On the Strengthening of the Chthonic Principle in the Revived Aphrodite Cult in the Northern Black Sea Region in the First Centuries a.d.

Yartsev Sergey Vladimirovich Doctor of History Associate Professor, Department of History and Archeology, Tula State Pedagogical University named after L.N.Tolstoy 300026, Russia, Tula region, Tula, Prospekt Lenina str., 125 s-yartsev.@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Shushunova Elena Valeryevna Assistant Lecturer of the Chair of History and Archeology, Tula State Lev Tostoy Pedagogical University 125 Lenin Avenue, Tula, Tula region, 300026, Russia schuschunova.elena@yandex.ru

Quite a large amount of scientific literature is devoted to the cult of Aphrodite in the Northern Black Sea region ^{[47, pp. 137-141; 20, pp. 104-109; 38, pp. 101-118; 39, pp. 88-92; 25, pp. 121-126; 42, pp. 111-117; 43, pp. 138-145; 9, pp. 92-95; 52, pp. 204-272; 1, p. 219-223; 29, pp. 93-106; 30, pp. 56-71; 6, pp. 127-131; 7, pp. 106-111; 35, pp. 59-71; 33, pp. 293-315; 34, pp. 353-357; 37, pp. 59-71; 44, pp. 308-337; 5, pp. 9-16; 59, pp. 353-361; 55, p. 15-32; 50; 51; 60]}. Nevertheless, many issues related to the veneration of this deity still remain unresolved. One of the most difficult such problems is the mysterious revival of this cult in the Northern Black Sea region during the Roman period, and the emergence of a tendency to archaize religious ideas associated with it.

As it is known, Aphrodite was the daughter of Uranus (Hesiod. Theog., 176-206) or Zeus and Dione (Hom. Hymn., II, V, 370). This allowed the goddess to belong to the circle of the most influential Olympian deities. Moreover, considering that according to the first of the variants, Aphrodite was miraculously born from the blood of the castrated Uranus, she was even older than these deities, including Zeus ^{[33, p. 295]}. Aphrodite, the foam-born, Kyphroborn, Cytherea (Hom. Hymn., IV, 1-16, 175, 181, 287; VI, 15-18), in the minds of the Hellenes, was represented as the goddess of love and beauty. However, not only people and animals were subject to her, but also gods (with the exception of some female deities) (Hom. Hymn., IV, 1-44). At the same time, Herodotus hinted at the eastern origin of the goddess, mentioning that the Scythians call her "Argimpasa", "the Assyrians call Aphrodite Militta, the Arabs – Alilat, and the Persians – Mitra" (Herod., I, 131; IV, 59). If we add to this the rather curious images of Aphrodite in a tower crown of the type of eastern Cybele, then we can agree with the conclusion of A.S.Rusyaeva that we really have one of the oldest and most difficult deities to interpret, with many different-time and multi-ethnic layers ^{[56, p. 15-32; 8, p. 17-18; 33, p. 295-296]}. A similar opinion was reached by S.Y. Saprykin, who concluded about the influence of Anatolian cults on the Bosporus, including religious beliefs related to the veneration of Aphrodite ^{[36, p. 354]}. The complexity and ambiguity of this complex of beliefs is confirmed by Pausanias, naming several, in his opinion, the main qualities that the goddess was endowed with in different parts of Hellas: "The Cnidians venerate Aphrodite most of all and they have a number of temples of the goddess. Of these, the oldest is Aphrodite Doritida (Giving fertility), then – Acreia (the Lady of the mountain peaks) and the newest, which everyone simply calls Cnidian, and the Cnidians themselves – Euploia" (Paus., I, 1,3). The last epiclesis of the goddess "happily floating" was also recorded for the Northwestern Black Sea region (Borysthenes and Olbia) (IOSPE, I2, 168) ^{[33, pp. 298, 309]}. It is possible that such a connection of the cult of Aphrodite with navigation really goes back to the specifics of the religious ideas of Miletus during the colonization era. The more interesting is the picture of the complete absence of the veneration of Aphrodite in this hypostasis in the Dorian polis, and primarily in Chersonesos ^{[33, p. 308]}. It is believed that here, basically, this cult was of a domestic nature, and Aphrodite herself was represented, as a rule, in the nude, as the goddess of love ^{[35, pp. 59-71; 34, pp. 354-355]}. However, it is also obvious that the cult of Aphrodite in the Dorian polis still had its own characteristic specifics associated with the manifestation of increased attention to the chthonic functions of the goddess. In this regard, the influence of the famous Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi, in which Aphrodite was given the role of a Tombstone, and a ritual with libations and mystical prayers with appeals to the deceased was performed in front of her statue (Plut. Mor. Quest. Rom., 23) ^{[34, pp. 353-354]}.

Of interest is the fact that on Bosporus Aphrodite, despite her original, purely Hellenistic (in the Ionian version) nature of the cult ^{[8, p. 12]}, later became revered mainly in the hypostasis of Urania (Heavenly), that is, with a fundamental indication of her unique divine power received from Uranus. It is unlikely that the Ionians played a major role in such a religious transformation ^{[47, pp. 137-141; 1, pp. 219-224]}. Most researchers believe that these beliefs developed here on the basis of the merger of the Hellenic cult with the veneration of some other local deity, for example, the Sindo-Meotian goddess ^{[25, p. 123; 38, p. 101-118]} or the Scythian Argimpasa ^{[10, p. 212-213; 15, p. 48-49; 33, p. 300]}. In the latter case, the influence of the Iranian Ardvisura Anahita on the Scythian deity is also possible ^{[52, pp. 238-253]}. However, the degree of these barbaric influences on the cult of Aphrodite is not easy to determine, because the level of Hellenization of the Scythians and especially the Sindo-Meots was sufficiently high ^{[8, p. 14]}. The interpretation of the contradictory epiclesis of the heavenly goddess also causes difficulty.  On the one hand, the hypostases of Aphrodite Urania and Euploia are quite close, since, to one degree or another, they are associated with the patronage of navigation and sailors ^{[33, p. 298]}. The epithet of the Bosporan Aphrodite – Navarchis (Shipwright), recorded during the reign of King Asander (47-17 BC), best demonstrates to us this connection with the sea (KBN, 30). However, on the other hand, the goddess of fertility Aphrodite Urania, at its core, was certainly a Chthonic deity, and, therefore, was directly connected with the funeral rite and with the Greek Eleusinian deities ^{[33, p. 299]}.  Moreover, it is possible that it was the Chthonic ideas that turned out to be the link that brought the beliefs of the Greeks and barbarians closer together, ensuring the syncretic Greek-barbaric nature of the cult of Aphrodite ^{[6, p. 128]}.

In the Bosporus during the classical and Hellenistic periods, Aphrodite was revered in many cities of the state. The Bosporan Spartokids especially singled out Aphrodite among their pantheon, a sanctuary was built in her honor, which was located on the acropolis ^{[41, pp. 83, 88]}. Epigraphic inscriptions record on the Bosporus the cult of Aphrodite under kings Perisade I, Perisade IV, Asandra (KBN, 30, 75, 971, 972) ^{[39, p. 91; 11, p. 81]}. One of the main sanctuaries of Aphrodite Apatura on the Asian Bosporus was so famous that information about it was preserved by several ancient authors at once (Strabo, XI, 2,10; Plin. NH., VI, 18; Ptol., V, 8,2; Steph. Byz. s.v. A). In this regard, it is possible that, as we have already said above, the cult of the said "lady of Apatura" went back to the non-Greek Chthonic deity, which may explain the popularity of her main sanctuary on the Taman Peninsula ^{[16, p. 33; 51, p. 40]}. In any case, the similarity of the myth of Aphrodite Apatura (Strabo., XI, 2, 10) with the ethnogonic legend of the Scythians (Herod., IV, 8 -10; Diod., II, 43) is clearly not accidental ^{[50, pp. 111-117]}. Considering that the legends about the Amazons are usually associated with those areas where the cult of the Great Goddess prevailed ^{[57, p. 462-481]}, the ancient barbarian deity could well appear here in the images of Greek goddesses ^{[50, p. 113-123; 58, p. 147]}. In this regard, the image of Aphrodite in the form of an Amazon really allows us to interpret the latter as servants of the Great Goddess ^{[51, p. 55]}.  Thus, like all other fertility goddesses, Aphrodite was originally characterized by chthonic ideas.  Most likely, they were connected both with the development by the Greeks of lands far from the metropolis with incessant tectonic activity, and with agriculture itself – the basis of the economy of the Bosporan Kingdom ^{[6, pp. 128-129]}.  The latter circumstance is clearly indicated by the images of the goddess in the form of a head, bust or herma ^{[50, pp. 326-336]}. This image, for example, on protomes or on a number of so-called "Bosporan pelicans", really represents Aphrodite in the form of "growing" out of the ground, which, of course, testifies to the original chthonic principles of the cult of the goddess, her regenerating function ^{[6, 130; 50, p. 326]}.

Nevertheless, by the turn of the era, on the same Bosporus, as in general and throughout the northern periphery of the ancient world, the holidays in honor of Aphrodite are becoming less significant. Even the sanctuary in Apatura soon turns out to be almost abandoned (Plin. NH., IV, 18) ^{[37, p. 65]}. Maybe indeed, as M.V.Skrzhinskaya writes, this state of affairs was influenced by the activities of Mithridates VI Evpator, who introduced a new calendar of religious holidays on the Bosporus ^{[37, p. 65]}. However, even in this case, the revival of the cult of Aphrodite in the Roman period does not seem to be an entirely understandable phenomenon. On the Bosporus, the goddess again begins to figure as Apatura or Urania ^{[43, p. 143; 44, p. 308-337]}. In Chersonesos in the second half of the II – III century AD, a new large temple was erected in honor of the goddess in general, which clearly indicates the state character of her cult (IOSPE, I2 440, 441, 442, 443, 446). It is no coincidence that this temple of Aphrodite was specially built in the Roman style ^{[31, pp. 227, 249]}. At the same time, judging by the large number of finds of figurines and jewelry depicting the goddess and her companions in the burials of the specified time, this cult is beginning to acquire a more pronounced chthonic character than it was before ^{[27, p. 9, 11; 21, p. 151; 35, p. 68; 34, p. 353-354; 26, pp. 67-213; 18, pp. 280-283; 2, pp. 199-201]}.  

Of course, here it is necessary to take into account that the universalism of Aphrodite with her numerous hypostases allowed her to penetrate into many spheres of activity of ancient society ^{[6, p. 130]}. Therefore, we cannot categorically assert that the chthonic functions of Aphrodite, which were originally characteristic of her cult, with the beginning of the Roman period, began to turn into the most important part of religious representations associated with her image. As noted by A.S.Rusyaeva and V.M.Zubar, otherwise, in the same Chersonese there would be more objects with the image of Aphrodite in the burials of the specified time ^{[34, pp. 354-355]}. Nevertheless, it is impossible to ignore the fact of the increasing popularity among the Romans of the cult of Aphrodite, which is increasingly being portrayed in the company of Eros. In his research, S.Y.Saprykin convincingly showed that in this case Aphrodite should be perceived as a goddess who inspired faith in the rebirth of life after death, and hence in immortality.  If love is the source of new life, then babies as sons of Aphrodite are indeed her symbol of this rebirth. At the same time, the Eros on the funerary monuments are clearly depicted in the image of the god of death Thanatos, and the sleeping baby in the image of Hypnos, the god of sleep. This peculiarity is explained by the fact that two interrelated ideas were hidden in the sleeping infant, because death is simultaneously a return to a new life ^{[35, p. 66]}. All this well explains why all the symbols of the chthonic Aphrodite, which became popular in Roman times – a shell, a mirror, Eros on dolphins, were represented on the Chersonese statuette of the II century AD, studied in detail by S.Y. Saprykin ^{[35, pp. 66-67]}.  Apparently at this stage, the cult of Aphrodite, in which death was perceived as marriage, and the goddess was its organizer, began to approach other beliefs of chthonic female deities ^{[51, p. 90]}. In this regard, given the radical changes in the veneration of Aphrodite in the Northern Black Sea region in the first centuries of our era, it is difficult to agree with the position of A.S.Rusyaeva and V.M.Zubar, who suggested that at this time the statuettes of Aphrodite and Eros personified, for the most part, happy love and family life ^{[34, pp. 356-357]}. Here we fully agree with the opinion of S.Yu.Saprykina noted that, despite Aphrodite's preservation in Roman times of her main fruiting function and the divine power that protects love and beauty, it is impossible to ignore the numerous facts of this period that testify to the veneration of the goddess as a sea deity and patroness of deceased souls ^{[35, p. 68]}. Moreover, this is completely consistent with votive objects depicting the goddess and her companions, not only in the tombs on the necropolis of Chersonesos ^{[21, p. 151; 22, p. 97-98]}, but also on the barbaric burial grounds of the nearest neighborhood (for example, the finds of a bronze mirror of the II–III century AD with the image of Aphrodite and Eros from burials of the burial ground "Sevastopol" ^{[40, pp. 172-173, Fig. 31, 6]}, or figures of Eros from the necropolis of the Roman time "Belbek IV" ^{[12, p. 67, p. 152, Table 150, 2; 13, p. 238, Table 236, 3; 12, p. 160, tables 158, 11; 13, p. 238, table 236, 1]}).     

In this regard, the reasons for such a surge of archaic features of the ancient Hellenic cult in the era of the Roman Empire are not entirely clear. Of course, we can accept the version of A.S.Rusyaeva and V.M.Zubar, who, using the example of Chersonesos, drew attention to the original specifics of the cult of Aphrodite in Dorian cities, which, in their opinion, was reflected in the religious worldview of the Chersonesites ^{[34, p. 353]}. In other words, the specified feature of the development of religious ideas associated with Aphrodite could simply get its further natural development. There is also an opinion that the revival of the popularity of the worship of the goddess was based on the assertion of Aphrodite as the giver of military success ^{[8, p. 16]}. The revival of the cult of Aphrodite and L.P. Harko is associated with the military activity of the Bosporan kings in the Roman period, who switched to barbarians attacking from the east. According to the scientist, at this time the Asian Bosporus in military-political terms began to come to the forefront of the defense of the state, which caused the revival of the old cultural traditions of the Asian side, including the Phanagor cult of Aphrodite Apatura ^{[48, pp. 200-201]}.  

However, we note that in the veneration of Aphrodite in the Roman period, new features of her cult appear virtually everywhere. Also, the general trend of religious life is the transformation of ideas associated with numerous female deities, towards a single syncretic image of the Great Goddess, whose main essence begins to shift towards protective and patronizing functions. According to E.M.Alekseeva, it was the kings who gave a new life to the ancient cult of Aphrodite Apatura in the first centuries AD on the Bosporus under the influence of the development of navigation in the state. This is indeed confirmed by the official nature of this cult in the first centuries of our era and its connection with the epicleses of Urania and Navarchida (the Founder). Since they are interconnected, according to the scientist, it was navigation that caused the revival of these traditional beliefs ^{[2, p. 199]}. In Gorgippia in 110, under Sauromat I, a new temple of Aphrodite Navarchida was even erected (KBN, 1115). Under the same tsar, "the porticos surrounding the temple ... were restored to Aphrodite Apaturiade" (KBN, 1045). The "Synod of the goddess Aphrodite" headed by the "governor of the royal court" is mentioned in another inscription dating from the II century AD (KBN, 1055). It is believed that the king Remetalk also donated lands with pelats attached to them, namely to the temple of Aphrodite (KBN, 976). All these facts, of course, speak of a serious revival of the traditional cult of Aphrodite in the ancient centers of the Northern Black Sea region. However, in our opinion, this trend turned out to be associated not only with the development of navigation, but also with a number of other circumstances. In any case, the placement of the main symbols of Chthonic Aphrodite in the Bosporus burials at this time can hardly be called accidental: terracotta figurines of dolphin and Eros ^{[19, p. 146; 17, p. 763]}, gold pendants or clasps for clothes with the image of Eros ^{[18, p. 280-283; 28, p. 44, fig. 22; 45, p. 94]}, plaques in the form of figures of Eros ^{[28, p. 43, fig. 20-21]}, and even children's rattles with the image of Eros on the lid ^{[46, p. 49-50]}.

The situation with the changed status of the goddess in the religious life of the Bosporans in the Roman period seems to be clarified by a tombstone found in 1889 in Kerch and now stored in the State Hermitage Museum. According to L.P. Harko, it should be dated to the border of the I/II – II centuries AD. It shows the image of a heroized deceased military commander (a wreath is put on his head by a flying Nickname), in company with a female figure. The most plausible version is that the deceased stands in front of a priestess with the attributes of a goddess, in whose temple she performs priestly duties. The deity himself is located in the upper tier on the pediment with a tower crown on his head and is argumentatively identified with Aphrodite ^{[48, pp. 203-204]}. Doubts on this score, as well as the assumption that we are facing Demeter and not Aphrodite ^{[32, pp. 149-150; 14, pp. 63-64]}, in our opinion, are groundless. In the Bosporan image, Eros is clearly visible behind the priestess in the guise of a goddess, which allows us to correlate this plot of the heroization of the deceased with Aphrodite's demonstration of her divine powers with a greater degree of probability ^{[48, pp. 203-204]}. Moreover, it was in this form, and in this high headdress, that Aphrodite Apatura was depicted on Bosporan coins of the turn of AD – III century AD ^{[49, p. 125]}. In this regard, given the uniqueness of this tombstone, which preserved the image of the Bosporus five-column temple dedicated to the local goddess ^{[48, p. 203; 14, p. 63]}, it can be concluded that the role of this deity in the religious life of people in the first centuries AD, and, first of all, in the field of funeral rites. This corresponds well to the emergence of the popularity of the image on Bosporan coins of the first century A.D., apparently, the same temple with an odd number of columns, typical of the cult architecture of the Northern Black Sea region ^{[3, pp. 82-84; 48, pp. 197-203; 24, p. 22, Fig. 3]}. According to P.O. Karyshkovsky, it was the temple of Aphrodite Apatura in Phanagoria, especially revered on the Bosporus ^{[23, p. 188]}. V.D. Blavatsky also agreed with the fact that this is a local Bosporan temple ^{[4, pp. 162-163]}. In a recent thorough study by M.M.Choref on this topic, the scientist once again convincingly proved that it was the Bosporan temple of Aphrodite Apatura that was depicted on the coins and the indicated tombstone, which was really not in the Panticapaeum ^{[49, pp. 124-125]}.

Of course, observing such a rise in the popularity of this goddess, it is necessary to take into account the desire of part of the local population to please the Romans, whose veneration of Aphrodite under the name of Venus was really widespread ^{[33, pp. 311-312]}. In other words, it is quite possible that this cult has re-penetrated into the Northern Black Sea region already from Rome. Aphrodite was represented in it as the ancestor and patroness of the Roman people ^{[27, p. 9]}. The Romans, as is known, really revered Aphrodite in the hypostasis of their main ancestor (through the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who became the legendary ancestor of the Julii) (Lucr.I, 1; Verg.Aen.) ^{[33, p. 312]}. Whether this was really the case, it is difficult to say now. We have already said that the religious transformation in the northern periphery of the ancient world in Roman times may have been associated with the dominance of religious cults spread throughout the empire here. At the same time, most of them were heavily modified, which forced many Hellenes – supporters of traditional religion to revive their ancient beliefs, as a rule, in an archaic form ^{[53, pp. 382-384]}. Nevertheless, it is obvious that everything cannot be reduced to the result of Roman cultural expansion. In our opinion, it is also necessary to take into account the complex processes that took place in the religious consciousness of the people who lived at that time. Many of them at this period lost faith in the old gods, turned their gaze to the east, where Persian, Syrian or Egyptian religious legends about dying and resurrecting deities offered, it would seem, a simpler and more reliable path to immortality and a new life. According to S.Y. Saprykin, it was the influence of Anatolian cults (the Great Mother of the Gods – Cybele, the Phrygian goddess Angissa, the Pontic Ma-Enio, the Iranian-Pontic-Cappadocian Anahit, the Persian Artemis) on the complex of beliefs associated with the veneration of Aphrodite Urania Apatura that caused an increase in chthonic traits in him ^{[36, p. 354]}.

 At the same time, during such a deepening crisis of ancient ideology, those of the people who tried to stay within their traditional religious consciousness often began to attribute new functions to the old gods, which, in their opinion, better expressed the divine essence of a particular savior.  The fact is that the latter was now guaranteed not only to protect a person from dangers in this life (both on land and at sea), but also to give his adept immortality. These changes in the ideology of the ancient population well explain the widespread democratization at this time of the apotheosis of the dead, when almost every person after death in the minds of his living relatives turned into a deified hero. In this regard, in the search for effective intermediaries between the world of the living and the mythological universe of the gods, people increasingly stopped at such deceased relatives – heroes staying with the deities in the other world. The Roman cultural expansion in the Northern Black Sea region, apparently, only contributed to the deepening of this crisis, which clearly strengthened the Chthonic principles in traditional Hellenic cults. It is obvious that the mass glorification of their deceased relatives began to turn into a universal necessity, not only for the implementation of intermediary functions with the Chthonic world, but also for solving the most important sacred and protective tasks that in the first centuries of our era began to come to the fore in people's lives.

Thus, the pronounced tendency to the archaization of religious ideas in the first centuries of our era and serious ideological adjustments in the cult of Aphrodite, allow us to consider this goddess at this time, primarily as a catachtonic patroness of the deceased in the hypostasis of the Grave, Dark or Tombstone. Of course, this strengthening of the chthonic principle in the cult of Aphrodite in the ancient states of the Northern Black Sea region at this time, of course, was partly facilitated by the spread of religious ideas associated with this goddess among the Romans. This circumstance, apparently, played an important role in the revival of this cult in the far northern periphery of the ancient world. In addition, Aphrodite's well-known ability to cover a fairly wide range of the local population with divine protection, including sailors, also favored the development of the popularity of the beliefs associated with her. All this, including the serious influence of Eastern cults, explains the increasing role of Aphrodite in ritual actions directly related to the apotheosis of the dead. In addition, the archaization of beliefs associated with the veneration of Aphrodite, to some extent, could be the result of the reaction of local adherents of traditional religion to the Roman cultural expansion. The Hellenes clearly sought to counter this ideological pressure with their most ancient beliefs. Nevertheless, in our opinion, the main reason for the emergence of the trend towards the archaization of the cult of Aphrodite in the Northern Black Sea region, nevertheless, were the features of the unfolding crisis of ancient ideology in the first centuries of our era. The fact is that it is within the framework of these religious transformations that the search for new deities and effective intermediaries between the real and otherworldly worlds has intensified. But most importantly, people now tried to endow the old gods with the most relevant functions for their time. Apparently, this happened in the case of Aphrodite. Considering that the place of the most effective intermediaries, in Roman times, was firmly occupied by deified deceased ancestors, Aphrodite, as the Mistress of the other world, actually began to turn into one of the main characters of the Hellenic religion. It is obvious that now, with the help of performing certain ritual actions, the goddess, with a greater degree of efficiency, could deify the deceased, allow him to merge with himself, breathe divine powers into him, and also ensure his birth in a new capacity. At the same time, apparently, one of its main functions was to move the deified hero to the region of the celestial sphere to his ancestors, as usually happens in such cases ^{[54, p. 586]}. In turn, this strengthened the protective qualities of the deity himself, who in fact transformed into a savior, ensuring the safety of people during periods of bloody wars and natural disasters, as well as granting them immortality and happiness.

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