Between Tarhuntas and Zeus Polieus: Cultural Crossroads in the Temples and Cults of Graeco-Roman Anatolia

Anatolia is an area of the ancient world with a remarkable borderland

character between the Greek and the Near Eastern worlds. The present

book studies several ancient Anatolian cults and sanctuaries, focusing

on the process of interaction between local cultures (Lycian, Carian,

Pisidian, Cilician, Lydian, Pontic), Persians, Greeks and Romans. Which

Greek practices did the natives adopt as part of their own tradition,

especially in far-flung regions such as Pontus or Pisidia? How did these

practices, together with the survival (or even revival) of ancient

traditions, help forge a sort of regional identity in local sanctuaries?

Which were the different roles played in this process by the local

elites and the rural native populations? To answer such questions, each

specific contribution presents a case study with a thorough analysis of

the available epigraphic, numismatic, literary and archaeological

evidence from a linguistic, historical and religious perspective.

Gathered from a vast geographical area - from Ionia to Cilicia - this

book explores different examples of these interactions expressed through

local versions of major Greek and Anatolian deities: the Xanthian Leto,

Ma of Comana, the Carian Sinuri, Men Askaenos, Meis Axiottenos, Apollo

Syrmaios, Artemis Sardiane, Meter Sipylene, a Cilician Zeus Ceraunius

and the river gods.