Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
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- Points
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- Ethnic group
- Italian
The remains date from 1100 BC. and were found in southwestern Arcadia at a sacrificial site.
See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4723-160811-greece-zeus-altar
"The Associated Press reports that the 3,000-year-old skeleton of a teenager has been discovered at the remote sanctuary of Zeus on the summit of Mount Lykaion. Thousands of animals were sacrificed to Zeus at the site, beginning around the sixteenth century B.C. The human remains were found among the ashes of the animals. The body had been laid between two lines of stones on an east-west axis. Stone slabs covered the pelvis, and the upper part of the skull was missing. Pottery placed with the bones dates them to the eleventh century B.C. “Several ancient literary sources mention rumors that human sacrifice took place at the altar, but up until a few weeks ago there has been no trace whatsoever of human bones discovered at the site,” said David Romano of the University of Arizona. Only about seven percent of the altar has been excavated."
This is a link to a site about the excavations on Mount Lykaion:
http://lykaionexcavation.org/site/
"Pausanias described the sanctuary of Zeus in great detail in his Guide to Greece (8.38.2-8.38.10) and indicated that the whole mountain was considered a sacred place by ancient Greeks. It was identified in Greek mythology as the birthplace of Zeus (at Cretea) and, according to Pausanias, on Mt. Lykaion there was a stadium and hippodrome in which athletic games for the Lykaion festival were held, a sanctuary of Pan, and, at the summit, a formidable temenos and altar of Lykaion Zeus. In front of the altar, Pausanias says, there were two columns crowned by gilded eagles."
See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4723-160811-greece-zeus-altar
"The Associated Press reports that the 3,000-year-old skeleton of a teenager has been discovered at the remote sanctuary of Zeus on the summit of Mount Lykaion. Thousands of animals were sacrificed to Zeus at the site, beginning around the sixteenth century B.C. The human remains were found among the ashes of the animals. The body had been laid between two lines of stones on an east-west axis. Stone slabs covered the pelvis, and the upper part of the skull was missing. Pottery placed with the bones dates them to the eleventh century B.C. “Several ancient literary sources mention rumors that human sacrifice took place at the altar, but up until a few weeks ago there has been no trace whatsoever of human bones discovered at the site,” said David Romano of the University of Arizona. Only about seven percent of the altar has been excavated."
This is a link to a site about the excavations on Mount Lykaion:
http://lykaionexcavation.org/site/
"Pausanias described the sanctuary of Zeus in great detail in his Guide to Greece (8.38.2-8.38.10) and indicated that the whole mountain was considered a sacred place by ancient Greeks. It was identified in Greek mythology as the birthplace of Zeus (at Cretea) and, according to Pausanias, on Mt. Lykaion there was a stadium and hippodrome in which athletic games for the Lykaion festival were held, a sanctuary of Pan, and, at the summit, a formidable temenos and altar of Lykaion Zeus. In front of the altar, Pausanias says, there were two columns crowned by gilded eagles."