Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea

The Temple of Athena Alea
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The Ancient Sanctuary

The sanctuary originated in the Geometric period. After Aleus came to the throne he built the Sanctuary of Athena Alea.

Pausanias reports: After Aepytus, Aleus came to the throne. For Agamedes and Gortys, the sons of Stymphalus, were three generations removed from Arcas, and Aleus, the son of Apheidas, two generations. Aleus built the old sanctuary in Tegea of Athena Alea, and made Tegea the capital of his kingdom. (Paus. 8.4.8)

The Large Temple

After this Temple, build by Aleus, the Tegeans built a large Temple for the Goddess.

Pausanias reports: The ancient sanctuary of Athena Alea was made for the Tegeans by Aleus. Later on the Tegeans set up for the Goddess a large temple, worth seeing. The sanctuary was utterly destroyed by a fire which suddenly broke out when Diophantus was archon at Athens, in the second year of the ninety-sixth Olympiad, at which Eupolemus of Elis won the foot-race. (Paus. 8.45.4)

The Modern Temple

After the fire a modern Temple was built in the 4th century B.C.E.

Pausanias reports: The modern temple is far superior to all other temples in the Peloponnesus on many grounds, especially for its size. Its first row of pillars is Doric, and the next to it Corinthian; also, outside the temple, stand pillars of the Ionic order. I discovered that its architect was Scopas the Parian, who made images in many places of ancient Greece, and some besides in Ionia and Caria. (Paus. 8.45.5)

On the front gable is the hunting of the Calydonian boar. The boar stands right in the center. On one side are Atalanta, Meleager, Theseus, Telamon, Peleus, Polydeuces, Iolaus, the partner in most of the labours of Hercules, and also the sons of Thestius, the brothers of Althaea, Prothous and Cometes. (Paus. 8.45.6)

On the other side of the boar is Epochus supporting Ancaeus who is now wounded and has dropped his axe; by his side is Castor, with Amphiaraus, the son of Oicles, next to whom is Hippothous, the son of Cercyon, son of Agamedes, son of Stymphalus. The last figure is Peirithous. On the gable at the back is a representation of Telephus fighting Achilles on the plain of the Caicus. (Paus. 8.45.7)

The Safety to the Suppliants

The Sanctuary of Athena Alea was respected from early days by all Peloponnesians and afforded peculiar safety to the suppliants.

Pausanias reports: But when his fellow citizens charged him (Pausanias) with his slowness in this Boeotian campaign, he did not wait to stand his trial, but was received by the people of Tegea as a suppliant of Athena Alea. Now this sanctuary had been respected from early days by all the Peloponnesians, and afforded peculiar safety to its suppliants, as the Lacedaemonians showed in the case of Pausanias and of Leotychides before him, and the Argives in the case of Chrysis; they never wanted even to ask for these refugees, who were sitting as suppliants in the sanctuary, to be given up. (Paus. 3.5.6)

Or, being brought to trial in Lacedaemon he voluntarily went into exile to Tegea, where he sought sanctuary as a suppliant of Athena Alea. (Paus. 3.7.10)

Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, after the fire in the Heraeum, also went to the Temple of Tegea as suppliant of Athena Alea.

Pausanias reports: Above this temple (the Heraeum, fifteen stades distant from Mycenae) are the foundations of the earlier temple and such parts of it as were spared by the flames. It was burnt down because sleep overpowered Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, when the lamp before the wreaths set fire to them. Chryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Athena Alea. Although so great a disaster had befallen them the Argives did not take down the statue of Chryseis; it is still in position in front of the burnt temple. (Paus. 2.17.7)

The Ancient Image

The ancient image of Athena Alea was carried away by the Roman emperor Augustus to his Forum.

Pausanias reports: The ancient image of Athena Alea, and with it the tusks of the Calydonian boar, were carried away by the Roman emperor Augustus after his defeat of Antonius and his allies, among whom were all the Arcadians except the Mantineans. (Paus. 8.46.1) The image of Athena Alea at Rome is as you enter the Forum made by Augustus. (Paus. 8.46.4)

The New Image

The new image of Athena is made throughout of ivory.

Pausanias reports: Here then it has been set up, made throughout of ivory, the work of Endoeus. Those in charge of the curiosities say that one of the boar's tusks has broken off; the remaining one is kept in the gardens of the emperor, in a sanctuary of Dionysus, and is about half a fathom long. (Paus. 8.46.5)

The present image at Tegea was brought from the parish of Manthurenses, and among them it had the surname of Hippia (Goddess of Horses). According to their account, when the battle of the Gods and giants took place the Goddess drove the chariot and horses against Enceladus. Yet this Goddess too has come to receive the name of Alea among the Greeks generally and the Peloponnesians themselves. On one side of the image of Athena stands Asclepius, on the other Health, works of Scopas of Paros in Pentelic marble. (Paus. 8.47.1)

The Altar

On the altar for the Goddess was represented the birth of Zeus.

Pausanias reports: The altar for the Goddess was made, they say, by Melampus, the son of Amythaon. Represented on the altar are Rhea and the nymph Oenoe holding the baby Zeus. On either side are four figures: on one, Glauce, Neda, Theisoa and Anthracia; on the other Ide, Hagno, Alcinoe and Phrixa. There are also images of the Muses and of Memory. (Paus. 8.47.3)

The Priesthood

The priest of Athena was a boy, whose priesthood was finished before puberty.

Pausanias reports: The priest of Athena is a boy; I do not know how long his priesthood lasts, but it must be before, and not after, puberty. (Paus. 8.47.3)

The Votive Offerings

The most important votive offerings in the Temple were the hide of the Calydonian boar, the fetters worn by the Lacedaemonian prisoners, a sacred couch of Athena, a portrait painting of Auge (the priestess of Athena abducted by Hercules), and the shield of Marpessa.

Pausanias reports: Of the votive offerings in the temple these are the most notable. There is the hide of the Calydonian boar, rotted by age and by now altogether without bristles. Hanging up are the fetters, except such as have been destroyed by rust, worn by the Lacedaemonian prisoners when they dug the plain of Tegea. There have been dedicated a sacred couch of Athena, a portrait painting of Auge, and the shield of Marpessa, surnamed Choera, a woman of Tegea. (Paus. 8.47.2)

Laodice sent to Tegea a robe as a gift for Athena Alea, probably at the Aleaea Festival (see below).

Pausanias reports: Afterwards Laodice, a descendant of Agapenor, sent to Tegea a robe as a gift for Athena Alea. The inscription on the offering told as well the race of Laodice :--

This is the robe of Laodice; she offered it to her Athena,

Sending it to her broad fatherland from divine Cyprus. (Paus. 8.5.3)

The Plynteria Festival

The Plynteria was the festival were the wooden image of Athena received the "Washing rites". At Tegea a spring was close at hand. An argument to Euripides' Auge says that Auge as priestess of Athena Alea was washing the robe of Athena near a fountain (fr. 323a Mette) when Hercules suddenly took her. Pausanias locates the fountain just north of the Temple, where the excavators found a large basin with marble sides and steps.

Pausanias reports: To the north of the temple is a fountain, and at this fountain they say that Auge was outraged by Hercules. (Paus. 8.47.4)

The Aleaea Festival

Not far from the Temple was a stadium where was celebrated the Aleaea festival of Athena. Thought this festival was first attested in the third century it must be much more ancient. Perhaps it was at the Aleaea that a fine robe was dedicated to Athena Alea (see above). If so, the washing festival and the Aleaea stood in the same relation as the Plynteria and the Panathenaea at Athens (Robertson 1996).

Pausanias reports: Not far from the temple is a stadium formed by a mound of earth, where they celebrate games, one festival called Aleaea after Athena, the other Halotia (Capture Festival) because they captured the greater part of the Lacedaemonians alive in the battle. (Paus. 8.47.4)

Present State

Between 1889 and 1910 the French School at Athens made excavations here that revealed the foundations of the Temple of Athena Alea (4th century B.C.E.). The current excavations (1990-) are conducted by the Norwegian Institute at Athens, under the direction of E. Oestby.

Just north of the Temple can be seen the large basin with marble sides and steps were Hercules abducted Auge, the priestess of Athena.

Several fragments of statues and sculptures have been found: the most important, representing the hunting of the Calydonian boar (the Calydonian boar and the head of Atalanta), are exposed at the museum of Athens, others are in the small local museum.

Tourist Information

Sixteen miles (10 km) South-East of Tripolis in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece, take the road to Sparta, and 13 miles (8 km) later, at the place called Kerassitsa, turn left (signaled "Ancient Tegea").

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