the sanctuary its success. It stayed
speak, the eagles of Zeus, the omphalos of Ge, the independent and strong with a steady surplus of
13
tripod and tomb of Dionysos." I think this relation money and labour forces.17
between the storm god and the earth mother, this At the centre of the Artemis cult was the animal
close familiarity in play at Delphi, is important to sacrifice on the large altar. The sacrifice of bulls was
bear in mind also in connection with the investi- initiated at least during the major festivals.18 During
gation of the relationship between the Western the sacrificial rites, the bull's head was decorated
Anatolian cults; Artemis (as representing the earth- with woollen binds, as a sign of its consecration, its
mother capacities of Ge/ Themis) and Zeus continu- holiness. The woollen binds became an iconogra-
ed to express a common root, even in the Roman
Fig. 6 period. Their worship, religious functions, and the
Relief decorated base ritual practices connected to their cults were clo-
from Stratonikeia
Foto by the courtesy of sely interlinked by ancient cult practise and ritual
Jesper Blid behaviour, and part of this also had to do with the
woollen bands.
We know that Karia was organized in several
"koina" which again met in a central federation, the
"Karian koinon"; a political and religious assembly.
At some point the Karian Koinon met at the sanctu-
ary of Labraunda (at least once in connection with
the Ionian revolt in 496 BC),14 and it seems most
likely that the Hekatomnids used the political and
religious meaning and power of the sanctuary
when turning the place into an appraisal of their
house.
According to Herodotus the Zeus Karios sanctu-
ary in Mylasa, connected to the sanctuary in Lab-
raunda by the procession road, was a shared or
common sanctuary. In a passage concerning the
origin of the Karian people, it is said: "…they point

138
 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Titel o. Abschnitt

Anne Marie Carstens

phical shortcut for the sacrificial bull, in a similar Fig. 7

way to other iconographical references such as a Hadrian cistophoric
tetradrachm
cup for a libation, a horn for divinity in Hittite ico- Fleischer 1973, tab. 142 b
nography, or a baldachin for a shrine.19
Animal sacrificing was practised where the cult
statue was depicted adorned with woollen bands,
that is in the Artemis cult at Ephesos and Magne-
sia, the cult of Zeus Labraundos and even of Athe-
na of Pergamon. It may also be possible that the
symbolic reference to the bull's sacrifice included in
the decoration with the woollen bands might have
sufficed as sacrificial promise from time to time.
The woollen bands hanging from the horns of the
bucrania on for instance Hellenistic round altars
seem to point to such a turn from the bloody ani-
mal sacrifice on the alter itself to the more symbolic
reference to it via its decoration. Another interpre- There are three main interpretations on the wool-
tation of the woollen bands is their connection to len bands of Artemis Ephesia and Zeus Labraundos:
20
the asylum provided by the Artemision. According The woollen bands may be related to a stone cult
to the "Etymologicum magnum", a Greek lexical where the binding of woollen bands around the
th
encyclopaedia compiled in the 12 century AD Con- holy stone formed part of the initiation or worship
stantinople, people fleeing for sanctuary at Ephesos of the stone. Or perhaps of the cult object. Stone
21
carried woollen binds. cults, "huwaši" and "baityloi" are known from Karia
as an old Anatolian tradition. Labraunda is centred
Suggested meanings of the woollen bands at the natural rock boulder, near a spring according
In an article on the woollen bands Gérard Seiterle to such a tradition of natural holy places in Ana-
subsumed the meaning of the wool in Greek reli- tolia.24
gion as a magic material: „Die Griechen glaubten, The woollen bands may be related to the initiati-
dass der Wolle allgemein – ohne Zweifel wegen on of the sacrificial animal, which sometimes may
ihrer natürlichen, reinigenden Kraft – eine kathar- – quite conveniently – be replaced by an indication
tische, lustrierende, heilende (heiligende) und all- of the large scale sacrifice or a reference to it. This
gemein eine apotropäische Wirkkraft innewohnt: would mean that the woollen bands on the altar
Mysten tragen in Eleusis und andernorts einen referred to and evoked the memory of the larger
weissen Wollfaden an Hand- und Fussgelenk. and rarer big sacrifices. In this manner, the woollen
Wolle wird bei der Geburt eines Mädchens an die bands became an abbreviated sacrifice, a hint at
Haustür geheftet. Wollfäden werden zur Abwehr the real thing, a replacement. The woollen bands
böser Geister um Heiligtümer, Bäume und Quellen may also symbolize the asylum institution of the
22
gespannnt." The wool is here first and foremost sanctuary. Written sources relate that people flee-
seen as a natural force, a heeling and holy force. It ing for sanctuary at the Artemision carried woollen
protects and preserves. And it seems to sanctify bands. According to the "Etymologicum magnum"
objects, places, and people. Seiterle connects the no sheep ("probata") were sacrificed at the Arte-
immense force of the wool with its natural capaci- mision because the fugitives brought μαλλούς –
ties as a healing and cleansing material. Also even wool, possibly unprepared wool, to the sanctuary.
in the Hittite ritual text of the 2nd millennium BC One source, Hesychius of Alexandria, calls Artemis
wool, and woollen threads and bands are consi- Ephesia πολυθύσανε, with many tassels.25
dered a "materia magica et medica". The wool and It is of course possible to see the three explana-
woollen threads were seen as connecting a patient tions as simultaneously working, so to speak. This
with the divine or the deity requested for healing.23 would mean that the bands both refer to an anci-

139
Titel o. Abschnitt Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter

Bringing wool to Zeus Labraundos

ent stone cult practice, once shared in the Bronze pattern of interruptions by the knots or the binding.
Age Eastern Mediterranean, West Asia, and Anato- Perhaps a reminder of the rhythmic repetition of
lia, and to the initiation of a place or an object as ritual songs and prayers?
sacred, or as a reference to an animal sacrifice – and
indeed "because" of these meanings and links – as Conclusion
a sign of asylum. Pontus Hellström of the Swedish Labraunda excava-
tions has kindly assisted me by conducting a small
The nature of the woollen bands investigation of the old excavation diaries and find
I started working with the archaeology and history lists from the Labraunda excavations 1948-1953. In
of Karia and western Anatolia – this fascinating sur- accordance with evidence from other sanctuary
face of fractions – long before I got involved in tex- sites, such as Timpone della Motta in South Italy,27
tile archaeology at the Danish National Research it would be interesting to see if it would be possi-
Foundation's Centre for Textile Research (CTR) in ble to assume whether an actual textile production
2007. But after I met textile researchers and expe- took place in the sanctuary. In all 55 spindle whorls
rienced the experiments carried out by textile tech- and 42 loom weights were registered 1948-1953, and
nicians and archaeologists at CTR, I realized that although this is not a clear answer to the question
wool is not just wool, and that preparing the raw it does let us know that textile tools were present
material, the fleece for spinning, requires several in the sanctuary, which may indicate production as
stages of preparation. And this brought me back to well as textile tools deposited as votives.28
have another look at the woollen bands and their The three suggested explanations of the woollen
meaning. bands – as a reference to an ancient stone cult, as
The woollen bands of Artemis Ephesia and Zeus related to the animal sacrifice, initiating objects or
Labraundos are in all likelihood made by long places or persons, or as a reference to the asylum
"bands" of unspun, finely carded wool, so-called institution – seem to me quite interrelated. I have
rovings. These rovings were either tied with fine seen Greek orthodox shrines adorned with bands
yarn or interrupted by knots. The woollen bands are – perhaps in an old religious tradition reflecting
thus not made out of spun yarn, nor woven bands, that still the Greeks believe that the wool contains
but unspun bundles of wool fibres. The binding or a carthasic, lustrous, healing, holy and apotropaic
the knots obviously made the bundles stronger, but force.
never as strong as a spun thread, and all the same The Hittite ritual texts reveal that this belief was
the knots or bindings made it impossible to use the an ancient one, also shared with Anatolian people
woollen bands, the rovings, for spinning. of the Bronze Age. Even today there exist praying
The same practice of knots and bindings is known trees in Armenia, in the Turkish countryside and on
from the Hittite text corpus. It seems that the knots Balkan decorated with pieces of cloth as small gifts
and the bindings served to connect this world with to the divine. Perhaps this practise is a relic of an
the divine, be it at funerals, in connection with hea- ancient performance of both producing garments
ling, or as initiations.26 for and dressing the god in the sanctuary hidden
A lot of preparation was needed to produce these in this gesture.
special "signs" and if only for this simple reason, There is definitely something timeless to the
there must be some meaning hidden in the quite practice of connecting wool, woollen bands, wool-
complicated preparation of the bands. A roving of len threads or these cloth trees with the binding
wool, prepared for spinning, but turned into some- nature of the human dependency on the divine. It is
thing different, into a sort of band with a rhythmic evidently an ancient tradition and it lives on.

1 Brody 2007.
2 Fleischer 1973, p. 129-137.
3 Efes Muz inventory no. 718 and 1637; Fleischer 1973, E 46.

140
 Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter Sonderveröffentlichung 4 Titel o. Abschnitt

Anne Marie Carstens

4 Fleischer 1973, p. vi and p. 129; Brody 2007, p. 1.

5 M. Nielsen: Diana Efesia Multimammia. The metamorphosis of a pagan goddess from the Renaissance to the Age of Neoclassicism,
in: T. Fischer-Hansen et al. (eds.): From Artemis to Diana: the goddess of man and beast (Acta Hyperborea 12), Copenhagen 2009,
pp. 455-496, see p. 455.
6 G. Seiterle: Artemis – Die Grosse Göttin von Ephesos, in: AW 10, 1979, p. 3-16.
7 Fleischer 2002, p. 208, Abb. 10.
8 Fleischer 1973, p. 313s. and p. 318.
9 G. B. Waywell: The Ada, Zeus and Idrieus relief from Tegea in the British Museum, in: O. Palagia, W. Coulson (eds.): Sculture from Arcadia
and Laconia, Oxford 1993, pp. 79-86; Carstens 2009, p. 91-94.
10 This assumption also lies behind Ann C. Gunter's reading of Labraunda, A. C. Gunter:Looking at Hekatomnid patronage form
Labraunda, in: REA 87, p. 113-124; Carstens 2009, p. 75-100.
11 A. Peschlow-Bindokat: Der Kult des anatolischen Regen- und Wettergottes auf dem Gipfel des Latmos und das Heiligtum des Zeus
Akraios im Tal von Dikilitas, in: IstMitt 46, 1996, p. 217-225.
12 V. Haas: Hethiitsche Berggötter und hurritische Steindämonen. Riten, Kulte und Mythen, Mainz 1982, p. 117; Cook 1965, p. 982; Carstens
2008.
13 Cook 1965, p. 231.
14 HDT. 5,119.
15 HDT. 1,171,5.
16 PAUS. 7,2,8.
17 Fleischer 2002, p. 185-186.
18 W. Burkert: Greek Religion, Harvard 1985 b, p. 55-59.
19 Seiterle 1999; Carstens 2008.
20 Fleischer 2002, p. 208-215. Seiterle 1999, p. 251. Part of this bringing of unprepared wool to the sanctuary may be connected with the
sanctuary as a centre of textile production. M. Gleba: Textile Tools in Ancient Italian Votive Contexts: Evidence of Dedication or
Production), in: M. Gleba, J. MacIntosh Turfa (eds.): Votives, Places, Rituals in Etruscan Religion, Leiden 2008, p. 69-84.
21 Non vidi; Fleischer 2002, p. 209.
22 Seiterle 1999, p. 251.
23 Haas 2003, p. 649-650.
24 Carstens 2008.
25 Fleischer 2002, p. 208-210.
26 Haas 2003, p. 662-680.
27 M. Kleibrink, J. K. Jacobsen, S. Handberg: Water for Athena: votive gifts at Lagaria (Timpone della Motta, Francavilla Marritima, Calabria),
in: World Archaeology 36, 2004, p. 43-67.
28 The contexts are quite summary and it would be interesting to have a closer look at both the actual finds as well as the excavation
records. I am very grateful to Pontus Hellström for his kind help in this matter.

Abbreviated Works:
L.R. Brody (2007): The Aphrodite of Aphrodisias, Mainz am Rhein 2007
A. M. Carstens (2008): Huwasi rocks, baityloi, and open air sanctuaries, in: Karia: Kilikia and Cyprus, OLBA (Mersin University Research
Center for Cilician Archaeology) 13, 2008, S. 73-93
A. M. Carstens (2009): Karia and the Hekatomnids. The Creation of a Dynasty (BAR International Series 1943), Oxford 2009
A. B. Cook (1965): Zeus. A study in ancient religion (2. vol.), New York 1964-1965 [reprint of 1914-1940]
R. Fleischer (1973): Artemis von Ephesos und verwandte Kultstatuen aus Anatolien und Syrien, Leiden 1973
R. Fleischer (2002): Die Amazonen und das Asyl des Artemisions von Ephesos, in: JdI 117, 2002, S. 185-216
V. Haas (2003): Materia magica et medica Hethitica, ein Beitrag zur Heilkunde im Alten Orient, Berlin 2003
G. Seiterle (1999): Ephesische Wollbinden. Attribut der Göttin, Zeichen des Stieropfers, in: H. Friesinger, F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.): 100 Jahre
Österreichische Forschungen in Ephesos, Wien 1999, S. 251-254

141