Archive

N.I. Vinokurov, D.V. Matsnev, A.V. Fesenko (Moscow) – Temple of Zeus Genarch at the Artezian Settlement: the Problem of Astronomical and Spatial Orientation

download PDF

Abstract

In 2023, the remains of the temple of Zeus Genarch were discovered in the Artezian settlement (Crimean-Azov region). The temple was apparently founded under Mithradates Eupator and rebuilt by his son Pharnaces II after the earthquake of 63 BC. The temple complex also includes the western and eastern altars oriented along the axis of the equinoxes to the sunrise point marked by cinder heap No. 2 and the sunset point. The Temple of Genarch in Artezian, like any cult center, was a model of the Cosmos, which was expressed in spatial orientation, firmly connected not only with the cardinal directions, but also with the most important celestial calendar and cult objects.

Keywords

Bosporus, Artezian settlement, temple of Zeus Genarch, Mithridates VI, Pharnaces II, sculpture of Zeus, astronomy, Spica, Vindemiatrix.

Nikolay I. Vinokurov, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dmitriy V. Matsnev, Planetarium of Central House of Russian Army, Moscow, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andrey V. Fesenko, Moscow State Institute of Culture, Moscow, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bakulin, P.I. 1962: Astonomocheskiy kalendar`. Postoyannaya chast` [Astronomical Calendar. Permanent Part] Moscow.

Boltunova, A.I. 1977: Zevs Otchiy i Zevs Spasitel’ [Zeus Patroös and Zeus Soter]. Vestnik drevney Istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 1, 176–183.

Dzharman, O.A. 2013: Nekotorye aspekty kul’ta pravitelya v ellinisticheskom kul’turnom obshchestve [Some Aspects of the Cult of the Ruler in Hellenistic Cultural Societies] Khristianskoe chtenie [Christian Reading] 1, 165–234.

Emelyanov, V.V. 1999: Nippurskiy kalendar’ i rannyaya istoriya Zodiaka [Nippur Calendar and the Early History of Zodiac] Saint Petersburg.

Fedorov, N.A., Shcheglov, P.V. (eds.) 1992: Nebo, nauka, poeziya. Antichnye avtory o nebesnykh svetilakh, ob ikh voskhodakh, zakhodakh i primetakh pogody [Sky, Science, Poetry. Ancient Authors about the Heavenly Bodies, Their Rising, Setting and Weather Signs]. Moscow.

Gurshteyn, A.A. 1992: Rekonstruktsiya proiskhozhdeniya zodiakal’nykh sozvezdiy [Reconstruction of the Origin of the Zodiac Constellations] Istoriko-astronomicheskie issledovaniya [Historical and Astronomical Studies] XXIII, 19–63.

Krol, A.A. Egipet pervykh faraonov. Kheb Sed i stanovlenie drevneegipetskogo gosudarstva [Egypt of the First Pharaohs. Sed-Festival and Emergence of the Ancient Egyptian State]. Moscow.

Kurtik, G.E. 2007: Zvyezdnoe nebo Drevney Mesopotamii: shumero-akkadskie nazvaniya sozvezdiy i drugikh svetil [The Star Heaven of Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumero-Akkadian Names of Constellations and Other Heavenly Bodies]. Saint Petersburg.

Ladynin, I.A. 2001: Prizhiznennyy tsarskiy kul’t Aleksandra Velikogo: k probleme sootnosheniya egipetskikh i grecheskikh komponentov [The Lifetime Royal Cult of Alexander the Great: on the Problem of the Relationship between Egyptian and Greek Components]. In: Drevniy Vostok: obshchnost’ i svoeobrazie kul’turnykh traditsyy [Ancient East: Commonality and Uniqueness of Cultural Traditions]. Moscow, 200–225.

Perl, G. 1969: Ery Vifinskogo, Pontiyskogo i Bosporskogo tsarstv. [The Eras of the Bithynian, Pontic and Bosporan Kingdoms]. Vestnik drevney Istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 3, 39–69.

Podosinov, A.V. 1999: Ex oriente lux. Orientatsiya po stranam sveta v arkhaicheskikh kul’turakh Evrazii [Ex oriente lux. Orientation by cardinal points in archaic cultures of Eurasia]. Moscow.

Saprykin, S.Yu. 1996: Pontiyskoe tsarstvo: gosudarstvo grekov i varvarov v Prichernomor’e [The Pontic Kingdom: State of Greeks and Barbarians in the Black Sea]. Moscow.

Saprykin, S.Yu. 2009: Religiya i kul’ty Ponta ellinisticheskogo i rimskogo vremeni [Religion and Cults of Pontus in Hellenistic and Roman Times]. Moscow–Tula.

Saprykin, S.Yu. Bosporskoe tsarstvo na rubezhe dvukh epokh [The Kingdom of Bosporus on the verge of two epochs] Moscow. 271 p.

Vinokurov, N.I., Matsnev, D.V., Fesenko, A.V. 2007: Sirius, sozvezdie Bliznetsov i syuzhet bozhestvennoy okhoty v Krymskom Priazov’e (na primere nekropolya gorodishcha Artezian) [Sirius, the Constellation Gemini and the Plot of the Divine Hunt in the Crimean Azov Region (Based on the Example of the Necropolis of the Artesian Settlement)]. Bosporskie issledovaniya [Bosporos Studies] XVI, 171–190.

Vinokurov, N.I., Matsnev, D.V., Fesenko, A.V. 2010: Kalendarnye aspekty prostranstvennogo raspolozheniya zol’nykh kholmov antichnykh gorodishch Artezian i Bagerovo-Severnoe v Krymskom Priazov’e [Calendar Aspects of the Spatial Arrangement of the Cinder Heap of the Artezian and Bagerovo-Severnoe settlements, the Crimean Azov Sea Region]. Bosporskie issledovaniya [Bosporos Studies] XXIV, 411–435.

Vinokurov, N.I., Matsnev, D.V., Fesenko, A.V. 2021: Zol’naya transheya s zakhoroneniem porosyenka i cherepa svin’i – novyy zhertvennyy kompleks antichnogo vremeni gorodishcha Artezian v Krymskom Priazov’e [The Cinder Heap Trench with the Burial of Piglet and Pig Skull: A New Sacrificial Complex of Antique Time at the Artezian Settlement in the Crimean Azov Region] Problemy istorii, filologii, kul’tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] 1, 59–97.

Vinokurov, N.I., Yailenko, V.P. 2024: Temple of Zeus with a Dedicatory Inscription of King Pharnaces at the Artesian settlement in the Crimean Azov region. Problemy istorii, filologii, kul’tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] 4 (forthcoming).

Details
Hits: 45